October 14, 2025 • 36 mins
What if a few simple shifts could turn your math class into a place where more students talk, think, and truly learn?
We start with our usual celebration of the "day of" by tipping our hats to Ada Lovelace.
Then we ask the PL Team to share some of their "themes of support" that come up as they work with teachers during the beginning part of the year. The struggles and challenges that they face and some of the advice or suggestions that they share with these teachers.
Hear about what “enough practice” really means and why demanding fluency too soon backfires. You’ll hear how three-before-me and a strong Resource Manager cut down on the teacher traffic jam, and how behavior management gets easier when tasks are collaborative, non-routine, and designed with easy entry points. Our PL specialists share practical frameworks for keeping students engaged from bell to bell, plus the reflective questions that elevate planning: Are students collaborating? Will they share work publicly? Do they know how to begin?
Then we go classroom-deep with an update from our Join Them on Their Journey teachers. Jessie talks about her experiment with daily randomized groups reduced off-task talk and amplified math voices that had been quiet for weeks, while Chi redesigned assessment to include a fast correction cycle using targeted indicators instead of immediate scores.
If you’re ready to boost fluency without sacrificing sense-making—and build a classroom culture where every student sees themselves as a math learner—press play. Subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a quick review telling us which strategy you’ll try first.
Send Joel and Misty a message!
The More Math for More People Podcast is produced by CPM Educational Program.
Learn more at CPM.org
X: @cpmmath
Facebook: CPMEducationalProgram
Email: cpmpodcast@cpm.org
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_04 (00:17):
You are listening to the More Math for More People
podcast, an outreach of CPMeducational program.
Boom.
SPEAKER_07 (00:31):
Joel, how could it be the middle of October
already?
SPEAKER_05 (00:35):
Well, uh like I knew this seriously, aren't you?
We have some names for somethings, but as the the earth
goes by the like we're in thatposition that we call October
14th.
SPEAKER_07 (00:50):
Interesting.
SPEAKER_05 (00:51):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (00:51):
That was not the answer I was expecting.
I mean, it's clearly.
SPEAKER_05 (00:55):
It's crazy that it's almost the end of 2025.
SPEAKER_07 (00:57):
I cannot believe this.
SPEAKER_05 (00:59):
It's this we just started 2025.
Like I still remember.
SPEAKER_07 (01:02):
And yet it feels like we've been in 2025 forever.
SPEAKER_05 (01:06):
Both of all of those things are true.
SPEAKER_07 (01:08):
Exactly.
SPEAKER_05 (01:09):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (01:09):
So it is when you hear this podcast, October 14th.
And so what is the national dayfor today?
SPEAKER_05 (01:19):
Today is Ada Lovelace Day.
Lovelace?
Or Lovelace.
Lovelace.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (01:24):
I think it's Lovelace.
Okay.
But if you kind of say it fast,it's like Lovelace.
Lovelace.
But it is Lovelace.
Ada Lovelace.
SPEAKER_05 (01:31):
Yeah.
Oh, cool.
Do you know about Ada?
SPEAKER_07 (01:34):
I do know some things about Ada.
When I was doing my uh teachingcertificate in my graduate work,
I took a history of math classand then I wrote my thesis paper
or whatever about why there wereso few women in mathematics over
time, like in the you know,olden days.
(01:55):
And and it was very interesting,like overlap, you know,
conjunction between opportunityand uh I'm just gonna say
probably like a little bit ofmisogyny perpetrated by the
church.
But uh there but the women whodid, it was more like as opposed
to really getting into thatwhole part, I looked at like why
(02:15):
were the women who did becomeprominent or known or whatever,
why did they?
And it was a lot of they hadsome opportunity and that other
women didn't, and or a or somesort of a patron or husband or
somebody had access to things.
So and A Lovelace was definitelyYeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_05 (02:32):
I mean you you hit right on it.
It's uh today is aboutrecognizing achievements of
women in science, technology,engineering, math.
Um daughter of Lord Byron, whowas a famous poet.
Yep.
And it even says here because ofthat opportunity to be in a
wealthy, well-known family, shewas given the opportunity to be
(02:56):
recognized for her contributionsto basically creating the idea
of computers.
SPEAKER_07 (03:03):
And she worked with Charles Babbage, right?
SPEAKER_05 (03:06):
I'm not sure about that, but I Okay, I might be
wrong.
You Oh I do.
Her work with Babbage led to thepublication of what's now
recognized as the firstalgorithm.
SPEAKER_07 (03:17):
So cool.
Yeah.
So why why is there any reasonson uh the 14th of October?
I'm always curious, like why isit today?
SPEAKER_05 (03:27):
I know why did I choose that day, right?
This just says that it's it's itwas designated as the second
Tuesday of October.
And it was just for w it likethere's not a specific reason.
It's just that let's go aheadand recognize it on the second
Tuesday of October.
SPEAKER_07 (03:48):
Oh, so it changes, so it's not always October 14th.
SPEAKER_05 (03:51):
I guess so.
SPEAKER_07 (03:52):
I mean it could be October 15th all the way up to
October 20th.
SPEAKER_05 (03:57):
Well in 2026, because again, uh I'll just kind
of share as the Earth goesaround the sun.
SPEAKER_07 (04:03):
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_05 (04:04):
And then uh it'll be October 13th next year of 2026.
SPEAKER_07 (04:10):
Interesting.
SPEAKER_05 (04:11):
And the twelfth the year after that.
SPEAKER_07 (04:13):
Oh.
Wait, so it's the secondTuesday.
Oh, so we can go all the wayfrom the eighth.
This is as late as it could be,is the fourteenth.
Yes.
That was on Tuesday.
Yes.
All right.
Cool.
Yeah.
Uh what else do we have to say?
Oh, so eight, I mean, what elsedo you have to tell me about Ada
Lovelace then?
SPEAKER_05 (04:31):
Well, it's uh I I like that you brought up the
about your research of thehistory of mathematics.
That was one of my favoriteclasses when I was going to
school too, and we talked aboutthe rogues of math.
SPEAKER_07 (04:43):
The rogues?
SPEAKER_05 (04:44):
Yeah.
And we had uh so there was somemathematicians that had died in
duels or arguments.
SPEAKER_07 (04:52):
You made them rogues because they died in duels.
SPEAKER_05 (04:54):
Yes.
But I remember Ada Lovelessbeing brought up as kind of a
rogue because being a woman andthat doesn't make her a rogue.
Yeah.
Not part of the mainstream frayof mathematicians at the time.
SPEAKER_07 (05:11):
So cool.
SPEAKER_05 (05:14):
So how are you gonna celebrate?
I was just gonna say how well Icould learn to code.
That's one suggestion.
I'll tell you, I took a intro toprogramming as one of my courses
as well.
Probably one of the hardestclasses I ever took.
(05:34):
Very hard for me to learncoding.
Um, I could brush up on myhistory of women in science.
Sounds like that.
I would just be interested toknow about that.
And then it says that you canattend a l Ada Lovelace event.
So I guess if you look up pubquizzes, lectures, workshops
(05:57):
near you, you could find anevent on this day to celebrate
with.
SPEAKER_07 (06:02):
I wonder how widespread those are.
SPEAKER_05 (06:04):
I don't know.
SPEAKER_07 (06:04):
I mean, if there's one in every city or if there's
just five in the US or one.
Yeah.
I don't know how how widespreadthose may be.
It's interesting that youbrought up coding.
I haven't done any recentcoding.
I mean, we occasionally workwith HTML, which feels like a
bit of coding.
I kind of get it, but I don't Icouldn't write anything from
(06:25):
scratch.
SPEAKER_05 (06:25):
I just copy paste seems to work for me.
SPEAKER_07 (06:28):
Well, yeah, and I edit, and I sometimes I'm like,
oh, I can see that it needsanother little tag thing here or
something.
But when I was in school, I tookFortran, which I can't even tell
you how it works anymore, butthat was that long ago.
I think it's anything anybodyuses anymore.
SPEAKER_05 (06:44):
I was gonna say, is it in a museum?
Like how would someone do it?
Is it in a museum?
SPEAKER_07 (06:51):
Uh I did learn basic when I was in high school too.
Nice, nice.
But yeah, I think I think I'mgonna I'm gonna, yeah.
I'm gonna look and see ifthere's any Ada Lovelace uh
celebrations.
SPEAKER_05 (07:02):
Yeah, I think I might do that too, because that
would be kind of interesting.
SPEAKER_07 (07:06):
Especially if there's somewhere you can have
adult beverages.
SPEAKER_05 (07:08):
Yeah.
Well, it says Pub Triviaquizzes.
SPEAKER_07 (07:11):
Exactly.
SPEAKER_05 (07:12):
So it's exactly seems reasonable.
SPEAKER_07 (07:14):
Indeed.
All right, well, everyone, enjoyyour Ada Lovelace Day and uh
promote more women in science.
SPEAKER_05 (07:21):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_07 (07:51):
And so we asked the PL team to send us a little bit
about what some of the themes ofsupport are that they're seeing,
what kinds of things they'recoming across when they're
working with teachers, what aresome of the themes or threads or
kind of trends that they'renoticing as they're working with
these teachers, and what aresome of the things that they are
(08:12):
offering as support?
So here's a few of those fromour PL team members.
SPEAKER_06 (08:18):
Enjoy.
My name is Nicole Gorgas.
I am part of the professionallearning team at CPM, and I am
in Victoria, Minnesota.
One of the themes of supportI've noticed with the teachers
I've visited recently is theconcern that students are not
getting enough practice.
This typically leads to aconversation about procedural
fluency, mixed-based practice,and assessment.
A question I ask teachers is: Are you expecting too much (08:42):
undefined
fluency too soon?
With mixed-based practice,students are revisiting concepts
and procedures over time, whichhelps students strengthen their
understanding and proceduralfluency.
CPM does include as muchpractice as the traditional
blocked practice.
Only it is done over severaldays through lessons and
(09:04):
chapters.
So that being said, it can betricky to know when to expect
proficiency.
So teachers do need to refer tothose suggested assessment plans
and sample assessments of eachchapter to determine what is
appropriate to assess at a giventime in the course.
Okay, but let's say some of yourstudents need a bit more
practice with a skill on anupcoming assessment.
(09:26):
There's a quick, high impact,and relatively low prep strategy
I love to share with teachers.
And I would argue that thisstrategy is a bit more engaging
than giving students a bunch ofpractice problems to do.
I encourage teachers to providea worked example for students to
analyze.
The way this plays out isteachers display a problem
(09:46):
worked out and ask students whatthey notice, what they wonder.
The benefit of the strategy isthat students can analyze not
only the efficiency and accuracyof the worked out problem, but
this analysis can buildstudents' flexibility with a
skill because they are analyzingsomeone else's work.
This activity has the potentialto help students exercise all
(10:08):
three components of proceduralfluency: accuracy, efficiency,
and flexibility.
A little practice goes a longway.
Teachers love the strategybecause it doesn't take a lot of
time to pick out a problem,solve it before displaying it.
We know students will be moreprocedurally fluent with a
(10:29):
concept if they have more thanone strategy to work with.
So this worked example strategyhas the potential to help
students explore alternativestrategies.
Sometimes teachers still aren'tcontent and say they still feel
like some of their students justnever leave the conceptual
understanding stage of theprocess.
Okay.
(10:50):
So we know that it's importantfor students to build their
procedural fluency fromconceptual understanding.
And as a teacher, it is supertempting to rush students to the
standard algorithm versusletting students formalize their
own procedures.
I encourage these teachers Iwork with to have patience and
(11:11):
also allow students to lean into their conceptual
understanding to support themand their problem solving.
Students need to understand theprocedures they are using, and
they will need to circle back totheir conceptual understanding
as they learn new concepts andapproach new problems.
I hope this validates someteachers' feelings about fluency
(11:32):
and practice with their ownstudents.
And hopefully, folks will tryout a worked example with their
students soon.
SPEAKER_03 (11:39):
This is Erin Schneider from Louisville,
Kentucky.
And one theme I have noticedhere in October is the tendency
for students to call the teacherover for all their questions and
forgetting that they should leanon their teammates first.
So a couple of quick tips.
(11:59):
You may have heard the phrasethree before me.
So encouraging your students toask their teammates before they
call the teacher.
Remind the resource manager thatthey have the power to call the
teacher over.
So you don't have 32 peopleraising their hands and calling
your name.
And another nice tip to makesure that they've collaborated
is when you come over to theteam, don't ask the person who
(12:23):
called you over, but ask anotherteam member, say, hey, what's
the what's the team's question?
See what's going on.
That's a quick way to see ifthey've tried to answer it
amongst themselves and then tryto give a prompt or a short
response and then walk away andreassure them you're going to
come right back.
SPEAKER_01 (12:39):
Hi, my name is Adam Varns.
I'm a professional learningspecialist at CPM, and I'm
located in Southern California.
Teachers face all sorts ofchallenges in their classroom.
But one that is the mostdisruptive to student learning
is behavior management.
When students are engaging inbehaviors that distract or
prevent themselves and othersfrom learning, it is not only
(13:01):
draining, but it takes us awayfrom being able to facilitate
the lesson we had planned.
So what are some strategies forhow to address behavioral
challenges?
First, I think it's important toengage in some reflection on our
own teaching practices and askourselves is there anything we
could do differently with ourinstructional practices that can
(13:21):
assist in addressing thesebehavioral challenges?
In my experience, having theseconversations, the biggest
realization that teachers haveis that there's often a lack of
student engagement during theirlessons.
When our teaching practicesdon't support a student-centered
classroom and do not includestrategies to keep students
engaged, they are going to lookfor something to engage in.
(13:45):
This could be their phone orpeer in class.
But either way, learning is nothappening.
So what strategies can we use?
Well, I think it's important tomake sure that students are
engaging in active learningthroughout the entire lesson.
There are various ways thiscould look, but I think the
foundational pieces are thatstudents are collaborating with
(14:05):
their peers and working onnon-routine mathematical tasks.
When problems are collaborativerather than just procedural
practice, students need to relyon the joint work and ideas with
their peers in order to be ableto move forward.
Student-centered classrooms alsoinclude opportunities for
students to share their work andideas outside of their teams
(14:27):
using strategies like a swapmeet or a gallery walk.
Not only do students get tocross-pollinate with other
groups, but it's an opportunityfor them to stretch and move
around.
So as you plan your next lesson,try to make sure that students
are engaged throughout thelesson.
Here are some guiding questionsthat can help you think about
next time you plan.
(14:47):
Are students working on acollaborative task?
Are there ideas andopportunities for students to
share out their work?
Do you have easy entry pointsfor students to get started?
By doing this, we can keepstudents engaged with a math
task rather than their phone oroff-topic conversations with a
peer.
(15:08):
Sometimes, however, engagingmathematical tasks are not
enough.
And we still have behavioralissues.
My next recommendation is to tryto identify what the root cause
of the disruption is.
Usually disruptive behavior isthe symptom, not the cause.
Sometimes students don'tunderstand the task or the
directions that were given.
So rather than ask for help,they engage in off-task
(15:30):
behaviors.
Some other common causes are alack of motivation, maybe a lack
of self-math efficacy, or just arough start to the morning.
As best as you can, try toidentify the root cause of the
disruption rather than justpunishing the behavior.
My last piece of advice forbehavioral management is to not
(15:51):
be afraid to ask for supportfrom your colleagues.
Now I know from my own personalexperience that struggling with
behavioral management can feellike an indictment on you as a
teacher.
Like you can't handle thestudents in your classroom.
But the truth is, all teachershave areas of improvement.
And if behavioral management isone of yours, it is better to
seek advice from your colleaguesthan to continue in a
(16:13):
challenging environment.
Especially if you are a newteacher.
Talk to those veteran teachersto see what behavioral
management strategies haveworked for them and find some
practices that work for yourclassroom.
So to summarize some advice forbehavioral management, make sure
that your lessons are engagingstudents throughout the entire
lesson.
(16:34):
Try to identify what the causeof the behavior is and address
that.
And lastly, don't be afraid toseek the advice of colleagues.
SPEAKER_02 (16:42):
Hello, my name is Tracy Tamaj, and I am a
professional learningspecialist.
And I am here to share a commonchallenge that teachers report
to me when implementing CPM intheir classrooms in their first
year.
And that is how do I make mystudy teams more effective?
(17:03):
So in the summer learningevents, many teachers are very
excited about team roles.
And in the hustle and bustle ofthe beginning of the year and
all of the logistics of newcurriculum, oftentimes when I'm
visiting teachers after thosesummer learning events, the team
roles have dropped off.
(17:23):
And so typically we kind of lookback at those and kind of
revisit the ideas behind howthey help make our study teams
more effective and how we cankind of revamp them and get them
going again in the classroom.
And so a tip that I sometimesgive teachers or an idea that I
have is kind of sitting down andpurposefully setting aside five
(17:46):
to 10 minutes in the planning ofthe next day's lesson on what do
you want the responsibilities ofeach team member to be during
the lesson?
So whether, you know, we have acouple different iterations of
team roles, but what really doyou want each student to be
responsible for to make thestudy team effective?
And there's different vibeshere.
(18:08):
So different teachers are goingto kind of gravitate towards
different ways to make sense ofthose team roles.
So like there's the lens of likethe questions, like the one one
student is in charge of the why,and one student is in charge of
the how, and one student is incharge of the what.
And then there's other teacherswho kind of gravitate more
towards what's the job that youwant each student doing every
(18:30):
day.
And so kind of the first step islike wrapping your own mind
around what do you want thoseroles to look like on a
day-to-day basis?
And what what what are the jobsthat you can assign students or
the roles that you can assignstudents to make them feel like
they have a responsibility, aclear responsibility in that
(18:50):
team.
And then the next step is tomake sure that those roles and
responsibilities that you'veplanned for are clearly
communicated to the students sothat they can help hold each
other and you accountable to theteam roles.
So I always suggest that therehas to be a place in the
classroom where there's ageneral display of those
responsibilities.
So whether that's an anchorchart or a designated spot in
(19:13):
the classroom that kind ofexplains, you know, to anybody
walking through the room, likewhat are each of these roles and
what are they supposed to bedoing?
And then I also encourageteachers, once you've planned at
your next day's lesson and youhave an idea, like let's say
you're making a poster orsomething like that.
That's a that's a great way thatyou can say, I want this student
(19:34):
to be in charge of making surewe have materials.
I want this student to be incharge of making sure
everybody's contributing.
I want this person to be incharge of making sure that we're
using color and that the namesare on the poster or whatever,
whatever it might be.
And having that clearlydisplayed somewhere in the
classroom for the day, whetherit's on a whiteboard or an
agenda or something like that,so that the students can can
(19:56):
refer back to it and you cankind of all help hold each other
accountable.
That's those are some of my tipsand tricks of just like getting
the team roles going again inthe classroom and making enough
structure that everybodyunderstands how you can use them
on a day-by-day basis.
And it also kind of can helprecommit to the idea of the team
roles.
(20:17):
So hopefully if you are in yourfirst year of implementation,
you can take some of those tipsand tricks back into your
classroom.
SPEAKER_07 (20:26):
We have another Join Them on Their Journey update
from Jesse Todd in Astoria,Oregon, and Chilo in Alameda,
California.
Joy.
SPEAKER_00 (20:37):
Hey guys, it's Jesse coming to you from Astoria,
Oregon again.
I hope everybody out therelistening is doing well.
We here in Oregon are in oursixth week of school.
So it is definitely feeling likethe middle of October right now.
Um, the weather's still beenbeautiful, which is great, and
(21:00):
the rain has not hit us yet.
I think it's actually supposedto start tomorrow, but we won't
talk about that.
My kids are definitely uh in theneed for a three-day weekend,
and we have professionaldevelopment tomorrow.
So they get that they were veryexcited today.
I'm excited to give you guys anupdate about how things are
(21:23):
going overall.
I would say this year has beenpretty good.
I'm feeling good.
The kids are doing well.
We haven't had any major, oh mygosh, but one of my big goals
was to try to randomize mygroups every single day.
And interestingly enough, Ithought that the juniors and
seniors would be the group thatI really honed in on and started
(21:46):
with.
And I did for like the first,you know, week or so, but then
it was very evident that it wasthe freshman class of integrated
one that really needed, reallyneeded it.
Um we went through the firstlike uh three weeks of school,
and I kind of let them choosewhere they wanted to sit, choose
(22:07):
who they to see, you know, whothey would, who they would sit
with and what sort of goodchoices we would make.
And it turns out that they didnot make very good choices.
And so I was kind of after theirfirst assessment came back, I
was like, you know what, we needto shake some things up.
(22:28):
And so I decided that it wastime to do random groups every
single day.
And so we've been doing that nowfor about three and a half weeks
or so.
And it has surprisingly beengoing really well.
So I'm doing it with two periodsright now.
I figured it was better to startsmall and then work my way out.
(22:52):
Though now that I think aboutit, I probably should have just
done all my classes all at once,but because now we're in
routines and so I think I'll getmore resistance.
So that might have been amistake I made.
But I am happy to report thatthings are going pretty smoothly
with the freshmen.
They are an integrated one.
(23:12):
They are definitely grumblingabout it every day, like, oh, we
have to do this again.
Like, yeah, we have to do itevery day.
And but I will say that theamount of math talk has
increased a lot.
Like, they are discussingthings, they are talking to each
other, um, they are workingtogether.
(23:34):
Um, so that has been really coolto see.
Just the amount of off-task talkhas really decreased a lot,
which is kind of cool.
I've also had some really neatmoments where students are
sharing with the large group asa class that would never that
(23:54):
never said a word the first likethree weeks.
And now they're like, oh mygosh, I get this.
It's been, it's been really coolto see not just those those kids
that all of a sudden are seeingthemselves as math learners, but
also the students that are likethey're seeing themselves as
math learners, but the communityas a whole is just so much more
(24:19):
positive.
Like everybody is accepting ofeverybody and everybody's ideas
in the room.
And so that that has been reallycool to see.
And I feel like that's a apositive consequence that I
didn't really see coming.
Yes, they're getting more workdone.
Yes, they're they're making moreconnections and things, which is
(24:40):
really great.
But I feel like my overallclassroom community has really
become very positive.
And so that's been really neatto see.
I will say I also tried thiswith my sophomores in Extended
Algebra, which is the groupthat's doing the second half of
Integrated One right now.
(25:01):
And the results have have notbeen as profound.
I definitely have realized thatI need to go back and reteach
some group expectations and whatmy expectations are with
students that that are in thatclass.
(25:24):
It's definitely been more of astruggle to get them to engage
when they're working with otherpeople.
So that is gonna be my focushere for the next couple of
weeks with them.
But the thing that is kind ofcool is that, you know, we
started this book study onbuilding thinking classrooms
(25:45):
with the department.
And today we actually discussedchapter one.
We're doing it, we discuss achapter every other week.
So one week we spend PLCreading, and the second, the
next week we discuss thechapter.
So today we were discussingchapter one, which is about the
types of tasks that you use inthe classroom.
(26:09):
And one of the things thatreally stuck out to me when I
read it was this idea ofstarting class with three to
four non-curricular thinkingactivities.
And I I have always been a bigproponent of like, I want to
give them a doc talk, I want togive them a um a number talk or
(26:32):
a which one doesn't belong orsomething like that at the
beginning of every period.
But I never really like I I lovethose tasks because kids can
access them no matter wherethey're at, right?
They're they can, you know,anybody can do them.
And so they start class off on apositive note.
(26:53):
They start with something thatthey for sure can do.
And that has always been like apositive thing.
But I was never, I was alwayskind of like, if I didn't have
time to to find one orsomething, I was like, oh, it's
no big deal.
But it's actually it's really abig deal.
And so we we talked about thatas a as a group today, a little
(27:16):
bit as a department.
And I do think I was I was kindof like, oh, anecdotally, yeah,
I definitely notice a differencein my kids on the days where we
have a thinking task that'snon-curricular to start the
period versus just jumping inand going over homework or
something.
And the interesting thing isthat they're like anecdotally, I
(27:39):
noticed a difference in my kids,but this is actually saying that
research shows that that that isa good thing to do too.
So I am going to increase thoseactivities with some of my
classes that maybe I wasn'tdoing that as frequently with.
I was always doing it withadvanced topics, I was always
doing it with extended algebra,but when it comes to like
(28:03):
integrated one and uhprecalculus, I haven't really
been starting class with anon-curricular task, and I'm
gonna try it and see whathappens when I do it.
So, anyway, things here aregood, and I appreciate you guys
listening and coming along onthis journey with me as I try to
(28:26):
implement some new things andmake some changes.
So, like I said, I hopeeverybody's doing good and I'm
out.
We'll talk to you later.
SPEAKER_08 (28:36):
Hello, it's G again coming to you from Alameda,
California.
It's been a pretty busy week.
We were trying to prepare forour end of chapter assessment,
and as a result, we spend awhole week, all three days, on
(28:57):
the preparation and thecorrections on that test.
So the breakdown of the weekgoes like this.
On day one, we had our reviewpackets, and we spend a period
we spend a class going over someof the problems and answering
(29:18):
questions that students mighthave.
I circulated the room trying tosee progress and checking for
understanding.
And you know, overall lookspretty good.
Then we have our tests on daytwo.
Pretty typical, right?
Everybody in the seat, voicelevel zero, no bathroom passed,
(29:39):
all that screwed.
Then on day three, so afterthat, I took the test and went
and marked down what are someproblems they need to revisit.
So I'm not grading it yet, andI'm only giving them like you
know indicators that they Gotthis question perfectly, or they
(30:03):
got this question mostly, andand they what you know they can
change a little bit from a greatanswer to a perfect answer.
Um, and then uh there's alsoindicator that you're on the
right track, but you know,execution is missing something,
and then there's also anindicator of this is completely
(30:24):
off track, should we visit thisproblem?
So that happens on day two, andthen day three, we did a quick
review session, which is goingover some of the things I see
underlines all the people'severyone's tests.
I didn't show them any exampleof what we're talking about on
(30:45):
any of the review like quickreviews that we did, because I
have them take down notes aswe're going over it, and I told
them that they can use that ontheir correction.
So that little half sheets ofnotes was kinda like a legend
for them to revisit their testand go over some of the things I
(31:09):
had marked.
So for example, a student isgonna raise their hand and ask
why is this one on the rightpath but not correct, then I
would revert them to a certainsession of the half sheets so
that they have to think deeperabout what they have shown or
what kind of mastery they haveshown.
(31:31):
And I know it was interestingbecause it's you know, last year
we did a full-on retake, so wehad our tests, and they would
take their tests back, and thenthey would have a chance to do a
retake in two weeks, which isanother full class day.
So this year we do itback-to-back like that, just for
(31:53):
a quicker turnaround and for alot of reasons.
And what we saw was it's amiddling result.
So we have students who cameback ready for the correction
and knew exactly what we'retalking about when I, you know,
given the indicators.
There are students who, youknow, didn't make any
(32:15):
corrections.
There are a lot of frustrationbecause I wouldn't tell them
what was wrong with it.
Also, I wouldn't tell them ifthey have fixed a mistake or
not.
So it's interesting to see thatlike, you know, once I increase
the connected demand of knowingif your math is correct.
Because I always tell them thatmath is one subject where you
(32:38):
can know for sure that you'recorrect or you might not be.
Because math is math.
And sometimes even I makemistakes.
So this is something that'ssomething that we want to
cultivate in our students, isthis ability to assess their
answers.
Then there's a couple studentswho brought up material
(33:01):
materials that they that was notallowed to be used on the test,
during the test.
And I think in years past Iwould interpret that as
cheating.
Um my colleague reframed thatwith me.
On the topic of cheating, Idon't think any student have bad
intention.
Like, I said no one is bornwanting to lie and cheat their
(33:26):
way through life.
I think cheating is amanifestation of the fear of not
performing well.
And I think as educators, weneed to rethink about the
restorative practices that goesaround academic integrity or the
issues of that of academicintegrity.
(33:49):
I think oftentimes we come froma punishment or disciplinary
angle, but I think that it wouldbe a more useful experience, um
more of a learning moment for astudent if you show them that
you understand that they do thisbecause they're scared.
(34:09):
And here's how we can do it, sothat they won't be scared for
the next test.
Those are ongoing conversations,so maybe I'll bring that back
next time.
But that's all I have for now.
Have a good day.
SPEAKER_07 (34:31):
So that is all we have time for on this episode of
the More Math for More Peoplepodcast.
If you are interested inconnecting with us on social
media, find our links in thepodcast description.
And the music for the podcastwas created by Julius H.
and can be found on pixabay.com.
So thank you very much, Julius.
Join us in two weeks for thenext episode of More Math for
(34:54):
More People.
What day will that be, Joel?
SPEAKER_05 (34:58):
It'll be October 28th, National Chocolate Day.
And so we'll trade some storiesabout chocolate, the history
behind chocolate, why we need aspecial day to celebrate
chocolate.
Personally, I'm more of a milkchocolate person.
Dark chocolate.
I don't know if it's an allergyor not, but I always think that
it doesn't quite feel right.
(35:19):
I remember sneaking into thepantry when I was a kid and
finding a huge, big, hugechocolate bar, and opening it
up, and discovering for thefirst time what baker's
chocolate tastes like.
And so maybe I'll tell thatstory as well.
But join us on over 28.
You are listening to the More Math for More People
podcast, an outreach of CPMeducational program.
Boom.
SPEAKER_07 (00:31):
Joel, how could it be the middle of October
already?
SPEAKER_05 (00:35):
Well, uh like I knew this seriously, aren't you?
We have some names for somethings, but as the the earth
goes by the like we're in thatposition that we call October
14th.
SPEAKER_07 (00:50):
Interesting.
SPEAKER_05 (00:51):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (00:51):
That was not the answer I was expecting.
I mean, it's clearly.
SPEAKER_05 (00:55):
It's crazy that it's almost the end of 2025.
SPEAKER_07 (00:57):
I cannot believe this.
SPEAKER_05 (00:59):
It's this we just started 2025.
Like I still remember.
SPEAKER_07 (01:02):
And yet it feels like we've been in 2025 forever.
SPEAKER_05 (01:06):
Both of all of those things are true.
SPEAKER_07 (01:08):
Exactly.
SPEAKER_05 (01:09):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (01:09):
So it is when you hear this podcast, October 14th.
And so what is the national dayfor today?
SPEAKER_05 (01:19):
Today is Ada Lovelace Day.
Lovelace?
Or Lovelace.
Lovelace.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (01:24):
I think it's Lovelace.
Okay.
But if you kind of say it fast,it's like Lovelace.
Lovelace.
But it is Lovelace.
Ada Lovelace.
SPEAKER_05 (01:31):
Yeah.
Oh, cool.
Do you know about Ada?
SPEAKER_07 (01:34):
I do know some things about Ada.
When I was doing my uh teachingcertificate in my graduate work,
I took a history of math classand then I wrote my thesis paper
or whatever about why there wereso few women in mathematics over
time, like in the you know,olden days.
(01:55):
And and it was very interesting,like overlap, you know,
conjunction between opportunityand uh I'm just gonna say
probably like a little bit ofmisogyny perpetrated by the
church.
But uh there but the women whodid, it was more like as opposed
to really getting into thatwhole part, I looked at like why
(02:15):
were the women who did becomeprominent or known or whatever,
why did they?
And it was a lot of they hadsome opportunity and that other
women didn't, and or a or somesort of a patron or husband or
somebody had access to things.
So and A Lovelace was definitelyYeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_05 (02:32):
I mean you you hit right on it.
It's uh today is aboutrecognizing achievements of
women in science, technology,engineering, math.
Um daughter of Lord Byron, whowas a famous poet.
Yep.
And it even says here because ofthat opportunity to be in a
wealthy, well-known family, shewas given the opportunity to be
(02:56):
recognized for her contributionsto basically creating the idea
of computers.
SPEAKER_07 (03:03):
And she worked with Charles Babbage, right?
SPEAKER_05 (03:06):
I'm not sure about that, but I Okay, I might be
wrong.
You Oh I do.
Her work with Babbage led to thepublication of what's now
recognized as the firstalgorithm.
SPEAKER_07 (03:17):
So cool.
Yeah.
So why why is there any reasonson uh the 14th of October?
I'm always curious, like why isit today?
SPEAKER_05 (03:27):
I know why did I choose that day, right?
This just says that it's it's itwas designated as the second
Tuesday of October.
And it was just for w it likethere's not a specific reason.
It's just that let's go aheadand recognize it on the second
Tuesday of October.
SPEAKER_07 (03:48):
Oh, so it changes, so it's not always October 14th.
SPEAKER_05 (03:51):
I guess so.
SPEAKER_07 (03:52):
I mean it could be October 15th all the way up to
October 20th.
SPEAKER_05 (03:57):
Well in 2026, because again, uh I'll just kind
of share as the Earth goesaround the sun.
SPEAKER_07 (04:03):
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_05 (04:04):
And then uh it'll be October 13th next year of 2026.
SPEAKER_07 (04:10):
Interesting.
SPEAKER_05 (04:11):
And the twelfth the year after that.
SPEAKER_07 (04:13):
Oh.
Wait, so it's the secondTuesday.
Oh, so we can go all the wayfrom the eighth.
This is as late as it could be,is the fourteenth.
Yes.
That was on Tuesday.
Yes.
All right.
Cool.
Yeah.
Uh what else do we have to say?
Oh, so eight, I mean, what elsedo you have to tell me about Ada
Lovelace then?
SPEAKER_05 (04:31):
Well, it's uh I I like that you brought up the
about your research of thehistory of mathematics.
That was one of my favoriteclasses when I was going to
school too, and we talked aboutthe rogues of math.
SPEAKER_07 (04:43):
The rogues?
SPEAKER_05 (04:44):
Yeah.
And we had uh so there was somemathematicians that had died in
duels or arguments.
SPEAKER_07 (04:52):
You made them rogues because they died in duels.
SPEAKER_05 (04:54):
Yes.
But I remember Ada Lovelessbeing brought up as kind of a
rogue because being a woman andthat doesn't make her a rogue.
Yeah.
Not part of the mainstream frayof mathematicians at the time.
SPEAKER_07 (05:11):
So cool.
SPEAKER_05 (05:14):
So how are you gonna celebrate?
I was just gonna say how well Icould learn to code.
That's one suggestion.
I'll tell you, I took a intro toprogramming as one of my courses
as well.
Probably one of the hardestclasses I ever took.
(05:34):
Very hard for me to learncoding.
Um, I could brush up on myhistory of women in science.
Sounds like that.
I would just be interested toknow about that.
And then it says that you canattend a l Ada Lovelace event.
So I guess if you look up pubquizzes, lectures, workshops
(05:57):
near you, you could find anevent on this day to celebrate
with.
SPEAKER_07 (06:02):
I wonder how widespread those are.
SPEAKER_05 (06:04):
I don't know.
SPEAKER_07 (06:04):
I mean, if there's one in every city or if there's
just five in the US or one.
Yeah.
I don't know how how widespreadthose may be.
It's interesting that youbrought up coding.
I haven't done any recentcoding.
I mean, we occasionally workwith HTML, which feels like a
bit of coding.
I kind of get it, but I don't Icouldn't write anything from
(06:25):
scratch.
SPEAKER_05 (06:25):
I just copy paste seems to work for me.
SPEAKER_07 (06:28):
Well, yeah, and I edit, and I sometimes I'm like,
oh, I can see that it needsanother little tag thing here or
something.
But when I was in school, I tookFortran, which I can't even tell
you how it works anymore, butthat was that long ago.
I think it's anything anybodyuses anymore.
SPEAKER_05 (06:44):
I was gonna say, is it in a museum?
Like how would someone do it?
Is it in a museum?
SPEAKER_07 (06:51):
Uh I did learn basic when I was in high school too.
Nice, nice.
But yeah, I think I think I'mgonna I'm gonna, yeah.
I'm gonna look and see ifthere's any Ada Lovelace uh
celebrations.
SPEAKER_05 (07:02):
Yeah, I think I might do that too, because that
would be kind of interesting.
SPEAKER_07 (07:06):
Especially if there's somewhere you can have
adult beverages.
SPEAKER_05 (07:08):
Yeah.
Well, it says Pub Triviaquizzes.
SPEAKER_07 (07:11):
Exactly.
SPEAKER_05 (07:12):
So it's exactly seems reasonable.
SPEAKER_07 (07:14):
Indeed.
All right, well, everyone, enjoyyour Ada Lovelace Day and uh
promote more women in science.
SPEAKER_05 (07:21):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_07 (07:51):
And so we asked the PL team to send us a little bit
about what some of the themes ofsupport are that they're seeing,
what kinds of things they'recoming across when they're
working with teachers, what aresome of the themes or threads or
kind of trends that they'renoticing as they're working with
these teachers, and what aresome of the things that they are
(08:12):
offering as support?
So here's a few of those fromour PL team members.
SPEAKER_06 (08:18):
Enjoy.
My name is Nicole Gorgas.
I am part of the professionallearning team at CPM, and I am
in Victoria, Minnesota.
One of the themes of supportI've noticed with the teachers
I've visited recently is theconcern that students are not
getting enough practice.
This typically leads to aconversation about procedural
fluency, mixed-based practice,and assessment.
A question I ask teachers is: Are you expecting too much (08:42):
undefined
fluency too soon?
With mixed-based practice,students are revisiting concepts
and procedures over time, whichhelps students strengthen their
understanding and proceduralfluency.
CPM does include as muchpractice as the traditional
blocked practice.
Only it is done over severaldays through lessons and
(09:04):
chapters.
So that being said, it can betricky to know when to expect
proficiency.
So teachers do need to refer tothose suggested assessment plans
and sample assessments of eachchapter to determine what is
appropriate to assess at a giventime in the course.
Okay, but let's say some of yourstudents need a bit more
practice with a skill on anupcoming assessment.
(09:26):
There's a quick, high impact,and relatively low prep strategy
I love to share with teachers.
And I would argue that thisstrategy is a bit more engaging
than giving students a bunch ofpractice problems to do.
I encourage teachers to providea worked example for students to
analyze.
The way this plays out isteachers display a problem
(09:46):
worked out and ask students whatthey notice, what they wonder.
The benefit of the strategy isthat students can analyze not
only the efficiency and accuracyof the worked out problem, but
this analysis can buildstudents' flexibility with a
skill because they are analyzingsomeone else's work.
This activity has the potentialto help students exercise all
(10:08):
three components of proceduralfluency: accuracy, efficiency,
and flexibility.
A little practice goes a longway.
Teachers love the strategybecause it doesn't take a lot of
time to pick out a problem,solve it before displaying it.
We know students will be moreprocedurally fluent with a
(10:29):
concept if they have more thanone strategy to work with.
So this worked example strategyhas the potential to help
students explore alternativestrategies.
Sometimes teachers still aren'tcontent and say they still feel
like some of their students justnever leave the conceptual
understanding stage of theprocess.
Okay.
(10:50):
So we know that it's importantfor students to build their
procedural fluency fromconceptual understanding.
And as a teacher, it is supertempting to rush students to the
standard algorithm versusletting students formalize their
own procedures.
I encourage these teachers Iwork with to have patience and
(11:11):
also allow students to lean into their conceptual
understanding to support themand their problem solving.
Students need to understand theprocedures they are using, and
they will need to circle back totheir conceptual understanding
as they learn new concepts andapproach new problems.
I hope this validates someteachers' feelings about fluency
(11:32):
and practice with their ownstudents.
And hopefully, folks will tryout a worked example with their
students soon.
SPEAKER_03 (11:39):
This is Erin Schneider from Louisville,
Kentucky.
And one theme I have noticedhere in October is the tendency
for students to call the teacherover for all their questions and
forgetting that they should leanon their teammates first.
So a couple of quick tips.
(11:59):
You may have heard the phrasethree before me.
So encouraging your students toask their teammates before they
call the teacher.
Remind the resource manager thatthey have the power to call the
teacher over.
So you don't have 32 peopleraising their hands and calling
your name.
And another nice tip to makesure that they've collaborated
is when you come over to theteam, don't ask the person who
(12:23):
called you over, but ask anotherteam member, say, hey, what's
the what's the team's question?
See what's going on.
That's a quick way to see ifthey've tried to answer it
amongst themselves and then tryto give a prompt or a short
response and then walk away andreassure them you're going to
come right back.
SPEAKER_01 (12:39):
Hi, my name is Adam Varns.
I'm a professional learningspecialist at CPM, and I'm
located in Southern California.
Teachers face all sorts ofchallenges in their classroom.
But one that is the mostdisruptive to student learning
is behavior management.
When students are engaging inbehaviors that distract or
prevent themselves and othersfrom learning, it is not only
(13:01):
draining, but it takes us awayfrom being able to facilitate
the lesson we had planned.
So what are some strategies forhow to address behavioral
challenges?
First, I think it's important toengage in some reflection on our
own teaching practices and askourselves is there anything we
could do differently with ourinstructional practices that can
(13:21):
assist in addressing thesebehavioral challenges?
In my experience, having theseconversations, the biggest
realization that teachers haveis that there's often a lack of
student engagement during theirlessons.
When our teaching practicesdon't support a student-centered
classroom and do not includestrategies to keep students
engaged, they are going to lookfor something to engage in.
(13:45):
This could be their phone orpeer in class.
But either way, learning is nothappening.
So what strategies can we use?
Well, I think it's important tomake sure that students are
engaging in active learningthroughout the entire lesson.
There are various ways thiscould look, but I think the
foundational pieces are thatstudents are collaborating with
(14:05):
their peers and working onnon-routine mathematical tasks.
When problems are collaborativerather than just procedural
practice, students need to relyon the joint work and ideas with
their peers in order to be ableto move forward.
Student-centered classrooms alsoinclude opportunities for
students to share their work andideas outside of their teams
(14:27):
using strategies like a swapmeet or a gallery walk.
Not only do students get tocross-pollinate with other
groups, but it's an opportunityfor them to stretch and move
around.
So as you plan your next lesson,try to make sure that students
are engaged throughout thelesson.
Here are some guiding questionsthat can help you think about
next time you plan.
(14:47):
Are students working on acollaborative task?
Are there ideas andopportunities for students to
share out their work?
Do you have easy entry pointsfor students to get started?
By doing this, we can keepstudents engaged with a math
task rather than their phone oroff-topic conversations with a
peer.
(15:08):
Sometimes, however, engagingmathematical tasks are not
enough.
And we still have behavioralissues.
My next recommendation is to tryto identify what the root cause
of the disruption is.
Usually disruptive behavior isthe symptom, not the cause.
Sometimes students don'tunderstand the task or the
directions that were given.
So rather than ask for help,they engage in off-task
(15:30):
behaviors.
Some other common causes are alack of motivation, maybe a lack
of self-math efficacy, or just arough start to the morning.
As best as you can, try toidentify the root cause of the
disruption rather than justpunishing the behavior.
My last piece of advice forbehavioral management is to not
(15:51):
be afraid to ask for supportfrom your colleagues.
Now I know from my own personalexperience that struggling with
behavioral management can feellike an indictment on you as a
teacher.
Like you can't handle thestudents in your classroom.
But the truth is, all teachershave areas of improvement.
And if behavioral management isone of yours, it is better to
seek advice from your colleaguesthan to continue in a
(16:13):
challenging environment.
Especially if you are a newteacher.
Talk to those veteran teachersto see what behavioral
management strategies haveworked for them and find some
practices that work for yourclassroom.
So to summarize some advice forbehavioral management, make sure
that your lessons are engagingstudents throughout the entire
lesson.
(16:34):
Try to identify what the causeof the behavior is and address
that.
And lastly, don't be afraid toseek the advice of colleagues.
SPEAKER_02 (16:42):
Hello, my name is Tracy Tamaj, and I am a
professional learningspecialist.
And I am here to share a commonchallenge that teachers report
to me when implementing CPM intheir classrooms in their first
year.
And that is how do I make mystudy teams more effective?
(17:03):
So in the summer learningevents, many teachers are very
excited about team roles.
And in the hustle and bustle ofthe beginning of the year and
all of the logistics of newcurriculum, oftentimes when I'm
visiting teachers after thosesummer learning events, the team
roles have dropped off.
(17:23):
And so typically we kind of lookback at those and kind of
revisit the ideas behind howthey help make our study teams
more effective and how we cankind of revamp them and get them
going again in the classroom.
And so a tip that I sometimesgive teachers or an idea that I
have is kind of sitting down andpurposefully setting aside five
(17:46):
to 10 minutes in the planning ofthe next day's lesson on what do
you want the responsibilities ofeach team member to be during
the lesson?
So whether, you know, we have acouple different iterations of
team roles, but what really doyou want each student to be
responsible for to make thestudy team effective?
And there's different vibeshere.
(18:08):
So different teachers are goingto kind of gravitate towards
different ways to make sense ofthose team roles.
So like there's the lens of likethe questions, like the one one
student is in charge of the why,and one student is in charge of
the how, and one student is incharge of the what.
And then there's other teacherswho kind of gravitate more
towards what's the job that youwant each student doing every
(18:30):
day.
And so kind of the first step islike wrapping your own mind
around what do you want thoseroles to look like on a
day-to-day basis?
And what what what are the jobsthat you can assign students or
the roles that you can assignstudents to make them feel like
they have a responsibility, aclear responsibility in that
(18:50):
team.
And then the next step is tomake sure that those roles and
responsibilities that you'veplanned for are clearly
communicated to the students sothat they can help hold each
other and you accountable to theteam roles.
So I always suggest that therehas to be a place in the
classroom where there's ageneral display of those
responsibilities.
So whether that's an anchorchart or a designated spot in
(19:13):
the classroom that kind ofexplains, you know, to anybody
walking through the room, likewhat are each of these roles and
what are they supposed to bedoing?
And then I also encourageteachers, once you've planned at
your next day's lesson and youhave an idea, like let's say
you're making a poster orsomething like that.
That's a that's a great way thatyou can say, I want this student
(19:34):
to be in charge of making surewe have materials.
I want this student to be incharge of making sure
everybody's contributing.
I want this person to be incharge of making sure that we're
using color and that the namesare on the poster or whatever,
whatever it might be.
And having that clearlydisplayed somewhere in the
classroom for the day, whetherit's on a whiteboard or an
agenda or something like that,so that the students can can
(19:56):
refer back to it and you cankind of all help hold each other
accountable.
That's those are some of my tipsand tricks of just like getting
the team roles going again inthe classroom and making enough
structure that everybodyunderstands how you can use them
on a day-by-day basis.
And it also kind of can helprecommit to the idea of the team
roles.
(20:17):
So hopefully if you are in yourfirst year of implementation,
you can take some of those tipsand tricks back into your
classroom.
SPEAKER_07 (20:26):
We have another Join Them on Their Journey update
from Jesse Todd in Astoria,Oregon, and Chilo in Alameda,
California.
Joy.
SPEAKER_00 (20:37):
Hey guys, it's Jesse coming to you from Astoria,
Oregon again.
I hope everybody out therelistening is doing well.
We here in Oregon are in oursixth week of school.
So it is definitely feeling likethe middle of October right now.
Um, the weather's still beenbeautiful, which is great, and
(21:00):
the rain has not hit us yet.
I think it's actually supposedto start tomorrow, but we won't
talk about that.
My kids are definitely uh in theneed for a three-day weekend,
and we have professionaldevelopment tomorrow.
So they get that they were veryexcited today.
I'm excited to give you guys anupdate about how things are
(21:23):
going overall.
I would say this year has beenpretty good.
I'm feeling good.
The kids are doing well.
We haven't had any major, oh mygosh, but one of my big goals
was to try to randomize mygroups every single day.
And interestingly enough, Ithought that the juniors and
seniors would be the group thatI really honed in on and started
(21:46):
with.
And I did for like the first,you know, week or so, but then
it was very evident that it wasthe freshman class of integrated
one that really needed, reallyneeded it.
Um we went through the firstlike uh three weeks of school,
and I kind of let them choosewhere they wanted to sit, choose
(22:07):
who they to see, you know, whothey would, who they would sit
with and what sort of goodchoices we would make.
And it turns out that they didnot make very good choices.
And so I was kind of after theirfirst assessment came back, I
was like, you know what, we needto shake some things up.
(22:28):
And so I decided that it wastime to do random groups every
single day.
And so we've been doing that nowfor about three and a half weeks
or so.
And it has surprisingly beengoing really well.
So I'm doing it with two periodsright now.
I figured it was better to startsmall and then work my way out.
(22:52):
Though now that I think aboutit, I probably should have just
done all my classes all at once,but because now we're in
routines and so I think I'll getmore resistance.
So that might have been amistake I made.
But I am happy to report thatthings are going pretty smoothly
with the freshmen.
They are an integrated one.
(23:12):
They are definitely grumblingabout it every day, like, oh, we
have to do this again.
Like, yeah, we have to do itevery day.
And but I will say that theamount of math talk has
increased a lot.
Like, they are discussingthings, they are talking to each
other, um, they are workingtogether.
(23:34):
Um, so that has been really coolto see.
Just the amount of off-task talkhas really decreased a lot,
which is kind of cool.
I've also had some really neatmoments where students are
sharing with the large group asa class that would never that
(23:54):
never said a word the first likethree weeks.
And now they're like, oh mygosh, I get this.
It's been, it's been really coolto see not just those those kids
that all of a sudden are seeingthemselves as math learners, but
also the students that are likethey're seeing themselves as
math learners, but the communityas a whole is just so much more
(24:19):
positive.
Like everybody is accepting ofeverybody and everybody's ideas
in the room.
And so that that has been reallycool to see.
And I feel like that's a apositive consequence that I
didn't really see coming.
Yes, they're getting more workdone.
Yes, they're they're making moreconnections and things, which is
(24:40):
really great.
But I feel like my overallclassroom community has really
become very positive.
And so that's been really neatto see.
I will say I also tried thiswith my sophomores in Extended
Algebra, which is the groupthat's doing the second half of
Integrated One right now.
(25:01):
And the results have have notbeen as profound.
I definitely have realized thatI need to go back and reteach
some group expectations and whatmy expectations are with
students that that are in thatclass.
(25:24):
It's definitely been more of astruggle to get them to engage
when they're working with otherpeople.
So that is gonna be my focushere for the next couple of
weeks with them.
But the thing that is kind ofcool is that, you know, we
started this book study onbuilding thinking classrooms
(25:45):
with the department.
And today we actually discussedchapter one.
We're doing it, we discuss achapter every other week.
So one week we spend PLCreading, and the second, the
next week we discuss thechapter.
So today we were discussingchapter one, which is about the
types of tasks that you use inthe classroom.
(26:09):
And one of the things thatreally stuck out to me when I
read it was this idea ofstarting class with three to
four non-curricular thinkingactivities.
And I I have always been a bigproponent of like, I want to
give them a doc talk, I want togive them a um a number talk or
(26:32):
a which one doesn't belong orsomething like that at the
beginning of every period.
But I never really like I I lovethose tasks because kids can
access them no matter wherethey're at, right?
They're they can, you know,anybody can do them.
And so they start class off on apositive note.
(26:53):
They start with something thatthey for sure can do.
And that has always been like apositive thing.
But I was never, I was alwayskind of like, if I didn't have
time to to find one orsomething, I was like, oh, it's
no big deal.
But it's actually it's really abig deal.
And so we we talked about thatas a as a group today, a little
(27:16):
bit as a department.
And I do think I was I was kindof like, oh, anecdotally, yeah,
I definitely notice a differencein my kids on the days where we
have a thinking task that'snon-curricular to start the
period versus just jumping inand going over homework or
something.
And the interesting thing isthat they're like anecdotally, I
(27:39):
noticed a difference in my kids,but this is actually saying that
research shows that that that isa good thing to do too.
So I am going to increase thoseactivities with some of my
classes that maybe I wasn'tdoing that as frequently with.
I was always doing it withadvanced topics, I was always
doing it with extended algebra,but when it comes to like
(28:03):
integrated one and uhprecalculus, I haven't really
been starting class with anon-curricular task, and I'm
gonna try it and see whathappens when I do it.
So, anyway, things here aregood, and I appreciate you guys
listening and coming along onthis journey with me as I try to
(28:26):
implement some new things andmake some changes.
So, like I said, I hopeeverybody's doing good and I'm
out.
We'll talk to you later.
SPEAKER_08 (28:36):
Hello, it's G again coming to you from Alameda,
California.
It's been a pretty busy week.
We were trying to prepare forour end of chapter assessment,
and as a result, we spend awhole week, all three days, on
(28:57):
the preparation and thecorrections on that test.
So the breakdown of the weekgoes like this.
On day one, we had our reviewpackets, and we spend a period
we spend a class going over someof the problems and answering
(29:18):
questions that students mighthave.
I circulated the room trying tosee progress and checking for
understanding.
And you know, overall lookspretty good.
Then we have our tests on daytwo.
Pretty typical, right?
Everybody in the seat, voicelevel zero, no bathroom passed,
(29:39):
all that screwed.
Then on day three, so afterthat, I took the test and went
and marked down what are someproblems they need to revisit.
So I'm not grading it yet, andI'm only giving them like you
know indicators that they Gotthis question perfectly, or they
(30:03):
got this question mostly, andand they what you know they can
change a little bit from a greatanswer to a perfect answer.
Um, and then uh there's alsoindicator that you're on the
right track, but you know,execution is missing something,
and then there's also anindicator of this is completely
(30:24):
off track, should we visit thisproblem?
So that happens on day two, andthen day three, we did a quick
review session, which is goingover some of the things I see
underlines all the people'severyone's tests.
I didn't show them any exampleof what we're talking about on
(30:45):
any of the review like quickreviews that we did, because I
have them take down notes aswe're going over it, and I told
them that they can use that ontheir correction.
So that little half sheets ofnotes was kinda like a legend
for them to revisit their testand go over some of the things I
(31:09):
had marked.
So for example, a student isgonna raise their hand and ask
why is this one on the rightpath but not correct, then I
would revert them to a certainsession of the half sheets so
that they have to think deeperabout what they have shown or
what kind of mastery they haveshown.
(31:31):
And I know it was interestingbecause it's you know, last year
we did a full-on retake, so wehad our tests, and they would
take their tests back, and thenthey would have a chance to do a
retake in two weeks, which isanother full class day.
So this year we do itback-to-back like that, just for
(31:53):
a quicker turnaround and for alot of reasons.
And what we saw was it's amiddling result.
So we have students who cameback ready for the correction
and knew exactly what we'retalking about when I, you know,
given the indicators.
There are students who, youknow, didn't make any
(32:15):
corrections.
There are a lot of frustrationbecause I wouldn't tell them
what was wrong with it.
Also, I wouldn't tell them ifthey have fixed a mistake or
not.
So it's interesting to see thatlike, you know, once I increase
the connected demand of knowingif your math is correct.
Because I always tell them thatmath is one subject where you
(32:38):
can know for sure that you'recorrect or you might not be.
Because math is math.
And sometimes even I makemistakes.
So this is something that'ssomething that we want to
cultivate in our students, isthis ability to assess their
answers.
Then there's a couple studentswho brought up material
(33:01):
materials that they that was notallowed to be used on the test,
during the test.
And I think in years past Iwould interpret that as
cheating.
Um my colleague reframed thatwith me.
On the topic of cheating, Idon't think any student have bad
intention.
Like, I said no one is bornwanting to lie and cheat their
(33:26):
way through life.
I think cheating is amanifestation of the fear of not
performing well.
And I think as educators, weneed to rethink about the
restorative practices that goesaround academic integrity or the
issues of that of academicintegrity.
(33:49):
I think oftentimes we come froma punishment or disciplinary
angle, but I think that it wouldbe a more useful experience, um
more of a learning moment for astudent if you show them that
you understand that they do thisbecause they're scared.
(34:09):
And here's how we can do it, sothat they won't be scared for
the next test.
Those are ongoing conversations,so maybe I'll bring that back
next time.
But that's all I have for now.
Have a good day.
SPEAKER_07 (34:31):
So that is all we have time for on this episode of
the More Math for More Peoplepodcast.
If you are interested inconnecting with us on social
media, find our links in thepodcast description.
And the music for the podcastwas created by Julius H.
and can be found on pixabay.com.
So thank you very much, Julius.
Join us in two weeks for thenext episode of More Math for
(34:54):
More People.
What day will that be, Joel?
SPEAKER_05 (34:58):
It'll be October 28th, National Chocolate Day.
And so we'll trade some storiesabout chocolate, the history
behind chocolate, why we need aspecial day to celebrate
chocolate.
Personally, I'm more of a milkchocolate person.
Dark chocolate.
I don't know if it's an allergyor not, but I always think that
it doesn't quite feel right.
(35:19):
I remember sneaking into thepantry when I was a kid and
finding a huge, big, hugechocolate bar, and opening it
up, and discovering for thefirst time what baker's
chocolate tastes like.
And so maybe I'll tell thatstory as well.
But join us on over 28.
Popular Podcasts
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.