2019 MidSchoolMath National Conference

Math pretty much sucks when have no idea what is happening! This is what I tell my students and parents every year because I was once in their shoes. Struggling with the concepts, completing the plug and chug problems from the textbook, and feeling totally helpless. I knew that there had to be a better way to teach math.

I also tell my students to embrace the suck because real learning is deeper and more durable when it is effortful and challenging. While getting my masters in mathematics education, I set out to find a way to keep students from getting comfortable and bored with their routine. I wanted to make the learning environment fun, challenging, as well as achievable. I enrolled in really challenging math classes so I could actually put myself in the student’s shoes. I remembered how stressful it was to not understand the material. I also learned through lots of research that we don’t really understand how to learn in the best ways on our own.

Mathematics doesn’t have to be stale and boring, so I have taken concepts and proven strategies and morphed them into my own teaching philosophy. Students are given each week a real life task to help with future ready skills, procedural practice, deep conceptual understanding, blended learning, video tutorials, and papers to help prove their understanding of mathematics.

In this session, we'll explore teaching philosophies and strategies from a range of authors and experts including Henry Roediger, Mark McDaniel, Dr. Clayton Edwards, Jo Boaler, Marilee Springer, Judy Willis and many more.