10 Takeaways from NCTM Los Angeles

I was able to attend the NCTM Los Angeles conference September 28- October 1st with a travel grant through ICME 14. It was a wonderful time to connect and learn with passionate educators from across the country. It was difficult to narrow it down to just 10 takeaways as each session I attended was filled with great information. 

As I travel, I find it important to learn about the original stewards of the land. Los Angeles County sits on Chumash (Santa Ynez Band & Wishtoyo), Tongva, and Kizh land.

Sessions Takeaways Resources/Ideas
Peter Lilijedah, Equity and Access in the Thinking Classroom Students don’t listen to what we say but what we do so using Visible Random Grouping helps eliminate teacher bias, communicates that each and every student is capable and creates a classroom of empathy.  Equity and Access in the Thinking Classroom presentation slides

Sum of It All podcast reflects on Building Thinking Classroom & connection to equity

Marilyn Burns, Assessments as Part of Instruction Asking your students, “How would you solve this problem using ___’s way?”

This assigns competence to students

Number Talks 

Problem Strings 

DeAnn Huinker, Catalyzing Change: Developing Identity, Agency and Deep Understanding Through Equitable Instruction Teaching students to notice structure in mathematics (place value, algebraic properties, strategies such as doubling & halving) brings about wonder, joy and mathematics becomes connected, interrelated ideas. Overview of Catalyzing Change 
Juli Dixon, Continuing the Journey: How to Move Forward with Unfinished Learning When Gradual Release is used in math class (I do, we do, you do), you lose the opportunity to see how kids think about a problem, lose the opportunity to formatively assess, and lose the opportunity to find out if a student has any unfinished learning.  Link to presentation slides
Rachel Lambert, Humanizing Intervention in Math Class Intervention should do NO HARM. Intervention should reflect strategies, be playful with games, include students sharing their thinking (such as in a Problem String), and teachers having a deep understanding of how kids think and build upon that thinking.  Humanizing Intervention in Math Class presentation slides

Link to Math UDL article

Dr. Nicole Joseph, Making Black Girls Count Reject stereotypes about Black girls, see Black girls as children (not adults), created a relaxed environment in math class that allows for humor, teach ambitiously, create conditions that make it impossible to fail “In Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois, Black girls are 8.5 times more likely than white girls to be suspended.”

Beth Kobett & Karen Karp, Strengths Based Feedback Notice and name student strengths. When a student says, “This doesn’t make sense!” That is a strength in communication and advocacy as they believe they deserve more.  Planning Effective Strengths-Based Instruction
Dan Meyer, Math Without Mistakes Mistakes are thinking. Wrong answers are real and as we learn, there will be many wrong answers. Labeling it a mistake assumes that’s what a kid meant to do. Don’t assume, ask them. 
Francis Su, Points of View: Building Joy, Wonder and Connection Using images, changes the point of view and builds joy and connections. 

Number Talk images

 

Sara VanDerWerf, “CONNECT”ing within Mathematics and Students’ Lived Experiences to Drive Learning  Use two images and ask, “What is the same? What is different?” and students will connect what they know to their new learning.  Same or Different

Laura Wagenman
VP Elementary