Professional development sessions are an essential tool for improving teaching practices. Whether you want to develop more profound content knowledge, learn about new areas of research and methods for planning and teaching, or improve pedagogy, professional development sessions offer the opportunity to inform your team and create a common foundation. These sessions also allow teachers to grow their knowledge as they move toward long-term change and identify immediate steps they can take tomorrow in their classrooms.
Mathematics Content Progressions
Many elementary school teachers are quick to say, “I am not a math person.” Since most teachers have a degree in education, not mathematics, they must rely on how they learned math to teach it. My math content sessions allow teachers to experience and explore mathematical content progressions. To teach any grade-level content well, a teacher must understand the foundation students build on and where the content goes next. This deep conceptual understanding helps teachers meet students where they are, provide equitable access to grade-level content, and facilitate engaging and challenging learning experiences.
K-2 Mathematics Intervention and the Number Core
Many schools focus intensely on improving math instruction in grades 3-8 because of mandated state testing. However, students cannot be successful in Third Grade if they don’t have a strong foundation from K-2. Understanding the foundations of counting, The Number Core, concepts of number, place value, and properties of additive relationships are essential for student success throughout their education and beyond.
Differentiation and Equitable Access to Grade-Level Mathematics
Every group of learners includes students with a wide range of mathematical understanding. To provide equitable access to mathematics for all learners, teachers must understand how to build off what students already know, leverage the concrete-pictorial-abstract progression, and design instruction with the Universal Design for Learning principles in mind.
Teaching Grade-Level Mathematics to Students with Multi-Grade-Level Gaps in Foundational Knowledge
When students are multiple grade levels behind, teaching math can feel overwhelming. It is hard to know where to start and what to prioritize. This professional development session outlines a clear process to identify the essential content to focus on and an approach to instruction that supports filling the gaps in connection with grade-level content.
Student Engagement and Discourse in the Mathematics Classroom
Research has shown that showing students procedural approaches to mathematics and asking them to reproduce and apply those steps in isolation does not lead to success. This session focuses on the Standards of Mathematical Practice. Teachers identify, experience, and practice math instruction where students are doing the thinking, develop their own conceptual understandings, engage in mathematical conversations using precise language, and practice applying what they know to new problems.
Mathematics Curriculum Implementation Support
Implementing a new math curriculum can be incredibly challenging. Extensive and ongoing support throughout the initial years of implementation can support teacher buy-in and student success. I have extensive experience supporting the implementation of Illustrative Mathematics, Eureka Math, and Eureka Math Squared.