Rough drafts and revising isn't only for language arts! In this presentation, Dr. Mandy Jansen will share findings from her research with teachers illustrating how teachers integrate rough drafts and revising into their mathematics classes. We also will explore why teachers do this. To understand this better, we will engage in rough drafting and revising of our own mathematical thinking during the session.
Dr. Jansen is a professor in the mathematics education program area in the School of Education at the University of Delaware where she teaches future elementary and secondary teachers. Her research focuses on students’ engagement with mathematics and understanding how pre-service... Read More →
Tuesday January 28, 2025 08:00 - 09:30 MST
Ballrooms
Engaged learners are successful learners! This session will focus on engagement as a significant factor in fostering confident mathematical mindsets. With a focus on Universal Design for Learning, participants will explore how to weave the 5 Strands of Mathematical Proficiency into their instruction in order to create math moments that matter.
Utilizing the Effective Teaching Practice of Posing Purposeful Questions and using routines such as visual images, choral counting, and counting collections can greatly enhance math instruction for K-1 students, particularly with Utah Core Standards that Acadience Math screens.
The data is staggering! In a typical one-hour lesson, 75-85% of students are non-thinking for the entirety of the lesson. The remaining 25-15% are considered “non-thinking” for the entirety of the lesson minus 8-12 minutes of that 1-hour time slot. It’s time we change that! participants will be actively engaged in the when, where, what, and how of increasing thinking time in their classrooms. Join Sherri Abel for this fast-paced workshop-style session!
All students need to feel that their classes are safe spaces where they can explore and discuss their ideas. When students do not feel free to share their mathematical reasoning or understandings without fear of negative personal or social consequences, they may intentionally limit their participation in discussions. We will discuss what students say helps them feel psychologically safe in their mathematics classes and how teachers can help provide these discussion friendly spaces.
This presentation will describe the process my district went through to develop a 3-year plan to change instructional practice in elementary mathematics. We focused on how to support teachers in implementing the 8 effective mathematics teaching practices to develop mathematical thinkers and problem solvers in elementary classrooms.
Come learn about the certification process and the resources available to support Utah teachers pursuing their certification. Participants will receive information about available cohorts, USBE credits, financial assistance to pay for certification, and stipends available to educators once certified. Your journey starts here!
Culturally sustaining pedagogy validates students' identities and fosters a sense of belonging and empowerment. Educators attending this session will explore methods for creating a more inclusive learning environment by integrating students' diverse experiences into the math classroom. Through the lens of multiple free desmos classroom lessons, participants will learn how to use a problem-based approach to intentionally increase curiosity and build upon students’ ideas in an effort to provide all learners with access to on-grade-level mathematics.
Three experienced teachers share strategies for making equity both intentional and a regular part of every class, throughout a class. Time will be included for small group discussion of how to apply strategies to their classes and to share ideas with others.
Do you remember how you felt when you decided you were going to be a math teacher? Do you have moments when you feel frustrated or less excited than when you started on this journey? Join us in this session as we bring back the joy and beauty of learning and teaching mathematics through asset-based perspectives. The engaging, interactive activities in this session will provide immediate strategies and tools that will inspire and transform your math classroom!
Join us on an action-packed adventure through the daring and thrilling world of math! Participate in an engaging series of challenges that combine play, movement, and discourse to help K-5 students master essential math skills. Inspire and develop strategic thinking, problem-solving, and reasoning abilities in your students. Build a growth mindset and tackle math challenges with confidence and reflection. Unleash your inner math ninja!
Project-based learning in mathematics is often overlooked. In this session, we will explore what good math projects look like and how to plan for them and build them in your classroom.
Using the Open Up curriculum, I've come up with a task-based instruction that gets students out of their seats, talking about the math, and experiencing concepts in a lot of different ways! Come learn how a little bit of chaos, mixed with structure and expectations, can create and foster a learning environment that will get kids talking!
We will explore some types of AP Calculus AB exam questions that would require a calculator. The TI-84 calculator is widely used in the classroom and can be a valuable tool for this exam. Some familiarity with calculus principles is required.
Spent 19 years teaching mathematics at South Fremont High School in Idaho. Worked for 3 years as Implementation Manager for PowerSchool(SIS). Spent 3 years teaching 7th grade math at Adele C. Young in Brigham City and 15 years teaching math for University of Phoenix (online and local... Read More →
With an increasing focus on digital learning in the math classroom, do traditional print textbooks still have value? Join mathspace for a discussion on creating a curriculum that intentionally blends the best traditional strategies with cutting-edge ai. Reflect on how to use print and digital resources in harmony rather than being an either/or proposition. Also, play with our powerful ai tutor chat that safely supports students and keeps educators in the loop.
In this presentation, we will share our experiences with integrating mathematics and programming in fifth-grade classrooms. We approached this integration with three key features in our lessons: visualization of important math concepts, anchor ideas that cross coding and math, and the framing of content to help students make connections. We will share our exponents, fractions, and geometry lessons and show how we used coding to provide students with meaningful spaces to engage with interactive contexts to broaden their mathematics conceptions.
Our curricula, professional learning and peer-led community are all designed to center student discourse and advance classroom equity. Join us to learn how our K-HS materials make mathematics accessible for all and encourage student growth through problem-solving and hands-on learning.
End math anxiety! This engaging session will focus on empowering elementary students, particularly those who struggle and feel underrepresented in the mathematics classroom, by elevating their voices through purposeful mathematical discourse. By fostering an inclusive learning environment where every student can engage, question, and explain their reasoning, we can shift the narrative that math is only for the “fast thinkers” and create a space where all students feel valued and capable. In this presentation, attendees will: 1) Discover intervention strategies to meet diverse student needs and help cultivate an inclusive math environment, 2) Explore ways to build math confidence and mastery in reluctant or struggling learners, and 3) Recognize the impact of leveraging discourse to deepen understanding. This presentation is designed for elementary school and district leaders, curriculum coordinators, and instructional decision makers who are committed to creating more equitable and engaging mathematics experiences for all students. There will be time for questions at the end of the presentation.
This engaging hands-on workshop explores how to effectively integrate the Standards for Mathematical Practice into everyday classroom instruction across Pre-K to Elementary grade levels. By fostering productive struggle and promoting conceptual understanding, participants will learn strategies to develop critical skills such as reasoning abstractly, modeling with mathematics, and constructing viable arguments. The session highlights practical examples, including geometry and algebraic thinking activities, designed to support developmental trajectories from early learning through upper elementary. Attendees will leave with actionable insights to transform their math classrooms and inspire deep, joyful learning at every stage.
Unleash the power of play in evaluating math skills. We will examine three levels of fluency and identify games that support all learners at all levels
This will be a dynamic session with participants not only learning about asset-based math assessment in the early years but also observing and discussing the mathematical brilliance of young children. Participants will learn that math interviews uncover student strengths in a way that is often missed by traditional assessments. They will also deepen their own thinking about how and what to notice when listening to the math thinking of young children. Finally, participants will learn about models of professional learning that make scaling math interviews across a school system viable with high quality implementation.
Enrich your classroom with this interactive session. Participants will explore how to effectively organize manipulatives, foster rich conversations among all students, and utilize visuals to see math in the world around them. Walk away with practical strategies to create a dynamic, engaging environment where students can touch, talk, and see math come alive in every lesson.
While students often begin school with a single, operational meaning for the equal sign, they need to develop an additional three meanings to be successful in creating and using equations in school mathematics. In this presentation, we provide a model for expert understanding of the equal sign and describe how to help students in each of the grade bands PK-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 move along the path to expert understanding. We illustrate this progression with tasks in each grade band that you can use to help your students improve their understanding of the equal sign.
Let's teach "through" the models. Join this highly interactive exploration of the hanger method and algebra tiles to model expressions and to solve equations. Participants will record the actions of the exploration to derive the written procedures. This eye-opening session will have you loving algebra tiles, and will illuminate how to connect conceptual understanding to procedural fluency for middle school students.
In this session we reflect upon equity in the teaching of mathematics content and how rough draft and revising can be considered an equity-minded pedagogical approach. As a part of being equity-minded, teachers and classmates strive to recognize the strengths in students’ thinking at any stage, including drafts and revisions. We will experience learning through drafting and revising and reflect on equity implications.
Dr. Jansen is a professor in the mathematics education program area in the School of Education at the University of Delaware where she teaches future elementary and secondary teachers. Her research focuses on students’ engagement with mathematics and understanding how pre-service... Read More →
Tuesday January 28, 2025 11:00 - 12:00 MST
Ballroom A
In today's diverse classrooms, multilingual students bring a wealth of linguistic and cultural perspectives that can enrich learning experiences. However, they also face unique challenges in mastering mathematical concepts while simultaneously developing language proficiency. This session will explore practical strategies for creating an inclusive mathematics classroom that supports the needs of multilingual learners. Participants will discover instructional techniques that integrate language development with mathematical reasoning, including the use of visual aids and language scaffolding. Attendees will leave with ready-to-implement strategies that promote equity, enhance student understanding, and cultivate a supportive learning space for multilingual students in mathematics. This session is ideal for educators, instructional coaches, and administrators seeking to ensure all students can thrive in the math classroom.
Family engagement plays a crucial role in students' success in mathematics, yet many families feel unsure about how to best support their children's math learning. This session will explore effective strategies for building strong partnerships between schools and families to enhance student achievement and foster a positive attitude toward mathematics. Participants will learn practical approaches to engage families in meaningful ways, from hosting math nights to providing accessible resources that demystify math concepts. We will also explore how to bridge the gap between classroom instruction and home support, encouraging collaboration that reinforces learning beyond the school day. Special focus will be given to strategies that are inclusive of culturally and linguistically diverse families. By the end of the session, attendees will be equipped with tools to create welcoming environments that invite families into the learning process, empowering them to actively participate in their child's mathematical growth.
Solving mathematics tasks can be challenging for children when contexts are unfamiliar. In this workshop, participants will explore the importance of posing problems with familiar and relevant contexts to children. Participants will collaborate with colleagues to consider the lived experiences of students in their classrooms and leverage that to create meaningful and engaging mathematics problems.
What classroom conditions set high school students with exceptional learning needs (special education students or MLLs) up for success? This session will include procedures, routines, communication, and common accommodations. We will spend the bulk of the time giving practical ideas for accommodations and have teachers practice using accommodations and differentiating work.
Academic Support Teacher, Salt Lake City School District
I am a National Board Certified Teacher and Utah Teacher Fellow from the Salt Lake City School District. I have found joy in teaching Math, Social Studies, Social Skills, and Special Education at the secondary level. I am passionate about quality instruction, ed policy, differentiation... Read More →
Join us for an inspiring and practical session designed specifically for educators passionate about fostering a love for mathematics in all students, including those with disabilities. This presentation will provide you with strategies to: • Identify accessible entry points into grade-level math content for students with diverse learning needs. • Facilitate meaningful math discourse that includes and values the contributions of students with disabilities alongside their non-disabled peers. • Create classroom environments where students with disabilities are empowered as active doers and thinkers of mathematics. Through interactive discussions, real-world examples, and hands-on activities, you will gain valuable insights and tools to support your students in reaching their full mathematical potential. Let's work together to build inclusive classrooms where every student can thrive and shine in mathematics. Don't miss this opportunity to transform your teaching practice and make a lasting impact on your students' mathematical journeys.
Discover how playful, engaging activities can transform math learning and build student confidence! In "Practice Makes Progress: Boosting Math Skills and Confidence Through Play," we explore research-backed strategies that make math practice enjoyable and effective. From games and puzzles to interactive experiences with elements of choice, this session will showcase methods that promote repeated practice in a way that’s fun, flexible, and accessible for all learners. Attendees will gain practical insights into creating a math environment where students are eager to participate, learn, and develop a lasting sense of confidence in their abilities.
Do you ever wonder how to give students timely feedback on their understanding of math content? Do you wonder how confident students are with the material they are learning? Desmos is a great solution to both of these questions. During this session, I will discuss how I use Desmos in my classroom. I will show how I use the computation layer in Desmos to design “lock in your answer” questions as a way to assess student thinking. I will also show participants how students can self-assess their understanding of a concept using Desmos, and how teachers can quickly identify students who need extra support. Participants will walk away with formative assessment templates they can use in their own classrooms.
Introduction of an engaging and personalized solution that invites students to explore and learn mathematical concepts. Utilizing a dynamic AI engine, students engage in topics that they are ready to learn. An adaptive learning tool for students, while being a time-saving aide for educators, enabling them to make informed instructional decisions based on data-driven insights.
Guide your students to be curious problem solvers using scientific and graphing calculators and their online emulators. Calculators will be available to use, with door prize drawing at the end.
I will show activities/lessons for various grade levels and content that teachers can use on the walkable coordinate plane. I will have the 8 x 8 ft mat and materials that I will use in my demonstrations.
With over 270 immersive films designed to create purpose for math, Core Curriculum is specifically designed to foster growth-mindset through student collaboration. Students learn new concepts, not only from their teacher, but from each other. With formative assessments that help teachers and students decide where and how to make improvements, and assignments that light up the mathematical part of the brain, Core Curriculum by MidSchoolMath is the antidote to students saying they are just “bad at math.” This session will provide a brief overview of Core Curriculum by MidSchoolMath, a recommended primary instructional material for grades 5 through 8.
What if the moments we spend teaching math could unlock every student’s potential, no matter where they start? This session uncovers the surprising truths from The Opportunity Myth and The Iceberg Effect research studies, challenging the status quo in math instruction. Explore how intentional scaffolding, high-quality materials, and unwavering high expectations can transform learning and ensure grade-level success for all students. Leave with practical tools and strategies to turn everyday math lessons into powerful, life-changing moments. Let’s make every math moment matter!
Discover how SchoolAI can revolutionize classroom learning in math and across all subjects. This session will explore the dynamic role of AI in education, demonstrating how it can make lessons more engaging, personalized, and effective. You'll get hands-on experience with SchoolAI's innovative tools, learning how to integrate them seamlessly into your teaching practice. By the end of this presentation, you'll be equipped with practical strategies to use AI to inspire and support your students' learning journey.....starting right now!
Student proficiency on state assessments decreases as students transition from elementary school to middle school. ULEAD has done a variety of research on Middle School Mathematics and will share insights into what they have learned during their research.
Tuesday January 28, 2025 13:00 - 13:30 MST
Ballroom B
Experience numeracy games and hands-on activities that are designed to transform the way students engage with number and operations concepts. Learn how creating games with repeat play in mind infuse randomness to foster an engaging and effective learning experience. Furthermore, adding a three-step learning progression ensures that the center activities you design are not only educational but also developmentally appropriate and tailored to meet the unique needs of every learner.
The first 5–10 minutes of class are crucial for setting the tone, and engaging students immediately is essential. Rather than relying on standard warmups, I design starters that spark interest and get students talking and thinking mathematically right away. These activities often focus on warming up their brains with creative problem-solving, rather than directly tying to the day's content, ensuring participation at all levels. For example, I might use a zombie apocalypse scenario to encourage pattern recognition and problem-solving. Students can start by creating a table, writing an equation, or even just writing a list of numbers looking for patterns. I would love to model this specific example and share my strategies with other educators.
In this session, participants will practice a series of problems they can use with students to build their conceptual understanding of simplifying algebraic expressions and solving equations. A series of problems from student lessons are included in the handout, beginning with problems that introduce algebra tiles. Algebra tiles are used throughout the rest of the problems to obtain the lesson objectives, including combining like terms, comparing expressions, and solving equations. Participants for this session will benefit from practicing the problems in teams while experiencing the facilitation and questioning in a student-centered classroom.
Dive into a case study of how students used mindset to examine their views about math and transformed not only their core math memories but their mathematical achievement.
Join us as we discuss NCTM's newest updates (including position statements, opportunities, and the Year of Math!). Additionally, UCTM will share details on their newest grant: the “Learning and Leadership Grant" available to any math educator in the state at the close of UCTM's 2025 conference!
A piece of spaghetti is broken into 3 random pieces. What's the probability those 3 pieces can form a triangle ? We will merge algebra, desmos free graphing software, and some probability in a fun and suprising 20 minute investigation.
Can I use manipulatives and drawings in high school? Yes! The brain shifts from concrete to abstract thinking in late adolescence. Therefore, all students benefit from connecting concrete representations to abstract procedures. Join us in an interactive session to learn how to use algebra tiles and "quick-draws" for expressions, equations, modeling polynomial computation, and completing the square.
In this interactive session, we'll explore the power of using multiple representations—physical, visual, symbolic, verbal, and contextual—to deepen student understanding in k-8 mathematics. Participants will learn strategies for effectively using and connecting these representations as tools to observe and assess student thinking, identify misconceptions, and guide instruction. Through hands-on activities and collaborative discussions, teachers will gain practical tools for fostering a more comprehensive mathematical understanding in their classrooms. Participants will engage in tasks, create representations, and discuss representations to be used immediately in their classrooms.
Tuesday January 28th, 1:45pm-3:00pm @ Soldier Creek
Discover effective methods to set students up for success in your secondary math classrooms. This presentation will delve into classroom structures, learning stations and guided math, to enhance learning and engagement. Join us to learn how these approaches can transform your math classroom into a space where every student can thrive.
In this workshop, we will explore ways to use hands-on and visual models for understanding decimals and solving decimal problems. Participants will engage in these concepts through learning stations and consider how they can use similar activities in their classrooms.
In this presentation, I will demonstrate practical strategies and tools for integrating AI into lesson planning. Key strategies include crafting effective prompts to customize AI-generated content tailored to diverse student needs and utilizing interactive AI tools like ChatGPT to generate lesson ideas, interactive activities, and assessment questions. We will explore techniques for embedding AI tools into everyday teaching practices to enhance engagement and learning outcomes, as well as methods to teach both educators and students about AI, fostering a tech-savvy learning environment. Tools and resources will include AI-powered lesson planning apps, interactive AI-driven activities, and real-world examples of successful AI integration in classrooms. Participants will leave with practical skills and resources to immediately apply AI in their teaching.
We will share a conceptualization of teachable moments in mathematics classrooms that provides guidance in recognizing which student contributions during whole-class discussion might be worth taking up as a focus for joint sense-making. We will then share a conceptualization of the teaching practice of building—the practices teachers can enact that take advantage of these moments. Through the workshop, teachers will engage with the presenters and with each other as they consider these conceptualizations and the implications they have for their classroom practice. We will share some concrete ways that teachers can begin to enact this practice in their own classrooms.
A critical aspect of culturally responsive learning is selecting tasks that invite students to share their own ideas. In this session, we will determine what makes a task relevant and meaningful as well as use a framework to create culturally relevant tasks that allow teachers to actively respond to different student cultures, backgrounds, and ideas to drive instruction.
It is important for pre-service teachers to not be "tied" to one teacher during their field experiences in math methods courses. Additionally, not factoring pre-service teachers' choice in these field placements leads to discontent, frustration, and often times "mimicking" of the host teacher's teaching. To combat these issues, pre-service teachers enrolled in math methods courses were asked to rotate between a set of mentor teachers. This process proved to be advantageous as it provided opportunities for the pre-service teachers to see, learn, and make sense of a variety of instructional strategies at play in different teachers' classrooms. The interactions with the teachers also helped pre-service teachers carve their own teaching philosophy and methods.
Many cutting-edge early childhood classrooms are implementing constructivist techniques to support student development of mathematics concepts (Clements et al., 2023). Additionally, innovative curriculum producers have even begun centering their instructional scope and sequence around a constructivist approach (e.g., Singapore Dimensions). This is a powerfully beneficial mathematics instruction paradigm shift; however, work is far from finished. Sometimes, constructivist math teaching in the early years can lose its connection to the real world, which is essential for young minds. This presentation demonstrates how a 1st and 2nd-grade classroom centers constructivist activities around rich outdoor experiences. The presenters will share how their students engage in shared exploration of the real world, which leads them to inquiries that often necessitate mathematical answers. Presenters will highlight this integrated mathematics discovery as 1st graders collect and count insects, legs, and antennas, as well as 2nd graders who build life-size replicas of a variety of Utah birds and explore their wing beats and travel. Attendees will be actively engaged in this workshop through hands-on activities and leave with a toolbox of strategies to use mathematics as an inquiry-oriented way to understand rich experiences and the world around them.
Participants will experience math games from around the world, and consider connections and benefits of using these games in math class. We will share resources and ideas for implementing math games that represent our diverse students.
During this presentation, attendees will be presented with a variety of project-based learning and math modeling tasks that could be used to teach or assess students on topics related to matrices and vectors. Attendees will decide what project they are most interested in and will get the opportunity to engage in those activities. Attendees should come prepared to participate in group discussions and have a charged laptop. Potential projects/discussions include: pixel art, Bézier curves & drawing with math, solving systems of equations, image transformations, linear regression via projection matrices, Leslie matrices & population growth/decay, areas & volumes using determinants. Special emphasis will be placed on using vectors and matrices to solve real-world problems.
We are bombarded with statistical information through social media and commercials often with graphs or images displaying data. In this age of information overload, students need to understand how statistics work and how to correctly interpret displays of data. We will share a two-part lesson, where middle school students first explored the different types of graphs used to display data, and then became entomologists who gathered data in a garden and determined the best method to display their data accurately. Teachers will walk in their students’ shoes and analyze different types of graphs to pose and respond to questions regarding the data displayed. Next, teachers will walk through the second part of the lesson, where students collect data in a garden and use that data to create their own graphs and pose questions. Student work will be shown to highlight how middle school students determined which graphs they used to display their data. Finally, participants will be provided lesson plans to discuss what this could look like in their classrooms. The session will end with participants sharing their ideas for implementation.
Often, students with disabilities are seen through a deficit lens. This conception of ability often leads teachers to employ less engaging instructional practices. In this session, we will focus on students’ abilities and research surrounding this topic. We will discuss strategies to help able students become resilient, persistent problem-solvers and develop a deep conceptual understanding of topics.
We will share student and teacher experiences from co-taught middle school math classrooms. Classrooms had general education and special education teachers and students and followed a standard curriculum. We will facilitate small group discussions about various participation strategies and their effectiveness from the student perspectives. We will make and discuss recommendations on how to encourage student participation in co-taught mathematics classrooms.
Dive into the transformative power of peer tutoring in this interactive session. We will explore the transformative power of peer tutoring, providing educators with research-backed strategies to integrate it into their math classrooms. Participants will gain practical skills in training, assessing, and pairing students as peer tutors, while exploring different types of tutoring and their impact on leadership and communication. The workshop includes hands-on simulations, a live demonstration of peer tutoring sessions with technology, and a reflective discussion to help educators apply these insights effectively in their own teaching contexts. You will also receive tailored materials to help scaffold peer tutoring strategies specific to your educational contexts.
Were you part of the fall 2024 UCTM book club? If so, please join us for a final meet up at the UCTM conference! Bring your book and be prepared for a final discussion and hangout time! We will meet on the 3rd floor of the event center to mingle. See you there!
