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!
What the common core gets right is the 8 mathematical practices, and these competencies depend on instruction and curriculum that expose students to mathematics as a way of thinking and solving problems. That the real utility of mathematics lies in the habits of mind. Let’s engage in these tasks ourselves and have conversations about practical ways to embed problem-solving into students’ everyday interaction with mathematics.
In a student-centered classroom, students have frequent opportunities to wonder and make connections, share strategies, notice patterns, and justify their ideas. These opportunities support the development of student voice and choice, which are critical to learning and positive identity development. In this session, we will explore discussion structures and scaffolds to support discourse and agency in your classroom.
Instructional leadership matters. To help teachers create math moments that matter, we must prioritize creating systemic change. During this hands on workshop, coaches and leaders will consider the changes that could move the needle for student learning in math and formulate an action plan to lead the necessary changes.
Looking for an easy way to make math more meaningful in your class? Try using a rich mathematical warm-up. I will share my favorite math starters and share my slide deck so you can implement them in your classroom tomorrow.
As a former principal I would like to share my story and journey from not considering myself a math person to transforming my thinking to help support my teachers in changing the way we approach math instruction. I will also share tips for teachers on how they can help get their principals to buy into math mindset and pedagogy transformation. In addition, I will share tips with admin on how they can get on board with best practices in math pedagogy and keep the momentum going when times get tough.
I will be sharing my experience teaching Math 1030 with a flipped classroom model for the last 2 years with tips and tricks that I have found to be effective for engaging students.
Students come to school with valuable experiences and immense potential. To meet this potential, teachers need to attend to relationships with students and their mathematical thinking as a basis for instructional change to not only work with and from students’ thinking but support their growth and connections over time. In this session, we will unpack three core practices and ideas to create asset-based learning environments to support students’ mathematical brilliance. Specifically, we will discuss listening, centering, and building as foundational, high-leverage teaching practices. We will offer practical ways that teachers can enact these practices within both the whole class and small learning environments.
This session will be an exploration of the origins of pi and its derivations and methods of approximation. We will also discuss uses of pi and activities for Pi Day.
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 →
Wednesday January 29, 2025 09:45 - 10:45 MST
Ballroom B
Join fellow educators from the CUES region for a dynamic networking session designed to foster collaboration, spark new ideas, and strengthen community ties. This informal gathering offers a unique opportunity to reconnect with old colleagues, meet new friends, and share insights with peers who understand the unique challenges and opportunities within our region.
Wednesday January 29, 2025 09:45 - 10:45 MST
Hobble Creek
Join fellow educators from the NUES region for a dynamic networking session designed to foster collaboration, spark new ideas, and strengthen community ties. This informal gathering offers a unique opportunity to reconnect with old colleagues, meet new friends, and share insights with peers who understand the unique challenges and opportunities within our region.
Wednesday January 29, 2025 09:45 - 10:45 MST
Soldier Creek
Join fellow educators from the SEDC region for a dynamic networking session designed to foster collaboration, spark new ideas, and strengthen community ties. This informal gathering offers a unique opportunity to reconnect with old colleagues, meet new friends, and share insights with peers who understand the unique challenges and opportunities within our region.
Wednesday January 29, 2025 09:45 - 10:45 MST
Silver Creek
Join fellow educators from the SESC region for a dynamic networking session designed to foster collaboration, spark new ideas, and strengthen community ties. This informal gathering offers a unique opportunity to reconnect with old colleagues, meet new friends, and share insights with peers who understand the unique challenges and opportunities within our region.
Wednesday January 29, 2025 09:45 - 10:45 MST
Battle Creek
This session is for all educators working with students with identified exceptionalities. Participants will develop strategies to broaden student access to problem solving and support productive struggle. Participants will also consider best practices around co-teaching math lessons and explore IEP goals as a way to become agents of change.
Supporting special education students in the mathematics classroom requires strategies that address diverse learning needs while fostering a positive, growth-oriented environment. This session will provide educators with evidence-based approaches to help students with disabilities build confidence and achieve success in mathematics. Educators will gain practical techniques to unlock the mathematical potential of their special education students, ensuring they have equitable opportunities to succeed and thrive in their learning journey. This session is perfect for teachers, special education coordinators, and instructional specialists seeking to enhance their practices and create more inclusive mathematics classrooms.
Interested in stem, but haven’t found the right program that highlights the math? Join us to discover how to access and leverage texas instruments’ stem solutions to reach your goals, while learning with and from others doing the same work. Our simple approach will help beginners learn the foundations of all computer languages! Create color and sound on a microcontroller, learn how to program a math-oriented ev, and experience how these concepts scale up to a broader variety of engaging stem activities, steeped in math, science and computer science concepts. With ready-to-implement resources, the connection from learning in a classroom to stem careers is made possible! Free resources using familiar technology will help you and your students find where learning and fun collide!
Combine exciting activities with captivating multimedia content to dramatically increase participation and student achievement in your classroom. In this session, teachers will explore reimagined nearpod features designed to enhance math instruction and student engagement. This session will include workshop time for teachers to build relevant tasks for their lessons. a basic working knowledge of the platform is required.
Discover how to transform your math classroom into a personalized learning environment with Canvas. In this session, we will explore strategies for implementing self-paced learning, empowering students to take control of their learning journey. Learn how to effectively organize and manage your math curriculum using Canvas tools, create mastery-based checkpoints, and provide individualized support to ensure every student can progress at their own pace. Perfect for educators looking to enhance student engagement and autonomy in math!
In this interactive session we'll dive into a Desmos activity while implementing many of the BTC practices. Focus will be placed on activity(task) selection and when it makes sense for students to work on VNPS's vs. utilizing the benefits of technology.
This interactive workshop is tailored for current and future math educators keen on exploring and demonstrating the creative aspects of the mathematical modeling process to students. Participants will delve into building scale models using diverse found objects in small groups, aligning with the 2016 Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Mathematical Modeling Education (GAIMME). Drawing from the facilitator's experience, the workshop guides attendees through each modeling stage, incorporating hands-on learning. The innovative approach reimagines scale models to exemplify mathematical modeling, offering adaptability across educational settings, from K-12 classrooms to teacher education. Multimedia facilities and crafting materials will be provided.
Want to engage your students in Geometry? Then get them building, discovering, making conjectures, connecting concepts and skills and much, much, more! This session will incorporate 2D Shapes and Exploragons activities that are proven to get students engage and learning at a deeper level.
Are your young learners able to demonstrate growth and proficiency on the Acadience Math assessment without having to be “taught” the test? This session will address how to align the teaching and learning of the Utah Core State Standards to Acadience Math while continuing to meet the recommendations for teaching math to young children.
I will discuss best practices for critical thinking classrooms, involving family in a student's learning, the article "Never Say Anything a Kid Can Say" and the importance of mathematical discourse between students in the classroom.
“When are we ever going to use this?!” As math teachers, you have likely heard this familiar refrain. In this presentation, we will talk about how real people use math for making the world a better place. We will discuss how a focus on helping others (and the environment) might allow more students to connect with math, and we will share cases we have created based on interviews with real people about how they use math to make the world a better place. Cases are designed to be used in classrooms, beginning with artifacts and a notice/wonder structure to engage students and then digging deeper into the uses of math and how they benefit the world. We’ll solicit your feedback on the cases, and you’ll have the option to try them out in your classrooms this spring! Let’s work together to help more students see how math can be used to make the world a better place.
Want your students engaged and talking about math the moment they enter the classroom? Use Function of the Day for bell work! Function of the Day is fun, interactive bell work that fosters verbalization and collaboration as it builds students' confidence in math, their vocabulary, math fluency, retention, and test scores. This bell work teaches concepts and vocabulary related to functions and can be used in pre-algebra, algebra, all high school math classes, and even college. Learn how Function of the Day can be used in your classroom, how it will benefit students, and ways to make it fun and engaging for students. The session will provide free resources to implement Function of the Day.
Participants will engage with a variety of manipulatives that students would use in a math classroom using structures and routines that support learning. Ideas for how to set up routines and manage math manipulatives will be shared.
Are you passionate about academic discourse? Join us for a chance to collaborate with educators across the state in sharing great strategies to get our mathematicians talking! We will dive into video examples of student talk structures in the classroom and reflect on opportunities to deepen our practice through microteaching.
Has it been a challenge to implement class discussions into your lessons? When you send students to work at vertical whiteboards, is it more of a disaster than a delight? Are small group activities in your classroom a stressful struggle or a teacher triumph? If you are struggling to implement some of these pedagogical moves into your teaching, establishing effective norms with your students may be helpful. Small group activities, class discussions, and working at whiteboards can be successful learning tools when we have established classroom norms that support our pedagogical goals. Join us as we share new research about how to establish norms in a mathematics classroom. Learn how to introduce norms, refine them, and reinforce them throughout the school year.
This breakout session will cover how to promote student-led learning, discussion and contribution. It will discuss how to encourage students to see their full potential and have confidence in their math learning abilities, which can lead to creating strong positive memories of exploring math.
Come learn how Granite School District students, teachers, and coaches are hearing mathematical discourse like never before. We’ll share how we’re partnering with TeachFX, utilizing the data with our students, reflecting on our questioning practices, and leveraging the insights in coaching conversations.
What is THE right way to teach math? Is a problem-based curriculum the answer? How about drilling students on basic facts? Join this session to learn how Eureka Math2 sits in the Dynamic Middle, balancing time spent on procedural fluency, conceptual understanding, and application to produce powerful math learning experiences.
Let's put ourselves in spaces that we ask of our students: engaging and collaborating on a math task, productive struggle, and making connections. In this session, attendees will experience the many virtues we hope to cultivate for our students: visualization, structure, deep investigation, persistence, abstraction, etc.
One focus of the AP Pre-Calculus core is the relationship between exponential and logarithmic functions. During this session, we will explore, using tasks and technology, how this inverse relationship can be extended to transformations (vertical and horizontal shifts as well as dilations) of these functions. We will discover why any exponential function is a dilation of any other exponential function and why any logarithmic function is a dilation of any other logarithmic function. Finally, we will unwrap the rates of change of exponential and logarithmic functions to discover why the rate of change for any exponential function is also an exponential function and why the rate of change for any logarithmic function is a dilated rational function. This work serves as a precursor to derivatives of exponential and logarithmic functions in AP Calculus AB and BC.
Global competition for in-demand tech-related careers is at an all-time high and will continue to increase as the world ideologies, environmental factors, and high-tech globalization flourish. Students deserve choices in careers and emerging technologies, and academic esports offer access to diverse and equitable workforce skills. Professional skills gleaned from these experiences include problem-solving, teamwork, collaboration, communication, and a plethora of skills mastery which leads to certification in a variety of wide-ranging careers. Discover how to maximize math participation and create relevant rigorous academic curricula. Connect the relevance of innovative curricula to help students successfully complete career pathways/industry certifications while building a solid college prep portfolio. Garner support from all stakeholders and hear from math teachers and the community at large.
This session is a call to action for educators to learn from and with all their students, reimagining our notions of mathematics and broadening perspectives on what it means to “do” mathematics. Dive deep into strategies for nurturing students' mathematical identities, encouraging them to bring their unique perspectives and experiences to the learning environment. Join us as we explore the crossroads where curriculum meets technology and mathematics meets community.
This presentation will emphasize the importance of daily, spiral review in the classroom. The presentation will include ideas for quick, spiral review that can be easily incorporated to the school day.
Partner talk and hands-on activities are critical elements of the number sense intervention. Students need to talk and hear others talk about numbers as much as possible to gain confidence, recognize relationships between numbers, and develop flexibility in using them. Attendee will experience an intervention number sense lesson and get a first peak at our Fractions intervention that is being launched in July 25
By delivering open questions, teachers invite students at different stages of mathematical development to benefit and grow. You’ll learn how to create and implement open questions to build on that innate curiosity, giving it an openness to flourish.
This session will unpack how to use low floor, high ceiling tasks to engage students in mathematical sense making around fundamental math topics. So often, students can be reluctant to engage in genuine conceptual sense making for fear of being wrong. This session will provide attendees with practical strategies and content for breaking down these barriers to student centered sense making.
Assessments are an integral part of every student's higher math education journey to becoming a secondary school math teacher. Students, whether they like it or not, are required to complete this assessment (mostly a culminating exam) in order to get a good score on their course. Giving students opportunities to develop, connect, and build their assessment according to their fieldwork experiences helps create a sense of belonging in math and values students' experiences. Tools used in this presentation will be unit plan templates. Group discussion and brainstorming ideas will be the most used strategies in this session. Participants will think about the format and process of unit plans they use in their math methods courses and how these formats and processes help future math teachers in their math teaching journey.
I'll be presenting on a portion of my master's degree, focusing on the use of digital manipulatives increasing mathematical understanding. I’ll present the resources my students had the most success with, the benefits of digital manipulatives over physical manipulatives, and the best free and paid resources.
This will be an overview of my first two years implementing Dr. Liljedahl's building thinking classrooms instructional and assessment framework in my high school math classroom. I will share the good, the bad, the ugly, and all the adjustments i made in year two so you can learn from my mistakes.
The debate about how to best teach students math has intensified over the years—inquiry-based or direct instruction? Let's settle the debate. In this session, we'll look at some surprising research surrounding direct and inquiry-based instruction, the impact each type of instruction has on students, and ultimately practices that will help students learn math.
Many of the things we (sometimes unintentionally) do as a teacher can be demotivating for our students, and just might be the root cause of why we are bombarded with statements like "I hate math!", "Why are we even doing this?" or "This is pointless!" In this interactive session, we will explore some classroom experiences that demonstrate how our students arrive at these statements, and learn how to avoid practices that bring frustration to both learners and teachers.
Have you ever been asked to teach a math co-taught class and wondered about best practices and strategies to help students with disabilities? As math teachers, we are highly trained to teach students mathematics, but what about teaching and collaborating with a special education teacher? During this session, we will discuss how we have successfully implemented a co-teaching model in our classroom as we focus on helping all students achieve learning at high levels. We will discuss strategies that allow the strengths of each teacher to shine. Participants will come away with new thoughts on co-teaching, action items that can be implemented immediately, and discussion questions that will help get this process started whatever your circumstances may be.
The purpose of this session is to introduce participants to the interactive functionality of Equatio Mathspace, a digital learning environment designed specifically for use in the math classroom.
This session will give educators information about free educator endorsement courses, including elementary math and math specialist that can be taken fully online at no cost to the educator through a grant with USBE. These courses also roll into an M.ED, which will allow teachers to have completed 1/3 of their degree already. We will also discuss other program offerings, including general professional development, conference credit, etc.
I will be showing teachers how I incorporated building thinking classrooms into my math class. I will also show teachers how this has created better thinking in my students as well as how it has saved me time and effort as a teacher.
There are many myths out there about what great math teaching looks and feels like. Let's explore how to make powerful moments in your class tomorrow! Warning: This is a high energy presentaion, so be prepared for laughter and lots of learning.
Mathematical discourse is key to deepening students’ understanding of concepts, fostering critical thinking, and building communication skills. This session will focus on designing engaging, thought-provoking tasks that spark rich mathematical discussions in the classroom. Participants will explore how to create and implement tasks that encourage students to explain their reasoning, justify their answers, and engage in collaborative problem-solving. We will examine strategies for structuring tasks that promote productive struggle and peer-to-peer dialogue, ensuring that all students have opportunities to participate in meaningful discourse. In addition, the session will cover techniques for facilitating discussions that value multiple perspectives, using questioning strategies that drive deeper thinking, and creating a classroom culture where mathematical talk thrives. Educators will leave with practical tools and ready-to-use tasks that can be tailored to their students’ needs and promote an active, student-centered learning environment.
With 360° math, the teacher is no longer at a physical disadvantage, but able to see the most important thing in a math classroom...student thinking. Standing in the middle of the classroom, the teacher has a 360° view of every student working every problem on the walls. The framework works effectively with any curriculum and any set of standards. Walk away with the tools and inspiration to immediately improve math engagement and achievement.
Are you someone who supports (or wants to support) elementary pre-service teachers’ or new teachers’ learning? Are you looking for ways to help teachers enact equitable math instruction? In this session, we share how teaching cases can be useful for helping pre-service or in-service teachers grapple with the challenges of enacting equitable math instruction. We will share examples of teaching cases that have been designed by current teachers to depict the challenges they’ve encountered when trying to teach elementary math equitably. These cases take up issues such as power dynamics in group work, curriculum that is not representative of students’ experiences, and the impact of cultural beliefs and practices on math learning. We’ll share several cases with participants, engage in discussions about what teachers might learn from the cases, and brainstorm ideas for new cases that can further support teacher learning.
This will be an open discussion where I define Critical Race Theory, explain its use in education, and its particular relevance to mathematics education. Time will be provided for discussion and Q&A.
Interested in learning how you can support students to experience the love and joy of mathematics? USU researchers will share the practical applications of their research, all revolving around the common goal of enjoying mathematics. Come join us for an interactive workshop which will include four stations, each with a glimpse into various ways you might help students enjoy mathematics. Dr. Vela will share about garden-based STEAM learning, Dr. Campbell will teach you about the different elements of well-being in mathematics and STEM, Dr. Frierson will highlight the potential of AI in supporting students’ STEM-based projects, and Dr. Shumway will share what her team has learned about students' spatial and computational thinking when learning to code with robot coding tools and what these results mean for elementary mathematics teaching. The session will end with participants sharing their ideas for how they can implement what they have learned in their classrooms.
When do people ever use geometry in real life? How can we make polynomial algebra more engaging? In this hands-on session, participants will apply typical mathematics topics to solve real-life problems and experience how engaging mathematics can be. They will discuss and work through problems from geology to the environment to puzzles as they discover ideas and resources that will enhance their own instruction.
We will present activities using technology which will model polynomials and polynomial functions and help us visualize polynomial multiplication and division, and how to find solutions to polynomial equations.
I will share which demonstrations I have integrated into my math classroom, allowing the participants to see some in action. I will provide the accompanying worksheets and which standards and units I used them in. Then I will spend some time talking about funding sources I used to buy class sets and demos.
