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The Eight Effective Practices of Math Education

In 2014, NCTM published “Principles to Actions”. In my conference presentations, I say:

Christians have the Bible. Moslems have the Koran. Hippies have the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. We have Principles to Actions.

It seems every book on math education includes this book on its reference pages. It is so important that each of the practices have spawned multiple publications. Some of the practices are surprising. Every teacher should have a good understanding of these practices if they are teaching math to students.

This two-day in person class will cover each of the eight practices with activities and methods to use them in your classroom. It is intended as a reasonable foundation to understand and use these practices to become a more effective math teacher. After the class, students will receive a periodic e-mail or message that gives more detail, examples and reminders. At the end of the class, there will be an online meeting where participants can share thoughts and experiences.

Every participant will receive a copy of “Principles to Actions”.

Two-Day In Person Class

  1. Introduction and history behind the Eight Effective Practices.
  2. Establish mathematics goals to focus reasoning. Effective teaching of mathematics establishes clear goals for the mathematics that students are learning, situates goals within learning progressions, and uses the goals to guide instructional decisions.
  3. Implement tasks that promote reasoning and problem solving. Effective teaching of mathematics engages students in solving and discussing tasks that promote mathematical reasoning and problem solving and allow multiple entry points and varied solution strategies.
  4. Use and connect mathematical representations. Effective teaching of mathematics engages students in making connections among mathematical representations to deepen understanding of mathematics concepts and procedures and as tools for problem solving.
  5. Facilitate meaningful mathematical discourse. Effective teaching of mathematics facilitates discourse among students to build shared understanding of mathematical ideas by analyzing and comparing student approaches and arguments.
  6. Pose purposeful questions. Effective teaching of mathematics uses purposeful questions to assess and advance students’ reasoning and sense making about important mathematical ideas and relationships.
  7. Build procedural fluency from conceptual understanding. Effective teaching of mathematics builds fluency with procedures on a foundation of conceptual understanding so that students, over time, become skillful in using procedures flexibly as they solve contextual and mathematical problems.
  8. Support productive struggle in learning mathematics. Effective teaching of mathematics consistently provides students, individually and collectively, with opportunities and supports to engage in productive struggle as they grapple with mathematical ideas and relationships.
  9. Elicit and use evidence of student thinking. Effective teaching of mathematics uses evidence of student thinking to assess progress toward mathematical understanding and to adjust instruction continually in ways that support and extend learning.
  10. Putting it all together

Periodic e-mails/messages for the following year

At least two times per month for eight months, participants will receive a message related to the practice of the month. These messages will give more detail, reminders and recommendations designed to keep them on track towards a stronger understanding of the best practices of math education.

Final Meeting

After eight months, participants will be invited to participate in an online meeting where they can share reflections and experiences in their journey.

If you are Interested or have Questions, please fill out this form and I will contact you.