Besides the rush of presenting, I attended a whole mess of sessions that left me thinking. Here are some highlights/ideas I was left pondering….(writing this helps me digest what I saw)
Cathy Fosnot – Conferring & Questioning to Spark Deeper Understanding
- The goal of a conferral is not to fix the math, but support the development of the math.
- You don’t raise scores with tasks; they raise from developing mathematicians.
- 3 Goals of a Good Conferral – listen & clarifying, celebrating, and challenging.
Megan Franke – From Counting to Problem Solving – Supporting the Development of Understanding from Each Student
- We never master things, because there’s always more to learn.
- Counting collections develop number sense, organization, and struggles (80-120)
- How can we use what they do know about counting to engage students in problem solving?
The IGNITE talks had a few calls to action…
- Do something to increase the level of communication
- Choose one call and measure daily. Only give feedback if healthy
- Students ability to visualize math is important.
- #ObserveMe – open your doors & learning from the best —-> each other!
- Teach every student as if they’re future mathematicians
- Love your students
Lucy West –
- Does discourse promote learning?
- How you interact will greatly impact what you will do.
During Saturday, I went wondering around and saw a familiar face. It happened to be Annie Fetter from The Math Forum. She introduced the math educators to a strategy called “Notice and Wonder.” Upon seeing her, I went up and had a chat with her. She was such an unassuming, lively educator. We chatted about her work, my work and had a fine time. She even agreed to a selfie! Yes…that’s the Notice and Wonder lady (youtube it!)
CMC 2016 was quite memorable. This year, I focused my sessions on K-2 sessions. Next year, I do want to branch out a bit. My collaborator and I are thinking of presenting again, but it’s too early to decide. However, I did notice that there’s not as many presentations geared for kindergarten. Why is that? And yet…there’s a need. There are kinder teachers wanting more information.
Until next time…
Kristen