Supporting Students’ Engagement with Challenging Mathematics Tasks by Promoting Rough Draft Thinking

This session will address promoting rough draft thinking to support students so that they are more likely to persevere when solving challenging mathematical tasks. When we promote rough draft thinking, we create spaces for students to be more willing to explore mathematics and take risks while working on challenging tasks. This session will address instructional strategies to promote rough draft thinking such as mathematical task selection or design, ways to create an exploratory atmosphere when implementing challenging tasks, and ways to support students from moving from rougher thinking to more refined thinking. Instructional strategies for promoting rough draft thinking in this session will differ from (but complement) those experienced in the Thursday afternoon session.

Amanda Jansen
University of Delaware

Sturm Hall - Davis Auditorium

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The First Steps to Teaching

All too often, we run into the classroom at the start of the school year with the perfect lesson plans, the bulletin boards decorated, posters hung on the wall, and desks exactly where we want them and think that's all it takes to make a great year. But unless we do some of the pre-work on ourselves, the best laid plans will fail us. In this session we will talk about the pre-work to any school year - especially if we want the successes we long for.

Joesph Bolz
Denver Public Schools

Professionalism
Grades K12, Postsecondary, Preservice, Coaches, Administrators
Driscoll 1880

Leadership and Classroom Pedagogy for Equity and Excellence in Mathematics

Teachers and teacher leaders must focus on both equity and excellence. This requires a paradigm shift to a pedagogy, where equity and excellence are at the center of all efforts. This pedagogy includes the following knowledge, beliefs, and actions: mathematics content knowledge, equity, advocacy, and outcomes focused. Teachers and teacher leaders need to be transformational to shape and catalyze a vision that makes fundamental changes in how to meet the needs of underserved students. Equity cannot be an afterthought.

Susie Håkansson
TODOS: Mathematics for All

Access & Equity
Grades K-12, Postsecondary, Preservice, Coaches, Administrators
Sturm Hall 234

Reducing Cognitive Load for Struggling Math Learners

We work at the high school level with students who've yet to be successful in math. Much of our work is to identify areas of disconnect with essential content and repair or build the related schema. Over the past year we've been paying particular attention to the cognitive load of each concept we teach, breaking it down element by element accordingly and presenting instruction in a sequence and pace that works well for our students. We will explain Cognitive Load Theory, present a study showing evidence of success and discuss our continued work. Participants will be given time to develop a concept of their choice using the techniques we've experimented with.

Curtis Turner
University of Colorado Colorado Springs

Mary Stilley
University of Colorado Colorado Springs

Shanae Garner
University of Colorado Colorado Springs

Assessment
Grades 6-12, Preservice
Sturm Hall 235

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My Favorite All-Time Problems-Activities-Gifts Developed Over 35 Years – With Technology

Creative lessons that motivate/engage students in geometry, Algebra 2, precalculus/trig: Great Applied Problem, formulas by modeling, solve the quadrilateral, maximize parabola area, others. Obtain all materials.

Tom Reardon
Fitch High School (OH) / Youngstown State University

Teaching & Learning
Grades 9-12, Postsecondary, Preservice
Sturm Hall 253

Centers in Secondary...Who Knew?

Have you every seen centers modeled on a secondary level? Do you usually picture an elementary setting when you think about centers? Come learn about ways to implement centers on a secondary level to insure that you meet all of your students' needs.

LaDonna Welch
Falcon School District 49

Access & Equity
Grades 6-12
Sturm Hall 310

Equity in Math Class, Strategies for Queering the Curriculum

This session will focus on how we can take gender out of math discussions when it does not pertain to the learning at hand. We will also look at celebrating the contributions of LGBTQ mathematicians. Children learn best when they see themselves reflected in the curriculum. This session will give teachers the tools and discussions starters to help all children feel valued in the classroom.

Judy Stone
Boulder Valley School District

Access & Equity
Grades K-5
Sturm Hall 334

Modeling Meta-cognition and Problem Solving Strategies in Paced Precalculus Videos

Students can be engaged through the modeling of meta-cognition and problem solving strategies in paced precalculus videos. Pacing in this way allows for broad differentiation in student learning. This can be used in broad applications including flipped classrooms. Research supports positive impact of questioning strategies in the context of meta-cognition on student achievement in the mathematics classroom.

Amanda Horn
Colorado State University

Michelle Moran
Colorado State University

Tools & Technology
Grades 9-12, Postsecondary
Sturm Hall 380

Transforming Math Class into a Blended Learning Community

Blended learning is an opportunity for math instruction to be in-sync with each student’s ability and pace, and allows for a shift in student accountability and responsibility. This model is not perfect, however, it does provide time for more individualized instruction, as well as the chance to deal with disciplinary infractions without interrupting the learning of others and to spend more time with students on a personal level. I am transforming my remedial math classroom into a blended learning community by creating a balance between online learning and student-teacher contact, and rethinking the way content is delivered. I look forward to sharing with you my successes and failures, as well as hearing your ideas on what improvements could be made for the future.

Erin-Rose Schneider
East Grand School District

Teaching & Learning
Grades 6-12
Sturm Hall 424

Leveraging Failure to Engage Students

Few tools are as useful to a mathematician as being wrong. Facilitating productive failure cultivates resilient learners who are prepared for the dynamic challenges in STEM. By removing the stigmas of what it means to "be wrong," our students engage in imaginative problem solving. In this session, we will touch on historical context, reference related research, and even work through a few math problems in order to evaluate our own responses to making mistakes.

Brian Huyvaert
University of Portland (OR)

Teaching & Learning
Grades K-12, Postsecondary
Sturm Hall 435

The Mathematics of Mario: Hidden Rigor in Today's Popular Video Games

From Pokemon damage calculation, to Hearthstone's random card generator and Metroid's wave beam, modern video games provide rich landscapes for students to explore rigorous mathematics in action. This session will provide examples of where current math standards are used behind the scenes in today's popular games. Teachers will be provided with a variety of paper-pencil problems and project examples, as well as access to a code base showing some of the concepts in action (no prior programming knowledge required).

Dr. Jennifer Moriarty
CEC Early College, DPS

Access & Equity
Grades 6-12
Sturm Hall 453

Equity-Based Classroom Teaching Practices

Participants will explore the five equity-based practices in mathematics classrooms, engage in a mathematics task, and consider how the task supports engagement in these practices. Participants will further connect these equity-based practices to the mathematics teaching practices described in Principles to Actions.

Cathy Martin
Denver Public Schools

Access & Equity
Grades 6-12, Postsecondary, Preservice, Coaches, Administrators
Sturm Hall 454

The Visible Mind: Videos, Brain Research, and the Mathematical Mind

Brain research has given us fascinating insights into our mathematical minds. How can we use that research to better understand our students? This session will examine videos of students and consider how their behaviors are a manifestation of activity in the brain.

David Woodward
Boulder Valley School District

Access & Equity
Grades K-5
Sturm Hall 480

What's Important in Math Today?

The mathematical needs of society are changing rapidly. This session provides a rationale for expanding the focus of classroom mathematics to include the thinking skills that students now need to engage effectively in today's (and tomorrow's) society. Additionally, participants will discover how to stimulate thinking and reasoning skills by first building a foundation of conceptual understanding.

James Burnett
President and Senior Author, ORIGO Education

Sturm Hall - Davis Auditorium

Developing Deeper Conceptual Understanding to Prepare for the SAT

Students who only excel at procedural fluency (memorizing steps & formulas) will have a tough time on the math section of the redesigned SAT. What is needed? A deeper understanding of the concepts. How can we leverage technology to meet our goal? We will provide activities and ideas that promote conceptual understanding.

Jeff McCalla
T^3 Instructor / St. Mary's Episcopal School (TN)

Tom Reardon
Fitch High School (OH) / Youngstown State University

Tools & Technology
Driscoll 1864

Using Historical Mathematics Problems to Engage Student Thinking

This session provides an overview of mathematics problems from ancient Egypt to Renaissance Europe, engages participants in solving problems from antiquity, and discusses how these problems can engage secondary students' thinking.

Robert Powers
University of Northern Colorado

Teaching & Learning
Grades 6-12
Driscoll Room 1880

Getting Started With Google Drive: A Roadmap for Math Educators

Want to unlock the potential of Google Drive in your classroom or school? Then join us for an interactive working session designed for interested math educators! This session will provide attendees with a brief overview of Google Drive and an opportunity to explore the various capabilities through a series of hands-on, collaborative activities. Attendees will leave with the confidence to set up or improve upon current Google Drive infrastructures at their respective school(s).

Pat McGuire
University of Colorado Colorado Springs

Katie Anderson-Pence
University of Colorado Colorado Springs

Tools & Technology
Grades K-12, Postsecondary, Preservice, Coaches, Administrators
Sturm Hall 234

Experiment to Learn

Teachers will have a chance to see how they can use the Desmos graphing calculator app to explore different types of functions and transformations of those functions.

Gabriel DeAnda
Denver Public Schools

Tools & Technology
Grades 6-12
Sturm Hall 235

Beyond Rhetoric: Everyday Growth Mindset Interventions

Developing a growth mindset can support student learning, but it is challenging and takes time and concerted effort. We will share specific strategies to encourage a growth mindset in students that are based on routines creating space for students to take risks and think mathematically. Participants will discuss the challenges of changing mindsets, experience routines as learners, and leave with resources that they can use to implement these routines in their classroom.

Dylan Kane
High Mountain Institute

Lisa Bejarano
Aspen Valley HS, Academy School District 20

Teaching & Learning
Grades 6-12
Sturm Hall 253

A Math Potential Gap for Gifted Learners

In this session, we explore evidence of a Math Potential Gap for gifted and advanced learners—a pattern of significant disparities between these students’ mathematical potential and their actual learning, even in cases where certain measures may suggest that their needs are being met. By comparing research in the fields of gifted and math education and examining the tension between depth and acceleration, we explore the nature and causes of the gap, factors that perpetuate it, strategies for change, and implications for all math learners. You will leave the session with specific resources and strategies and an invitation to join an ongoing conversation about engaging advanced students in more meaningful learning.

Jerry Burkhart
5280 Math Education

Access & Equity
Grades K-12, Postsecondary, Preservice, Coaches, Administrators
Sturm Hall 310

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Visual Mathematics from K to 12

What mathematical reasoning can be evoked by a simple picture or mathematical representation? Knowing that 75% of learning occurs through our sense of sight, what can we do to provide a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts without focusing on processes and procedures? Join us to explore the latest research and participate in some of the best practice techniques for visual learners.

Allyson Fox
Harrison School District 2

Annette Zook
Harrison School District 2

Teaching & Learning
Grades K-12, Preservice, Coaches, Administrators
Sturm Hall 334

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Cultivating Mathematical Identities

How can we support all students’ confidence and competence as mathematicians? In this session, we will explore how our beliefs about mathematics and about ourselves as mathematicians influence our students’ self-perceptions and achievement – and how we can make the most of that influence. Participants will gain practical tools for developing positive STEM identities both in themselves and among their students.

Wendy Ward Hoffer
PEBC

Access & Equity
Grades K-5
Sturm Hall 380

Productive Struggle in the Classroom

Learn how to practically introduce productive struggle in your math classroom. Add some strategies to your teaching toolkit that will help your students grow in their perseverance and flexibility in problem solving.

Sharon Bruce
Colorado Springs Christian School

Teaching & Learning
Grades 9-12
Sturm Hall 424

Understanding Our Planet Through Math

Engage students in memorable, hands-on activities that integrate math with age-appropriate geography and ecology. Build students’ understanding of fractions, ratios, large numbers and growth patterns using examples from the environment and global community. Presented games and simulations also enhance students' abilities in measurement, data analysis and graphing representation. Receive electronic lesson plans matched to state standards.

Colleen Kulesza
Evergreen Nature Center

Teaching & Learning
Grades 3-5
Sturm Hall 435

Mathematical Problem Solving: A Metacognitive Approach

Come join us for mathematical problem solving with a metacognitive twist! The objective of this session is to empower students to ask themselves questions that lead to their own discoveries. Using word problems and tasks students encounter in the classroom, participants will be guided through a process of questioning that can immediately be replicated in the classroom. A visual model for student use provides an overview of the plan and structure. This visual model will be shared during the workshop as participants will be given an opportunity to transform it for their own use.

Paige Wild
Boulder Valley School District

Teaching & Learning
Grades K-8, Preservice
Sturm Hall 453

Put the TEACH Back in Teaching

In this jam-packed session, you will learn time - tested research based strategies and techniques designed to: improve student focus, drastically reduce problem behavior, and increase instruction time.

Lisa Farrow
Consultant

Professionalism
Grades K-12
Sturm Hall 454

Empowering Diverse Learners’ Mathematical Thinking and Language: Student-Adaptive Pedagogy

We will focus on how to meaningfully promote the complex language of math in a very challenging area (fractions). We will share ideas for effective oral language tasks, and our experiences in working with and capitalizing on bilingual students’ abilities to use manipulatives and visuals to communicate mathematical understandings.

Allyson Lewis
Aurora Public Schools

Amber Gardner
University of Colorado Denver

Access & Equity
Grades 3-8
Sturm Hall 480

Thinking Tools and Lesson Structures That Empower Students

***Double Session from 1:45-4:00***

Proactive, empowered math thinkers who dive into problems and tasks with gusto – this is our vision for math learners. In this session, we will explore how to design and facilitate instruction that enhances young mathematicians’ confident engagement with new and unfamiliar concepts. Participants will learn how to seamlessly integrate thinking goals and content goals to maximize students’ understanding and transfer of new learning.

Moker Klaus-Quinlan
PEBC

Jennifer Engbretson
Denver Public Schools

Teaching & Learning
Grades 6-12
Sturm Hall 490

Take That For Data: Learning From Student Work

When we think about the word "data" our minds typically drift to achievement scores. In this session we'll consider another type of data: student artifacts from rich tasks that tells us much about what a student knows. We'll improve our instruction via protocols that focus on learning what a student demonstrates. In addition, we will examine where and how to find such "artifact-worthy" tasks.

Geoffrey Krall
New Tech Network

Assessment
Grades K-12, Coaches
Sturm Hall - Davis Auditorium

Math + ELA Coaching

As both teachers and Instructional Coaches in ELA and Mathematics, we will present strategies in working with both teachers and students for all who work in and with math classes to increase their support of Emerging Bilinguals in their classroom.

Jennifer Harkness
Denver Public Schools

Joseph Bolz
Denver Public Schools

Access & Equity
Grades 9-12, Coaches, Administrators
Driscoll Room 1880

Developing a Growth Mindset in Young Mathematicians

According to Jo Boaler of Stanford University, "new research on the brain tells us that the difference between successful and unsuccessful students is less about the content they learn and more about their mindsets". Join us as we discuss manners in which educators can intentionally create a classroom environment where students embrace a growth mindset, take risks as learners, and savor the struggle as mathematicians.

Sarah Berger
PEBC and STEM Lab, Adams 12

Sathya Wandzek
PEBC

Teaching & Learning
Grades K-12
Sturm Hall 234

Peer Feedback Cohorts for Teachers: Why They Work and Getting One Started in Your School or School District

Some districts provide the option for teachers to complete their Educator Effectiveness portfolios by working with peers. This is a nice option, but is also significantly limited in scope. For districts and schools to foster teacher leadership and comprehensive professional learning, embedded, non-evaluative peer feedback is a high leverage strategy that fosters teacher growth and directly impacts instruction. Teachers are challenged to get out of their “school bubble” and watch other teachers in action.

In this session, participants will hear how one instructional leader has pulled this together in his own district. Listen to a panel discussion, plus Q&A, with teachers who have participated in a Peer Cohort for the past two years. Participants will collaborate with others to consider how they might implement a Peer Cohort and will leave with a better understanding of what it takes to get one started.

Daniel Greenberg
Boulder Valley School District

Professionalism
Grades K-12, Coaches, Administrators
Sturm Hall 235

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Multiplication Minilessons: Using Number Strings to Build Students’ Understanding

Come learn ways to help your students develop efficient mental math computation strategies! During this interactive session, we will showcase a selection of minilessons that focus on building students’ conceptual understanding of multiplication. These carefully crafted “strings” of computation problems are designed to support students in constructing big ideas about mathematics and building their own strategies. Leave this session with teaching strategies in your back pocket ready to be implemented right away in your classroom!

Katie Anderson-Pence
University of Colorado Colorado Springs

Patrick McGuire
University of Colorado Colorado Springs

Teaching & Learning
Grades 3-5, Preservice, Coaches
Sturm Hall 253

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Let's in"FORM" Our Math Classes!

Do you use Google tools in your class? Come learn about ways to use google forms for more than assessments along with some cool ways to use them for just that, assessments. Students will love choose your own adventure activities, instant feedback, chapter review, and much more.

LaDonna Welch
Falcon School District 49

Tools & Technology
Grades 3-12
Sturm Hall 310

Have Students MAKE Notes, Not Just Take Notes

How much can students pay attention to what you are explaining about an example if they are busy copying down the examples you are going through on the board? This session will give you an idea you can use in many lessons in any math class so that students are doing more than copying what you write on the board.

Terry Walsh
Fort Lupton School District (Retired)

Tools & Technology
Grades 6-12, Preservice, Coaches
Sturm Hall 334

Transformational Geometry: Innovative Interactive Ways to Learn and Teach Grades 8-11

Immediate Interactive Investigations that will have students discovering the geometric concepts in less than 15 seconds on either a handheld, computer software or iPad. Play-Investigate-Explore-Discover while performing colorful and dynamic reflections, translations, rotations and dilations. All activities --- including student worksheets (gifts) and teacher notes – will be made available to the participants! Classroom ready and standards aligned for grades 8 – 11.

Tom Reardon
Fitch High School (OH) and Youngstown State University

Tools & Technology
Grades 6-12, Preservice
Sturm Hall 380

Understanding congruence through transformations

Do you want your students to know more than "congruent means figures are the same shape and size?". Come explore mini lessons and activities that will engage each learner to experience congruence through reflections, rotations and translations. This interactive workshop will focus on the definition of congruence through transformations, and how to incorporate manipulatives and high-level vocabulary in your lesson. Your students will be glad you attended!

Holly Mena Casa
Goddard MS, Littleton Public Schools

Elena Jones
Goddard MS, Littleton Public Schools

Teaching & Learning
Grades 6-8
Sturm Hall 424

The Power of Taking Away Power

What does a grade really mean? We will reflect on the intent and value of grading practices. You will leave with strategies on how to make effective and personalized feedback the focus of your grading system.

Kimberly Race
Castle View HS, Douglas County School District

Sally Collins
Castle View HS, Douglas County School District

Assessment
Grades 9-12
Sturm Hall 435

What Does the Mean Mean? The Need for Statistical Literacy

There has never been a time when the need for statistical literacy for all students has been this high. In this session, participants will explore several statistical concepts through “hands-on” activities. Discussion of teaching strategies and Colorado Academic Standards for K-8 will follow the activities.

Mark Koester
MSU Denver

Teaching & Learning
Grades 3-8, Preservice
Sturm Hall 454

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Connecting Pre-Service Teachers' and Students' Mathematical Reasoning Through Video

The ability to notice important events in a teaching and learning environment as well as make decisions about these events is a key component of good instruction. Pre-service teachers tend to notice more superficial aspects of classroom practice, such as classroom management. The goal of this workshop is to use student video for pre-service teachers to notice (a) their own mathematical reasoning and (b) the mathematical reasoning of elementary or secondary students and (c) how their own reasoning can impact or guide instruction around mathematical tasks to impact their students’ mathematical reasoning.

Dennis DeBay
University of Colorado Denver

Teaching & Learning
Grades K-5, Preservice
Sturm Hall 480