The Number Lab
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thenumberlab.bsky.social
The Number Lab
@thenumberlab.bsky.social
Our sustained professional learning is an investment in the single most important school resource: teachers. Through our innovative, practice-based math learning framework, teachers build conceptual understanding and develop positive math identities.
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When learners are expected to look for relationships between numbers, facts have real meaning.
March 3, 2025 at 6:12 PM
When we embrace the idea of teacher as facilitator of math learning, we view mathematics and teaching as creative pursuits.
My last year teaching geometry was in 2015, which was right around the time i starting embracing my role as a teacher as a facilitator of learning vs the transmitter of knowledge.

This was when I started writing most of my own material as well.

Still a favorite, totally ridiculous, question
#mtbos
March 3, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Discourse-rich classrooms offer learners excellent opportunity for deep learning as well as the enhancement of crucial learning skills. And because critical discourse allows learners' thinking to be highly visible, teachers are able to assess learning and offer feedback in realtime.
#iTeachmath
“high internal behavioral engagement did not guarantee student achievement if the engagement was not accompanied by talk. Our findings thus highlight the important role of classroom talk in relation to student learning.” #iTeachMath
December 12, 2024 at 8:19 PM
" If we encourage teachers to be more confident in their own math abilities the next generation will have stronger skills and greater confidence in math...Both students and teachers must understand how math works at the conceptual level...'The conceptual part is, why does that work?' " #iTeachmath
I hadn't planned to share with the world but I thank @kokosims.bsky.social for always pushing me to share because she thinks I'm worth it. I'm not a wordsmith but I hope I got the point across. 🫶🏾 #BlackEduSky #EduSky
December 11, 2024 at 9:48 PM
Yes! Deep understanding...isn't that the goal?
#iteachmath #edusky #ElemMathChat #mtbos
This type of feedback from a student is so gratifying and a reminder that not all of my students are there yet. #iteachmath #edusky
December 11, 2024 at 7:31 PM
Learning is messy. It requires taking risks to make connections, formulate conjectures, and refute others' assertions.
But, once they finally took the risk to begin making their own conjectures (and learning from their mistakes) their confidence grew. Of all the things I accomplished in my career, this was the most important: empowering independent thinkers.
#iteachmath 4/4
December 11, 2024 at 7:21 PM
Yes! This is an excellent way for learners to assess and enhance crucial learning skills.
A3: As a math teacher, I love to have students video record their solution process to questions over the course of the year. I then have them look back at videos created earlier & reflect on how their thinking has evolved. It's so cool for them to notice the connections forming. #EduSkyChat
December 10, 2024 at 5:38 PM
Indeed: "The magic truly happens when mathematicians make sense of and solve problems together."
#iTeach #iTeachMath #mathmagician #ElemMathChat
I love the idea of being a math magician 🪄🎩🐰(though math isn’t about tricks). She meant mathematician. The magic truly happens when mathematicians make sense of and solve problems together. #iteach #iteachmath #mathmagician
December 9, 2024 at 8:35 PM
Yes. When young learners are introduced to a strategy that is presented as "the way" to approach a particular kind of problem, why should they have to give any thought to this kind of problem when they encounter it again in the future? Their thinking is impeded.
The primary issue with repeated practice of a single strategy is the inevitable assumption that this is THE way to do a particular task ... The motivation to notice and apply different (often more efficient) strategies is lost. #iteachmath #EduSky
December 4, 2024 at 7:11 PM
Yes. Real math pd is about the mathematics itself, not merely the math program/curriculum.
Fidelity and integrity requires professional development. When picking a new curriculum, several of us urged for real math PD (vs just program PD) as part of selection. Teachers will often fall back on what they know/are comfortable with unless shown something different.
December 4, 2024 at 6:44 PM
Reposted by The Number Lab
Yes! Meaning-making and sense-making are essentially human tasks. Storing, sorting, and organizing information are essentially technological tasks (one we've designed tools precisely for!). Our brains can certainly do both, but the reason we offload the latter is to facilitate the former.
December 3, 2024 at 3:36 PM
When teachers are given the opportunity to have richer, more authentic learning experiences with the math they are expected to teach, their learners can have richer, more authentic learning experiences with the math they are expected to learn.
#EduSky #MTBos #MathSky #iTeachMath
December 3, 2024 at 8:44 PM
Let's work to improve math learning by helping teachers to experience more effective professional learning: content-focused for deep conceptual understanding, highly collaborative, and learning skills enhancing.
#EduSky #MTBos #MathSky #iTeachMath
December 3, 2024 at 7:19 PM
Indeed.
We would argue that humans, especially kids, are learning beings. But the structures and systems of schooling are not always compatible with what we know about learning and motivation, and rather than change kids, let's change systems. 😁
December 2, 2024 at 9:33 PM
Reposted by The Number Lab
"This might be the most fundamental aspect of constructivist classrooms: adults modeling for children that learning is not merely a schoolhouse collection of correct answers but that the world itself is full of complex problems w/ multiple perspectives...that merit our thoughtful consideration..."
November 23, 2024 at 5:44 PM
"In our work, we’re also looking at “power skills” -- skills that power the learning process. Knowing fractions is important, but believing you’re a math learner is equally as powerful."
T. Lovelace
www.edsurge.com/news/2024-11...
Are We Assessing What Really Matters in Education? - EdSurge News
Assessments have the power to shape educational outcomes, but are we truly measuring what matters? Ensuring that assessments are fair, inclusive and ...
www.edsurge.com
December 2, 2024 at 9:00 PM
"We often ask learners to pause learning to be assessed. Ideally, we should think about how to assess them while they continue learning, whether individually, in groups or in their community." - Temple Lovelace
December 2, 2024 at 8:55 PM
Yes, math learning should be a journey in which there is time to get stuck...to ponder...to question...to struggle all for the purpose of developing deep, conceptual understanding of mathematical ideas.
I always tell folks that teaching someone math is like telling them how to get from NYC to Chicago. Some kids take the shortest and fastest route and some kids take all the back roads. The kids who take the “back roads” make connections and see things others won’t.
December 2, 2024 at 8:20 PM
November 18, 2024 at 9:45 PM