The Build Math Minds Podcast
The Build Math Minds podcast is for my fellow Recovering Traditionalists out there. If you don’t know whether or not you are a Recovering Traditionalist, here’s how I define us. We are math educators who used to teach math the traditional way. Flip lesson by lesson in the textbook, directly teaching step-by-step how to solve math problems. But now, we are working to change that to a style of teaching math that is fun and meets our students where they are at, not just teaching what comes next in the textbook. We want to encourage our students to be thinkers, problem solvers, and lovers of mathematics..we are wanting to build our students math minds and not just create calculators. If that is you, then this podcast is for you.
- Update frequency
- every 6 days
- Average duration
- 10 minutes
- Episodes
- 100
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2025
Number Sense Kickstart Day #4 - Listening to Student Thinking
This is Day 4 of the Number Sense Kickstart and we are exploring the profound impact of active listening in the classroom.
Did you know that in the typical classroom, teachers do 89% of the talking, …
Number Sense Kickstart Day #3 - Having a record of what your students understand
Most textbooks are focused on answer-getting so their assessments are also focused on just answer-getting. That doesn’t tell you anything about what your students understand, only what they can do. …
Number Sense Kickstart Day #2 - What understanding do your students need?
Mathematics is so much more than just getting the answers. Answers are important, but that really doesn’t tell you what your students UNDERSTAND about math, it only tells you what they can DO.
If …
Number Sense Kickstart - Day 1
Do you have students struggling with their number sense and fluency in elementary mathematics? You aren’t the only one! Over the last few years we’ve seen gaps in students’ understanding get bigger…
Episode 147 - Practice Makes Permanent
Here in the United States, it is the end of the school year and teachers are contemplating what work they should send home with students for them to do over the summer. In today's podcast, I get int…
Episode 146 - Standard Algorithms Compared to Computational Strategies
I've been on a kick about math fluency lately and how a lot of textbooks have their teaching of fluency wrong. Growing up, fluency to me meant being good at the algorithm. Being able to follow the s…
Episode 145 - Math Textbooks Have the Teaching of Fluency All Wrong
In the last episode of the podcast, I shared the three ideas that make up computational fluency. Flexibility is often the piece that is missing in our fluency instruction, but recently textbooks have…
Episode 144 - What is Computational Fluency?
The Flexibility Formula courses that I offer have a huge focus on how we can help kids develop number sense, but the main reason to focus on number sense is really to help your students become flexi…
Episode 143 - Summer Reading List for Elementary Math Teachers 2022
Each of you listening to this podcast have different goals for your professional development. You have different things you are wanting to read about to help your students next year have an even bet…
Episode 142 - Nothing Lasts Forever
Have you ever felt like the thing you’re going through will never end? There is no doubt that hard times can wear us out and make us feel helpless. Then, it can seem like the good times don't last lo…
Episode 141 - Get The Most Out of Math Games
Games are one of my favorite ways to have kids practice. They can do 50 problems in 5 minutes and not even realize it. But, one of the biggest complaints I hear about using games in the classroom is…
Episode 140 - Alternatives to Math Tests
As many of you are currently in the thick of standardized testing, it reminds you that testing shouldn’t be like this….but if not this, then what? This week, while sitting in my car waiting for one o…
Episode 139 - Should We Stop Giving Tests in Math?
Should we stop giving tests in math class? This question was recently tweeted by Chris Luzniak and I found the comments under it very thought provoking. So, I thought I'd share some of them with you …
Episode 138 - More Than a Test
Testing season is upon us and as always, it is stressful. I wish there were easy tips or tricks I could give you to help make it awesome but unfortunately, that doesn’t exist. In episode 138, I give …
Episode 137 - Math in Children's Literature
This week I finally got a chance to crack open the book Mathematizing Children’s Literature: Sparking Connections, Joy, and Wonder Through Read-Alouds and Discussion by Allison Hintz and Anthony T. S…
Episode 136 - Problem Solving In Math
Have you ever dove right into something you had no idea how to do? As hard as we try not to, we often ask our students to do just that. When I first started my Recovering Traditionalist journey and i…
Episode 135 - The Tip of the Iceberg
In today’s podcast, I’m sharing an article that presents a visual image I once saw that plays a huge role in how I think about building our understandings of mathematics. I really think about it all …
Episode 134 - Pencil or Pen?
Pencil or pen? So many educators are adamant that kids MUST use pencils in math class so they can erase their errors. In today’s episode I’m wondering if pens could actually be better. Perhaps there …
Episode 132 - The Connecting Pillar with Stacey Ellis, Matt Halpern, & Dawn Dibley
I’ve been doing a series of episodes sharing some summit sessions that address each of The Flexibility Formula. Episode 130 we took a look at Understanding, episode 131 we dove into Observing, and to…