Category Archives: Presentations

#LL2LU, Learning, Learning Progressions, Presentations, Professional Development Plans, Questions, Reading, Sketch Notes

Traverse session: Experiential and Instructional: Promoting Productive Mathematical Struggle #tvrse18

Leave a comment

At Traverse Boulder, I facilitated the following session on Tuesday, June 5, 2018.

Experiential and Instructional:
Promoting Productive Mathematical Struggle

How might we implement tasks that promote reasoning and problem solving to deepen conceptual understanding? Let’s identify and implement high quality tasks grounded in real experiences. Advancing the teaching and learning of mathematics cannot be accomplished with decontextualized worksheets. Discuss, sketch, and solve tasks that promote flexibility, creative and critical reasoning, and problem solving. Learning math should be anchored in depth of understanding through context – not pseudo context – and built on conceptual understanding as well as procedural fluency.

Here’s my sketch note of our plan:

Here’s the slide deck:

Just say no to worksheets.

Say YES to productive struggle and grappling.

Embolden your inner storyteller and leverage the art of questioning.

Context is key.

Conferences, Connecting Ideas, Creativity, Learning, Presentations, Professional Development Feedback, Professional Development Plans, Sketch Notes

#MVIFI Collider session Sketchnoting: Show what you know more than one way

Leave a comment

At the February 16th MVIFI Collider event for professional learning, I facilitated the following 50-minute session on sketch noting twice.

Sketchnoting:
Show what you know more than one way

Up your note taking skills by being visual. Learn this invaluable method for recording, showcasing understanding, and deepening comprehension.

We will meet and greet, norm, touch on research, play with words and word art, discuss tools, practice, participate in a feedback look, and close by setting a micro-goal.

Here’s my sketch note of the plan:

We watched Simon Sinek’s TED talk to practice live sketch noting.

Here are artifacts of learning from Twitter:

Connecting Ideas, Learning, Presentations, Professional Development Plans

Summer PD: Day 2 Mathematical Flexibility

Leave a comment

Summer Literacy and Mathematics Professional Learning
June 5-9, 2017
Day 2 – Mathematical Flexibility
Jill Gough and Becky Holden

Today’s focus and essential learning:

I can demonstrate mathematical flexibility to show what I know in more than one way.

(but , what if I can’t?)

Learning target and pathway:

Mathematics is a subject that allows for precise thinking, but when that precise thinking is combined with creativity, flexibility, and multiplicity of ideas, the mathematics comes alive for people (Boaler, 58 pag.)

…we know that what separates high achievers from low achievers is not that high achievers know more math, it is that they interact with numbers flexibly and low achievers don’t.  (Boaler, n. pag.)

UED: 8:45 – 11:15  / EED: 1:15 – 2:45

 Slide deck

Resources:

#LL2LU, Connecting Ideas, Learning, Learning Progressions, Presentations, Professional Development Plans, Questions

Summer PD: Day 1 Make Sense; Persevere

Leave a comment

Summer Literacy and Mathematics Professional Learning
June 5-9, 2017
Day 1 – Make Sense and Persevere
Jill Gough and Becky Holden

Today’s focus and essential learning:

We want all mathematicians to be able to say:

I can make sense of tasks
 and persevere in solving them.

(but… what if I can’t?)

Great teachers lead us just far enough down a path so we can challenge for ourselves. They provide us just enough insight so we can work toward a solution that makes us, makes me want to jump up and shout out the solution to the world, makes me want to step to the next higher level.  Great teachers somehow make us want to ask the questions that they want us to answer, overcome the challenge that they, because they are our teacher, believe we need to overcome. (Lichtman, 20 pag.)

… designed to help students slow down and really think about problems rather than jumping right into solving them. In making this a routine approach to solving problems, she provided students with a lot of practice and helped them develop a habit of mind for reading and solving problems.  (Flynn, 19 pag.)

Screen Shot 2017-06-06 at 7.53.02 AM.png

Agenda and Tasks:

Slide deck:

Resources:

Conferences, Connecting Ideas, Presentations, Professional Development Plans

Leading Mathematics Education in the Digital Age

Leave a comment

Leading Mathematics Education in the Digital Age
2017 NCSM Annual Conference
Pre-Conference Sessions
Jennifer Wilson
Jill Gough

How can leaders effectively lead mathematics education in the era of the digital age?  

There are many ways to contribute in our community and the global community, but we have to be willing to offer our voices. How might we take advantage of instructional tools to purposefully ensure that all students and teachers have voice: voice to share what we know and what we don’t know yet; voice to wonder what if and why; voice to lead and to question.

Connecting Ideas, Presentations, Questions, Reading

Mathematizing Read-Alouds

Leave a comment

Mathematizing Read-Alouds
KSU Conference on Literature for Children and Young Adults
March 21, 2017
Becky Holden, Trinity School
Megan Noe, Trinity School
Jill Gough, Trinity School

How might we deepen our understanding of numeracy using Children’s literature? What if we mathematize our read aloud books to use them in math as well as reading and writing workshop? We invite you to listen and learn while we share ways to deepen understanding of numeracy and literacy. Come exercise your mathematical flexibility to show what you know more than one way.

Books on which to practice:

#LL2LU, Conferences, Connecting Ideas, Presentations, Questions

Using technology alongside #SlowMath to promote productive struggle

2 Comments

Using technology alongside #SlowMath
to promote productive struggle
2017 T³™ International Conference
Sunday, March 12, 8:30 – 10 a.m.
Columbus AB, East Tower, Ballroom Level
Jennifer Wilson
Jill Gough

One of the Mathematics Teaching Practices from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ (NCTM) “Principles to Actions” is to support productive struggle in learning mathematics.

  • How does technology promote productive struggle?
  • How might we provide #SlowMath opportunities for all students to notice and question?
  • How do activities that provide for visualization and conceptual development of mathematics help students think deeply about mathematical ideas and relationships?

[Cross posted at Easing the Hurry Syndrome]

Conferences, Connecting Ideas, Learning, Presentations, TED talk

#TEDTalkTuesday: Brave space a.k.a. turning collisions into connections

Leave a comment

Yesterday, I had the privilege of attending a session at GISA on Implicit Bias facilitated by Trinity’s very own Gina Quiñones () and Lauren Kinnard ().

Lauren and Gina began the session by setting norms, challenging us to level up from a safe space to a brave space. How might we dare to be brave enough to express what we think and feel? What if we listen to others to learn?

Screen Shot 2015-11-03 at 6.53.47 PM

They challenged us to consider how might we turn our own cultural collisions into more meaningful connections and shared the following TED talk.

Turning cultural collisions into cultural connections: Nadia Younes at TEDxMontrealWomen

I am grateful to work and learn with brave leaders, and I am thankful for all who trust enough to share brave space.

Connecting Ideas, Learning, PLC, Presentations, Questions

Strategic Teaming: 3 Big Ideas Learning Communities embrace

1 Comment

Bringing differences to the same essential-to-learn highlighted our 2015-16 community goals and how the lessons were designed and delivered from our Head of School and Division Heads.  Today, I facilitated the next lesson for our teams.

We reviewed the 3 Big Ideas and the 4 Key Questions that high functioning teams embrace.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We want to grow in leadership and in teaming.  In The Talent Code, Daniel Coyle writes

The trick is to choose a goal just beyond your present abilities; to target the struggle. Thrashing blindly doesn’t help. Reaching does. (Coyle, 19 pag.)

How might we, as a team, reach to target the struggle, to work on the edge of our abilities?

What if we use the seven stages that collaborative teams traverse from  by Parry Graham and Bill Ferriter (@plugusin) as a way to target our struggle? How might we use formative assessment to self-assess where we are now to make an informed decision about our next reach as a team?

Below are a sampling of the results when teams were asked to reflect and respond to the question At what stage do we currently function (most of the time) during team meetings?

If we focus on learning, have a collaborative culture, and use results to guide our decisions, how will we now differentiate with and for these teams who are different points in their collaborative journey?

Coyle, Daniel (2009-04-16). The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How. Random House, Inc. Kindle Edition.

Graham, Parry, and William Ferriter. Building a Professional Learning Community at Work: A Guide to the First Year. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree, 2010. Print.

Assessment, Connecting Ideas, Creativity, Information Age Learning, Learning, Presentations, Questions, Teachnology, Technology

Connect, extend, challenge: using digital tools, tinkering to learn

2 Comments

How do we use technology to learn and grow, make mistakes and try again, test and revise?

In our EduCon “do and dialogue” session, Doodling the C’s: Creativity, Comprehension, Communication & Connections, Shelley and I used the Visible Thinking Routine: Connect, Extend, Challenge as a reflection and discussion tool after each round of doodling.

We have been using the following side in previous learning sessions.

Screen Shot 2015-01-27 at 7.38.21 PM

Not bad, but not a doodle.  Shelley produced the following awesome doodle to help learners engage with this routine as they reflect on their learning.

Screen Shot 2015-01-27 at 7.43.27 PM

Shelley asked me to add color.  Here’s where I learned something new and exciting.  I took a picture of Shelley’s doodle with my iPad and imported it into the Procreate app.

Using the app, I could try color, undo when I didn’t like it, and try again.  I do not have the ability to undo when using my favorite pens.  Using undo and redo gave me the opportunity to test, assess, and revise until I was happy with my additions to Shelley’s great doodle. Here’s the version I pitched to be the final.

photo[1]

We immediately agreed that the question mark’s yellow was not what we wanted.  If I’d used ink on paper, we would not have been able to revise and play with color without a complete redraw.

Together, we removed the yellow and tried several other colors.  Finally, Shelley suggested that we just continue the green them for challenge.

Screen Shot 2015-01-24 at 8.53.21 AM

When we ponder how, when and why to integrate technology, do we consider how learners might use digital tools as instruments of self-assessment, feedback, and tinkering to learn?