#ILMathCom
Illinois Math Community

#ILMathCom events are always free, virtual experiences using the Zoom platform which can be utilized from any device with internet connection. We encourage participants to connect with a microphone and camera so that they can fully participate and interact with our guest speaker(s) and community. The goal of all #ILMathCom events is to spread the joy and wonder of mathematics, share ideas, and support one another as we strive to provide students with the best mathematics learning experiences. ​

Upcoming #ILMathCom offerings:

Check back often to see our latest offerings.
​Thursday, November 14 3:30-4:30 CST
Krystal Clifton
Fostering a Positive Classroom Environment
Join us for a special joint #ILCom session (Math, Science, Social Science have joined forces for this event), to hear guest speaker Krystal Clifton discuss strategies for fostering a positive classroom environment. Krystal is a 4th grade teacher in a diverse school district where 100% of the students in the district receive free lunch. One of the biggest struggles her district faces is a 28% chronic absenteeism rate. Krystal will share with us strategies for fostering a positive classroom environment by building relationships and rapport to support the risk-taking and authentic learning we want to see in the classroom.
Register here: http://bit.ly/11-14-19ILComReg

Thursday, December 12, 2019
Jeanine Sheppard
Transitional Math: Using Task-Based Instruction to Engage and Empower Students
In this #ILMathCom participants will experience a task-based lesson led by Jeanine Sheppard, Math Content Specialist. After, we will examine and discuss the elements of the lesson that make it engaging, accessible, and effective and discuss what it takes to replicate these experiences for students in any classroom.
Register here: bit.ly/ILMathComDec12

Thursday, April 9 3:30-4:30 CST
Jason Zimba, Ph.D.
What is Mathematical Modeling? What Does it Matter?
What is the standards' vision for mathematical modeling? How can you enhance the modeling work students so in grades K-5, 6-8, and 9-12? In this meeting we will take up these questions and end with ways to advocate for richer modeling in your school or district.
Jason Zimba is a Founding Partner of Student Achievement Partners and was a lead writer of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. He holds a B.A. from Williams College with a double major in mathematics and astrophysics; an M.Sc. by research in mathematics from the University of Oxford; and a Ph.D. in mathematical physics from the University of California at Berkeley. As a researcher, Dr. Zimba's work spanned a range of fields, including astronomy, astrophysics theoretical physics, philosophy of science, and pure mathematics. His academic awards include a Rhodes scholarship and a Majorana Prize for theoretical physics. Dr. Zimba has taught physics and mathematics to university students and high school students, as well as to adult prison inmates and members of other disadvantaged groups. He is the author of Force and Motion: An Illustrated Guide to Newton's Laws.
Register here: http://bit.ly/ILMathComApril9
Archives: 
Click the images to watch the recordings of our past #ILMathCom events. Shared materials and post surveys are embedded within the session descriptions. Thank you for exploring our resources! 
Rethinking Homework
What is the purpose of homework, how long should it be, how many tasks should we provide, what type of tasks work? Steve Leinwand shared his thoughts with us on what is wrong with math homework, and what we can do to fix it. Mr. Leinwand has over 35 years of leadership positions in mathematics education including on the NCTM Board of Directors and as President of NCSM. He currently works through AIR on projects that turn around schools, improve adult education, evaluate programs, develop assessments and provide technical assistance.
To access Steve Leinwand’s slides, visit his website at http://steveleinwand.com, Presentations, Math Homework: Time for a Major Overhaul. Take this pre and post survey to help us measure our impact.
Orchestrating Productive Mathematics Discussions: Teachers Taking On and Overcoming the Challenges
Dr. Margaret (Peg) Smith, author of 5 Practices for Orchestrating Mathematics Discussion, helped us grow in our abilities to facilitate productive discussions by focusing on the challenges discussions present and how teachers can overcome these challenges.  This session began by providing participants with a brief overview of the 5 practices model for orchestrating productive discussions (Smith & Stein, 2018) and identifying challenges that teachers face in implementing the five practices model.  Participants analyzed artifacts drawn from middle school classrooms in which teachers are successfully meeting the challenges (Smith & Sherin, 2019).  As a result of engaging in this session, participants learned ways to plan for and manage classroom discussions with practical suggestions they can implement in their own classrooms. Take this pre and post survey to help us measure our impact. ​Dr. Smith’s slides and handouts are both available in this shared Google folder, http://bit.ly/Smith_Handouts.  
Google Apps in the Math Classroom: When people think of Google Apps, they typically think about typing papers and making presentations, not math. Google apps, extensions, and other Google tools can help make your classroom a rich learning environment. This #ILMathCom, with Mandi Tolen,  was full of activities, ideas, and resources to help you differentiate, engage your students, and get them creating, communicating, and thinking. Check out materials she shared in forum (above). Take this pre and post survey to help us measure our impact.
Shift the Cognitive Lift: ​Joanie Funderburk, Director of IM Certified Facilitators at Illustrative Mathematics, discussed how math educators should stop working harder than their students and "Shift the Cognitive Lift" in math class. Learning math requires deep thinking and cognitive engagement. Oftentimes well-meaning teachers employ instructional practices that take the cognitive lift out of students’ hands. In this session, learn about tools for identifying when and how you might be doing this, and resources you can use to shift the cognitive lift back to your students. Click here to access the materials Joanie shared with us. Take this post survey to help us measure our impact.
The Opportunity Myth: Mary Pittman, Project Director for TNTP, shared the results of TNTP's newest national report, The Opportunity Myth, which followed nearly 4,000 students to learn more about their experiences. What was found was unnerving: classroom after classroom filled with students whose big goals for their lives are slipping further away each day, not because they can’t master challenging material, but because they were rarely given a real chance to try. This lack of access isn’t random. It’s the result of choices adults make at every level of our educational system.  What commitments can we make as profession to unravel the "Opportunity Myth"? Take the post survey to help us measure our impact.
High School Statistics: Julia Brenson, retired teacher from Lyons Township, led us through activities that deepened our understanding of the statistics content included in the high school standards and pedagogy that facilitates discourse and productive struggle. Ms. Brenson also shared several resources to support statistics instruction in high school including Illinois created https://ilstats.weebly.com/. Take this post survey to help us measure our impact.
Middle School Statistics: Julia Brenson, retired teacher from Lyons Township, led us through activities that deepened our understanding of the statistics content included in the middle school standards and pedagogy that facilitates discourse and productive struggle. Ms. Brenson also shared several resources to support statistics instruction in middle school including Illinois created https://ilstats.weebly.com/. Take this post survey to help us measure our impact.
Math Talks: The math content specialists discussed math talks--a strategy to support conceptual understanding, fluency, and differentiation. Math Talks are 5-10 minute activities that are simple to prepare but yield fantastic results. We explored the Illinois educator created resource, ILTeachandTalk.org, experienced a few math talks together, and discussed the steps to plan and implement this strategy. Please take this post survey to help us measure our impact.
IAR Math: Heather Brown, one of our ISBE math content specialists, has been working on the PARCC and IAR assessment for the past 6 years and is currently the chair of the PARCC Math Operational Working Group.  Heather walked us through the Illinois Assessment for Readiness, and we discussed what has changed since last year and what is the same.  We also spoke about the resources available on the ISBE, Pearson, and PARCC websites. Access the slide deck here. Please take this post survey to help us measure our impact.
Since the airing of this #ILMathCom certain websites have changed, please use this document to find resources. 
Student Choice: Cheryl Beasley, a math consultant in northern Illinois, shared some strategies that allow for choice in mathematics. Cheryl and the ISBE Math Content Specialists shared Choice Boards samples during this call. Participants explored new resources, shared their experiences, and asked questions to better understand how student choice can strengthen math instruction while supporting access, agency, and identity. Access the shared materials here. Please take this post survey to help us measure our impact.
Formative Assessment Part 2: During Part 2 of our series, we discussed how to use results of formative assessments. Participants from Part 1 shared some student work samples which we analyzed and determined as a group what the samples told us about student understanding. Then we looked at how to inform our instruction based on the student work on the formative assessment probes. Access the shared materials here. Please take this post survey to help us measure our impact.
Formative Assessment Part 1: A popular request from #ILMathCom participants has been formative assessment. In response, we invited Cheryl Tobey, a Maine Math Content Specialist to share with us regarding the work she has been doing with Formative Assessment Probes derived from PARCC and SAT  released items. This meeting discussed the creation of these items, how to use them, and anticipating student responses to the prompts. Access the google folder of shared materials here. Please take this post survey to help us measure our impact.
Fluency Without Fear: Past participants expressed an interest in a discussion about fluency, so this discussion explored what works and what doesn't as we all work towards helping our students achieve fluency in mathematics. Access the slide deck here. Please take this post survey to help us measure our impact.
Equity and Access: Eli Luberoff, CEO of Desmos, and Kevin McClure, ISBE Learning Supports Specialist, shared about their role in equitable mathematics education and provided resources to support equity and access. We also shared our new Resource Guide for Framing Inclusive Conversations for all subject areas.
Problem Based Learning: ​Lisa Matthews, an Illustrative Mathematics Certified Professional Learning Facilitator, and Rae Hughart, a 6th-grade math teacher at Evans Junior High, Unit 5 School District and Director of Training and Development for the Teach Better Team, shared resources and talked about their experiences with Problem Based Learning in the math classroom.
​Differentiation: Thursday, October 4 we discussed effective differentiation strategies. Glennah McMahon, from Hawthorn Middle School North, and Dana Cartier, independent consultant and former high school math teacher, shared some of their favorite differentiation strategies alongside other amazing Illinois educators.
CTE: Geometry in Construction: Tuesday, September 18 we discussed the the hands-on course “Geometry in Construction.” Dr. Brad Christiansen, Illinois State University STEM Instructional Designer, and Neal Kaufman, Project Coordinator at Three Rivers Education for Employment System, set the stage for us by sharing out some great resources and supports available for teachers and districts as well as describing the need for rich, contextualized math instruction. Our Feature Teachers,  Luke Sikora and Meghan Carlson, from CHSD 218, and Brian Collier, from Ridgewood High School Dist. 234, did an exemplary job of sharing out their experiences facilitating this program in their schools. We concluded with an engaging discussion between our participants and featured guests.
​Transitional Math: Thursday, September 6 we discussed the Transitional Math Courses. Kathleen Almy, the Illinois Director for Transitional Math from Northern Illinois University, shared a little background information about the PWR Act and Transitional Math Courses and Anji Garza, Director of Professional Learning at ROE #47, shared information about the work that has been done so far and why these programs are so important for our high school students. We also discussed opportunities for Illinois Educators to be involved in the development and piloting of materials to support these courses. We concluded the meeting with time for some Q and A. Access the slides from Kathy Almy's presentation here.
Lesson Study: Thursday, August 30 we explored lesson study as an empowering, collaborative professional learning option. Lesson Study expert, Dr. Akihiko Takahashi from DePaul University, shared some of his insights and experiences and a few past participants of our Illinois Virtual Lesson Study spoke about their experiences as well. Our community of math educators asked lots of questions and learned how to become involved in upcoming lesson study opportunities.
Standards-Based Reporting: Thursday, June 7th 3:30-4:30 we looked at how Standards-based Reporting increases student engagement by targeting student learning needs. By separating out achievement from behavior, SBR gives a clearer, more accurate assessment of the student's subject knowledge. Teachers experienced in SBR (Renu Anne Massa from Waukegan High School, Kimberly Malone from Abingdon-Avon High School, Becky Wood from Lake Zurich Middle School North, and Sue Mainville formerly an elementary math coordinator) shared their insights in transitioning to SBR, what successes they have had as well as challenges.  After sharing their brief overview, the discussion opened up to participants' questions.
Social Emotional Learning: Thursday, May 31st 3:30-4:30 we discussed SEL in the Math Classroom. Building relationships in the classroom increases trust and academic success. What strategies do you use to build relationships in your classroom? Engaging students in cooperative group activities not only builds trust between peers but also encourages group problem-solving, conflict resolution and supports all the Illinois SEL Standards. Learn about ISBE Collaborative resources and and hear from Greg Hobbs, a first-grade teacher at Kreitner Elementary in Collinsville,  and Lisa Ward, an ISBE Learning Supports Specialist.
Tech in Math: Thursday, May 24th, 3:30-4:30 #ILMathCom focused on using technology to enhance math education. Lisa Ward, an ISBE Learning Supports specialist, shared some of her favorite applets from Illuminations.nctm.org and Mike Reiners, an educator from Minnesota and Software developer for Casio, will shared some of the awesome things ClassPad.net can do. Be sure to check out these resources! Let us know what cool tech things you are doing in your math class by posting in the forum above.
#BlackKidsDoMath with Dr. Berry: Thursday, May 17, 3:30pm #ILMathCom meeting number 3 featured guest speaker Dr. Robert Q. Berry, NCTM President, who discussed #BlackKidsDoMath. Successful black boys in school mathematics receive little attention in the research literature, but the counter narrative is prevalent. Black boys’ mathematics identities are shaped by culture, community, and experiences with mathematics. The development of a positive mathematics identity is essential toward helping black boys sustain an interest in mathematics and develop persistence with mathematics. Examining the perceptions of successful black boys is critical to identifying the strengths, skills and significant factors that promote their success.
Student Engagement: Thursday, May 10th, 3:30pm our second meeting of #ILMathCom discussed how to keep students actively engaged in May, when it is beautiful outside and we are all doing the end of the year countdown.  We will heard from Jackie Weinstein (Hawthorn Elementary South in Vernon Hills) and Laura Kaplan (Chicago Academy for the Arts), and a few others shared out their ideas and strategies. ​
​​Community in the Math Classroom: Thursday, May 3rd, 3:30pm we held an open discussion on establishing a positive community in your math classroom.  How do you get your students engaged in mathematical discourse and at the same time create an equitable classroom?Rebecca Stowell (Westmoor Elementary in Northbrook), Kathy Felt, (Sherrard Junior High School), and Jeff Harding (Mundelein High School) shared ideas they use, and then participants had the opportunity to share as well. The video shows the elementary grade-band room during the breakouts.
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About Us
A collaborative project between IL Classrooms in Action, Illinois State University and the Illinois State Board of Education, this site is maintained by the ISBE Content Specialists at the Center for Educational Initiatives at ISU.