Making Math Moments That Matter
Channel Details
Making Math Moments That Matter
Helping you transform your K-12 math lesson plans by building confidence in effective teaching practices, guiding you to transform your math curriculum, and inspiring classroom strategies to engage all students. As a teacher are you wondering how to create K-12 math lesson plans where students...
Recent Episodes
433 episodes
Helping Teachers Move Beyond the Algorithm in Math Instruction: Resistance to Teaching Multiple Strategies in Math
Are your teachers reluctant to move beyond the standard algorithm—even when it clearly isn’t working for their students?
In this episode, we exp...
How Do We Help Our Multi-Language Learners Thrive in Math
Are your multi-language learners struggling to engage in math class? You’re not alone. Many teachers recognize the issue but feel unsure how to help—e...
Essential Math Coaching: The Highest Leveraged Move You Can Make For Math Improvement
Why are so many districts pouring resources into math PD but seeing so little classroom change?
It’s not because teachers aren’t trying. It’s no...
Why “Fidelity” Might Be Hurting Your Momentum In Math Improvement
You're rolling out a math resource across your district—but you’re noticing that some classrooms feel scripted and disconnected from student thinking....
From AI to Joyful Math Teaching: Ideas You Can Use Tomorrow
In this episode, we share our biggest insights from the 7th annual Make Math Moments Virtual Summit. We highlight powerful sessions that explored ethi...
From Math Overload to Alignment: A Mentoring Moment for Leaders
Leading math professional learning in a large system is never simple — especially when every school wants something different. How do you support mean...
Inside One District’s Journey to Define Math Critical Thinking
Your math vision prioritizes critical thinking, but can everyone on your team describe what that actually looks like in classrooms?
In this epis...
Is Critical Thinking Just a Buzzword in Your Math Action Plans?
Do you say your math program prioritizes critical thinking, but struggle to see it in action across classrooms?
Many districts include critical...
Why Your Math Goals Might Not Be Working — and What One Team Changed
Is your school or district chasing improvement—but feeling like nothing sticks? You're not alone. Fragmentation and unclear goals might be the reason...
Does Everyone Know What Fluency in Math Means? Understanding The Math Coherence Gap
Have you ever left a team meeting feeling confident everyone was working toward the same math goal, only to realize later that each person defined suc...
How One School Used the Stages of Implementation to Drive Real Change
You’ve got a strong teacher, strong strategies—and still, the innovation stalls. What gives? In this episode, we tackle what’s really behind resistanc...
Five Phases of Implementation Every Math Leader Needs To Know To Overcome Resistance
Still stuck “talking” about change, but not seeing it in action? The real roadblock to change in math may not be teacher resistance—it might be your s...
How to Build a Math Plan That Survives Leadership Changes
What happens to your math improvement efforts when you leave the role?
Many school and district leaders assume that lack of time or teacher buy-...
The Biggest Threat To Sustainable Math Improvement - Your Guess Will Be Wrong!
Why does your math plan feel like it resets every time someone new steps in?
You’ve seen it happen: a coordinator retires, a coach changes roles...
Math Fluency in Action: Observing What Proficient Students Actually Do
What does it really mean to be fluent in math—and are we measuring the right things in our classrooms?
Math fluency is often reduced to speed dr...
Why Your Math Coaching Model Isn’t Working — Insights from Jim Strachan
How do you know if your district’s mentoring and coaching efforts are actually making a difference?
Too often, system and instructional leaders...
Making Durable Decisions in Math Leadership | A Sustainable Math Practice Case Study
Fidelity matters, yet rigidity can stall growth. In this follow-up episode, we revisit the balance between fidelity and flexibility in math improvemen...
When Fidelity in Math Improvement Turns Into Rigidity & How To Avoid This Costly Mistake
Implementing with fidelity matters—whether it’s adopting a new math resource, embedding a routine like number talks, or structuring PLCs. But fidelity...
How to Sequence Math Tasks: Thin Slicing in BTC Explained by Peter Liljedahl and Kyle Webb
How do you move your students from confusion to confidence—one question at a time when Building Thinking Classrooms?
If you've ever found yourse...
When Tools Steal Thinking: Rethinking Technology Use in Math
In this episode, we dig into the tricky question every math teacher faces: When is a calculator a helpful tool—and when does it actually rob students...
Going Narrow in Math Improvement: A Practical Playbook from One District
Math improvement plans don’t gain traction just by naming priorities—they gain traction when districts commit to going narrow. For one small district,...
Fear, Pressure, and the Struggle to Truly Commit to Math Priorities
District math improvement plans can’t succeed if we try to do everything at once. For meaningful change to happen, leaders need to go narrow.
In...
Beating Initiative Fatigue: How to Filter Math PD Opportunities without Overwhelm
Do you ever feel torn between staying laser-focused on your math goals and chasing all the new opportunities that come your way?
Whether it’s a...
How AI Can Help Math Teachers Differentiate Instruction for Every Learner
How can math teachers harness AI to lighten their workload, differentiate with confidence, and boost student thinking—without losing the human touch?<...
Why Systemic Change in Math Fails Without the Right Bridges in Place
What does it look like to build Bridges in real time?
In this episode, we highlight the story of a district leader who knows she can’t do the wo...
Why Math Improvement Efforts Stall Without Clear Bridges
District math objectives can’t live on a slide deck. For change to happen, they need Bridges—the leaders who translate vision into action at the schoo...
How Time Debt Is Derailing Your Math Leadership Goals
Are you letting daily emergencies steal time from what really matters in your role as a math leader?
From a soaked teenager's phone to the all-t...
How To Teach Multi-Digit Multiplication
In this episode, we explore why multi-digit multiplication continues to be the thorn in so many teachers’ sides. We talk about why sometimes we need t...
Making Math Progress Visible: The B+ Approach to School Math Improvement
Are your district's math improvement plans stuck in “waiting for perfect”? What if aiming for B+ work could unlock real progress—right now?
Too...
Rich Tasks vs. Gradual Release: Do We Have to Choose?
One of the most frequent questions we hear from district and school math leaders is:
“How do I convince math educators to shift from always usin...
Why District Math Plans Fall Flat Without School-Level Action
Too often, district math improvement planning happens “up there,” with big visions and system-wide goals that don’t trickle down into meaningful chang...
It’s Not Either-Or: Building a Math Classroom That Has It All
A teacher asked us a fair question: “If direct instruction and practice are working, why change?
While presenting at a recent conference, we wer...
From Lofty to Laser-Focused: Unpacking One District’s Math Improvement Plan
In this episode, we share how one district is entering the new school year with a sharper focus in their Math District Improvement Plan. In the past,...
Building a Math Culture with Board Games: Standards for Mathematical Practice in Action
Looking to build a positive math culture at the start of the school year? In this episode, we dive into why board games are more than just fun—they’re...
Building Coherence Between Math Coaches, Principals, and Teachers
This episode is a debrief of the article Coaching for Coherence: How Instructional Coaches Lead Change in the Evaluation Era by Woulfin & Rigby (2017)...
Teaching Math with the Brain in Mind: Insights from Liesl McConchie
Are your students' math struggles rooted in what they know—or how they feel about math?
If your math learners seem disengaged, anxious, or convi...
7 Math Coaching Questions That Transform Teacher Conversations
If you’ve ever walked out of a math coaching session wondering whether you made an impact, you’re not alone. Many instructional coaches step into the...
Visual Patterns That Lead to Algebra: Designing Math Tasks That Surface Student Thinking
Are we underestimating what young math learners can do with algebra — just because they’re young?
If you've ever watched a student skip the reas...
How to Define The Right Milestones That Drive Math Improvement
In this episode, Jon Orr and Yvette Lehman unpack the difference between long-term objectives and short-term key results. Through a real coaching conv...
What If the Report Card Doesn’t Match the Math You’re Seeing?
It’s early in the school year. You’re reviewing student math work and noticing some red flags—math concepts that should be solid just aren’t there. Bu...