S6-E06: Nurturing fluency through student strengths

After watching so much great basketball analysis throughout March and April, Dan has been inspired to put the spotlight on a different kind of superstar: exceptional math educators. Check out a little preview of Dan's new project with Kelly Serpa Howe.Check out the full video

Listen to the final episode of Math Teacher Lounge! We’ll walk through the past 10 episodes on math fluency and pull out the key takeaways from our amazing hosts–such as tips on defining and assessing fluency, fluency development in a bilingual setting, and the potential pitfalls of relying too heavily on so-called fake fluency. We’ll also talk about the future of the podcast and what’s next for us. Spanning six seasons, we’ve had the privilege of reaching thousands of educators while exploring a wide range of topics including the Joy of Math, Math Anxiety, and Math Fluency, featuring  Amplify’s Jason Zimba, Sesame Workshop’s Rosemarie Truglio, Reach Capital’s Jennifer Carolan, and Baltimore County Public Schools’ Dr. John W. Staley.We can’t wait to continue working on a host of other exciting projects this year, including webinars, conference appearances, and the 2024 Math Symposium. Listen to the finale of the Math Teacher Lounge podcast today, and keep an eye out for more!For more amazing math content, check out the following resources:Hear more from Dan during our 2024 Math Symposium.Check out all of our past episodes on the main Math Teacher Lounge page.Find more tips and strategies for math teachers through our upcoming webinars.

Tune into this episode of Math Teacher Lounge, featuring math teaching and learning specialist and friend of the podcast, Fawn Nguyen. Listen as Nguyen dives into the unique and powerful relationship between math fluency and problem-solving, and learn about how problem-solving activities can be leveraged to engage all students and fuel math fluency development.Learn why math fluency and problem-solving have a symbiotic relationship and how to create problem-solving activities that generate individual and peer learning opportunities, including examples from the California framework. Plus, hear tips for supporting  the relationship between problem-solving and math fluency that can implemented in the classroom, throughout the school building, and at home.

Join us for Episode 9, in which Bethany sits down with former classroom teacher Myuriel von Aspen to talk about the importance of a systematic approach to math-fluency instruction. Listen as von Aspen discusses how effective fluency instruction takes students beyond fact memorization into deeper learning through mathematical discourse.To hear more from Myuriel, check out the following resources:Watch Myuriel’s welcoming message at NCSM, 2022. Listen to an excerpt of Myuriel’s message at NCTM, 2021.Learn a little about Myuriel’s journey.

Tune in to Episode 8, where we chat with guest and former grade 1 teacher, Jody Guarino, Ed.D., about how math teachers can collaborate to develop math fact fluency at the building level. Listen as Dr. Guarino talks about what it takes for schools to do this successfully, and her key takeaways from her own experience.For more from Dr. Guarino, check out the following resources:Follow Dr. Guarino on X: @jody_guarinoLearn more about Dr. Guarino and her work by checking out her University of California Irvington page.

Join Math Teacher Lounge as we continue our season-long discussion on math fluency with a special live recording at NCTM 2023. In this episode, our guest, Jennifer Bay-Williams Ph.D., and Dan dive into math fluency games to discuss how we bring joy into the classroom while building math fluency.For more from Jennifer, check out the following resources:Discover more math fluency games with Jennifer’s book, Math Fact Fluency: 60+ Games and Assessment Tools to Support Learning and Retention.Move students beyond basic math facts and memorization with Jennifer’s book, Figuring Out Fluency in Mathematics Teaching and Learning, Grades K-8.

Join us for Episode 6, where we discuss how to take an asset-based approach to building math fluency with John W. Staley, Ph.D., who has spent decades in math classrooms. In this episode Dr. Staley shares his experiences and research to provide strategies on how to utilize student strengths to encourage growth.For more from Dr. Staley, check out the following resources:Follow John on X at @JStaley06.Learn more from John by checking out his NCTM articles.Read John’s book, High School Mathematics Lessons to Explore, Understand, and Respond to Social Injustice.Read John’s book, Middle School Mathematics Lessons to Explore, Understand, and Respond to Social Injustice.

Tune in to Episode 5, where we dive back into our season-long discussion of math fluency with classroom teacher Lauren Carr. Listen as Lauren shares how she allows her students to approach mathematical thinking and learning with joy and fun to encourage the development of math fluency.For more from Lauren Carr, follow her on X!

Join us for a special episode of Math Teacher lounge where we take a break from our focus on math fluency to talk with scholar and author Nicole M. Joseph Ph.D. Tune in to this important conversation where Dr. Joseph shares her research and discusses how we can begin to uplift Black girls and empower them in our math classrooms.For more from Dr. Joseph, check out the following resources:Read Dr. Joseph’s new book Making Black Girls Count in Math Education: A Black Feminist Vision for Transformative Teaching.Check out Dr. Joseph’s Virtual Book Talk with Harvard Graduate School of Education.For more resources from Dr. Joseph, check out her website.To hear the latest from Dr. Joseph, follow her on X.

Tune in to the latest episode of Math Teacher Lounge where we learn how to intentionally foster fluency with Dr. Art Baroody, Professor Emeritus of Curriculum & Instruction, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Listen as Baroody shares strategies on how to utilize a student’s natural problem-solving skills and desire to learn to build fluency.