Math on the Rocks

Scott and Duane finally get a chance to catch up with each other about the math education going on in our areas. We also talk about how important it is for teachers to form informal systems of support to grow professionally and stay in the education business. Then we spend most of our time talking about the importance of providing pedagogical variety for our students. This leads to a promise that...

First we talk about the challenges of being a mathematician parent of a student taking math. We grapple with whether there is a difference between y=4x-3 or y=4x+(-3)? Can a difference in heights be negative? Or is the difference in the heights of two objects always a positive? Then we talk about the importance of your district selecting a textbook that is closely aligned with the recommendations...

Duane and Cole return from a long summer vacation and discuss how our P-2 conferences are going. This is the conference series we designed specifically for pre-school teachers up through Grade 2 teachers. Spoiler alert: It is going GREAT!!! Then we shift to talking about the impending textbook adoptions that school districts throughout California will be doing. The choice is so important and we ne...

Scott and Duane share their mathematical summer reading list. If reading a good math book brings you joy, we've got EIGHT recommendations…plus Scott drops a surprise 9th book at the end.  BTW…A huge shoutout to Justin Lanier. Find him on BlueSky at ‪@jlanier.bsky.social‬ Here is information on his online math experience in July… https://justinlanier.org/21st-century-mathematics-2025/ RESOURCES...

Tim Weekes is our guest for this webinar. Tim gets us thinking about reframing the Achievement Gap as really being an Opportunity Gap. Listen to this episode…Tim's ideas will live rent-free in your mind for some time!  RESOURCES… ✚  ARTICLE: Opportunities Denied - High-Achieving Black And Latino Students Lack Access to Advanced Math   https://edtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Advanced-Mat...

Cole, Scott, and Duane discuss a recently published article by Michael Kirst (former president of the California State Board of Education) that lists the seven steps to improve mathematics instruction in California. The list is reasonable and attainable. Every district should consider implementing these steps TODAY. Drawing from 35 high-quality studies conducted over three decades, the research hi...

Cole and Duane discuss a recently published article about how a school dramatically improved their math scores. Lots of great ideas for YOUR school to consider.  RESOURCES… ✚  ARTICLE: tis Wisconsin school excels at teaching math. Can its approach work statewide?     https://www.wpr.org/news/wisconsin-school-excels-teaching-math   ✚  ARTICLE: Towards an Empirically Grounded Theory of Action for Im...

Christina Lincoln-Moore is our guest this episode. She led one of our Inspiring Math Minds webinars and we are reposting it in the Math On the Rocks feed. Christina is the STEM Mathematics Unit Lead focusing on advancing equity and anti-racism within mathematics education. She is also a co-founder of Black Womxn in Mathematics Education (BWXME), fostering a community where Black womxn in mathemati...

Duane and Cole uncork a crucial conversation about why educators working with our youngest learners—preschool through 2nd grade—must embrace the title “math teacher” with the same pride they claim “reading teacher.” They unpack the regrettable disconnect that leaves many early-years classrooms brimming with alphabet charts but light on number talk, then spotlight compelling research showing that s...

Cole ask us: Do leaders TRUST their teachers to implement ambitious instruction? Do teachers TRUST themselves mathematically? Are we asking teachers to trust their parachute or trust their light switch? It is well known that teachers need to have deep, flexible, and fluent thinking about mathematics in order to fully prepare their students for higher-order learning in later grades. Providing teach...

Duane is loafing on Spring Break. Cole and Scott are working. We talk about a convergence of two things: an article about teachers needing significantly more math training than they already get AND we at California Math Council updated our mission statement to say that we are committed to providing professional learning to teachers in California. Teachers need more math training. CMC is ready to p...

Cole and Duane host a webinar the 3rd Thursday of every month in which we have a guest share their wisdom to all who log in to listen and participate. This time it was Dionne Aminata. She shares her TRUST framework that allows up to TRUST our students to do the math. Improving student outcomes begins with trust. Dionne took us on a deep dive into her TRUST Actions Framework, gaining actionable way...

We talk about the featured speakers who are already lined up to speak at our symposium in March, 2026. The we announce our P2 Conferences which is a series of conferences throughout California specifically targeting preschool teachers through Grade 2. They are indeed MATH teachers…and they deserve their own math training. Then Duane complains. Cole and Scott listen. Duane shares that he is current...

Day 1 of our symposium is over. Game Night was a major success. To debrief the day and prepare for Day 2 of the symposium, Cole and Duane chat with Nigel and Brandon. These are two brilliant mathematicians who are passionate about creating learning environments where students explore mathematics and find joy.  Duane once again brings up Chapter 2 of the California Mathematics Framework. RESOURCES…...

Nick was our guest for the March (2025) webinar. We are now releasing it as a podcast on our Math On the Rocks feed. In this session Nick leads us through… Designing mathematics experiences that place rigor at the center Making connections to the CA Mathematics Framework Considering the implications for our districts, schools, and classrooms  Nick masterfully led us through several BIG IDEAS from...

We talk about stuff the night before the symposium. We also talk about "magic" teaching that excites and engages teaching. This "magic" is not magic at all. It is a set of replicable and spreadable skills that ALL teachers can learn and apply in their classrooms to excite and energize students into becoming curious and brilliant mathematicians. RESOURCES… ✚  Future conference d...

The California Math Council puts on three conferences a year…actually, two conferences and one symposium. They are three of the finest state/regional conferences in the nation. The CMC South conference is in November in Palm Springs The CMC North conference is in December in Asilomar The CMC Central conference is in March in Bakersfield Well…Scott, Cole, and Duane just finished the symposium, so S...

Cole and Duane went to Dallas to learn about curriculum-based professional learning from the fine folks at Learning Forward. We had a great time getting to know the Texas representatives. Arynn was willing to record an impromptu podcast, so we recorded a conversation outside near the hotel pool! We look forward to further conversations with Arynn! RESOURCES… ✚  About Learning Forward:      https:/...

Pam joins our monthly webinar series to share her profound thoughts on using problem strings to help students develop strategies based on number relationships. She guides us through experiencing real math like the real mathematicians do. You will need to listen to the ENTIRE podcast to learn what Pam means by " seeing the shark " and " avoiding traps ". RESOURCES… ✚  About Pam...

While Cole was driving to Anaheim (again), the boys got together to chat some more about mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) and why it is so important for teachers to have it. Who is responsible for supporting teachers in their development of MKT? When is it supposed to happen? We have more questions than answers in this episode. RESOURCES… ✚  Register for our webinar with Pam Harris (Febru...

While Cole is away doing important stuff, Scott and Duane talk about high-quality instructional materials and the importance of mathematical knowledge for teaching. If high-quality instructional materials are like a great set of golf clubs, we now need to learn how to swing the club and hit the ball. HQIM without MKT is like golf clubs without any golf coaching. RESOURCES… ✚  High-Quality Instruct...

Albert was one of our guests during the live podcast recording Cole and Duane did during the 2024 CMC-South Conference in Palm Springs. Albert also has the dubious distinction of being one of our first REPEAT guests on Math on the Rocks; his first appearance was July, 2024. He celebrates this repeat performance with Two Truths and a Lie. Then we spend a ton of time talking about how to make math e...

Fawn was one of our guests during the live podcast recording Cole and Duane did during the 2024 CMC-South Conference in Palm Springs. Fawn is a deep thinker about teacher moves and procedures to increase student engagement in the math classroom. Her episode is full of simple, but deeply impactful, ideas for teachers. RESOURCES… ✚  Visual Patterns       https://www.visualpatterns.org/   ✚  Californ...

What the heck does a title like that even mean? Casee Andree explains it all in this engaging webinar Cole recorded while Duane was out galavanting around. Casee is the Senior Math content Specialist at Carnegie Learning. In this episode Casee shares his thinking about that characteristics of high-quality instructional materials and how we might prepare for the Drivers of Investigation.  The Drive...

Pam Seda joins us for another live recording from the California Math Council South Conference in Palm Spring in November 2024. Pam Seda is one of the authors of the phenomenal book called Choosing to See. It provides the ICUCARE framework for ensuring equity in math education. We might want equity in our classrooms, but perhaps we don't know how to achieve it. Moreover, we might not know how...