Math and Other Things

It’s been a minute, but there are MANY things going on. Good things - but MANY things. I think about episodes and topics for this podcast all the time because there are always good math and other things to talk about! I also have two episodes I still need to produce, so I’m sorry to my guests that those aren’t out yet. Trust that they’ll be very good!  BUT today’s episode is a breaking news episod...

We’re trying a new podcast series called: Stories from the Field . This is where we highlight the work we are encountering in the field and share what we’re noticing, the conversations we can’t stop thinking about, and what it’s all teaching us about the teaching and learning of math - and of course, other things. In this episode, Ryan Flessner and I reflect on a quick story about how our daughter...

Today’s guest is Deborah Peart-Crayton. My apologies in advance (again!), but this is a longer episode because again, we are talking about things that are just so important for educators to know and every minute is well worth it! Deborah is a teacher, author, PhD candidate, and overall incredible contributor to the world of mathematics education. Her new book, Readers Read, Writers Write, Mathers...

Today’s guest is Liesl McConchie. This is a little bit longer of an episode for two reasons. One, I couldn’t stop asking questions and making connections to my own evolution of teaching math and two, Liesl is simply amazing. She is a teacher, author, mom, international speaker, and who we should all be reading and listening to if we are thinking we need to transform the way we think about the teac...

Today’s guest is Vanessa Vakharia - also known as The Math Guru. She is the author of the book (and narrator of the audio book) Math Therapy, the host of the Math Therapy Podcast and overall badass advocate of building positive math identities in our students, the schools in which they learn, and society in general.  Something about Vanessa is that she is fiercely committed to what she is doing -...

In this episode, Ryan Flessner joins me in welcoming Chris Luzniak and Rob Baier, hosts of the DebateMath podcast (and so much more) to talk about Hot Topics in Math Education. Although we recorded this over Labor Day weekend, I wanted to wait until before the annual NCSM/NCTM conferences to release as I thought the timing would be perfect for those attending and thinking about what sessions they...

Today, not but 3 days after I uploaded the last episode, I have pulled Ryan Flessner from dealing with the incredibly aggravating thistle in our front yard to discuss a breaking news item from a LinkedIN post I shared on Thursday. There is a lot of conversation happening in the comments and rather than respond to every single comment and risk being misunderstood or having a tone I actually do not...

Welcome back! I haven’t recorded since October of 2024 for a variety of reasons including but not limited to moving into the position of Director at Keep Indiana Learning, being fully immersed in work in schools and my own learning, continuing to battle getting my PhD completed,  and facilitating two teenagers in their final years of high school. It’s all been very busy, but I don’t have a single...

In this episode Ryan Flessner and I recap our favorite math (and other things) moments of 2023. We talk about people who inspired us, products that inspired us, and it was a lovely time to sit and reflect about our year and realize how incredibly grateful we are to do the work we do and continue to learn side by side with so many different educators. It was a really good year. Tons of math and ton...

In this episode, I interview Laura Tomas, an instructional coach from south Florida who I originally met at the Building Thinking Classrooms Conference in June 2023. Laura was one of the facilitators and a volunteer at the conference.  She’s been in education for 32 years and simply embraces all she can about the teaching and learning of mathematics and talks to anyone she can to learn more. Her p...

Show Notes: Live in Washington D.C. where I’m so lucky to have Brendan Scribner joining me for a recap of the first 1.25 days of NCSM 2023.  NCSM stands for National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics and you can find everything about them at https://www.mathedleadership.org/ . This is an organization that is committed to understanding the role of math leaders, finding ways to connect those who...

Live in Washington D.C. where I’m so lucky to have Brendan Scribner, Melisa McCain, and Ryan Flessner joining me to talk about what we are learning, what’s standing out, what we’re thinking about, and all the things math and the teaching and learning of math. We talk about all the people who are inspiring us, do some very rough draft math, and have a lot of laughs.  The math in this episode is fig...

In this episode, my partner in life and work, Ryan Flessner and I recap some of our highlights of NCTM 2023 so far. We don’t talk about actual math a lot (although there has been a LOT of conversation about math!) We did, however, talk about lots of other things that are important and impact the teaching and learning of mathematics in our schools. Thoughts that come up: Appreciating the time to be...

In this episode, we are recording live from the Franklin Community High School Performing Arts Center with Peter Liljedahl. We recorded at the end of the first day of the first ever Building Thinking Classrooms Conference, and we had a great time. Peter told some great stories, was very insightful about how children learn, and provides some unique perspective of how to encourage teachers to try ne...

In this episode, I get to talk to Tammy McMorrow who  lives in Boise, Idaho and has been teaching first grade for 29 years.  She’s a self-described mimicker - and was so good at following rules and doing exactly what she was told to do, she was valedictorian of her class. In this interview she does an incredible job at speaking vulnerably, sharing her learning process, and how she finally found wh...

In this episode, I talk with Melisa McCain, an instructional coach in Franklin Community Schools in Franklin, Indiana. Melisa, has taught grades 1, 3, 4, and 5, and has been a special education teacher and media specialist. She has multiple graduate degrees, and discovered her love of learning at a very young age when, as a child that was “pulled out” to learn math, worked against all the odds to...

In this episode, I talk with Mary Auger, a middle school math teacher at Hamilton Southeastern Intermediate Junior High. Mary has been teaching for 30ish years and you’ll hear how she has spent her entire career positioning herself as a constant learner. Mary always loved math, but she realized early on that just because the way she was taught worked for her doesn’t mean it will work for all of he...

In this episode, I talk to Ella Hereth, a middle school math teacher in Indianapolis, Indiana. Ella’s my first guest that I randomly emailed because I’ve only really gotten to know her on Twitter! Even though we both live in Indianapolis, our paths don’t cross regularly, but I’m looking to change that in the future! Ella has been teaching for 13 years everything from 7th grade to Pre-Calculus and...

In this episode, I talk to Rebecca Borowski, an Assistant Professor of math education at Western Washington University who I met when we were both PhD students at Indiana University. The episode is loaded with lots of great advice on being the best teacher you can be, how Rebecca found joy in the learning of mathematics, and so much more! The math in this episode is understanding that it's about s...

In this episode, Courtney Coppinger and Kalisha Hoffman, who both teach first grade in Indianapolis, Indiana join me as they share highlights of creating a culture of mathematics in their classrooms. We talk about how they start their school years off believing every child in the classroom is a mathematician and the importance of allowing for flexibility in the teaching and learning in their class...

In this episode, Ryan Flessner, my husband and fellow math educator and colleague, joins me as we share our journeys to becoming math people and having entire careers around math. We talk about how Ryan wooed me by making number sentences out of the time on the clock in the car, how he supported me in truly figuring out how in the world to teach math to my students, and how even when your experien...

Join us for our new podcast called Math and Other Things! I’m Courtney Flessner, and I’ve spent the past 25 years of my educational career deepening my understanding of the very best ways to meet the needs of students because I believe every child should have the opportunity to learn. Over the years, I’ve discovered a lot about teaching. But you know what I found deep in my soul? Math. I’ve settle...