Numeracy Resources
Instructional Resources
#MCTMequity – A Call To Action
A call to action from Sara Van Der Werf, a Minneapolis teacher and the president of the Minnesota Council of Teachers of Mathematics (MTCM) in 2016.
5 Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematics Discussions
5 Practices for Orchestrating Mathematics Discussions describes how teachers can facilitate "mathematically productive discussions that are rooted in student thinking." In this posting, you can also find out about one teacher's experiences implementing the strategies in the book.
Balancing the Equation
In this 5-minute talk, Matt Larson addresses the historic pendulum swing in instructional practice, addresses recent concerns about national academic standards and "new math", and suggests what math educators might advocate for today.
CK12.org
This resource contains digital textbooks, interactive exercises, simulations, and more – all openly licensed. Most of their content is for math, science, and social studies, but there is some for English (writing & spelling) as well. They have very good training and support, including a whole series of recorded webinars available on their site. (Just open the “Explore” tab and choose “Webinars.”)
Classroom Clock
In this 5-minute Ignite talk, Andrew Stadel addresses strategies for dealing with the limited time each teacher must face. How do we make best use of time in our classroom? How can we approach “squeezing great content into short segments”?
CollectEdNY.org – Math
This site hosts resources in all content areas. Some of the materials are taken from K-12, but they are all framed and explored in the context of adult education classrooms. The site is divided into four main parts: Resource Reviews (by and for ABE instructors); Framework Posts (lessons, problems, activities, & readings organized by HSE subjects, domains & subdomains); Math Memos (addressing non-routine math problems); and Career Posts (activities and supplementary materials for the NYSED/CUNY CareerKits).
Common Core Sheets
Find hundreds of ready-to-use math worksheets on this website. The worksheets can be searched by grade level, math skill, and type of problem. Math tests and flashcards can also be created.
Content Area Vocabulary
The authors suggest a set of questions to guide teachers decisions about what vocabulary to teach. They also suggest some effective strategies for vocabulary acquisition and integrating language and math.
E-quip Math Webinars
Below you will find links to the Season 2 E-quip Math PD Series recordings. These webinars were hosted by ATLAS’s MN Numeracy Initiative (MNI), in partnership with the MN 2014 GED® PD Project, in 2014-2015.
ACCESSING RECORDINGS ON MACS: If you wish to access the recordings from a Mac computer, you’ll need to get the Windows Media Player plugin for Macs. This is a free download. Get Windows Media Player plugin for Macs >>
E-quip Math Webinars
Below you will find links to the E-quip Math PD Series recordings. These webinars were hosted by ATLAS’s MN Numeracy Initiative (MNI), in partnership with the MN 2014 GED® PD Project, in 2013-2014.
Each of these recorded webinars also included pre-work and post-work for participants to allow them to get the more out of the live webinar time. The available documents, links, and other resources are posted with each recording.
ACCESSING RECORDINGS ON MACS: If you wish to access the recordings from a Mac computer, you’ll need to get the Windows Media Player plugin for Macs. This is a free download. Get Windows Media Player plugin for Macs >>
Elementary Always, Sometimes, Never
In Always, Sometimes or Never, students identify whether a mathematical statement is always true, sometimes true, or never true. This link offers statements appropriate for students in early math levels, but it can be adapted to any level or content by changing the mathematical statement students are working with.
ELL Math
This teacher, who teaches a math class for students who speak very limited English and a variety of primary languages, writes about strategies he is using "so students with a strong mathematical background in their own country can advance while the students with a weak background can get feedback and work on the problems they need."
Equitable Pedagogy: The Key to Students’ Mathematical Reasoning and Sense Making
This 5-minute Ignite talk by Marilyn Strutchens explores the question, What is equity and what could equity and social justice look like in mathematics instruction?
Ever Wonder What They’d Notice?
Asking the right questions and making space for student thinking can change outcomes for students. What can we do as teachers to faciliate their critical thinking and engagement? In this 5-minute Ignite talk, Annie Fetter addresses giving students space to notice and wonder.
Fraction Misconceptions – from Recovering Traditionalist blog
How does the language that teachers use to describe fractions affect students' understanding of fractions? In addition to exploring this question, the writer suggests some strategies for building number sense around fractions, as well as making sense of a Common Core/CCRS standard about fractions.
Getting Started with Effective Math Talk in the Classroom
Using mathematical discussions in the classroom is a powerful way to increase our students’ critical thinking and communication skills. This article explores ways to get your students thinking and communicating mathematically from the very first days of school. The article is written for K-12 teachers, but the language and strategies work well with adult learners.
Global Math Department
A community of smart, skilled instructors who teach math at all levels, and share their materials and ideas. Go to the website and sign up for their email newsletter. Great free resources will come to you each week! The newsletter will bring you information about free, terrific webinars on math instruction.
Great Estimations by B. Goldstone
This picture book both describes estimation strategies and gives interesting, appealing images to practice on. An ABE teacher may scaffold the book by focusing an instructional activity around certain pages.
How to Edit Your Math Pessimism
Students and teacher often have beliefs are counter productive to learning. In this blog post, the author "edits" common statements about learning math that contribute to math anxiety, and re-frames them in ways that are encouraging and honest.
How to Learn Math
How to Learn Math is a free, self-paced class for learners of all levels of mathematics, facilitated by Dr. Jo Boaler. It combines information on the brain and learning with research on the best ways to approach and learn math effectively. It is open to anyone learning math, and is good for instructors as well as students.
Ignite Videos – Math Forum
Ignite is a presentation format where each presenter speaks for 5 minutes. This site has some excellent talks from the Math Forum at Drexel.
Interpreting Visual Information
"Interpreting Visual Information" is part of a series of standards-aligned sample math activities that you can use with your students to make connections between their schoolwork (college and career) and the community. In all cases, you can use these activities as is, or you could modify to best fit the needs of your learners.
Language of Mathematics
The target audience for the Math Materials are beginning level ABE to Intermediate level ABE students, especially non-native speakers. There multi-lingual glossaries to help students learn the vocabulary associated with basic math, fractions and percents, basic algebra and geometry. Teachers can print out a glossary for a student to use, or link these resources to a classroom website. In addition, there are math chants and math games provided to practice math vocabulary.
Levels of Knowing Mathematics
This resource outlines the levels of knowing math proposed by Mahesh C. Sharma: intuitive, concrete/experiential, pictorial/representational, abstract, applications, and communication. The chart explains each level and gives an example of what that level would look like in the classroom.
MATH Activities from March 31 newsletter article
For your convenience, the Math activities from the March 31 newsletter article "The 3rd 'C' in CCRS - Focusing on Community Right Now" can be accessed here.
Math Is Fun
Looking for a definition of a term or a quick explanation of a concept? This is a great place to look things up, either for your own review or for an idea of where to start in your explanation. Just click on the Dictionary tab, or type a word in the search box.
Minnesota Council of Teachers of Mathematics (MCTM)
This resource is not free, but joining is a good way to connect with math teachers in Minnesota. This is the professional organization of Minnesota math teachers, and is the local chapter of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). Teachers may want to consider MCTM's spring conference.
MTBOS or #MTBOS
You may notice online resources with MTBOS or #MTBOS. This stands for MathTwitterBlogosphere. Many diverse and wonderful materials, resources, ideas and suggestions are coming from folks who identify as part of or are connected to MTBOS. This search engine is one way to get started exploring resources connected by MTBOS.
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)
This resource is not free, but joining is highly recommended. This is the professional organization of math teachers nationwide. Their journal has lots of great instructional ideas.
Numeracy Units: Beginning Level
The Hubbs Center has created a series of Beginning Level Numeracy Units based on real-life applications such as consumerism, temperature, time, health, and work. Find lessons and handouts (in Dropbox folders) under the Numeracy Units link on the main webpage.
PBS Learning Media – Math
This resource organizes video content from PBS around subjects, grade levels, and standards. You can even search by CCRS standard! This provider integrates with Google Classroom. If you use Google Classroom, connect with the provider to make it easy to share materials with your students.
Picture Yourself as a Stereotypical Male
How do race, gender, exposure to stereotypes, and classroom demographics impact student performance? Can test anxiety be a result of the experience of bias, and unrelated to actual ability? Can helping students see themselves as "complex, intelligent, talented, individual human selves" impact their academic performance?
Problem Strings
Problem Strings are an instructional strategy where the teacher facilitates students working through and thinking aloud about a set of math problems (for example: 5 x 6, then 5 x 60, and so on...) as a method for students to learn from each other about math strategies. The strategy offers a way to pack significant math learning into a short time in class.
Purposeful Numberless Word Problems
In these blog posts, Brian Bushart addresses types of word problems and a strategy for instruction.
Radical Equations
The author writes about the connection between math and science literacy and full citizenship/access to power. The idea that math is a necessary tool for accessing full civil rights may be of interest to many ABE teachers.
Rethinking How We See Mistakes
Math teacher Audrey McLaren writes about encouraging students to make and learn from mistakes. She recommends specific strategies for changing a classroom's culture around mistakes.
Season 1, Episode 2: Connecting and Interpreting Graphs and Functions
Presented by Andy Albee (Robbinsdale Adult Academic Program) and Renae Kramer (SW ABE-Granite Falls)
Season 1, Episode 3: Connecting Coordinates, Lines, and Equations
Presented by Amber Delliger (Metro North ABE) and Rebecca Strom (Mankato ABE)
Season 1, Episode 4: Solving Quadratic Equations
Presented by Andy Albee (Robbinsdale Adult Academic Program) and Abby Roza (Adult Options in Education/Hennepin County Corrections)
Season 1, Episode 5: Finding Surface Area and its Related Dimensions
Presented by Rebecca Strom (Mankato ABE) and Renae Kramer (SW ABE-Granite Falls)
Season 2, Episode 2: Data, Box & Whisker Plots, Graphs of Central Tendency
Presented by Amy Vickers (MNI Senior Consultant) and Andy Albee (Robbinsdale Adult Academic Program)
Season 2, Episode 3: Ratios, Rates, Proportions, and Scale Factor
Presented by Andy Albee (Robbinsdale Adult Academic Program) and Amy Vickers (MNI Senior Consultant)
Season 2, Episode 4: Complex Geometry with New Formula Sheet
Presented by Abby Roza (Adult Options in Education/Hennepin County Corrections), Kristin Knudson, and Amy Vickers (MNI Senior Consultant)
Season 2, Episode 5: Systems of Equality, Inequalities
Presented by Rebecca Strom (Mankato ABE) and Amy Vickers (MNI Senior Consultant)
Season 2, Episode 6: Differentiating Math Instruction in Complex Classrooms
Presented by Danielle Legault (Minneapolis Adult Education) and Abby Roza (Hennepin County Corrections)
Skillblox
Skillblox is a tool created by CrowdED Learning in response to the question “What if instead of searching various books and sites for quality content, they were all organized in one place?” This database of content streamlines the process of creating targeted and individualized learning plans (online packets, if you will) for adult education students. It is searchable by CCR standards, and soon TABE 11/12 competencies.
Stay-At-Home Mandate
"Stay-At-Home Mandate" is part of a series of standards-aligned sample math activities that you can use with your students to make connections between their schoolwork (college and career) and the community. In all cases, you can use these activities as is, or you could modify to best fit the needs of your learners.
Students with Disabilities Can Do Math
Articles, slides, detailed resources and a record of Twitter discussion around this important topic.
The Best Way to Learn Math is to Learn to Fail Productively
Manu Kapur's research finds that students are more successful when teachers allow them to have a period of (teacher-planned) productive struggle with material before the teacher provides direct instruction on the math strategies.
The Problem with Math is English
Molina explores the relationship between mathematical instruction and language. "The Problem with Math Is English explains how language-focused conceptual instruction leads students to a deeper understanding than traditional procedural-based teaching methods."
The Story of Two Words and One Simple Tweak to Get Students Talking
Teacher Sarah Van Der Werf shares some observations about attending to vocabulary in math instruction and shares a strategy for helping students access unfamiliar vocabulary in math class.
Thinking Routines
A variety of instructional strategies that can be used with various levels of math instruction. Prepared by Minnesota teacher Joe Cole.
Translating Word Problems: Keywords
This article offers recommendations for how students should approach word problems, as well as a list of mathematical terms that indicate specific operations.
Tweet Me, Maybe
Max Ray-Reik of the Math Forum suggests using Twitter for personalized professional development in this 5-minute talk.
Understanding the Rapid Spread of COVID-19 in Our Communities
"Understanding the Rapid Spread of COVID-19 in Our Communities" is part of a series of standards-aligned sample math activities that you can use with your students to make connections between their schoolwork (college and career) and the community. In all cases, you can use these activities as is, or you could modify to best fit the needs of your learners.
Why Before How
Teachers can use this book to build the concept of place value, encourage students to consider multiple methods for solving problems, and build real understanding of the meaning behind addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division paving the way to beginning algebra.
Youcubed.org
Description: “Our main goal is to inspire, educate and empower teachers of mathematics, transforming the latest research on math learning into accessible and practical forms.” Find instructional, ready-to-use materials at different levels; tasks are searchable by math topic, grade and mathematical practice.
College & Career Readiness (CCR) Math Standards
Looking for more specific information about the College & Career Readiness (CCR) Math Standards? Check out the CCRS Math Resources section of the CCR Standards resource library!