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Unconventional Math Strategies for the Elementary Classroom
Math, Curriculum Strategies, Assessment Strategies, Technology | K-5
Math really is all around us! Math can be fun, imaginative, and extraordinary, and can challenge the ways we think about life. Unfortunately, traditional education methods of drill-and-kill and rote memorization often stifle learning, curtail motivation, and contribute to students’ math anxiety.
In this course, you’ll learn how to excite and inspire your students about math using creative instructional strategies that align with how students actually learn. You’ll see how you can play with math naturally through games, culture, and community to build students’ intuitive and conceptual understanding. You’ll also develop key strategies for designing quality lessons, finding great resources, using questioning techniques, and developing assessments that will ignite critical thinking, persistence in problem-solving, and a growth mindset. Above all, you will inspire a love of mathematics and support students using developmentally appropriate, engaging, and transformative pedagogy.
With the tools and techniques from this course, you’ll be able to dispel your students’ anxiety and foster deep learning, excitement, and passion for mathematics.
Connections to Practice
This course provides the following classroom connections:
- Techniques for designing K–5 math lessons that incorporate unconventional, multisensory, meaningful, and nature- and play-based approaches
- Practical instructional strategies that teachers can use to support effective differentiation for small and large groups in a student-directed framework
- Solutions to potential issues of math anxiety and limiting beliefs that curtail learning capacities, confidence, and growth
- Strategies to uncover students’ individual learning needs and readiness levels by using context and connection to support student inquiry
- Tips for structuring and organizing math lessons and assessments that differentiate instruction based on student readiness, interests, and learning profiles
Course Objectives
In this course, participants will:
- Develop practices for building a classroom environment that effectively implements strategies to redefine math education and excite learners while building confidence, ingenuity, and creativity.
- Appraise best practices and strategies for effectively designing math lessons that support 21st-century skills for an innovative, entrepreneurial economy.
- Design strategies to support all learners in the classroom through differentiation and accessibility considerations using high-quality, real-world, nature-based, and technology resources.
- Outline how a professional learning community and other ongoing, authentic assessment methods can help teachers successfully integrate models and strategies of unconventional math education methods.
Interested in School/District PD?
Request a Free ConsultationWhy Partner With Us
- Train your staff in as little as eight hours or delve deeper into complex topics in our longer courses.
- Replace in-person PD days with 100% online, self-paced training teachers can complete virtually.
- Get PD tailored to your school's unique needs with our customizable content and flexible solutions.
- Offer higher education rigor and quality designed to give your teachers targeted, relevant training they can apply immediately.
- Increase buy-in and morale by providing teacher choice while maintaining school/district oversight and strategic alignment.
Interested in School/District PD?
Request a Free ConsultationCourse Design
We intentionally plan and build our course offerings to solve real problems in education. We regularly update our existing catalog and develop new courses based on schools’ needs, trends in K–12 education, and continual feedback from educators. Depending on your needs, you can train your staff in as little as eight hours with our short courses, or delve into complex topics in our longer ones.
Our course writers are content experts with extensive subject matter credentials and classroom experience. They work closely with our development team to build an experience that is relevant, highly practical, and aligned with industry standards. Courses are not just filled with innovative techniques, but also illustrate how to apply these tools in practice. With each course, teachers develop tangible products such as lesson plans or assessments that they can use immediately in their classrooms.
Click below to learn more about our course design and unique features:
