This session will guide educators through the Concrete-Representational-Abstract (CRA) progression and how it supports mathematical thinking over time. Participants will explore how to scaffold learning from concrete experiences to visual models and, ultimately, to abstract mathematical concepts. Through collaborative activities and practical examples, educators will examine how models can deepen understanding, support stronger reasoning, and help students make meaningful connections in mathematics.
Students bring a wide range of experiences, assets, and strengths to math classrooms. In this session, participants will explore how embedded assessments and instructional supports can be used to design responsive instruction at the lesson level. Educators will examine how small, intentional adjustments to tasks, representations, and structures can support diverse learners while maintaining shared learning goals. Participants will leave with practical strategies for planning differentiated math lessons that create multiple pathways for students to engage, make sense of ideas, and contribute to the classroom community.
Synthesis is a powerful instructional practice that helps students make sense of mathematics together. In this session, participants will explore what strong synthesis looks like in lessons, analyze student work to select and connect strategies, and examine how synthesis builds collective understanding and classroom community. Educators will leave with concrete tools for planning and facilitating synthesis in ways that deepen understanding, strengthen belonging, and position every student as a valued mathematical thinker.
North Carolina educators will share practical ways to move from the NC Math Standards to assessment with greater clarity and purpose. Participants will explore simple strategies for strengthening alignment and clarifying what students should know and be able to do. Expect concrete ideas, useful examples, and actionable takeaways you can use right away.
In this presentation, educators will have the opportunity to: * Dive into an Open Up High School Math lesson that is facilitated with the "Building Thinking Classrooms" approach *Focus on questioning and student work selection to create equitable, meaningful mathematical discussions. *See and live instructional and real-time strategies that foster learner identity and agency, with a focus on driving conceptual mastery.
Join us for a look inside the new Open Up Resources Pre-calculus course as you experience a lesson from this fantastic curriculum. We will engage in the lesson and consider the features that make the lesson accessible to students (and to everyone, all teachers encouraged to come). We will go deep with mathematics and discuss features of the materials that support high levels of learning. After doing mathematics together we will share insights from materials implementation and excitement for our future work.
Strong mathematical thinking grows in strong mathematical communities. In this session, educators will explore practical strategies for creating a classroom culture where every student feels valued and positioned as a capable mathematician. Participants will examine routines, discourse moves, and collaborative structures that promote belonging while maintaining rigorous, grade-level expectations. Attendees will leave with actionable tools to strengthen student voice, support productive struggle, and foster a community where curiosity, confidence, and deep mathematical thinking can thrive.
Effective instruction starts with knowing your students well. In this session, teachers will explore what to assess and when at each grade level in the Bookworms curriculum, with a focus on using rubrics to make assessment clear, consistent, and actionable. Participants will examine practical strategies for collecting meaningful data, interpreting results, and using insights to inform instruction, support every learner, and strengthen student confidence. You’ll leave with concrete tools and routines to make assessment more purposeful and manageable.
