Brad Witzel: Using Visuals in a Secondary Math Classroom

A large percent of students in the U.S. perform below standards.   This is especially true with secondary math.  While there are many ways to better prepare students for success in the elementary level, addressing students' concerns in grades 6- 2 are essential.  Students with math difficulties often struggle with visual- spatial working memory requiring an increased emphasis on instructional visuals.  This session explains the benefit of visuals and demonstrates the use of visuals in secondary computation, geometric, and problem- solving. (6 – 12). 

Paul Riccomini: Boost Student Retention of Essential Concepts and Skills through Specially Designed Activities

Teaching new mathematical content is a major responsibility of teachers at all levels, but also supporting students' retention is equally important, especially for students with learning disabilities. Teachers spend a great deal of energy focused on helping students learn new content. While this is important, many students fail to remember what they learned which will lead to significant struggles in mathematics. Without the use of effective retention practice activities, what we teach is at worse forgotten or at best, fragmented and poorly organized. (K - 12).

Charles Mohler & Kirsten DeRoche: Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Math Classroom

This session will enable educators to consider and discuss culturally relevant tasks in the mathematics classroom. With this knowledge base, educational professionals will explore the importance of design and meaningful delivery of culturally responsive evidence-based practices in mathematics principles, intended to support all students within an MTSS framework. (K – 12). 

Dr. Elizabeth Hughes: Increasing Math Engagement

This session will discuss ways to increase student participation and learning during classroom lessons. evidence-based strategies that can be implemented with ease in any classroom will be shared and teacher hurdles will be discussed followed by ways to address these challenges. (6 - 12).

Brian Poncy: Using Measures and Interventions for Numeracy Development in Tier 1 for Computational Fluency

Teachers need intervention materials that are free, accessible, & research based. This session will present the Measures & Interventions for Numeracy Development (M.I.N.D), a set of open source materials that educators can use to increase computation skills. Participants will leave the session with the ability to access materials and use these to support the development of students’ computation skills. (K - 6).

Dr. Amanda Van DerHeyden: Assessment in Math

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) in math has lagged behind reading in research and practice. Recent research in math CBM indicates some key differences in their utility, conventions, and potential for driving decisions in multi-tiered systems of support and response to intervention. This session will detail the why and how-to’s of using mastery measurement CBM in mathematics to drive screening, progress monitoring, and program evaluation decisions in math MTSS. (K - 8). 

Sarah Powell: Importance of Language in the Math Classroom

Students will have difficulty with math if they don't understand the language of math. In this session, we focus on ways to help students learn the formal language of math and strategies for using math vocabulary with precision. Leave this session with strategies for boosting the math language used in the classroom! (K - 8).

Brian Poncy: Using the Instructional Hierarchy to Match Student Skill Patterns in Intervention

It is imperative that educators systematically assess and link patterns in student responding to empirically validated intervention components. This session will outline how to use the Instructional Hierarchy to guide matching assessment data to specific interventions. (K - 6). 

Dr. Elizabeth Hughes: Writing in Mathematics

The session will share different ways to engage students in written mathematical expression, including a self-regulation strategy that Dr. Hughes developed and has implemented across Pennsylvania. If you want to learn more about how to get students thinking (and writing) about when, how, and why they do math, this is the session for you! We will talk about how to differentiate math writing to support diverse learners, including English Language Learners and students with disabilities. (3- 8).

Brad Witzel: Building a Strong Foundation in Math through EBPs

Mathematics content is highly compressed in the early grades. Recent research links difficulties with mathematics proficiency to concerns with acquiring early numeracy skills. However, students who are provided a strong foundation in early numeracy have increased likelihood of later success in mathematics applications in school and work. In this presentation, evidence-based practices (EBPs) will be highlighted and demonstrated across mathematical progressions.  (K - 12). 

Dr. Paul Kirschner: How Learning Happens

This session will speak to what learning is, what the basics of our cognitive architecture are (how our brains receive and process information and how it is stored as knowledge) and what helps and hinders learning.  The session also includes a number of guiding principles for effective, efficient, and enjoyable (i.e., successful) learning as well as a few principles often used in math, that have time and again been shown not to work. (K-12).

Dr. Bree Jimenez: Embedded Instruction in the Inclusive Math Classroom for Students with Extensive Support Needs

Focusing on how educators can develop and promote meaningful personalized math instruction within the inclusive classrooms through research findings on the development of an individualized inclusive educational framework utilizing personalized supports, explicit early numeracy skill instruction, grade-aligned math curriculum and embedded systematic instruction for students with extensive support needs. Through teacher-directed PD and planning, educational teams can increase student numeracy during grade-aligned inclusive math lessons. (K-1).

Dr. Polly Trevino: Academic Language Scaffolds for ELs in Math

This session will present methods for leveraging linguistic structure (e.g., morphology, semantics, syntax) to provide direct instruction in academic language to English learners in math, an evidence-based routine for introducing academic vocabulary, and will also explore how English morphology and syntax can be taught to support English learners' math content learning, vocabulary development, comprehension, and expression. Examples will feature both primary and secondary math content. (K -12).