In this activity, prospective teachers will learn what a math walk is, see an example of one at an out-of-school site, hear parents’ reflections on the math-walk site, and be invited to consider their own perceptions in light of the parents’ thoughts. These slides describe what a math walk is and show a sample site (mural). 

Once prospective teachers have considered what a math walk is and have collected their own thoughts about the mural site (in slide 5), they should listen to parents reflect on this site. 

Afterwards, prospective teachers might consider: what was similar & different about their and the parents' mathematical ideas? Were there any  surprises? How are prospective teachers thinking about math walks & teacher-family co-creation in light of this activity? 

This activity extends Activity 1. Prospective teachers should garner ideas from the parents' reflections (in the video above) to use as starting points for a conversation and invitation to a math walk in a community. How might prospective teachers, in light of these parents’ reflections, invite parents on a community math walk? Prospective teachers might consider asking a mentor teacher to join them on a math walk with parents from their classroom. Or, if they're already teaching, teachers can invite parents from their own classroom. Finally, if prospective teachers are not in classrooms, they can leverage connections they have with teachers or community organizations. A good starting place is this assignment about a community walk. Prospective teachers might find this assignment especially helpful in anticipating and preventing deficit views. 

Returning to the resource from Activity 2, prospective teachers can look over the “Share what you learned” section to think about how they might document and share their conversations from the math walk. And under “Resources…” teachers will find further ideas. 

In this activity, prospective teachers will view a take-home math lesson, hear parent feedback on it, and culminate by developing their own math lesson for students to take home. In class, prospective teachers can view this short, take-home math activity. Parents’ comments on the activity are noted below it. Prospective teachers might consider: what are some key take-aways from parents’ feedback? What suggestions did they make? Prospective teachers can discuss how they might alter the math activity based on the feedback they heard from families. Lastly, students will be able to develop their own family math activity (this would be something they could send home for families to do together).