Building Thinking Classrooms for Teachers and Leadership: Part 1 - EDC-X752V

Course Description

Credit Validation for DoDEA Participants Only

This course is designed to provide teachers and staff with an in-depth study of the Mathematical Teaching Practices (MTP) that guide effective instruction. It supports math educators in implementing and sustaining the MTP Framework to strengthen standards-based instruction, foster student growth, and enhance modeling and reasoning skills.

Through research-based practices, educators will learn how to create optimal conditions for learner-centered, student-owned, and deep mathematical thinking (Liljedahl, 2021). By applying these approaches, participants will be equipped to transform their mathematics classrooms into spaces that promote authentic problem-solving and critical thinking.

In this graduate credit course, participants will:

• Explore 14 factors that influence classroom thinking and examine both macro- and micro-moves to maximize student engagement.

• Reflect on strategies and engage in peer discussions to determine how they can be effectively applied in the classroom.

• Trial selected strategies in their own teaching and receive constructive feedback from peers.

• Build a collaborative community of educators dedicated to sharing ideas, experiences, and best practices for creating a thinking classroom.

Learner Outcomes

• Learn about 14 specific teaching practices described in the book to enhance mathematics learning

• Plan and implement teaching practices, reflect on their effectiveness on student engagement and learning of mathematics, and receive feedback from course members to improve instructional practices

• Create a classroom environment conducive to the Building Thinking Classrooms structure to enhance student discourse, reasoning, and problem solving

• Select tasks strategically that align with lesson goals and course outcomes

• Apply learning to focused collaboration sessions to share successful strategies and activities

• Implement curricular and non-curricular thinking tasks with students

• Utilize strategies for forming random groups of students

• Facilitate learning in small groups with students working collaboratively at vertical non-permanent surfaces

Course Details

Number of Units: 1.0 - 3.0 graduate level extension credit(s) in semester hours

Who Should Attend: This course provides continuing education for K-12 educators of mathematics.

Course Materials: Text, Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics Grades K-12 by Peter Liljedahl available at Amazon.com or your local bookstore