IM Certified® Blog
Remembering Bob Moses
By William McCallum and Kristin Umland "Math literacy will be a liberation tool for people trying to get out of poverty and the best hope for people trying not to get left behind.” —Bob Moses, 1935–2021 Bob Moses, the civil rights leader and mathematics educator who...
Together Apart: Amplifying the “Gift of Student Thinking” in Distance Learning with IM
By Maureen D. O’Connell, IM K–5 Math™ Pilot Teacher,IM Certified® Facilitator for IM K–5 Math “The more intensely interested a teacher is in a student’s thinking, the more interested the student becomes in his or her own thinking.” —Eleanor Duckworth Whether we teach...
Gifts: A Reflection on Student Thinking
By Elham Kazemi, Co-Author of Intentional Talk and Professor at University of Washington “Gifts from the earth or from each other establish a particular relationship, an obligation of sorts to give, to receive, and to reciprocate.” Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding...
Unlocking Learners’ Thinking Using the Mathematical Language Routines
By IM Certified Facilitators, Cheryl Fricchione and Rachel Rundstrom Consider this:A child whose primary language isn’t English does not participate in the classroom to the degree that their English-speaking peers do. Parent-teacher conferences are held with family...
FASTalk: Activating the Power of Families to Support Mathematics
By Elisabeth O’Bryon, co-founder and Chief Impact Officer at Family Engagement Lab and Megan Lorio, Managing Editor at Family Engagement Lab Engaging families in meaningful and equitable ways is a cornerstone of student success in the classroom. Decades of research...
Choosing Math Tools and Representations that Work:
“100 chart-less in Grade 2”
By Maureen D. O’Connell, Math Specialist Some math tools and representations help students solve in-the-moment problems. Other math tools and representations help students solve problems and grow their conceptual understanding. Which type of representations are you...
Multi-grade Classrooms and
IM K–5 Math™
By Jen Hawkins, IM Facilitator and IM K-5 Product Specialist Illustrative Mathematics believes that students can achieve success as mathematical thinkers by working through problems and consolidating their learning through classroom discussions and anchoring...
Introducing the IM Implementation Reflection Tool
by Liz Ramirez, Director of Implementation “This makes the expectations for what I need to change visible.” “It’s not about the tool. It’s about the conversation using the tool.” Quotes from leaders who participated in IM’s collaborative research partnership this past...
Getting Ready for 2021–22: Back to School Blog Posts
By the IM Team Educators still face a great deal of uncertainty heading into the 2021–22 school year. Maybe you’ve already started planning for it. Maybe you’ve avoided planning for it. Maybe your school year has already started! No matter where you are in thinking...
A Love for Math Reignited
By Michael Ramirez, Director of Instructional Coaching, Partnership for Los Angeles Schools “Whenever students are being helped to see major concepts, big ideas, and general principles and are not merely engaged in the pursuit of isolated facts, good teaching is going...









