By Margaret Betts, IM Certified® Facilitator If story problems are your teacher kryptonite, you aren’t alone. Story problems are mathematical situations expressed with words. The element of reading creates an added layer of complexity which in turn makes it more...
5 Practices
Strategies for Instituting Equitable Math Instruction
Oct 18, 2022
Dionne Aminata, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives, Marketing, Illustrative Mathematics Rolanda Baldwin, Vice President of Mathematics, UnboundEd Illustrative Mathematics and UnboundEd both agree that achieving racial justice in math education starts with the...
Illustrative Mathematics and IM Certified Partners featured at NCSM and NCTM 2022
Oct 12, 2022
Members of the Illustrative Mathematics team recently attended two national conferences for math educators: NCSM (Sept 26–28, 2022) in Anaheim, CA, and NCTM (Sept 28–Oct 1, 2022) in Los Angeles. We enjoyed meeting so many thoughtful educators over the course of the...
Two Recommendations to Elevate Instruction
Mar 2, 2022
By Kate Nowak, IM Vice President of Curriculum Development and Portfolio “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 If you’re reading this you probably...
Using IM K–5 Math™ to Support Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI)
Nov 16, 2021
By Mike Henderson “The activities require skills that students are not taught prior to doing the activity. They’re expected to just jump right in. Why isn’t there more modeling or re-teaching of basic skills so students can be successful with the lesson?” As teachers...
Together Apart: Amplifying the “Gift of Student Thinking” in Distance Learning with IM
Oct 26, 2021
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...
The 5 Practices: Looking at Differentiation Through a New Lens
Nov 21, 2019
By Catherine Castillo Our district had seen a downhill trend in standardized test scores in mathematics. This forced us, as educators, to take an intentional look at our teaching practices. The past few years have been an exciting time in math instruction. Research on...
The Illustrative Mathematics Team Reflect on the 5 Practices
Jan 30, 2018
The entire Illustrative Mathematics team spends a lot of time reading about teaching and learning. Most recently, we have been reading—some of us rereading—and reflecting on the 5 Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematics Discussions by Mary Kay Stein and...
Using the 5 Practices with Instructional Routines
Jan 22, 2018
By Robin Moore As a coach, how can I help teachers structure their lesson-planning in order for students to unpack their mathematical understandings? This question is always at the forefront of my mind as I reflect on my work as an instructional coach. Most times, I...
How the 5 Practices Changed my Instruction
Jan 16, 2018
By Alicia Farmer I am the type of teacher you want on your teaching team. I am the person that can remember vast amounts of details, predict potential obstacles, and meet any and all deadlines. My organized personality is apparent everywhere in my classroom. From...
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