This spring, the Cotsen Foundation for the ART of TEACHING offered Cotsen fellows, mentors, and alumni the opportunity to attend differentiated CGI trainings for non-beginners with math specialist Nick Johnson (UCLA) at the helm. The first training (grades 3-5) took place on Saturday, Feb. 27, and the second session (grades K-2) took place on Saturday, Mar. 19.
Aside from honing their skills in math problem solving, evaluating number sets, and discussing students’ strategies, teachers had the opportunity to spend time with like-minded colleagues who share their passion and interest in teaching what is best for their students.
“The highlight of the event for me was having time and space to converse with colleagues around number choice,” said Jennifer Lawyer, Cotsen alumna from Lawndale School District. “Number choice can do so many things for kids… It can challenge misconceptions… Push kids to try a new strategy that they haven’t before that is more efficient, or help them make relational discoveries about numbers.”
During both workshops, Johnson provided opportunities for teachers to look deeper into problem types, think about how to move students from one strategy to the next, and watch videos of students solving different problems in order to facilitate discussions on students’ thinking. Johnson also led discussions on choral counting with decimals for grades 3-6 and whole numbers for grades K-2.
The Saturday sessions were reinvigorating, offering teachers new strategies and concepts to take back into the classroom. For avid CGI practitioners, like Jennifer Lawyer, the sessions prompted them to ponder their students’ mathematical studies beyond elementary school.
“Nick is a great instructor for non-beginner CGI,” reflected Lawyer. “I would love to see a workshop offered where we get to really talk about how we can identify how this work supports students’ future work in algebra!”