2025 MidSchoolMath National Conference

Ever wonder how to create an environment to boost student thinking? Or how can one get middle schoolers to actually embrace their mistakes?  Or get them to just work together?

It’s possible! This session will focus on how to create a classroom climate that celebrates mistakes and where the focus is on learning, not just the grade. You'll gain ideas and activities to support implementation of Building Thinking Classrooms, with Core Curriculum by MidSchoolMath and other Curriculums. The session will explore how to create a safe classroom culture, use non-curricular tasks to increase student thinking, and even housekeeping suggestions to get your classroom up and running smoothly!

Through creative questioning we can find ways for all students to engage in math through inquiry, find the fun in
thinking and create opportunities for authentic discourse and confidence building.

Using the Building Thinking Classroom approach, we'll look at content and non-content based problems, looking for more ways to engage our students in thinking rather than memorizing facts or being passive learners. We will discuss the techniques to keep students engage and thinking and how to extend problems so that we can differentiate within the room.

You'll leave ready to share these ideas with your students!

Tired of the traditional lecture-practice model in your middle school math classroom? Ready to ignite student engagement and deepen mathematical understanding? Join this session to discover how to transform your lessons using a task-based approach inspired by Building Thinking Classrooms.
We'll share how we've effectively combined the Practice Printable and Teacher Instruction components of Core Curriuclum by MidSchoolMath curriculum to create rich, open-ended tasks that promote critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaborative learning!
The strategies shared are designed around Core Curriculum by MidSchoolMath but will hold value in any math classroom that wants to use a Building Thinking Classrooms approach.

When students explore visual, tactile, and relevant problems before a unit of study, they are able to use their prior knowledge, construct new understandings, and connect their learning to the world! In this session, we'll explore some anchor problems using Building Thinking Classrooms practices, and talk about how to make exploration and learning memorable and durable.

We'll then discuss how then displaying mathematical representations of these problems around the room allows you to refer to the math throughout the year, intentionally helping students look for patterns and connections, deepen their learning, and build conceptual understanding. You'll leave having deepened your understanding of the Building Thinking Classrooms practices and resources to use with your students.