While each Math Pathways & Pitfalls® book gives teachers everything they need to start using the curriculum, some schools and districts have found our training and support helpful to ensure that
- all grade levels at a school teach the program with consistency and clarity;
- teachers get better at teaching math to all kinds of students, including those learning English; and
- teachers’ understanding of math concepts is strengthened.
We offer four kinds of professional development opportunities for K–8 teachers and math leaders.
Wondering how this aligns to the Common Core? Check out our Crosswalk
Four Opportunities to Choose From:
Foundational Principles and Teaching Practices Workshops
Trainer of Trainers Institutes (for Math Leaders)
“Math Pathways and Pitfalls has been extremely influential in both my teaching practices and student achievement. The program has become an invaluable tool for opening discourse among my students where they take charge of their own learning; discuss misconceptions such as the pitfalls; and learn to have respectful disagreements while recognizing each other’s strengths. It creates an avenue for peer interaction and an exciting dynamic between teachers and students.”
—Alexis, veteran elementary school and
middle school teacher
Math Pathways & Pitfalls Implementation Institutes
- 1–3 Days (customizable)
- K–8 Teachers
- Lessons, Teaching Guides, Common Core Crosswalk, Posters
Who Should Participate
Anyone who is involved in elementary school and middle school education and interested in evidence-based teaching practices may attend the Math Pathways & Pitfalls® Implementation Institutes. If you’re an educator who wants to learn more about structures that are aligned with Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice, you are a perfect candidate for this professional development opportunity.
Goals for Institute Participants
Participants will return to their classroom comfortable using Math Pathways & Pitfalls lessons and adapting them to their district-adopted curriculum to boost solid mathematical thinking and improved achievement.
Teachers attending the institute will learn ways to help their students overcome pitfalls; boost learning of key mathematics standards; and develop academic language. The institutes also highlight crucial strategies for working with diverse learners, including multilingual learners. Rigorous studies have shown that teachers who incorporate Math Pathways & Pitfalls techniques can have a positive impact on learning in diverse classrooms.
What You Learn
Teachers who join this training will learn how to do the following:
- Help students get past common math miscalculations and misunderstandings
- Help students better understand important math ideas
- Teach students how to talk and write about math
- Connect Math Pathways & Pitfalls with their district’s regular math curriculum
- Improve their own understanding of how kids learn math
- Better understand proven ways to support multilingual learners
- Start teacher communities of learning in their schools and districts
What Resources Support Your Learning
Each participant will receive:
- Intervention lessons and teaching guides that tackle critical pitfalls
- Discussion Builders posters
Who Facilitates Your Learning
Workshops are led by José Franco or Bob Rosenfeld of Math Pathways & Pitfalls at WestEd.
Other Professional Development to Consider
Math Pathways & Pitfalls Discussion Builders Workshops
- 1 Day
- K-8 Teachers
- Discussion Builders Poster, Teaching Guide
Who Should Participate
This 1-day workshop is ideal for K–8 teachers who would like to help students with diverse academic, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds and to participate in and successfully learn from discussion-based lessons. Although originally created for mathematics, the discussion tools and theories can be applied within any subject area and are especially beneficial for multilingual learners.
Goals for Workshop Participants
The Discussion Builders Workshop provides an invaluable look inside effective classroom discussions and prepares teachers to implement effective teaching strategies that foster oral and written academic language.
Return to your classroom prepared to lead effective discussions that boost collaborative and respectful critical thinking among your students.
What You Learn
Teachers who join this training will:
- learn how to orchestrate rich classroom discussions with all kinds of students, including special tips for teaching students who speak multiple languages;
- understand how learning academic language helps students succeed in school; and
- practice leading good discussions in math, reading, social studies, and other subjects.
What Resources Support Your Learning
Classroom discussions promote academic success by building powerful communication and reasoning skills. Discussion Builders posters help students of all achievement levels build these crucial skills. The posters are powerful tools for helping students—including multilingual learners—to present and expand on their ideas. There are three levels of Discussion Builders posters, and the teaching guides scaffold more sophisticated language and reasoning across the grades. Sentence stems on the posters provide students with a scaffold for voicing their ideas and questions and for valuing others’ contributions. The questions on Discussion Builders posters correlate with different levels of academic conversation.
A guide for teachers explains how to get students thinking and talking more conceptually. The guide includes tasks and blackline masters for introducing and sustaining the use of Discussion Builders in any subject area. Participants at Discussion Builders Workshops receive one poster and one teaching guide appropriate to their grade level: K–1, 2–3, or 4–8.
The posters are available in English and in Spanish.
Who Facilitates Your Learning
Workshops are led by Jose Franco, director of Math Pathways & Pitfalls at WestEd.
Other Professional Development to Consider
Foundational Principles and Teaching Practices Workshops
- 1–5 Days (customizable)
- K–8 Teachers
- Lessons, Common Core Crosswalk, Videos
Math Pathways & Pitfalls® is built on five key principles derived from research and from what works well in real classrooms. These ideas also align with what the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics advises in its publications on effective math teaching. The principles are the following:
- Building Mathematical Discussions
- Making Sense
- Confronting Pitfalls
- Visualizing and Connecting
- Capturing Key Ideas
Each key principle focuses on three helpful teaching methods that show clear benefits for students.
Who Should Participate
Anyone who is involved in elementary school and middle school education and interested in evidence-based teaching practices may attend the Math Pathways & Pitfalls Foundational Principles and Teaching Practices Workshops. If you’re an educator who wants to learn more about structures that are aligned with Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and the Standards for Mathematical Practice, you are a perfect candidate for the Math Pathways & Pitfalls Foundational Principles and Teaching Practices Workshops.
Goals for Workshop Participants
The Foundational Principles and Teaching Practices Workshop provides an invaluable look inside effective classroom discussions, preparing teachers to implement effective teaching strategies that foster oral and written academic language. After this training, you’ll feel confident leading classroom discussions to help your students think critically together in respectful and collaborative ways.
What You Learn
Each foundational principle emphasizes three valuable instructional practices that highlight compelling benefits for students. For example, if an instructional coach or site administrator were to observe a teacher modeling the “Making Sense” principle, the observer would look for evidence of any of the following three teaching practices:
- Students describing the meaning of the problem in their own words
- Students generating, analyzing, and discussing solutions
- Students justifying why a mathematical idea or solution makes sense
The benefits that students may experience include:
- Improved ability to understand and solve contextual and symbolic problems
- Improved ability to explain why a solution does or does not make sense
- Improved and deeper understanding of mathematical ideas and solution strategies
What Resources Support Your Learning
- A crosswalk between the Principles and Practices and the Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice
- Videos of classroom teachers implementing each principle and modeling teaching practices with Math Pathways & Pitfalls lessons or lessons from teachers’ regular math curriculum
This transfer of practices from Math Pathways & Pitfalls lessons was studied previously in the Math Pathways & Pitfalls Classroom Observation Transfer Study conducted in 2006–2007 and is visible in the videos such as transferring what teachers learned from their use of the Math Pathways & Pitfalls curriculum to non–Math Pathways & Pitfalls lessons.
Other Professional Development to Consider
Math Pathways & Pitfalls Trainer of Trainers Workshops
- 1–3 Days (customizable)
- K–8 Math Leaders
- Lessons, Teaching Guides, Discussion Builders Poster, Common Core Crosswalk, Videos
Who Should Participate
- Administrators (District- and Site-based)
- Curriculum Developers
- Professional Development Providers
- Math Specialists
- Teacher Leaders
- Instructional Coaches and Peer Mentors
Goals for Institute Participants
Trainer of Trainers Professional Development teaches a turnkey approach to
- promoting implementation consistency across grade levels;
- modeling the lessons and Common Core State Standards for Mathematical Practice;
- adapting Math Pathways & Pitfalls® teaching principles and CCSS practices to district-adopted curricula across grade levels; and
- planning lessons with teachers, coaches, and mentors.
What You Learn
- Everything about Math Pathways & Pitfalls lessons, including the research behind them and how to use them
- Teaching methods for teachers in their schools or programs, including the five Foundational Principles
- An efficient way to build capacity for all teachers and to develop a cadre of district professional development leaders who can model the use of the Math Pathways & Pitfalls teaching strategies and content
Trainers will be in a position to support teachers as they implement the Math Pathways & Pitfalls program and plan coaching and observation sessions. These trainers will be able to sustain the program by developing its many applications for prevention, intervention, enrichment, or curriculum integration.
What Resources Support Your Learning
Leaders will learn how to use Math Pathways & Pitfalls strategies and lessons with their district-adopted curriculum. Each participant will receive the following:
- Intervention lessons and teaching guides that tackle critical pitfalls
- Discussion Builders poster
- A crosswalk between the Principles and Practices and the Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice
- Videos of classroom teachers implementing each principle and modeling teaching practices with Math Pathways & Pitfalls lessons or lessons from teachers’ regular math curriculum
Note: An in-person or online follow-up session for this workshop is available for teachers and leaders.
Other Professional Development to Consider
