As a professional developer working with preschool teachers who have had few opportunities to engage in work with others on their teaching of mathematics, I have three main goals: (1) to support them to see their strengths as teachers, so they can draw upon them when teaching mathematics; (2) to provide opportunities to understand children’s mathematical thinking; and (3) to help them learn how to “do” the work of engaging students in understanding mathematics.
Professional Development: 1-2 Days
This overview is designed to engage practicing teachers for four to six hours over the course of a day or two.
Getting Started on Counting
Let's orient participants to what is known about how children count and what that can look like in a classroom.
- Begin with an opening Reflection about their strengths as teachers.
- Share the videos of Dr. Ginsburg talking about counting.
- Engage participants in Counting Small Collections (read about this here), an activity you hope they will do with students.
- Read Counting on Counting.
- Share videos of children’s mathematical thinking, such as Anna Counts and Ben Learns How to Count, and ask them what they notice.
- Try Counting for Adults.
- Return to the Counting Collections activities and see what they can take up from the work on learning about children’s mathematical thinking.
- Ask them to reflect on how what they are learning could be used in their own classrooms.
Taking it the Next Step
Let's help participants detail the progression of counting principles children develop, and support them in seeing how they can support children developing those ideas.
- Engage participants in the Counting Collections Overview and Going Deeper with Collections activities focused on larger collections, use of tools, and supporting representation.
- Engage them in the activity about play and intentional teaching, which uses the vignette "Play-Based? Math?"
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