A short session with preschool teachers can spark their interest in how upcoming professional development work can support them in improving their practice. The session will help them see what is possible in preschool mathematics, and to see how possible it is for them to engage in this work.
Professional Development: 2-hour session
This quick overview session of approximately two hours is designed to introduce practicing teachers to the vision of what is possible when using children's thinking to teach math to young children.
Supporting the Development of Young Children’s Mathematics
Let's show them what young children can do mathematically
- Share the videos of Dr. Ginsburg talking about counting.
- Engage them in the activities Anna Counts and Ben Learns How to Count and ask them what they notice about children's thinking. Or you could do the activity How to Analyze a Child's Counting. At different points in the videos, have participants predict what the children in the video might do and what their own students might do.
Build on Teachers' Strengths
Let's help them see what they already know and can do to support counting
- Engage participants in Counting Large Collections themselves. Help them see how much they already know and how much fun children can have as they count a collection. Have them talk about what they did.
- Lead a discussion about how counting already occurs in their classrooms. Share ideas. What else might they try?
- Send them away from the session with some reading to support their continued thinking, such as with Counting on Counting or The Mathematics of Counting.
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