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Building Thinking Classrooms

MAT-962
3 Credits
Online
No Ratings
MAT-962
3 Credits
Online
No Ratings

Transform your classroom with 14 evidence-based teaching techniques to optimize student thinking. This course explores the principles and practices outlined in Peter Liljedahl's Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics-a teaching framework developed over fifteen years of research in more than 400 classrooms. Math teachers are inundated with ideas about what works in the classroom. Liljedahl put teaching strategies to the test, identifying the moves that genuinely foster student learning. His approach challenges traditional norms and centers the classroom around student thinking, showing that deep understanding stems from intentional instructional design.

You will discover the key practices that unlock student thinking, including:

  • what types of tasks to use and when, where, and how to give them
  • how to arrange classroom furniture and form collaborative groups
  • how to use vertical non-permanent workspace
  • how to answer student questions
  • what homework and notetaking look like
  • how to increase lesson flow with hints and extensions
  • how to consolidate a lesson through guided gallery walks
  • how to design meaningful rubrics, formative assessment, and grading

If you've ever felt frustrated by passive 'learning,' disengaged students, or repetitive routines, this course offers teacher-tested strategies to re-energize your instruction and create a space where mathematical thinking truly thrives. The course may be taken with or without students.

NOTE: Required book must be acquired separately.

This course is applicable towards the Mathematics Teaching Certificate.

Candi Reimer

Instructor
As a beginning mathematics teacher at an urban high school, I quickly realized that drawing on student interests and experiences was essential to engaged learning. This insight has guided my work in education as a K-12 instructional coach, a developer of mathematics curriculum, and an instructor of professional development. My courses aim to create space for teachers to gather around relevant ideas and practical experiences as they deepen their knowledge and professional practice. Course topics reflect the concerns and curiosities of practicing teachers, equipping them to directly apply learning to classroom teaching. I value the diverse perspectives that Fresno Pacific University students bring to the learning community, and I hope that participants in my courses will be as inspired as I have been by the ideas and dialogue generated here.