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Program - Keynote Speakers

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Friday Night Keynote 7:30 - 9:00 PM

Lucy West

Academic Discourse—It Ain’t Just for Kids

What is the quality and frequency of academic discourse among the educators at your school or district? How often and in what ways do you inquire into teaching in ways that actually improve instructional practice as evidenced in student learning? To what degree is discourse necessary to foster understanding? What is the connection between the nature and quality of adult discourse in schools and the nature and quality of student discourse in classrooms? What about conflict, disagreement and diversity as related to the capacity to dialogue? How might discourse be built into lesson design? What tools do teachers need to provide students in order to have regular, robust dialogue among students? What types of mathematical tasks engender dialogue? These and related questions will be explored as we consider the role of discourse in teaching and learning. 

Sunday Morning Keynote 9:00 - 10:15 AM

Jo Boaler

The Psychological Prisons From Which They Never Escape? How School Mathematics Shapes Children’s Lives.                                       

What is Math Really? And why do so many children have such a traumatic experience of school math? In this session I will describe the insights I have gained over recent years from conversations with politicians, the public and members of the media, in England and the US. I will also report upon a research study that followed children who had learned in different ways into their adult lives – with some interesting results.

Sunday Morning Keynote 10:45 - Noon

David Schwartz

Putting the "Wonder" Back in Wonderful: Math Happens When Children Wonder About What They Read

David is thrilled when young readers are inspired by his books to raise questions and develop mathematical strategies to answer those questions. Illustrating his talk with impressive student work, the author of 50-plus math and science picture books including How Much Is a Million?, G Is for Googol and If You Hopped Like a Frog will demonstrate how teachers can encourage students to read, wonder, and do the math to address the questions that literature can raise. He'll share results that are instructive, surprising and sometimes hilarious.