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Customer Privacy Policy

Last Modified: January 23, 2026 | Update History

Most recent update: This Privacy Policy has been updated to address additional rights for individuals in the European Union/UK.

We advise you to read this Privacy Policy in its entirety, including the jurisdiction-specific provisions in the appendix. Click here to review Our U.S. Notice At Collection.

Customer Privacy Policy: K–12 Schools

Who We Are

Amplify Education, Inc. (“Amplify”) is leading the way in next-generation curriculum and assessment. Amplify’s programs provide teachers with powerful tools that help them understand and respond to the needs of each student and use data in a way that is safe, secure, and effective.

Our Products and Services

Amplify’s products support classroom instruction and learning and include Amplify CKLA, Amplify ELA, Amplify Caminos, Amplify Science, Amplify Desmos Math, Boost Reading, Boost Math, mCLASS, Mathigon, associated professional development and tutoring services, and services at classroom.amplify.com (for creating and assigning activities) and student.amplify.com (for use of the activities or curricula as directed by an instructor), and any other product or service that links to this Privacy Policy (together, the “Products”).

Our Approach to Student Data Privacy 

In the course of providing the Products to Schools and their Authorized School Users, Amplify collects, receives, generates, or has access to Student Data (defined below). We consider Student Data to be confidential and we collect and use Student Data solely for educational purposes in connection with providing our Products to, or on behalf of the School as described in this Privacy Policy and our Agreements (defined below). We work to maintain the security and confidentiality of Student Data that we collect or store, and we enable Schools to control the use, access, sharing, and retention of Student Data.

Our Products are geared towards K–12 students (“Students”), and the educators, agents and staff members who use the Products as authorized by their School (“Educators”). Information that directly relates to an identifiable Student (“Student Data”) is owned and controlled by the School, and Amplify receives Student Data as a “school official” under Section 99.31 of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (“FERPA”) for the purpose of providing the Products hereunder. In addition, we rely on the School acknowledging that it is acting as the parent’s agent and consenting on the parent’s behalf to process personal information of Students under the age of 13 (“Child Users”) in accordance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”).

Our collection and use of Student Data is governed by our Agreements with Schools, including this Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”), and applicable laws which may include FERPA, COPPA, the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (“PPRA”), as well as other applicable federal, state, and local privacy laws and regulations (“Applicable Laws”). As noted above, with respect to FERPA, Amplify receives Student Data as a “school official” under Section 99.31 of FERPA for the purpose of providing its Products, and such Student Data is owned and controlled by the School.

Schools may provide authorization in two ways:

  1. by the School agreeing to our Customer Terms and Conditions located at amplify.com/customer-terms or another written agreement between Amplify and the School, as applicable; or
  2. by an Educator agreeing to the Acceptable Use Policy located at amplify.com/acceptable-use-policy/ (“AUP”) on behalf of the School as outlined in the AUP.

In each case, we collect Student Data and provide these Products solely for the use and benefit of the School and for no other commercial purpose. We require all Schools to review this Privacy Policy, available at amplify.com/customer-privacy, and to make a copy of the Privacy Policy available to the parents or guardians of Child Users.

We also provide limited opportunities for individual users to sign up for an account for use of our Products at-home or otherwise outside of the authorization of a School (“Home Users”). See the Appendix–Supplemental Disclosures for additional information that applies to our Home Users.

What This Privacy Policy Covers 

This Customer Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) describes how Amplify collects, uses, and discloses personal information through the provision of Products.

For purposes of this Privacy Policy, “you” and “your” means Authorized Users (defined below).

This Privacy Policy does not apply to Amplify’s handling of:

  • information collected from users of Amplify’s company website, which is governed by our Website Privacy Policy.
  • job applicant data that we process in accordance with our applicant privacy notice.

There may be different contractual terms or privacy policies in place with some Schools. Such other terms or policies supersede this Privacy Policy for information collected or released under those terms. If you have any questions as to which legal agreement or privacy policy controls the collection and use of your personal information, please contact us using the information provided below. Unless expressly superseded, this Privacy Policy is incorporated into and is subject to the Agreement that governs your use of the Products.

Our Role

Amplify as a processor/service provider: Our School customers are the controllers of Student Data (as well as certain other Educator personal information to the extent required by law or Amplify’s agreement with the School) (together “School Data”).

Amplify acts as a processor/service provider for our School customers with respect to School Data, which means when we use School Data, we do so solely on the instruction of the School. School Data is subject to the School’s privacy policies; therefore, you will need to contact the School directly if you have any questions or would like to exercise your rights with respect to School Data.

Amplify as a controller: We are the controller of all other personal information we collect from non-Student Authorized Users (“Amplify Data”) and can be reached by email at privacy@amplify.com or by mail at Amplify Education, Inc., 55 Washington St.#800, Brooklyn, NY, 11201.

Policy

1. Definitions

Capitalized terms not defined in this section or elsewhere in this Privacy Policy will have the meaning set forth by Applicable Laws.

Agreement” means the underlying contractual agreement between Amplify and the School.

Authorized Users” means all users of our Products, including Authorized School Users, parents and legal guardians, and Home Users.

Authorized School Users” means Students and Educators.

Local Education Authority” means a local education agency or authority, school district, school network, independent school, or other regional education system.

Non-Student Data” means information that is linked or linkable to Authorized Users who are not Students.

School” means the Local Education Authority or State Agency.

State Agency” means the educational agency primarily responsible for the supervision of public elementary and secondary schools in any of the 50 states, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, or other territories and possessions of the United States, as well as a national or regional ministry or department of education in other countries, as applicable.

2. What personal information do we collect?

When you access or use our Products, you may choose to provide us with personal information, including Student Data. This information may be provided to us directly (e.g. when an account is created or through communications with us) or through your interactions with our Products.

Student Data. Below is a list of the categories of Student Data that may be collected by Amplify or its Products, either directly or through the Authorized School User’s use of the various features and configurations of the Products:

  • Identifier and Enrollment Data, such as name, email, school / state ID number, username and password, grade level, homeroom, courses, teacher names.
    • Why? Most of Amplify’s Products require some basic information about who is in a classroom and who teaches the class—Student or teacher Identifier and Enrollment data. This information is provided to Amplify by the School, either directly from the School’s student information system or via a third party with whom the School contracts to provide that information.
  • Demographic Data, such as date of birth, socioeconomic status, race, national origin, and preferred or primary language.
    • Why? To support school instructional and reporting requirements, Amplify’s Products allow Schools to view reports and analyze data using Demographic Data. Generally, Demographic Data is provided on a voluntary basis by the School. For example, a School may wish to analyze Student literacy assessment results based on English Language Learner status to better tailor classroom instruction, and in that case, the School may provide Demographic Data to enable that reporting.
  • School Records, such as grades, attendance, assessment results, and whether an Individualized Education Plan (IEP or local equivalent) is in place.
    • Why? Some of our Products support grading assignments and administering formative, diagnostic, and curriculum-based assessments. Teachers use that information to support Students’ progress in the program or help with instructional decisions. We do not collect specific details from an IEP, nor do we collect protected health information or other sensitive information.
  • Schoolwork and Student Generated Content, which includes any information contained in Student assignments and assessments, including information in response to instructional activities and participation in collaborative or interactive features of our Products, such as Student responses to academic questions and Student-written essays, as well as images, video, and audio recordings.
    • Why? As part of the digital learning experience, some of our Products may enable Students to write text and create and upload images, video, and audio recordings. For example, in Amplify ELA, students may write essays or submit short-form responses in our platform as part of a lesson on literature. As another example, in Boost Reading, student interactions with reading skills games are recorded to keep track of the student’s progress to level up in the program and to provide visibility to teachers on how students are mastering the skills.
  • Teacher Comments and Feedback, such as scores, written comments, or other feedback that Educators may provide about Student responses or student course performance.
    • Why? To enable teachers to track the performance and provide feedback to their students.
  • Non-Student Data. We may collect the following types of personal information from all other Authorized Users:
    • Contact Information, such as name and email address, as well as grade level taught, school name and school location, whether you are an Educator or Home User that creates an account or uses our Products or communicates with us.
    • Account Information, such as user login and password, for account creation and access purposes.
    • Survey Responses, which you provide in response to surveys or questionnaires.
  • Device and Usage Data. Depending on the Product, we may collect certain information about the device used to connect to our Product, such as device type and model, browser configurations, and persistent identifiers, such as IP addresses and unique device identifiers. We may collect device diagnostic information, such as battery level, usage logs, and error logs, as well as usage, viewing, and technical information (e.g., email open rates), such as the number of requests a device makes, to ensure proper system capacity for all Authorized Users. We may collect IP addresses and use that information to approximate device location to support operation of the Product. To the extent that we collect this information, this data is solely used to support operation of the Product and is not linked to Student Data. For purposes of clarity, Amplify does not use Student Data for marketing or advertising purposes (see section 6 of this Privacy Policy for more information about our commitments regarding Student Data).
    • Why? We use this information to remember returning users and facilitate ease of login, to customize the function and appearance of the Products, and to improve the learning experience. This information also helps us track product usage for various purposes, including website optimization, to ensure proper system capacity, troubleshoot and fix errors, provide technical assistance and customer support, provide and monitor the effectiveness of our Products, monitor and address security concerns, and compile analytics for product improvement and other internal purposes.
    • How? Cookies and Similar Technologies. We collect device and usage data through “cookies,” Web beacons, HTML5 local storage, and other similar technologies, which are used in some of our Products solely to support operation of the Products as described above. While we may use third party cookies and similar technologies for advertising and marketing purposes on our website (in accordance with our Website Privacy Policy), we do not permit such tracking technologies to be present on Student-facing portions of the Products. In particular, we only use the following types of cookies in our Products:
      • Strictly necessary cookies – These are cookies that are required for the operation of our websites and applications that host our Products. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our Products. These cookies are not generally stored beyond the browser session and are less likely to include personal information. This category of cookies cannot be disabled.
      • Functionality Cookies – We use these cookies so that we recognize you on the websites and apps that host our Products and remember your previously selected preferences. These cookies are stored on your device between browsing sessions but expire after a pre-defined period. These cookies enable us to “recognize” you when you use our Products, including your preferences such as your preferred language, time, and location. A mix of first party (placed by us) and third-party cookies (placed by third parties) are used.
      • Performance Cookies – These cookies help us and service providers acting on our behalf compile statistics and analytics about users of our Products that are accessed via websites and apps, including Device and Usage Information.
    • Learn how to opt out of cookies and similar technologies by reading the “What Rights and Choices Do You Have?” section of this Privacy Policy below.

3. How do we use personal information?

Student Data. Amplify uses Student Data for educational purposes, to provide the Products, and to ensure secure and effective operation of our Products, including:

  • to provide and improve our educational Products;
  • to support School and Authorized School Users’ activities;
  • to ensure secure and effective operation of our Products;
  • for purposes requested or authorized by the School or Authorized School User or as otherwise permitted by Applicable Laws;
  • for customer support purposes, to respond to the inquiries and fulfill the requests of the School and their Authorized School Users;
  • to enforce Product access and security controls; and
  • to conduct system audits and improve protections against the misuse of our Products, or to detect and prevent fraud and other harmful activities.
  • to enable the adaptive and personalized learning features of the Products.

Non-Student Data. Amplify may use Non-Student Data for the purposes for which Student Data is used as set forth above. In addition, Amplify may use Non-Student Data to provide customized content, advertising and marketing in limited circumstances (e.g. to periodically send newsletters and other promotional materials) directed to Educators and Home Users. For sake of clarity, we do not use Student Data for marketing purposes and we do not direct marketing to Students. Amplify may also use Non-Student Data for internal research and analytics, including generating insights on the use of our Products by Educators in certain Schools so that we can better serve those communities. We will also use Non-Student Data as otherwise required or permitted by law, or as we may notify you at the time of collection. Learn how to opt out of these communications by reading the “What Rights and Choices Do You Have?” section of this Privacy Policy below.

Amplify may use aggregate or de-identified data as described in the Aggregate/De-identified Data section below.

4. To whom do we disclose personal information?

Student Data. We disclose Student Data to third parties only as needed to provide the Products under the Agreement, as directed or permitted by the School or Authorized School User, and as required by law. Such disclosures may include but are not limited to the following:

  • to other Authorized School Users of the School entitled to access such data in connection with the Products;
  • to our service providers, subprocessors, or vendors who have a legitimate need to access such data in order to assist us in providing or supporting our Products, such as platform, infrastructure, and application software. We contractually bind such parties to protect Student Data in a manner consistent with those practices set forth in this Privacy Policy and in accordance with Applicable Laws. A list of Amplify subprocessors is available at https://www.amplify.com/subprocessors;
  • to comply with the law, respond to requests in legal or government enforcement proceedings (such as complying with a subpoena), protect our rights in a legal dispute, or seek assistance of law enforcement in the event of a threat to our rights, security, or property or that of our affiliates, customers, Authorized Users, or others;
  • in the event Amplify or all or part of its assets are acquired or transferred to another party, including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings, provided that successor entity will be required to comply with the privacy protections in this Privacy Policy with respect to information collected under this Privacy Policy, or we will provide the School with notice and an opportunity to opt out of the transfer of such data prior to the transfer; and
  • except as restricted by Applicable Laws or contracts with the School, we may also share Student Data with Amplify’s affiliated education companies, provided that such disclosure is solely for the purposes of providing Products and at all times is subject to this Policy.

Non-Student Data. Amplify discloses Non-Student Data for the purposes for which Student Data is used as set forth above. Amplify may also disclose Non-Student Data as otherwise required or permitted, or as disclosed at the time of collection. Please note that we do not share mobile information or opt-in consent with third parties / affiliates for their own marketing or promotional purposes.

5. Aggregate/De-identified data

Amplify may use de-identified or aggregate data for purposes allowed under FERPA and other Applicable Laws, to research, develop, and improve educational sites, services, and applications and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Amplify Products. Amplify will not attempt to re-identify de-identified data. We may use aggregate information (which is information that has been collected in summary form such that the data cannot be associated with any individual) for analytics and reports. For example, our promotional materials may note the total number of students served by our programs in the prior year, but that information cannot be used to identify any one student. We may also share de-identified or aggregate data with research partners to help us analyze the information for product improvement and development purposes.

Records and information are de-identified when all personal information has been removed or obscured, such that the remaining information does not reasonably identify a specific individual. We de-identify Student Data in compliance with Applicable Laws and in accordance with the guidelines of NIST SP 800-122. Amplify has implemented internal procedures and controls to protect against the re-identification of de-identified Student Data. Amplify does not disclose de-identified data to its research partners unless that party has agreed in writing not to attempt to re-identify such data.

6. Data prohibitions, Advertising, Advertising limitations

Amplify will not:

  • sell Student Data to third parties;
  • use or disclose Student Data to inform, influence, or enable targeted advertising to a Student based on Student Data or information or data inferred over time from the Student’s usage of the Products;
  • use Student Data to develop a profile of a Student for any purpose other than providing the Products to a School or Authorized School User, or as authorized by a parent or legal guardian;
  • use Student Data for any commercial purpose other than to provide the Products to the School or Authorized School User, or as permitted by Applicable Laws.

7. External third-party services

This Privacy Policy applies solely to Amplify’s Products and practices. Schools and other Authorized Users may choose to connect or use our Products in conjunction with third-party services and Products. Additionally, our sites and Products may contain links to third-party websites or services . This Privacy Policy does not address, and Amplify is not responsible for, the privacy, information, or other practices of such third parties. Schools should carefully consider which third-party applications to include among the Products and services they provide to Students and vet the privacy and data security standards of those providers.

Authorized Users may be able to log in to our Products using third-party sign-in services such as Clever, ClassLink or Google. These services authenticate your identity and provide you with the option to share certain personal information with us, including your name and email address, to pre-populate our account sign-up form. If you choose to enable a third party to share your third-party account credentials with Amplify, we may obtain personal information via that mechanism. You may configure your accounts on these third-party platform services to control what information they share.

8. Security

Amplify maintains a comprehensive information security program and uses industry standard administrative, technical, operational, and physical measures to safeguard Student Data in its possession against loss, theft and unauthorized use, disclosure, or modification. Amplify performs periodic risk assessments of its information security program and prioritizes the remediation of identified security vulnerabilities. Please see https://amplify.com/security for a detailed description of Amplify’s security program.

In the event Amplify discovers or is notified that Student Data within our possession or control was disclosed to, or acquired by, an unauthorized party, we will investigate the incident, take steps to mitigate the potential impact, and notify the School in accordance with Applicable Laws.

Non-Student Data

Outside of Student Data, Amplify uses commercially reasonable administrative, technical, personnel, and physical measures to safeguard personal information in its possession against loss, theft, and unauthorized use, disclosure or modification.

9. Data Storage and Transfers

We are a United States Company, and our servers are hosted, managed, and controlled by us in the United States. If you are outside of the United States, we use industry standards to protect your data when it leaves your country of residence and your data will always be protected in accordance with this Privacy Policy, Applicable Laws and our Agreement regardless of the storage location.

Additionally, where we transfer your personal information to service providers outside of the United Kingdom (UK), European Economic Area (EEA), or other region that offers similar protections, we use specific appropriate safeguards to contractually obligate such service providers to protect personal information in accordance with Amplify’s commitment to privacy and security and applicable data protection laws.

If you have questions or wish to obtain more information about the international transfer of your personal information or the implemented safeguards, please contact us using the contact information below.

10. Data Retention / Deletion

Student Data

Upon request, we provide the School the opportunity to review and delete the personal information collected from Students. We will retain Student Data for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy and our Agreement with the School. We do not knowingly retain Student Data beyond the time period required to support the School or Authorized School User’s educational purpose, unless authorized by the School or Authorized School User. Upon request, Amplify will return, delete, or destroy Student Data stored by Amplify in accordance with applicable law and customer requirements. We may not be able to delete all data in all circumstances, such as information retained in technical support records, customer service records, back-ups, and similar business records. All such information will be protected in accordance with this Privacy Policy and our Agreement until it has been permanently deleted. Unless otherwise notified by the School, we will delete or de-identify Student Data after termination of our Agreement with the School.

Non-Student Data

Outside of Student Data, we keep personal information as long as it is necessary or relevant for the practices described in this Privacy Policy or as otherwise required by our Agreement with the School, if applicable. We determine the appropriate retention period for personal information on the basis of the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal information being processed, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of the personal information, whether we can achieve the purposes of the processing through other means, and on the basis of applicable legal requirements (such as applicable statutes of limitations).

11. What rights and choices do you have?

What Choices Do You Have?

Marketing/Advertising

As noted above, we do not use Student Data for marketing purposes and we do not direct marketing to Students. Amplify does not use third party cookies and similar technologies for advertising and marketing purposes on Student-facing portions of the Products. The choices below apply to Non-Student Authorized Users.

Opt-out of Marketing Communications. If you want to stop receiving promotional materials from Amplify, you can follow the unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of each email or email us at privacy@amplify.com. Amplify does not send marketing communications to Students.

Opt-out of Cookies and Similar Tracking Technologies. With respect to cookies, you may be able to reject cookies through your browser or device controls. Note that you have to opt-out of cookies on each browser or device that you use. If you replace, change, or upgrade your browser or device, or delete your cookies, you may need to use these opt-out tools again. Please be aware that disabling cookies may negatively impact your experience as some features may not work properly. To learn more about browser cookies, including how to manage or delete them, check the “Help,” “Tools,” or similar section of your browser.

What Rights Do You Have?

Individuals in the U.S.

  • What Rights Do You Have With Respect to Student Data?
    • Review and Correction. FERPA requires schools to provide parents with access to their children’s education records, and parents may request that the school correct records that they believe to be inaccurate or misleading.
    • If you are a parent or guardian and would like to review, correct, or update your child’s data stored in our Products, contact your School. Amplify will work with your School to enable your access to and, if applicable, correction of your child’s education records.
    • If you have any questions about whom to contact or other questions about your child’s data, you may contact us using the information provided below.
    • Other Privacy Rights? Please see section 3 of our supplemental disclosures: “Additional U.S. State Privacy Law Rights” for more information about your U.S. privacy rights

Individuals in the EU/UK

Please see section 4 of our supplemental disclosures: “Notice for European Economic Area and United Kingdom Customers” for more information about your EU/UK privacy rights.

12. COPPA

We do not knowingly collect personal information from a Child User unless and until a School or Educator, with the permission of the School, has authorized us to collect such information to provide the Products. Amplify relies on the School acknowledging that it is acting as the parent’s agent and consenting on the parent’s behalf to process personal information of Child Users in accordance with all applicable provisions of COPPA. To the extent COPPA applies to the information we collect, we process such information for educational purposes only, and no other commercial purpose, at the direction of the School and on the basis of the School’s authorization. If you are a parent or guardian and have questions about your child’s use of the Products and any personal information collected, please direct these questions to your child’s school.

Please refer to the Appendix–Supplemental Disclosures if you are a Home User.

13. Updates to this Privacy Policy

We may change this Privacy Policy in the future. For example, we may update it to comply with new laws or regulations, to conform to industry best practices, or to reflect changes in our product offerings. When these changes do not reflect material changes in our practices with respect to use and/or disclosure of Authorized Users’ personal information, including Student Data, such changes to the Privacy Policy will become effective when we post the revised Privacy Policy on our website. In the event there are material changes in our practices that would result in Authorized Users’ personal information being used in a materially different manner than was disclosed when the information was collected, with respect to Student Data, we will notify the School, and with respect to other information, we will notify you via email and provide an opportunity to opt out before such changes take effect.

14. Contact us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:

Email: privacy@amplify.com
Mail: Amplify Education, Inc.
55 Washington St.#800
Brooklyn, NY, 11201
Phone: (800) 823-1969
Attn: General Counsel

To report a security vulnerability, visit https://amplify.com/report-a-vulnerability/.

Appendix – Supplemental Disclosures

1. Mathigon and Amplify Classroom accounts

While our Products are geared towards Schools we do provide a limited opportunity for Home Users to use the Products at home—outside of the school context. We do not allow persons under the age of 13 (or those under the age of consent in any applicable jurisdiction) to register for an account with us outside the school context.

If you are a Home User, you are prohibited from collecting or providing any personal information from students or minors. You are permitted to access the platform for instructional purposes, but you may not enroll or roster minors, create accounts for minors, or input any personal information of minors into the Product.

Please note that most parts of Mathigon can be used without creating an account or providing any personal information that directly identifies you.

What Rights Do You Have? If you are a Child User who is 13 or older with a legacy Mathigon account (or the parent or guardian of a Child User with a legacy Mathigon account), you may request that we provide for your review, delete from our records, or cease collecting any Child User personal information. To the extent that you are unable to exercise these rights through self-service features within your account with us, please contact us by sending an email to: help@amplify.com and we will provide assistance.

2. U.S. Notice at Collection

Personal Information We Collect How We Use Personal Information

Student Data, which includes:

  • Roster Information
  • Demographic Data, such as race and national origin
  • School Records
  • Account Information
  • Schoolwork and Student Generated Content
  • Teacher Comments and Feedback
  • Device and Usage Data
  • To provide and improve our educational Products;
  • To support Schools’ and Authorized School Users’ activities;
  • To ensure secure and effective operation of our Products;
  • For purposes requested or authorized by the School or Authorized School Users, or as otherwise permitted by Applicable Laws;
  • For adaptive or personalized learning features of the Products; provided that Student Data is not disclosed;
  • For customer support purposes, to respond to the inquiries and fulfill the requests of the School and their Authorized School Users;
  • To enforce product access and security controls; and
  • To conduct system audits and improve protections against the misuse of our Products, or to detect and prevent fraud and other harmful activities.

Authorized Users, which includes:

  • Contact Information
  • Account Information
  • Survey Responses
  • Device and Usage Data
  • For the purposes for which Student Data is used as set forth above;
  • For marketing purposes in limited circumstances (e.g. to periodically send newsletters and other promotional materials), which will not be based on Student Data or directed to K–12 students;
  • For internal research and analytics; and
  • As otherwise required or permitted, or as we may notify you at the time of collection.

Some of the information described above may be considered “sensitive” under the laws of certain jurisdictions (i.e., account credentials and race/national origin) (“Sensitive Information”). We use Sensitive Information for necessary or reasonably expected purposes – specifically, to provide you with our Services (i.e., account credentials are used to allow account logins and race/national origin are used for the School’s reporting purposes when voluntarily provided by the School).

We do not sell or share your personal information, as described in California law.

We retain your personal information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes disclosed in the chart above. Additional information about our retention of Student Data and personal information from other Authorized Users can be found in Section 10 of this Privacy Policy.

Please see the Additional U.S. State Privacy Law Rights section of this appendix for information about your privacy rights pursuant to applicable U.S. law.

Notice of Financial Incentive

From time to time, to support our services, we offer opportunities to complete surveys and questionnaires. As an incentive for completing the survey or questionnaire, you can voluntarily provide personal information as an entry into a raffle drawing or to obtain other benefits, discounts, offers, or deals that may constitute a financial incentive under California law (“Financial Incentive”). The categories of personal information required for us to provide the Financial Incentives include: contact information and any other information that you choose to provide when you complete the survey.

Participation is voluntary and you can opt out at any time before the survey is complete. We do not allow students to participate in our surveys.

The value of the personal information we collect in connection with our Financial Incentives is equivalent to the value of the benefit offered.

3. Additional U.S. State Privacy Law Rights

Note for Requests Relating to Student Data: Because Amplify provides the Products to Schools as a “School Official,” we collect, retain, use, and disclose Student Data only for or on behalf of the School for educational purposes, including the purpose of providing the Products specified in our Agreement with the School and for no other commercial purpose. Accordingly, we act as a “service provider” for the School with respect to School Data. We work with the School to support and assist them in addressing privacy requests relating to School Data. Please reach out to your School directly if you wish to exercise any privacy rights that may be available to you.

For all other requests: With respect to Amplify Data, individuals residing in certain U.S. states have the following rights, regarding your personal information (each of which is subject to various exceptions and limitations):

  • Access. You have the right to request, up to two times every 12 months, that we disclose to you the categories of personal information collected about you; the categories of sources from which the personal information is collected; the categories of personal information sold or shared; the business or commercial purpose for collecting, selling, or sharing the personal information; the categories of third parties with whom personal information was shared; and the specific pieces of personal information collected about you.
  • Correction. You have the right to request that we correct inaccurate personal information collected from you.
  • Deletion. You have the right to request that we delete the personal information that we maintain about you. Even after the deletion of your account, some personal information may remain on our servers, such as in technical support logs, server caches, data backups, or email conversations. These will be automatically deleted after a reasonable amount of time, unless we are legally required to retain information for longer, or unless there is a legitimate business reason (e.g. security and fraud prevention or financial record-keeping). We are not required to delete any information which has been aggregated or de-identified in accordance with Section 5.
  • No Discrimination. You have the right not to be discriminated against for exercising these rights.
  • Appeals. You have a right to appeal decisions concerning your ability to exercise your consumer rights.

See Submitting Requests section below for details on submitting a request to exercise these rights.

4. Notice for European Economic Area (EEA) and United Kingdom (UK) Customers

As detailed at the beginning of our Privacy Policy (under the section titled “Our Role”), Amplify operates primarily as a processor that collects personal information on behalf of the School, and we act as a controller in limited circumstances where we offer Products outside the school context.

If you represent a School in the EEA or the UK, please note that we process personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy, our Acceptable Use Policy, and our standard Data Protection Agreement, which sets out our responsibilities when it comes to our processing activities. Schools must send an email to privacy@amplify.com to enter into that DPA.

Lawful Basis for Processing

We rely on the following lawful bases for our processing activities:

  • Consent;
    • We obtain your consent to use cookies to collect and process device and usage data to understand how individuals use our Products.
  • Pursuant to a contract for use of our Products;
    • We process School Data to provide our Products (e.g., to create, authenticate and manage your account, to verify your identity, to manage our Products) pursuant to the Agreement between us and the School, as required in order for us to perform our obligations.
  • To comply with our legal obligations;
    • We process all categories of personal information that we collect to ensure the safety and security of our Products where we are complying with security requirements under data protection and cyber and information security law.
    • We process all categories of personal information that we collect to comply with our legal obligations which includes, for example, to access, retain or share certain personal information where we receive a valid request from a government body, law enforcement body, judicial body regulator or similar, to deal with legal claims and prospective legal claims, and to ensure we are complying with applicable laws.
  • When we have a legitimate interest in doing so, which is not outweighed by the risks to the individual.
    • We process all categories of personal information that we collect to support the provision, effective management, and improvement of our Products where such activities are not strictly required under our contract. This is in our legitimate interests to ensure that we are providing the best possible service.
    • We process all categories of personal information that we collect to ensure the safety and security of our services where this is important but not required under the data protection law or cyber and information security laws. This is in our legitimate interests to ensure the security of our services and systems, to prevent threats, abuse or fraudulent or unlawful activity, to promote safety and security and to ensure our Products are used in accordance with our terms and conditions.
    • We process the contact information of Non-Student Authorized Users to manage our relationship, including to respond to queries or otherwise communicate with you in relation to our Products and the operation of our business where this is not strictly required under a contract with you. This is in our legitimate interests to communicate with and resolve queries from users of our Products and to ensure that we are providing the best possible service.

We process the contact information and survey data of Non-Student Authorized Users for internal research and marketing purposes in limited circumstances (e.g. to periodically send newsletters and other promotional materials), which will not be based on Student Data or directed to Students. This is in our legitimate interests to understand our customers and prospective customers, understand how our products and services are perceived in the market, to promote our products, and to grow and develop our business.

Your Data Subject Rights

Note for Requests Relating to School Data: Amplify acts as processor to its School customers with respect to all School Data. We work with our School customers to support and assist them in addressing privacy requests relating to School Data. Please reach out to your School directly if you wish to exercise any privacy rights that may be available to you.

For all other Requests With respect to Amplify Data, you have the following rights if you are in the EEA or UK, subject to certain exceptions:

  • Right of access: You have the right to ask us for confirmation on whether we are processing your personal information and access to that personal information.
  • Right to correction: You have the right to have your personal information corrected.
  • Right to erasure: You have the right to ask us to delete your personal information.
  • Right to withdraw consent: You have the right to withdraw consent that you have provided.
  • Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority: You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.
  • Right to restriction of processing: You have the right to request the limiting of our processing under limited circumstances.
  • Right to data portability: You have the right to receive the personal information that you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format, and you have the right to transmit that information to another controller, including to have it transmitted directly, where technically feasible.
  • Right to object: You have the right to object to our processing of your personal information

See Submitting Requests section below for details on submitting a request to exercise these rights.

5. Submitting Requests

To exercise any of the rights described in sections 2 and 3 of this appendix, email us at privacy@amplify.com and specify which privacy right you intend to exercise. We may require additional information from you to allow us to confirm your identity. The verification steps will vary depending on the sensitivity of the personal information and whether you have an account with us. Please note that your rights may not apply in all cases. For example, we may need to retain your personal information to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, prevent fraud and enforce our agreements. We will inform you if we are not able to fully respond to your requests. You may designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf. When submitting the request, please ensure the authorized agent identifies himself/herself/itself as an authorized agent and can show written permission from you to represent you. We may contact you directly to confirm that you have authorized the agent to act on your behalf or confirm your identity.

Complaints

If you have any issues, you have the right to lodge a complaint with an EEA or UK supervisory authority. We would, however, appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns before you approach a data protection regulator and would welcome you directing an inquiry first to us. To do so, please contact us by email at privacy@amplify.com or by mail at Amplify Education, Inc., 55 Washington St.#800, Brooklyn, NY, 11201.

6. Google APIs

Amplify uses Google’s Application Programming Interface (API) Services to enable Authorized Users to log in to Amplify, import classes and rosters from Google Classroom, create assignments in Google Classroom, and copy, edit, and publish Amplify content using Google Slides. Amplify will use and transfer information received from Google’s API in accordance with Google API Service User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Update History:

Update: 6/13/2025: This Policy has been updated to align with product updates and to provide additional context for authorized educational use of Amplify’s Products.

Update 6/27/2024: The Policy has been updated to include an explanation regarding Google APIs in the Appendix — Supplemental Disclosures section.

Update 6/30/2023: This Privacy Policy has been updated to address new state law data privacy requirements.

Welcome to Amplify Science!

This site contains supporting resources designed for LAUSD Amplify Science for grades TK–8. Check back for exciting updates!

Sync Grades to Schoology – Amplify Classwork

Navigate to the Amplify Science Program Hub (video walk-through)

Share the The Caregiver Hub (Eng/Span)

ES Science Teachers

MS (6-8) Unpacking the Unit Videos

Upcoming Amplify Science PDs:

  • ES (K-5) – Refer to MyPLN: (Search Amplify 24)
  • MS (6-8) – Refer to MyPLN
  • Click here to go back to the LAUSD homepage.
A woman in glasses examining a glass of water, surrounded by illustrations of scientific icons like satellites, a rocket, a telescope, moons, and clouds on an abstract orange and black background.

Program Introduction

Learn more about Amplify Science

Click the buttons below to explore the Amplify Science California Program Guide. You can access the full digital Teacher’s Guide from the Program Guide to explore the program.

2024-2025 Session Materials

Supplemental Materials

Lesson Prep Videos

Unit 1

Grade 3 Lesson Prep Videos can be found in the Resources section in the Amplify Science- Elementary group in Schoology. Access code: W4PK-W466-63F5B

Grade 4 Lesson Prep Videos can be found in the Resources section in the Amplify Science- Elementary group in Schoology. Access code: W4PK-W466-63F5B

Grade 5 Lesson Prep Videos can be found in the Resources section in the Amplify Science- Elementary group in Schoology. Access code: W4PK-W466-63F5B

New Teachers – Start Here

To start using Amplify Science quickly in your classroom, check out the following onboarding videos. They cover what you need to know to get started fast, from unpacking materials to logging in and navigating the digital Teacher’s Guide.

The following videos give you a quick look into our Amplify Science classroom kits. For each grade level, we have a video for the first unit in the scope and sequence, and we show you how to unpack the kits for all the units.

Looking for help?

Technical, program and pedagogical support

Our technical, program and pedagogical support is available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday.

For your most urgent questions (immediate help during the school day):

  • Use our live chat within your program
  • Call (800) 823-1969
  • Email help@amplify.com

We have developed an educational support team of former teachers and administrators who provide pedagogical support for every Amplify curriculum, assessment, and intervention program. This service is completely free for all educators who are using our programs and includes:

  • Guidance for developing lesson plans and intervention plans
  • Information on where to locate standards and other planning materials
  • Recommendations and tips for day-to-day teaching with Amplify programs
  • Support with administering and interpreting assessment data and more

To reach our pedagogical team:

Website Privacy Policy

Last Modified:  February 2026

Update: February 2, 2026: This Privacy Policy has been updated to address additional rights for individuals in the European Union/UK.

Below is the Website Privacy Policy for the amplify.com site (“Privacy Policy”). For purposes of clarity and as further outlined below, this Privacy Policy does not apply to student data. You can visit this page to read about the principles and policy governing student data collected and maintained on behalf of our school customers.

We advise you to read this Privacy Policy in its entirety, including the jurisdiction-specific provisions in the appendix. Our Notice at Collection for California Residents is available in the Notice for our California Customers.

Who We Are / What This Privacy Policy Covers

Amplify Education, Inc. (“Amplify”) recognizes the importance of protecting the privacy and security of your personal information. This Privacy Policy describes our practices in connection with information that we may collect through your use of this website (the “Site”).

This Privacy Policy does not apply to Amplify’s handling of:

  • student data or other information collected from users of Amplify’s products that support classroom instruction and learning, which are governed by our Customer Privacy Policy.
  • staff or applicant data that we process in accordance with our staff or applicant privacy notice, respectively.

If you have any question as to what legal agreement or privacy policy controls the collection and use of your information, please contact us using information below in the Contact Us section.

This Privacy Policy is incorporated into and is subject to our Website Terms of Use, which governs your use of the Site.

Our Role: We are the controller of all personal information (as defined below) that we receive through our Site and can be reached by email at privacy@amplify.com or by mail at Amplify Education, Inc., 55 Washington St.#800, Brooklyn, NY, 11201.

1. What personal information do we collect?

When you visit and / or interact with our Site, we may collect the following information about you that, alone or in combination, could be used to identify you or your device (“personal information”):

  • Contact Information, such as name, district / school name, professional affiliation, title / role, email address, shipping address, address and phone number.
  • Account Information, such as customer user login and password. 
  • Demographic Information, such as age and gender.
  • Information You Submit, such as information voluntarily provided on message boards, feedback sections, and other public areas of the Site.
  • Site Activity Information, which is collected when you access and interact with the Site, we and our Service Providers (as defined below) may collect certain information about those visits. For example, we or our Service Providers may receive and record information about your computer and browser, including your IP address, browser type, and other software or hardware information. If you access the Site from a mobile or other device, we may collect a unique device identifier assigned to that device, or other characteristics of the device hardware, operating system and configurations for that device. On certain pages of the Site, we may use third party tools to help us look at mouse movements, clicks, keystrokes, data or text entered, and the pages you visit.
  • Location Information, such as state, country and / or zip code, which we use to help us customize your experience, as well as to help us facilitate your privacy rights.
  • Audio, electronic, visual, or similar information: such as customer service interactions, call recordings, chat transcripts, files you attach, and email, text, or other correspondence.

If you make a purchase through our online store, you may provide payment and other information directly to our third party e-commerce platform to complete your purchase.

We ask that you not send us, and you not disclose, any government identifiers (such as social security numbers) or information related to racial or ethnic origin, health, or criminal background on or through the Site or otherwise.

2. Where/How do we collect personal information?

Amplify may collect personal information directly from you at various points, including the following:

  • Product Information and Newsletters. When you submit a request to obtain information about our products, services or other informational material or subscribe to one of our newsletters, you may be asked to submit information such as name, professional affiliation, email address, company name, address and phone and details on your query or interests in our products and services. This information is collected to help us process your request.
  • Customer Support. When you submit a form to contact our customer service, you may be asked to submit information such as name, e-mail, district, customer user login and password and details on your query. In addition, some features of our Site, such as our customer live chat functionality or other customer service systems may allow you to voluntarily provide personal information to us. This information is collected to help us process your request. Please only provide what is needed to facilitate the support request.
  • Product Orders. If you use e-commerce areas of our Site to order our products, we request information from you on our order form. To purchase products through the Site, you must provide contact information (such as name and shipping address) and financial information (such as credit card number). This information is used for billing purposes and to fill your orders. We will also use this information to contact you to confirm your order or to inform you of any issues or delays.
  • Registration. You may be asked to submit information to use certain parts of the Site (such as posting comments on certain areas of the Site), register for an event or webinar, or view restricted content that may be available on the Site. For instance, you may be asked to provide your name, email address and event or webinar-related preferences to help us process your registration or content request.
  • Public Areas and Discussion Forums. Any information you share in public areas, such as message boards or feedback sections, becomes public. Please be careful about what you disclose and do not post any personal information that you expect to keep private.
  • Contests and Sweepstakes. When we run a contest or sweepstakes relating to the Site or Amplify, it will be accompanied by a set of rules. The rules for each contest/sweepstakes will specify how the information gathered from you for your entry will be used and disclosed.

As you visit or use our Site, we may collect Site activity information through cookies and similar technologies.

  • Cookies, Pixels, and Other Tracking Technologies. Cookies and other tracking technologies (such as pixels, beacons, and Adobe Flash technology) are small data files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. They allow the website or mobile app to remember your actions and preferences over a period of time. We use the following types of cookies:
    • Strictly necessary cookies – These are cookies that are required for the operation of our Site. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our Site. These cookies are not generally stored beyond the browser session and are less likely to include personal information. This category of cookies cannot be disabled.
    • Functionality Cookies – We use these cookies so that we recognize you on our Site and remember your previously selected preferences. These cookies are stored on your device between browsing sessions but expire after a pre-defined period. These cookies enable our Site to “recognize” you when you use our Site, including your preferences such as your preferred language , time, and location. A mix of first party (placed by us) and third-party cookies (placed by third parties) are used.
    • Analytics Cookies – These cookies help us and our Service Providers compile statistics and analytics about users of the Site, including Site Activity Information. For example, we use Google Analytics to help us understand how users interact with the Platform. Google Analytics uses cookies to track your interactions with the Site, then collects that information and reports it to us. This information helps us improve the Site so that we can better serve you. To learn more about Google Analytics, visit https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=en. If you wish, you can opt-out of Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, available on https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
    • Advertising Cookies – We use these cookies to collect information about your visit to our Site, the content you viewed, the links you followed and information about your browser, device, and your IP address. We sometimes share some limited aspects of this data with third parties for advertising purposes. We may also share Site Activity Information collected through cookies with our advertising partners. This means that when you visit another website, you may be shown advertising based on your browsing patterns on our Site.

For information on how to opt-out of these technologies, please see What Choices Do You Have? below.

  • Social Plugins. Certain areas of our Site permit you to utilize social media functionality, such as the Facebook “Like” or Google “+1” buttons (“Social Plugins”). To use a Social Plugin, you must authorize the third-party provider of that Social Plugin, e.g. Facebook or Google, to access, collect, and/or disclose your information related to your use of that Social Plugin, subject to that company’s privacy policies, which may differ from this Privacy Policy. In addition, such providers may be able to collect information about you, including your activity on the Site, and they may notify your connections on their social networking platform about your use of the Site. Such services may also employ unique identifiers that allow your activity to be monitored across multiple websites for purposes of delivering more targeted advertising to you.

Amplify also receives information from other sources.

  • Information from Other Sources. We may supplement any information we collect via this Site with information from publicly or commercially available sources.

3. How do we use personal information?

We may use any personal information and other information we collect from and about you for the following purposes and as described elsewhere in this Privacy Policy:

  • To provide and manage the Site. We use the personal information we collect from and about you to provide the Site and features to you, including to measure and improve its services and features, to personalize your experience by delivering relevant content, to deliver marketing messages, to allow you to comment on content, to provide you with customer support, and to respond to inquiries. We may also use and disclose aggregate or anonymous data about your use of and activity on the Site to assist us in this regard and for any other purpose.
  • To contact you. Amplify may periodically send promotional materials (e.g., newsletters) or notifications related to the Site and to Amplify’s business to the contact information you provided to us at registration.
  • To improve our products and services. We may use your personal information for our business purposes, such as data analysis, audits, developing new products and services, enhancing the Site, improving our services, identifying usage trends, and determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns.
  • For marketing and advertising. We may use your personal information to help us market our products to you or your school district.

4. To whom do we disclose personal information?

We may disclose any personal information and other information we collect from and about you for the following purposes and as described elsewhere in this Privacy Policy:

  • To share with our affiliated education companies. Amplify may share your personal information with Amplify’s affiliated education companies for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.
  • To allow service providers to assist us. We may engage third party service providers, agents and partners (“Service Providers”) to perform functions on our behalf, such as analytics, credit card processing, shipping or stocking orders and providing customer service. We may disclose your personal information to such Service Providers to enable them to assist us in these efforts.
  • To allow our marketing and advertising partners to assist us. We may engage marketing and advertising partners to help us market and advertise our products and services, including via digital ads sent in connection with your visit to the Site. We may disclose Site Activity information, as well as contact information and other aggregate insights to such partners to enable them to assist us in these efforts.
  • To protect the rights of Amplify and our users. There may be instances when Amplify may disclose your personal information, in situations where Amplify has a good faith belief that such disclosure is necessary or appropriate in order to: (i) protect, enforce, or defend the legal rights, privacy, safety, operations, or property of Amplify, our parents, subsidiaries or affiliates or our or their employees, agents and contractors (including enforcement of our agreements, including our terms of use); (ii) protect the rights, safety, privacy, security or property of users of the Site or others; (iii) protect against fraud or for risk management purposes; (iv) comply with the law or legal process, including laws outside your country of residence; (v) respond to requests from public and government authorities, including those outside your country of residence; or (vi) allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.
  • To complete a merger or sale of assets. If Amplify sells all or part of its business or makes a sale or transfer of its assets or is otherwise involved in a merger, transfer or other disposition of all or part of its business, assets or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings), Amplify may transfer your personal information to the party or parties involved in the transaction.

5. What rights and choices do you have?

Opt-out of Marketing Communications. If you want to stop receiving promotional materials from Amplify, you can follow the unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of each email. There are certain service notification emails that you may not opt-out of, such as notifications of changes to the Site or policies. If you have additional questions, please contact us using information below in the Contact Us section.

Opt-of Cookies and Similar Tracking Technologies. There are a few ways to opt out or delete cookies.

  • On Your Browser. Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies, but your browser may permit you to change your settings to notify you of a cookie being set or updated, or to block cookies altogether. Please consult the “Help” section of your browser for more information. Please note that by blocking any or all cookies you may not have access to certain features, content or personalization that may be available through the Site. Please also note that you must opt out separately on each device (including each web browser on each device) that you use to access our Site if you wish to opt out, and if you clear your cookies or if you use a different browser or device, you will need to renew your opt-out preferences.
  • Interest-Based Advertising. Some advertisers and marketing companies participate in the self-regulatory programs of the Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAA”) and European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (“eDAA”) in connection with online interest-based advertising. DAA and eDAA provide consumers with the ability to opt out of receiving interest-based advertising from their program participants at the following links:

What Rights Do You Have?

6. Security

Amplify uses commercially reasonable administrative, technical, personnel and physical measures to safeguard personal information in its possession against loss, theft and unauthorized use, disclosure or modification.

7. Data retention / Deletion

We will retain your personal information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy unless a longer retention period is required or allowed by law. Even after we have deleted your personal information from our systems, copies of some information from your account may remain viewable in some circumstances – where, for example, you have shared information with social media platforms and other unaffiliated services. We may also retain backup information related to your account on our servers for some time after cancellation for fraud detection or to comply with applicable law or our internal security policies. Because of the nature of caching technology, your account may not be instantly inaccessible to others, and there may be a delay in the removal of the content from elsewhere on the Internet and from search engines.

8. Data Storage and Transfers

We are a United States Company, and our servers are hosted, managed, and controlled by us in the United States. If you are outside of the United States, we use industry standards to protect your data when it leaves your country of residence and your data will always be protected in accordance with this Privacy Policy, Applicable Laws and our Agreement regardless of the storage location.

Additionally, where we transfer your personal information to service providers outside of the United Kingdom (UK), European Economic Area (EEA), or other region that offers similar protections, we use specific appropriate safeguards to contractually obligate such service providers to protect personal information in accordance with Amplify’s commitment to privacy and security and applicable data protection laws.

If you have questions or wish to obtain more information about the international transfer of your personal information or the implemented safeguards, please contact us using the contact information below.

9. External third-party services

The Site may be linked to sites operated by unaffiliated companies, and may carry advertisements or offer content, functionality, games, newsletters, contests or sweepstakes, or applications developed and maintained by unaffiliated companies. Amplify is not responsible for the privacy practices of unaffiliated companies, and once you leave the Site via a link or enable an unaffiliated service, you are subject to the applicable privacy policy of the unaffiliated service.

10. Updates to this policy

Amplify may modify this Privacy Policy. Please look at the Last Revised Date at the top of this Privacy Policy to see when this Privacy Policy was last revised. Any changes to this Privacy Policy will become effective when we post the revised Privacy Policy on the Site. If you do not wish to be bound by the terms of the revised Privacy Policy, you must discontinue your use of the Site.

11. Contact us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:

Email: privacy@amplify.com
Mail: Amplify Education, Inc.
55 Washington St.#800
Brooklyn, NY, 11201
Phone: (800) 823-1969
Attn: General Counsel

Appendix – Supplemental Disclosures

1. Notice for our California Customers

We retain your personal information for as long as you are an active user of our Site or continue to have an account with us, and in accordance with our legal obligations (which may require us to hold information to provide financial and other reporting and to defend against potential claims). If you are a California resident, please see below for information about your rights pursuant to California law.

Personal Information We Collect
How We Use Personal Information
Contact Information
  • To provide you with customer support and respond to inquiries.
  • To contact you with promotional emails (e.g. newsletters) or notifications related to the Site
  • To help us verify the identity of our user
  • As otherwise required or permitted by law, or as we may notify you at the time of collection
Account Information
  • To provide and manage the Site
  • To improve our products and services
  • As otherwise required or permitted by law, or as we may notify you at the time of collection
Payment Information
  • To complete your payment of purchases made through the Site
  • For internal operations (e.g. to improve and update our products)
  • For security and fraud prevention
  • As otherwise required or permitted by law, or as we may notify you at the time of collection
Information You Submit
  • To provide the Site and features to you, including to allow you to comment
  • To improve our products and services
  • As otherwise required or permitted by law, or as we may notify you at the time of collection.
Site Activity Information
  • We sell or share information about your Site activity with third parties for targeted advertisements on and off of Amplify. We also use this information to:
    • To provide and manage the Site
    • To improve our products and services
    • For internal operations (e.g. to improve and update our products)
    • For security, safety, and due diligence purposes
    • As otherwise required or permitted by law, or as we may notify you at the time of collection
Location Information
  • We use location information , such as state, country and / or zip code, which we use to help us customize your experience, as well as to help us facilitate your privacy rights.
Inferences
  • We may make inferences about your interests and personal preferences (such as the content you like to consume). We also use this information to:
    • To personalize your experience on the Site
    • For internal operations (e.g. to improve and update our products)
    • As otherwise required or permitted by law, or as we may notify you at the time of collection

Some of the information described above may be considered “sensitive” under the laws of certain jurisdictions (including payment information and account login credentials (“Sensitive Information”). Whether information is Sensitive Information will depend on the laws of your jurisdiction. We only use Sensitive Information, such as payment information and account credentials for necessary or reasonably expected purposes – specifically, to provide you with our Services (i.e., fulfill purchases and to allow account logins).

Shine the Light

California’s Shine the Light law (Civil Code § 1798.83) permits California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of certain categories of personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing purposes in the preceding calendar year. We do not share personal information, as defined by California’s Shine the Light law, with third parties for their own direct marketing purposes.

Notice of Financial Incentive 

 As part of our services, there may be opportunities for you to complete surveys and questionnaires. As an incentive for completing the survey or questionnaire, you can voluntarily provide your personal information, which in turn enters you into a raffle drawing or enables us to provide you with other benefits, discounts, offers, or deals that may constitute a financial incentive under California law (“Financial Incentive”). The categories of personal information required for us to provide the Financial Incentives include: contact information and any other information that you choose to provide when you complete the survey.

Participation is voluntary and you can opt out at any time before your survey is complete.

The value of the personal information we collect in connection with our Financial Incentives is equivalent to the value of the benefit offered.

2. Additional U.S. State Privacy Law Rights

Residents of certain U.S. states have the following rights, regarding your personal information (each of which are subject to various exceptions and limitations):

  • Access. You have the right to request, up to two times every 12 months, that we disclose to you the categories of personal information collected about you, the categories of sources from which the personal information is collected, the categories of personal information sold or shared, the business or commercial purpose for collecting, selling, or sharing the personal information, the categories of third parties with whom personal information was shared, and the specific pieces of personal information collected about you.
  • Correct. You have the right to request that we correct inaccurate personal information collected from you. 
  • Deletion. You can request that we delete your personal information that we maintain about you.
  • Opt-out (Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information). Under several U.S. state privacy laws, consumers have the right to opt-out of the “sale” of their personal information (defined very broadly to include situations where we provide personal information to partners who provide advertising services to us) and the “sharing” of personal information in connection with the display of targeted advertising across third party websites. While we do not sell your personal information, we do share it in connection with our advertising efforts. Please also note that we do not knowingly sell or share the Personal Information of minors under 16 years of age.

We also honor the Global Privacy Control, a browser-based opt-out signal. We do not respond to other browser-based signals that do not meet applicable state law requirements, which may include older Do Not Track signals.

  • No Discrimination. You have the right not to be discriminated against for exercising these rights.
  • Appeals. You have a right to appeal decisions concerning your ability to exercise your consumer rights. 
  • Submission of Requests. You may exercise the above rights by emailing us at privacy@amplify.com. Note that we may deny certain requests, or fulfill a request only in part, based on our legal rights and obligations. For example, we may retain personal information as permitted by law, such as for tax or other record keeping purposes, to maintain an active account, and to process transactions and facilitate customer requests.
  • Authorized Agent. You may designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf. When submitting the request, please ensure the authorized agent identifies himself/herself/itself as an authorized agent and can show written permission from you to represent you. We may contact you directly to confirm that you have authorized the agent to act on your behalf or confirm your identity.
  • Verification. Whether you submit a request directly on your own behalf, or through an authorized agent, we will take reasonable steps to verify your identity prior to responding to your requests. The verification steps will vary depending on the sensitivity of the personal information and whether you have an account with us.
3. Notice for European Economic Area and United Kingdom Customers

As detailed at the beginning of our Privacy Policy (under the section titled “Our Role”), Amplify acts as a controller with respect to personal information collected as you interact with our Site.

Lawful Basis for Processing

We rely on the following lawful bases for our processing activities:

  • Consent;
    • We obtain your consent to collect and process device and usage data via cookies on our Site to understand how individuals use our Site and to help us measure the effectiveness of our advertising and marketing campaigns.
  • Pursuant to a contract with the user of our Site;
    • We process all categories of personal information that we collect to provide and manage our Site, including payment processing, where this is required in order for us to perform our obligations under our contract with you.
  • To comply with our legal obligations;
    • We process all categories of personal information that we collect to ensure the safety and security of our Site where we are complying with security requirements under data protection and cyber and information security law.
    • We process all categories of personal information that we collect to comply with our legal obligations which includes, for example, to access, retain or share certain personal information where we receive a valid request from a government body, law enforcement body, judicial body regulator or similar, to deal with legal claims and prospective legal claims, and to ensure we are complying with applicable laws.
  • When we have a legitimate interest in doing so, which is not outweighed by the risks to the individual. We rely on our legitimate interest to process all categories of personal information:
    • to provide, manage, and improve the Site where such activities are not strictly required under our contract, including personalizing your experience on the Site.
    • to ensure the safety and security of our Site where this is important but not required under the data protection law or cyber and information security laws.
    • to respond to queries or otherwise communicate with you in relation to our Site and the operation of our business where this is not strictly required under a contract with you.
    • internal research and certain marketing purposes (e.g. to periodically send newsletters and other promotional materials), which will not be based on Student Data or directed to K–12 students.

Your Data Subject Rights

If you are located in the EEA/UK, you have the following rights, subject to certain exceptions:

  • Right of access: You have the right to ask us for confirmation on whether we are processing your personal information and access to that personal information.
  • Right to correction: You have the right to have your personal information corrected.
  • Right to erasure: You have the right to ask us to delete your personal information.
  • Right to withdraw consent: You have the right to withdraw consent that you have provided.
  • Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority: You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.
  • Right to restriction of processing: You have the right to request the limiting of our processing under limited circumstances.
  • Right to data portability: You have the right to receive the personal information that you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format, and you have the right to transmit that information to another controller, including to have it transmitted directly, where technically feasible.
  • Right to object: You have the right to object to our processing of your personal information

To exercise any of these rights, contact us as set forth in the section entitled “Contact Us” above and specify which European privacy right you intend to exercise. We may require additional information from you to allow us to confirm your identity. Please note that we store information as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, and may continue to retain and use the information even after a data subject request for purposes of our legitimate interests, including to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, prevent fraud, and enforce our agreements.

Complaints

If you have any issues with our compliance, you have the right to lodge a complaint with an EEA or UK supervisory authority. We would, however, appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns before you approach a data protection regulator, and would welcome you directing an inquiry first to us. To do so, please contact us by email at privacy@amplify.com or by mail at Amplify Education, Inc., 55 Washington St.#800, Brooklyn, NY, 11201.

Introduction

Amplify Education, Inc. (“Amplify” or “we”) recognizes the importance of protecting the privacy and security of your personal information. This App Privacy Policy describes our practices in connection with information that we may collect through your use of the Cell Simulator iOS application (the “App”).

This App Privacy Policy describes Amplify’s practices for handling non-personal information (e.g., site activity) in connection with the App.

Children. The App does not collect personal information from any users, including children under 13 years of age.

By using the App, you agree to the terms and conditions of this App Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to this App Privacy Policy, please discontinue your use of the App.

Collection of information

Amplify may collect information from you at various points, including the following:

App activity information. When you access and interact with the App, we and our Third Party Agents (as defined below) may collect certain information about those visits. For example, we or our Third Party Agents may receive and record information about your computing device, including potentially your IP address, a unique application identifier assigned to that copy of the App (the “App ID”), or other characteristics of the device hardware, operating system and configurations for that device. The App ID and any other persistent identifiers we collect will be used solely for the purpose of recording information about your usage of the App, and will not be used to collect information through any other product or service.

Notice and choice

Updates to App Privacy Policy; Choice. Amplify may modify this App Privacy Policy. Please look at the Last Revised Date at the top of this App Privacy Policy to see when this App Privacy Policy was last revised. Any changes to this App Privacy Policy will become effective when we post the revised App Privacy Policy to this URL: http://amplify.com/curriculum/cell-module/privacy. If you do not wish to be bound by the terms of the revised App Privacy Policy, you must discontinue your use of the App.

Location of Data. The App is hosted in and managed and controlled by us from the United States and is not intended to subject us to the laws or jurisdiction of any jurisdiction other than that of the United States. If you are a user located outside the United States, you understand and consent to having any personal information processed in the United States. United States data protection and other relevant laws may not be the same as those in your jurisdiction.

Linked Services.The App may be linked to sites operated by unaffiliated companies. Amplify is not responsible for the privacy practices of unaffiliated companies, and once you leave the App via a link, you are subject to the applicable privacy policy of the unaffiliated service.

Use and disclosure

We may use and/or disclose any information we collect from you for the following purposes and as described elsewhere in this App Privacy Policy:

To provide and manage the App. We use the usage information we collect from you to provide the App and features to you, including to measure and improve its services and features, and to personalize your experience by delivering relevant content. We may also use and disclose aggregate or anonymous data about your use of and activity in the App to assist us in this regard and for any other purpose.

To improve our products and services. We may use your usage information for our internal business purposes, such as data analysis, developing new products and services, enhancing the App, and improving our services. To share with our affiliated education companies. Amplify may share your usage information with Amplify’s affiliated education companies for the purposes described in this App Privacy Policy.

To allow Third Party Agents to assist us. We may engage third party service providers, agents and partners (“Third Party Agents”) to perform functions on our behalf, such as analytics. We may disclose your usage information to such Third Party Agents to enable them to assist us in these efforts, for the purposes described in this App Privacy Policy.

To protect the rights of Amplify and our users. There may be instances when Amplify may disclose your usage information, in situations where Amplify has a good faith belief that such disclosure is necessary or appropriate in order to: (i) protect, enforce, or defend the legal rights, privacy, safety, operations, or property of Amplify, our parents, subsidiaries or affiliates or our or their employees, agents and contractors (including enforcement of our agreements, including our terms of use); (ii) protect the rights, safety, privacy, security or property of users of the Site or others; (iii) protect against fraud or for risk management purposes; (iv) comply with the law or legal process, including laws outside your country of residence; (v) respond to requests from public and government authorities, including those outside your country of residence; or (vi) allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.

To complete a merger or sale of assets. If Amplify sells all or part of its business or makes a sale or transfer of its assets or is otherwise involved in a merger, transfer or other disposition of all or part of its business, assets or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings), Amplify may transfer your information to the party or parties involved in the transaction.

Security

Amplify uses commercially reasonable administrative, technical, personnel and physical measures to safeguard information in its possession against loss, theft and unauthorized use, disclosure or modification.

Sensitive information

We ask that you not send or disclose to us any personal and/or sensitive information (e.g., name, address, social security numbers, information related to racial or ethnic origin, health, or criminal background) on or through the App or otherwise.

Contact us

If you have questions about this App Privacy Policy, please contact us at:

Email: privacy@amplify.com

Mail: Amplify, 55 Washington St., Ste 900, Brooklyn, NY, 11201 Attn: General Counsel

Acceptable Use Policy

Amplify Education, Inc. (“Amplify”) products support classroom instruction and learning and include Amplify CKLA, Amplify ELA, Amplify Science, Amplify Desmos Math, Desmos Math, Boost Reading, Boost Math, mCLASS, Mathigon, services at classroom.amplify.com (for creating and assigning activities) and student.amplify.com (for use of the activities or curricula as directed by an instructor), and any other product or service that links to this Acceptable Use Policy (together, the “Products”). This Acceptable Use Policy (the “AUP”) provides the general terms and conditions applicable to your use of the Products. By accessing, downloading, or using the Products, you agree to be bound by the terms of this AUP. 

Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing in this AUP supersedes or limits your rights under the terms of any other agreement you or your institution have entered into with Amplify regarding the use of Products. In the event of any conflict between the AUP and the terms and conditions of an applicable agreement that you or your institution have entered into with Amplify, the terms and conditions of such agreement shall control.

Our Products are geared towards K–12 students, educators, and staff who use the Products as authorized by their School District or State Agency (each as defined in the Privacy Policy (defined below), and together, “School”) (“Authorized School Users”). Student Data (defined below) is owned and controlled by the School, and Amplify receives Student Data as a “school official” under Section 99.31 of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (“FERPA”) for the purpose of providing the Products hereunder. In addition, we rely on the School acknowledging that it is acting as the parent’s agent and consenting on the parent’s behalf to process personal information of students under the age of 13 (“Child Users”) in accordance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”). 

Schools may provide authorization in two ways: 

(1) by the School agreeing to our Customer Terms and Conditions located at amplify.com/customer-terms or another agreement between Amplify and the School, as applicable; or 

(2) by an educator, staff member, or agent of a School (“Educator”) agreeing to this AUP. If you are an Educator and wish to use the Products in your classroom, you represent and warrant that the use of the Products in your classroom has been authorized by your School, and that you are authorized to accept this AUP on behalf of the School.

In each case, we provide these Products solely for the benefit of the School and for no other commercial purpose. We require all Schools to review our Privacy Policy, available at amplify.com/customer-privacy (“Privacy Policy”), and to make a copy of the Privacy Policy available to the parents or guardians of Child Users.

We also provide limited opportunities for individual users to sign up for a restricted account for at-home use of our Products (together, with Authorized School Users, “Authorized Users”). Please see Additional terms for Mathigon and Amplify Classroom accounts (Section 18) for additional information.

1. License

Subject to compliance with this AUP, you are granted a non-transferable, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable license to access and use the Products. You understand that your use of the Products does not confer to you any intellectual property rights held by Amplify or its licensors. Unless otherwise indicated, any future release, update, or other addition to functionality or content of the Products will be subject to this AUP. 

2. Restrictions

You may access and use the Products solely for non-commercial instructional and administrative purposes. Guidelines for such purposes may be set forth at http://amplify.com/amplify-program-usage-guidelines and additional guidelines may be detailed in materials associated with the Product You are accessing. Further, You may not, except as expressly authorized by Amplify: (a) copy, modify, translate, distribute, disclose, or create derivative works based on the contents of, sell, or otherwise exploit, the Products, or any part thereof; (b) decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer the Products, or otherwise use the Products to develop functionally similar products or services; (c) modify, alter, or delete any of the copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notices in or on the Products; (d) rent, lease, or lend the Products or use the Products for the benefit of any third party; (e) avoid, circumvent, or disable any security or digital rights management device, procedure, protocol, or mechanism in the Products; (f) use any content from the Products, including but not limited to text, images, videos, assessments, lesson plans, or code, as input or training material for any machine learning or artificial intelligence system, including large language models, neural networks, or other algorithmic models, for any purposes, commercial or non-commercial; or (g) permit any Authorized User or third party to do any of the foregoing. You also agree that any works created in violation of this section are derivative works, and, as such, You agree to assign, and hereby assign, all right, title, and interest in such works to Amplify. The Products and derivatives thereof may be subject to export control laws, restrictions, regulations, and orders of the U.S. and other jurisdictions (together, “Export Laws”). You agree to comply with all applicable Export Laws, and will not, and will not permit Authorized Users to, export, or transfer for the purpose of re-export, any Product to any prohibited or embargoed country in violation of any U.S. export law or regulation. Further, You represent that You are not located in a country that is subject to a U.S. Government embargo, subject to sanctions by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, or included on any restricted party list maintained by the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security. The software and associated documentation portions of the Products are “commercial items” (as defined at 48 CFR 2.101), comprising “commercial computer software” and “commercial computer software documentation,” as those terms are used in 48 CFR 12.212. Accordingly, if You are associated with the U.S. Government or its contractor, You will receive only those rights set forth in this Agreement in accordance with 48 CFR 227.7201-227.7204 (for Department of Defense and their contractors) or 48 CFR 12.212 (for other U.S. Government licensees and their contractors).

3. Use of the products

In connection with your access to and use of the Products, you agree not to: (a) post, upload, or otherwise transmit or link to content that is: unlawful; threatening; harmful; abusive; pornographic or includes nudity; offensive; harassing; excessively violent; tortious; defamatory; false or misleading; obscene; vulgar; libelous; hateful; or discriminatory; (b) violate the rights of others, including patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, privacy, publicity, contract, or other proprietary rights; (c) harass or harm another person; (d) exploit or endanger a minor; (e) impersonate any person or entity; (f) introduce or engage in activity that involves the use of viruses, bots, worms, Trojan horses, time bombs, spyware, or any other computer code, files, or programs that interrupt, destroy, or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment, or otherwise permit the unauthorized access to or use of a computer or a computer network; (g) interfere with, damage, disable, disrupt, impair, create an undue burden on, or gain unauthorized access to the Products or any account (as defined below), or Amplify’s servers or networks; (h) restrict or inhibit any other person from using the Products (including by hacking or defacing the Products); (i) remove, disable, block, or obscure any portion of the Products; (j) use technology or any automated system, such as scripts or bots, to collect user names, passwords, email addresses, or any other data from or through the Products, or to circumvent or modify any security technology or software that is part of the Products; (k) send or cause to send (directly or indirectly) unsolicited bulk messages or other unsolicited bulk communications of any kind through the Products; (l) solicit, collect, or request any information for commercial or unlawful purposes; (m) post, upload, or otherwise transmit an image, audio recording, or video of another person without that person’s consent; (n) use the Products to advertise, promote, or engage in any commercial activity (including engaging in advertising, sales, contests, sweepstakes, or other promotions) without Amplify’s prior written consent; (o) frame or mirror the Products without Amplify’s express prior written consent; (p) use the Products in a manner inconsistent with any applicable law, rule, or regulation; (q) use any robot, spider, search/retrieval application, or other manual or automatic device to retrieve, index, “scrape,” “data mine,” or in any way gather content of the Products or reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure or presentation of the Products; (r) attempt, facilitate, or encourage others to do any of the foregoing. In addition to the foregoing restrictions, your use of the Products may also be subject to an additional acceptable use policy provided to you by your School, as applicable. You are responsible for meeting the hardware, software, telecommunications, and other requirements listed at amplify.com/customer-requirements.

4. Intellectual property

The Products and any Product logo, and certain other of the names, logos, and materials displayed in the Products, may constitute trademarks, trade names, or service marks (“Marks”) of Amplify or other entities. You are not authorized to use any such Marks. Ownership of all such Marks and the goodwill associated therewith remains with Amplify or those other entities. The content provided to you in the Products, including the software, graphs, text, and graphics, is protected under copyright laws, is subject to other intellectual property and proprietary rights and laws, and is owned by Amplify or its licensors. Your access to the Products does not transfer to you or any third party any rights, title, or interest in or to such intellectual property rights. You may not use the content of the Products, in whole or in part, to train or fine-tune any machine learning or artificial intelligence model or system, including for research, product development, commercial services, or any other purpose, commercial or non-commercial. Such use constitutes unauthorized derivative work and a violation of Amplify’s intellectual property rights. Your rights to make use of the Products are limited to those provided under this AUP, any additional terms as may be agreed upon between your School and Amplify, and any available exceptions under applicable intellectual property laws. Amplify Products are protected by patents (see amplify.com/virtual-patent-marking).

5. Account information

Your authentication to enable your access and use of these Products is based in part upon information supplied by you. You are required to (a) provide accurate information to Amplify and promptly report any changes to such information, (b) not share or allow others to use your account, (c) maintain the confidentiality and security of your account information, and (d) use the Products solely via such authorized accounts. You may not share your credentials (i.e., username and password) to access the Products with anyone except the person for whom that account was created. You agree to notify Amplify immediately of any unauthorized use of your account or related authentication information. Amplify will not be responsible for any losses arising out of the unauthorized use of your account.

6. Student data

The parties acknowledge and agree that in the course of providing the Products, Amplify may collect, receive, or generate information that directly relates to an identifiable current or former student of a School (“Student Data”). Student Data may include personal information from a student’s “educational records,” as defined by FERPA. Student Data is owned and controlled by the School and Amplify receives Student Data as a “school official” under Section 99.31 of FERPA for the purpose of providing the Products hereunder. Individually and collectively, Amplify and School agree to uphold our obligations, as applicable, under FERPA, COPPA, the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (“PPRA”), and applicable state laws relating to Student Data privacy. Amplify’s Privacy Policy governs the collection, use, and disclosure of Student Data collected or stored on behalf of the School under this AUP. The School is responsible for providing notice or obtaining appropriate consents under applicable laws to authorize Authorized School Users’ use of the Products, including making a copy of the Privacy Policy available to the parents or guardians of Child Users. Please see Additional Terms for Mathigon and Amplify Classroom accounts (Section 18) for additional information.

7. Confidentiality

You acknowledge that in connection with these terms, Amplify may provide you with certain sensitive or proprietary information (“Confidential Information”), including software, source code, assessment instruments, research, designs, methods, processes, customer lists, training materials, product documentation, know-how, or trade secrets, in whatever form. You agree (a) not to use Confidential Information for any purpose other than use of the Products in accordance with the AUP, and (b) to take all steps reasonably necessary to maintain and protect the Confidential Information of Amplify in strict confidence. Confidential Information shall not include information that, as evidenced by your contemporaneous written records: (i) is or becomes publicly available through no fault of your own; (ii) is rightfully known to you prior to the time of its disclosure; (iii) has been independently developed by you without any use of the Confidential Information; or (iv) is subsequently learned from a third party not under any confidentiality obligation.  

8. User materials

You represent, warrant, and covenant that you have all the necessary rights, including consents and intellectual property rights, in connection with any data, information, content, and other materials provided to or collected by Amplify from you or on your behalf in connection with your use of the Products, including materials and content that you post, upload, transmit, email, or otherwise make available on, through, or in connection with the Products (“User Materials”), and that except as otherwise agreed by your School and Amplify, you retain any ownership rights that you have in your User Materials. You hereby grant to Amplify and its affiliates, licensees, and authorized users, a perpetual, non-exclusive, fully paid-up, royalty-free, sublicensable (through multiple tiers), transferable (in whole or in part), worldwide license to use, modify, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and compilations based upon, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, and distribute such User Materials in connection with the Products, subject to Amplify’s Privacy Policy. You and your School are responsible for the accuracy, integrity, completeness, quality, legality, and safety of such User Materials. You further represent and warrant that the posting of such User Materials through or in connection with the Products does not violate the privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, contract rights, or any other rights of any person or entity. Amplify and your School reserve the right (but have no obligation) to monitor the Products, including for inappropriate content or conduct, and to remove any content in their discretion without liability to you or any third party. Further, Amplify reserves the right to investigate and take appropriate legal action against anyone who, in Amplify’s discretion, violates this AUP or attempts to do so, including terminating or suspending a user’s account or access to or use of the Products, or reporting any content or conduct to law enforcement authorities. You are solely responsible for creating and maintaining your own backup copies of your User Materials. Amplify is not responsible for any loss, theft, or damage of any kind to any User Materials. 

9. Feedback

If you provide us with any ideas, proposals, or suggestions related to the Products (“Feedback”), you hereby acknowledge and agree that your provision of any Feedback is gratuitous, unsolicited, and without restriction, and does not place Amplify under any fiduciary or other obligation. You hereby grant to Amplify a worldwide, royalty-free, fully paid-up, exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, transferable, and fully sublicensable (through multiple tiers) license to reproduce, distribute, perform and/or display (publicly or otherwise), adapt, modify, and otherwise use such Feedback, in any format or media now known or hereafter developed, and you hereby represent and warrant that you have all necessary rights to grant the foregoing license.

10. Third party links and services

The Products may make available, or third parties may provide, links to websites, software, applications, resources, advertisements, content, or other products or services created, hosted, or made available by third parties (“Third Party Services”). When you access or use a Third-Party Service, you are interacting with the applicable third party, not with Amplify, and you do so at your own risk. Inclusion of any Third-Party Service or a link thereto within the Products does not imply approval or endorsement of such Third-Party Service. Amplify does not control any content that is not Amplify content, and as such, you may be exposed to offensive, indecent, inaccurate, or otherwise objectionable content in the course of accessing or using such Third-Party Services linked from the Products. You are solely responsible for your interactions with other users of the Products, providers of Third-Party Services, and any other third parties with whom you interact on, through, or in connection with the Products. AMPLIFY IS NEITHER RESPONSIBLE NOR LIABLE FOR ANY THIRD-PARTY SERVICES, INCLUDING THE ACCURACY, INTEGRITY, COMPLETENESS, QUALITY, LEGALITY, USEFULNESS, OR SAFETY OF, OR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS RELATING TO, SUCH THIRD-PARTY SERVICES. ANY ACCESS TO OR USE OF SUCH THIRD-PARTY SERVICES MAY BE SUBJECT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND INFORMATION COLLECTION, USAGE, AND DISCLOSURE PRACTICES OF THIRD PARTIES. THIS AUP DOES NOT CREATE ANY RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YOU AND ANY PROVIDER OF THIRD-PARTY SERVICES, AND NOTHING IN THIS AUP WILL BE DEEMED TO BE A REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY BY AMPLIFY WITH RESPECT TO ANY THIRD-PARTY SERVICE.

11. Digital Millennium Copyright Act

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (“DMCA”) provides recourse for copyright owners who believe that material appearing on the Internet infringes their rights under U.S. copyright law. If you believe that any material residing on or linked to from the Products infringes your copyright, please send (or have your agent send) to Amplify’s Copyright Agent, by email, fax, or regular mail, a written notification of claimed infringement with all of the following information: (a) identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works; (b) identification of the claimed infringing material and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material on the Products (such as the URL(s) of the claimed infringing material); (c) information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an e-mail address; (d) a statement by you that you have a good-faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, the copyright owner’s agent or the law; (e) a statement by you that the above information in your notification is accurate, and a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that you are the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed, or that you are authorized to act on such owner’s behalf; and (f) your physical or electronic signature. Amplify’s Copyright Agent for notification of claimed infringement can be reached as follows: Amplify Education, Inc., 55 Washington Street #800, Brooklyn NY 11201; Attn: Copyright Agent. Amplify’s Copyright Agent for notification of claimed infringement can also be reached electronically at legal@amplify.com. Amplify reserves the right to terminate infringers’ and suspected infringers’ accounts or their access to or use of the Products.

12. Changes to the products

Amplify may, without prior notice, change any Product or stop providing any features of any Product. We may permanently or temporarily terminate or suspend your access to any Product features without notice for any reason, including if in our sole determination you violate any provision of this AUP. Upon termination, you continue to be bound by this AUP.

13. Warranty disclaimer

PRODUCTS ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND BY AMPLIFY. AMPLIFY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY AS TO TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE. YOU ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR SELECTING THE PRODUCTS TO ACHIEVE YOUR INTENDED RESULTS AND FOR THE ACCESS AND USE OF THE PRODUCTS, INCLUDING THE RESULTS OBTAINED FROM THE PRODUCTS. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, AMPLIFY MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT THE PRODUCTS WILL BE ERROR-FREE OR FREE FROM INTERRUPTIONS OR OTHER FAILURES OR WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS. AMPLIFY IS NEITHER RESPONSIBLE NOR LIABLE FOR ANY THIRD-PARTY CONTENT OR SOFTWARE INCLUDED IN PRODUCTS, INCLUDING THE ACCURACY, INTEGRITY, COMPLETENESS, QUALITY, LEGALITY, USEFULNESS, OR SAFETY OF, OR IP RIGHTS RELATING TO, SUCH THIRD-PARTY CONTENT AND SOFTWARE. ANY ACCESS TO OR USE OF SUCH THIRD-PARTY CONTENT AND SOFTWARE MAY BE SUBJECT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND INFORMATION COLLECTION, USAGE, AND DISCLOSURE PRACTICES OF THIRD PARTIES.

14. Limitation of liability

IN NO EVENT WILL AMPLIFY BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE, RELIANCE, OR COVER DAMAGES, DAMAGES FOR LOST PROFITS, LOST DATA, LOST BUSINESS, OR ANY OTHER INDIRECT DAMAGES, EVEN IF AMPLIFY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, AMPLIFY’S ENTIRE LIABILITY TO YOU ARISING OUT OF PERFORMANCE OR NONPERFORMANCE BY AMPLIFY OR IN ANY WAY RELATED TO THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THIS AUP, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE CLAIM FOR SUCH DAMAGES IS BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE, WILL NOT EXCEED $100 IN AGGREGATE. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL AMPLIFY BE LIABLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENCES OF ANY UNAUTHORIZED USE OF THE PRODUCTS THAT VIOLATES THIS AUP OR ANY APPLICABLE LAW OR REGULATION.

15. Termination

Amplify may terminate or suspend your access to the Products at any time for any reason, including if Amplify believes that you have violated the AUP or have engaged in conduct that violates applicable law or is otherwise harmful to the interests of Amplify, any other Amplify user, or any third party. Upon termination, you will: cease using the Products and return, purge, or destroy all copies of any Products and, if so requested, certify to Amplify in writing that such surrender or destruction has occurred. Sections 3–13, 16, and 17 will survive the termination of this Agreement.

16. Governing Law

This Agreement will be governed by and construed and enforced in accordance with the laws of the U.S., state of New York, without giving effect to the choice of law rules thereof.

17. Additional terms for iOS apps

By downloading any Products through Apple, Inc.’s App Store (“iOS Products”), you agree that the following additional terms apply to your use of our iOS Products:

  1. This AUP is not a legal agreement with Apple, Inc. (“Apple”). As between Amplify and Apple, Amplify (not Apple) is responsible for the iOS Products and the contents thereof.
  2. The license to use the iOS Products under Section 3 above is limited to use (i) on iOS devices that you or your School owns or controls, separate from and in addition to any specific technical requirements for any iOS Product, and (ii) as permitted by the Usage Rules set forth in Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions.
  3. You must comply with applicable third-party terms of agreement when using the Products.
  4. Without limiting Section 13 above and solely as between Amplify and Apple, you acknowledge that: (i) Apple has no obligation whatsoever to furnish any maintenance and support services with respect to the iOS Products; (ii) Amplify (not Apple) is responsible for addressing any claims of yours or of any third party relating to the iOS Products or your possession and/or use of the iOS products, including but not limited to (1) product liability claims, (2) any claim that the iOS Products fail to conform to any applicable legal or regulatory requirement, and (3) claims arising under consumer protection, privacy, or similar legislation; (iii) in the event of any failure of the iOS Products to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price for the iOS Products to you; to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Apple will have no other warranty obligation whatsoever with respect to the iOS Products, and any other claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs, or expenses attributable to any failure to conform to any warranty will be Amplify’s sole responsibility; and (iv) in the event of any third-party claim that the iOS Products or your possession and use of the iOS Products infringes that third party’s intellectual property rights, Amplify (not Apple) will be responsible for any investigation, defense, settlement, and discharge of any such intellectual property infringement claim.
  5. You represent and warrant that: (i) you are not located in a country that is subject to a U.S. Government embargo, or that has been designated by the U.S. Government as a “terrorist supporting” country; and (ii) you are not listed on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
  6. Apple and Apple’s subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms, and upon your acceptance of these Terms, Apple will have the right (and will be deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce these Terms against you as a third-party beneficiary thereof.
  7.  Any questions, complaints, or claims with respect to the Products should be directed to: 

Email: privacy@amplify.comMail: Amplify Education, Inc., 55 Washington St. #800, Brooklyn, NY, 11201

18. Additional terms for Mathigon and Amplify Classroom accounts.

a. Mathigon updates: Amplify no longer offers accounts for Child Users, but we will continue to allow Child Users to access their active legacy Mathigon accounts where verifiable parental consent was obtained. We will continue to protect personal information in accordance with the Privacy Policy and applicable law.

b. Mathigon and Amplify Classroom:

i. School Use:

  1. Educators: If you are an Educator, you can create a Mathigon or an Amplify Classroom account using any existing email or through an existing third-party account (e.g. Google, Microsoft). Go to https://mathigon.org/signup#teacher  to sign up for Mathigon. Go to classroom.amplify.com to sign up for Amplify Classroom.
  2. Students can also sign up using a unique class code provided by an Educator. Educators are responsible for gaining appropriate authorization or permission from their School to use the Products with students, including Child Users, before providing their unique class code or linking the Products to a third-party service like Google Classroom. For such use in the school context, we do not request additional consent from parents in accordance with the “school official” exception under FERPA and relevant COPPA guidance. For more information, visit our Privacy Policy, which describes how we collect, use, and disclose personal information and data through the provision of our Products in schools. 

ii. Outside of School Use: If you are an individual user using the Products at home or otherwise outside of the school context, you are prohibited from collecting or providing any personal information from students or minors. You are permitted to access the platform for instructional purposes, but you may not enroll or roster minors, create accounts for minors, or input any personal information of minors into the Product.

19. Updates to this policy

We may change this Acceptable Use Policy in the future. For example, we may update it to address changes in our product offerings, or to address changes in the law or best practices. If we make changes that materially impact your legal rights or use of our products, we will provide prominent notification to you (e.g. via the Site or by email).  Otherwise, we will post any updates to the policy with an updated “Last Revised Date” and all changes will become effective immediately. Please check the Last Revised Date to confirm if the policy has been revised.

Last Modified: February 2, 2026

Professional development for assessment and intervention programs

Amplify professional development (PD) provides learning experiences that intentionally develop the knowledge and skills you need for effective and self-sustaining implementation.

Learn how to administer and score your assessment and develop a deeper understanding of reporting and instruction by investing in professional development.

Professional Learning Partner Guide Certified Provider

Amplify professional development has been vetted by Rivet Education’s team through a rigorous three-step process and is listed in the Professional Learning Partner Guide.

A teacher talks to a student at a desk; two other students, a boy and a girl, are shown smiling and sitting at desks in separate portraits.

About Amplify PD

Change is more likely to stick and get results if you take a systemic approach. Partner with us to do just that by developing a learning plan that will drive your program implementation, enrich your instructional practices, and increase student impact.

Amplify’s professional development is designed to ensure successful, sustained implementation of our programs. Sessions are strategically bundled to provide continuous support, adapting to your K–8 educators’ evolving needs throughout the year.

Four circular icons in a row showing a lightbulb, pencil, whiteboard, and podium, connected by arrows in a cycle, representing stages of a process.

Prepare

Begin

Practice

Advance

Program-agnostic sessions will set up educators for success in areas such as the Science of Reading and/or problem-based approaches to math.

Program-aligned packages will support those who are new to Amplify’s programs.

Program-aligned packages will support those who have experience using Amplify’s programs.

Offerings will support advanced implementation, build capacity for instructional leaders, certify in-house trainers to deliver Launch sessions, and more.

Our packages include:

  • Launch sessions: Propel your teachers into the new school year by introducing them to their Amplify program, laying a strong foundation for effective implementation.
  • Strengthen sessions: Enhance implementation with mid-year sessions that target specific instructional practices, providing the support needed to enhance program efficacy.
  • Coach sessions: Provide tailored guidance and support for educators and leaders to address specific needs, refining and advancing their instructional practices.

About Amplify assessment and intervention programs

Amplify’s high-quality programs make it easier for K–8 educators to teach inspiring, impactful lessons that celebrate and develop the brilliance of their students. Equipped with tools that provide robust scaffolding and differentiated instruction, assessment, and intervention, educators gain real-time insights and can provide personalized, actionable plans that support every learner.

Learn how to get the most out of your assessment and intervention program(s) through Amplify’s PD.

Assessment

  • mCLASS® DIBELS® 8th Edition (grades K–8)
  • mCLASS Lectura (grades K–6)
  • mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition and mCLASS Lectura biliteracy
  • mCLASS Math (grades K–8)

Intervention

  • mCLASS Intervention

We provide PD sessions for all Amplify programs. Contact your account executive to discuss the extended catalog of PD session options or request a quote.

mCLASS Assessments

We’ve created professional development offerings that will help you meet your unique needs this school year. Explore the Begin and Practice packages available for mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition (K–8), mCLASS Lectura (K–6), and/or mCLASS Math (K–8) by selecting the session titles to learn more.

Please note that mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition and mCLASS Lectura biliteracy sessions are currently unavailable for the Hybrid 4 and Virtual 4 packages.

Begin packages for mCLASS Literacy

Assessment programs

  On-site package
(9 hours)
Hybrid 9 package
(9 hours)
Hybrid 4 package
(4 hours)
Virtual 9 package
(9 hours)
Virtual 4 package
(4 hours)
  One Launch and Strengthen session per package
Launch sessions
  On-site
6 hr.
On-site or virtual 3 hr. On-site
3 hr.
Virtual
6 hr.
(2 half-days)
Virtual
3 hr.
Administration and instruction essentials for K–8 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Administration and scoring training for K–8 teachers
    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Administration and reporting training for K–8 leaders     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
      Virtual
1 hr.
  Virtual
1 hr.
NEW: mCLASS additional assessment measures training for K–3 teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
NEW: mCLASS Español assessment measures training for K–3 teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
NEW: mCLASS/mCLASS Español additional assessment measures training for K–3 teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Strengthen sessions
  On-site
3 hr.
Virtual 
3 hr.
Virtual
1 hr.
Virtual 
3 hr.
Virtual 
1 hr.
Creating a data-driven classroom for K–8 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Building a data-driven culture for K–8 leaders A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Assessing with fidelity for K–8 teachers
    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Reporting and instruction basics for K–8 teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Goal setting and growth outcomes for K–8 teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Progress monitoring for K–8 teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Reporting basics for K–8 leaders
    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.

*Assessment Strengthen sessions should be scheduled after the most recent benchmark window has closed for participants to work with their own data.

Add-on
  On-site or virtual,
3 hr.
On-site,
6 hr.
Self-paced,
online course
Coach session for individual teachers, grade-level teams, PLCs, and/or instructional leaders A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition/Lectura: Administration and instruction essentials training for teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition: Calibration training for teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition: Transition training for DDS teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.

Begin: Launch: Administration and instruction essentials for K–8 teachers


On-site or virtual, 6 hours

Dive into the essentials of your mCLASS assessment program. Learn how to administer and score the assessment(s) and leave ready to leverage mCLASS reports and lessons to accelerate data-driven student outcomes.

Session options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition (K–8), mCLASS Lectura (K–6), and/or mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition/Lectura

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Begin: Launch: Administration and scoring training for K–8 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn how to administer and score your mCLASS assessment(s) and leave ready to collect data using standardized guidelines.

Session options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition (K–8), mCLASS Lectura (K–6)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Begin: Launch: Administration and reporting training for K–8 leaders

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Prepare to implement your assessment program(s) at your school site(s). Determine systems-level actions that will ensure assessment fidelity and leave ready to leverage key admin reports to support data-informed decisions.

Session options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition (K–8), mCLASS Lectura (K–6), and/or mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition/Lectura

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura session is facilitated in English only.

Available July 2026

Begin: Launch: mCLASS additional assessment measures training for K–3 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Participants will dive into the essentials of mCLASS Spelling, RAN, Vocabulary, and/or Oral Language and leave ready to administer the assessment to collect data using standardized guidelines.

Session options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition (K–3)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Available July 2026

Begin: Launch: mCLASS Español assessment measures training for K–3 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Participants will dive into the essentials of mCLASS Spelling Español, Vocabulary Español, and/or Oral Language Español and leave ready to administer the assessment to collect data using standardized guidelines.

Session options: mCLASS Lectura (K–3)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura session is facilitated in English.

Available July 2026

Begin: Launch: mCLASS/mCLASS Español additional assessment measures training for K–3 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Participants will dive into the essentials of mCLASS Spelling/Spelling Español, RAN, Vocabulary/Vocabulary Español, and/or Oral Language/Oral Language Español and leave ready to administer the assessment to collect data using standardized guidelines.

Session options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition (K–3) and mCLASS Lectura (K–3)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Begin: Strengthen: Creating a data-driven classroom for K–8 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dive deep into mCLASS reports and instructional recommendations to drive stronger student outcomes in your classroom. You will leave ready to leverage mCLASS progress monitoring and grouping tools to support a robust MTSS program.

Session options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition (K–8), mCLASS Lectura (K–6), and/or mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition/Lectura

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Begin: Strengthen: Building a data-driven culture for K–8 leaders

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Cultivate a schoolwide culture of data-driven practices. Use mCLASS reports to drill into key school-level data and leave with a systems-level action plan to drive stronger student and teacher outcomes.

Session options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition (K–8), mCLASS Lectura (K–6), and/or mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition/Lectura

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura session is facilitated in English only.

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Assessing with fidelity for K–8 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Fortify your assessment administration with trainer-led practice targeted to your unique needs.

Session options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition (K–8), mCLASS Lectura (K–6), and/or mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition/Lectura

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Reporting and instruction basics for K–8 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn how to use mCLASS classroom reporting, instructional tools, and resources to accelerate data-driven student outcomes.

Session options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition (K–8), mCLASS Lectura (K–6), and/or mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition/Lectura

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Goal setting and growth outcomes for K–8 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn how to use mCLASS Zones of Growth (Zonas de crecimiento for mCLASS Lectura) reports to set meaningful, ambitious, and attainable student goals that drive student progress and growth.

Session options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition (K–8), mCLASS Lectura (K–6), and/or mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition/Lectura

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Progress monitoring for K–8 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Implement mCLASS progress monitoring and MTSS best practices to track student progress and accelerate growth.

Session options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition (K–8), mCLASS Lectura (K–6), and/or mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition/Lectura

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Reporting basics for K–8 leaders

Examine your school-level mCLASS benchmark assessment data to identify key levers for improving student outcomes.

Session options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition (K–8), mCLASS Lectura (K–6), and/or mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition/Lectura

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura session is facilitated in English only.

Coach session

On-site, 6 hours or virtual, 3 hours

Coach sessions focus on building internal school and district capacity and leadership excellence to accelerate data-driven student outcomes for teachers using mCLASS. Coaching is customized to meet a school or district’s needs and can include observations, modeling, real-time coaching, and/or co-planning.

Audience: Individual teachers, grade-level teams, PLCs, and/or instructional leaders (maximum 30 participants)

mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition/Lectura: Administration and instruction essentials for teachers

Online course, self-paced

Dive into the essentials of your mCLASS assessment program through this on-demand course. Learn how to administer and score the assessment and leave ready to leverage mCLASS reports and lessons to accelerate data-driven student outcomes.

Upon finishing the course, participants can download a certificate of completion. This subscription includes an individual seat to the course, which takes approximately 8 hours to complete. Participants will be able to access and revisit the course as needed for up to one year.

Course options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition, mCLASS Lectura

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (individual seat)

Available July 2026

mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition: Calibration training course for teachers

Online course, self-paced

Ensure accuracy and reliability of mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition test administration through this on-demand course. Review how to administer and score each teacher-administered measure, then calibrate your scoring through scoring mastery checks.

Upon finishing the course, participants can download a certificate of completion. This subscription includes an individual seat to the course, which takes approximately 1–3 hours to complete, depending on learner needs. Participants will be able to access and revisit the course as needed for up to one year.

Course options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (individual seat)

mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition: Transition training course for DDS teachers

Online course, self-paced

Prepare to administer and score the DIBELS 8th Edition assessment in the mCLASS platform through this on-demand course. Learn the essentials of your mCLASS assessment program and leave ready to leverage mCLASS reports and lessons to accelerate data-driven student outcomes.

Upon finishing the course, participants can download a certificate of completion. This subscription includes an individual seat to the course, which takes approximately 8 hours to complete. Participants will be able to access and revisit the course as needed for up to one year.

Course options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (individual seat)

Begin packages for mCLASS Math 2nd Edition

Assessment programs

  On-site package
(6 hours)
Hybrid 6 package
(6 hours)
Hybrid 4 package
(4 hours)
Virtual 6 package
(6 hours)
Virtual 4 package
(4 hours)
  One Launch and Strengthen session per package
Launch sessions
  On-site
3 hr.
On-site
6 hr.
On-site
3 hr.
Virtual
3 hr.
Virtual
3 hr.
mCLASS Math 2nd Edition: Program overview for K–5 or 6–8 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
NEW: mCLASS Math 2nd Edition: Program overview for K–8 leaders A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Strengthen sessions
  On-site
3 hr.
Virtual 
3 hr.
Virtual
1 hr.
Virtual 
3 hr.
Virtual 
1 hr.
mCLASS Math 2nd Edition: Student thinking and instructional next steps for K–5 or 68 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
mCLASS Math 2nd Edition: Leveraging assessment data to strengthen mathematical explanations for K–5 teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
mCLASS Math and Boost Math: Understanding and using data to plan intervention for K–5 or 6–8 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Add-on
mCLASS Math 2nd Edition: Program overview and instructional next steps course for K–5 teachers

Self-paced online course
mCLASS Math 2nd Edition: Program overview and instructional next steps course for 6–8 teachers

Self-paced online course

New

Begin: mCLASS Math: Program overview for K–5 or 6–8 teachers

Available for grades 6–8 teachers July 2026

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dive into the essentials of your mCLASS Math assessment program. Learn how these assessments both highlight students’ strengths and help identify what’s next through an asset-based approach. Leave ready to administer assessments and understand reporting.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

New

Begin: mCLASS Math: Program overview for K–5 or 6–8 leaders

Available for grades K–5 and grades 6–8 leaders July 2026

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Prepare to implement your mCLASS Math assessment program at your school site(s). Determine systems-level actions that will ensure successful assessment administration and leave ready to leverage key admin reports to support data-informed decisions.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

New

Begin: mCLASS Math: Student thinking and instructional next steps for grades K–5 teachers

Available for grades 6–8 teachers Oct. 2026

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Explore how mCLASS Math helps determine what students know in relation to grade-level content, and how to use data to inform instructional next steps that support, strengthen, and stretch student thinking. Dig into your own student data and leave with actionable next steps that connect directly to the ways your students are thinking about mathematics.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

New

Begin: mCLASS Math + Boost Math: Understanding and using data to plan intervention for grades K–5 or 6–8 teachers

Available for grades K–5 teachers July 2026 and grades 6–8 teachers Oct. 2026

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Explore how Boost Math uses mCLASS Math data to inform intervention recommendations and monitor student progress. Dig into your student data, explore relevant instructional resources, and leave with actionable next steps for intervention.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

New

Begin: Strengthen Focus: mCLASS Math: Leveraging assessment data to strengthen mathematical explanations for grades K–5 or 6–8 teachers

Available for grades K–5 teachers July 2026 and grades 6–8 teachers Oct. 2026

Virtual, 1 hour

Dig into mCLASS Math to reveal what students understand about mathematical concepts and give them the tools to become more clear and confident communicators in math class.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Available July 2026

Begin: mCLASS Math 2nd Edition: Program overview and instructional next steps for grades K–5 teachers

Online course, self-paced

Through this self-paced, on-demand online course, participants will dive into the essentials of mCLASS Math K–5 and leave ready to administer the assessment, understand reporting, and take instructional next steps based on the data.

Upon finishing the course, participants can download a certificate of completion. This subscription includes an individual seat to the course, which takes approximately six hours to complete. Participants will be able to access and revisit the course as needed for up to one year.

Course options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (individual seat)

Available July 2026

Begin: mCLASS Math 2nd Edition: Program overview and instructional next steps for grades 6–8 teachers

Online course, self-paced

Through this self-paced, on-demand online course, participants will dive into the essentials of mCLASS Math 6–8 and leave ready to administer the assessment, understand reporting, and take instructional next steps based on the data.

Upon finishing the course, participants can download a certificate of completion. This subscription includes an individual seat to the course, which takes approximately six hours to complete. Participants will be able to access and revisit the course as needed for up to one year.

Course options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (individual seat)

Practice packages for mCLASS Literacy

  On-site package
(6 hours)
Virtual 6 package
(6 hours)
Virtual 4 package
(4 hours)
Virtual 2 package
(2 hours)
Two Strengthen sessions per package
Strengthen session titles*
  On-site
3 hr.
Virtual
3 hr.
Virtual
3 hr. and 1 hr.
Virtual
1 hr.
Creating a data-driven classroom for K–8 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Building a data-driven culture for K–8 leaders A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Assessing with fidelity for K–8 teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Reporting and instruction basics for K–8 teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Progress monitoring for K–8 teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Goal setting and growth outcomes for K–8 teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Reporting basics for K–8 leaders      A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
NEW: mCLASS DIBELS 8 additional assessment measures training for K–8 teachers       A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
NEW: mCLASS Español assessment measures training for K–8 teachers       A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
NEW: mCLASS DIBELS 8 and mCLASS Lectura additional assessment measures training for K–8 teachers       A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.

*Assessment Strengthen sessions should be scheduled after the most recent benchmark window has closed for participants to work with their own data.

Add-on
  On-site or virtual, 3 hr. On-site, 6 hr. Self-paced, online course
Coach session for individual teachers, grade-level teams, PLCs, and/or instructional leaders A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition and Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition: Data-driven instruction for K–5 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.    
mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition and mCLASS Lectura: Administration and instruction essentials training for teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition: Calibration training for teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition: Transition training for DDS teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.

Practice: Creating a data-driven classroom for K–8 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dive deep into mCLASS reports and instructional recommendations to drive stronger student outcomes in your classroom. You will leave ready to leverage mCLASS progress monitoring and grouping tools to support a robust MTSS program.

Session options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition (K–8), mCLASS Lectura (K–6), and/or mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition/Lectura

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Practice: Building a data-driven culture for K–8 leaders

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Cultivate a schoolwide culture of data-driven practices. Use mCLASS reports to drill into key school-level data and leave with a systems-level action plan to drive stronger student and teacher outcomes.

Session options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition (K–8), mCLASS Lectura (K–6), and/or mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition/Lectura

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura session is facilitated in English only.

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Assessing with fidelity for K–8 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Fortify your mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition assessment administration with trainer-led practice targeted to your unique needs.

Session options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition (K–8), mCLASS Lectura (K–6), and/or mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition/Lectura

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Reporting and instruction basics for K–8 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn how to use mCLASS classroom reporting, instructional tools, and resources to accelerate data-driven student outcomes.

Session options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition (K–8), mCLASS Lectura (K–6), and/or mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition/Lectura

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Progress monitoring for K–8 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Implement mCLASS progress monitoring and MTSS best practices to track student progress and accelerate growth.

Session options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition (K–8), mCLASS Lectura (K–6), and/or mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition/Lectura

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Practice: Goal setting and growth outcomes for K–8 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn how to use mCLASS Zones of Growth (Zonas de crecimiento for mCLASS Lectura) reports to set meaningful, ambitious, and attainable student goals that drive student progress and growth.

Session options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition (K–8), mCLASS Lectura (K–6), and/or mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition/Lectura

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Practice: Reporting basics for K–8 leaders

Virtual, 1 hour

Examine your school-level mCLASS benchmark assessment data to identify key levers for improving student outcomes.

Session options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition (K–8), mCLASS Lectura (K–6), and/or mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition/Lectura

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura session is facilitated in English.

Available July 2026

Practice: Strengthen Focus: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition additional assessment measures training for K–8 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Participants will dive into the essentials of mCLASS Spelling, RAN, Vocabulary, and/or Oral Language and leave ready to administer the assessment to collect data using standardized guidelines.

Session options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition (K–8)

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Available July 2026

Practice: Strengthen Focus: mCLASS Español assessment measures training for K–8 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Participants will dive into the essentials of mCLASS Spelling Español, Vocabulary Español, and/or Oral Language Español and leave ready to administer the assessment to collect data using standardized guidelines.

Session options: mCLASS Lectura (K–6)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura session is facilitated in English.

Available July 2026

Practice: Strengthen Focus: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition and mCLASS Lectura additional assessment measures training for K–8 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Participants will dive into the essentials of mCLASS Spelling/Spelling Español, RAN, Vocabulary/Vocabulary Español, and/or Oral Language/Oral Language Español and leave ready to administer the assessment to collect data using standardized guidelines.

Session options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition (K–8) and mCLASS Lectura (K–6)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Add on: Coach session

On-site, 6 hours or virtual, 3 hours

Coach sessions focus on building internal school and district capacity and leadership excellence to accelerate data-driven student outcomes for teachers using mCLASS. Coaching is customized to meet a school or district’s needs and can include observations, modeling, real-time coaching, and/or co-planning.

Audience: Individual teachers, grade-level teams, PLCs, and/or instructional leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Available October 2026

Add on: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition and Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition: Data-driven instruction for K–5 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dive deep into mCLASS reports and instructional recommendations to drive instructional decisions in Amplify CKLA and stronger student outcomes in your classroom. You will leave ready to leverage mCLASS progress monitoring and grouping tools to support a robust Multi-Tiered System of Supports program with Amplify CKLA as your core instruction.

Course options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition and Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition

Audience: K–2 or 3–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Add on: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition and mCLASS Lectura: Administration and instruction essentials for teachers

Online course, self-paced

Dive into the essentials of your mCLASS assessment program through this on-demand course. Learn how to administer and score the assessment and leave ready to leverage mCLASS reports and lessons to accelerate data-driven student outcomes.

Upon finishing the course, participants can download a certificate of completion. This subscription includes an individual seat to the course, which takes approximately eight hours to complete. Participants will be able to access and revisit the course as needed for up to one year.

Course options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition, mCLASS Lectura

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (individual seat)

Available July 2026

Add on: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition: Calibration training course for teachers

Online course, self-paced

Ensure accuracy and reliability of mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition test administration through this on-demand course. Review how to administer and score each teacher-administered measure, then calibrate your scoring through scoring mastery checks.

Upon finishing the course, participants can download a certificate of completion. This subscription includes an individual seat to the course, which takes approximately 1–3 hours to complete, depending on learner needs. Participants will be able to access and revisit the course as needed for up to one year.

Course options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (individual seat)

Available July 2026

Add on: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition: Transition training course for DDS teachers

Online course, self-paced

Prepare to administer and score the DIBELS 8th Edition assessment in the mCLASS platform through this on-demand course. Learn the essentials of your mCLASS assessment program and leave ready to leverage mCLASS reports and lessons to accelerate data-driven student outcomes.

Upon finishing the course, participants can download a certificate of completion. This subscription includes an individual seat to the course, which takes approximately eight hours to complete. Participants will be able to access and revisit the course as needed for up to one year.

Course options: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (individual seat)

Amplify intervention PD sessions

Each intervention program offers Launch and Coach sessions for up to 30 participants per program for year one and beyond. Our interactive sessions are available on-site or virtually, empowering teachers and leaders anywhere with the tools and skills they need to inspire all students to think deeply, creatively, and for themselves.

mCLASS Intervention

mCLASS Intervention is a staff-led Tier 2 and Tier 3 reading intervention program that does the heavy lifting of data analysis and lesson sequencing, freeing up teachers to teach the reading skills each student needs. View the table and select the session title to learn more about each mCLASS Intervention PD session.

  On-site or virtual sessions
6 hr.
Self-paced course
Launch sessions
Initial training for K–6 interventionists and intervention coordinators A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Initial training for K–6 interventionists and intervention coordinators   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. 

Coach sessions

  On-site sessions
6 hr.
On-site or virtual sessions
3 hr.
Coach session
 
Coach session
 

Launch

Propel your teachers into the new school year with sessions that introduce them to their Amplify program(s) and support a strong implementation.

Initial training for K–6 interventionists and intervention coordinators

On-site or virtual, 6 hours

In part 1 of this training, interventionists and intervention coordinators will prepare to deliver mCLASS Intervention lessons and learn how to administer the diagnostic and progress monitoring measures. In part 2, intervention coordinators will learn the essentials of coordinating mCLASS Intervention and leave ready to implement the program at their school site.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff, intervention coordinators (maximum 30 participants)

Initial training course for K–6 interventionists and intervention coordinators

Online course, self-paced

Prepare to deliver mCLASS Intervention lessons and learn how to administer the diagnostic and progress monitoring measures through this on-demand course. Intervention coordinators will additionally learn the essentials of coordinating mCLASS Intervention to support implementation at their school site.

Upon finishing the course, participants can download a certificate of completion. This subscription includes an individual seat to the course, which takes approximately three hours to complete. Participants will be able to access and revisit the course as needed for up to one year.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (individual seat)

Coach

Support teachers and leaders with learning experiences tailored to meet their specific needs.

Coach session

On-site, 6 hours

Coach sessions focus on building internal school and district capacity and leadership excellence to accelerate data-driven student outcomes for teachers using mCLASS Intervention. Coaching is customized to meet a school or district’s needs and can include observations, modeling, real-time coaching, and/or co-planning.

Audience: Individual teachers, grade-level teams, PLCs, and/or instructional leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Coach session

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Coach sessions focus on building internal school and district capacity and leadership excellence to accelerate data-driven student outcomes for teachers using mCLASS Intervention. Coaching is customized to meet a school or district’s needs and can include observations, modeling, real-time coaching, and/or co-planning.

Audience: Individual teachers, grade-level teams, PLCs, and/or instructional leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Additional assessment and intervention programs

Additional sessions and online courses are also available for other mCLASS programs (Paper DIBELS 8th Edition and mCLASS Intervention Universal).

To learn more about enhancing your Amplify experience by purchasing other mCLASS programs and/or accompanying PD sessions, please contact your account executive.

Contact us

2025

September 18, 2025

Edutopia: “Using Virtual Manipulatives in Math Class”

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August 19, 2025

Education Week: “Here’s Why It’s Important for Teachers to Have a Say in Curriculum”

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August 18, 2025

Investors Hangout: “Amplify Classroom Revolutionizes K-12 Teaching Experience”

Read Full Article

August 5, 2025

WhaTech: “K-12 Online Education Market Set for Strong Expansion, Reaching $349.77 Billion by 2029”

Read Full Article

August 4, 2025

Education Week: “Districts Using ‘High-Quality’ Reading Curricula Still Supplement With Other Materials. Why?”

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July 9, 2025

K-12 Dive: “Youngest students see big reading gains post-COVID on DIBELS assessment”

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June 25, 2025

The 74: “How Districts in Georgia, Maryland and D.C. Are Raising Reading Proficiency”

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May 28, 2025

Open PR: “K-12 Online Education Market Forecast 2025-2034: Comprehensive Analysis And Growth Opportunities”

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May 27, 2025

District Administration: “Early literacy: How to implement programs that start strong”

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May 20, 2025

EdSource: “California schools prepare to introduce universal reading screening”

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April 23, 2025

The 74: “Eric Adams Expands Reading, Math Curriculum Mandates to All NYC Middle Schools”

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April 21, 2025

Daily News: “NYC expanding reading, math curriculum overhaul to more schools”

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March 19, 2025

Education Next: “School Reinvention in Practice”

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February 28, 2025

K-12 Dive, “Test yourself on this week’s K-12 news”

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February 26, 2025

K-12 Dive: “Only 56% of K-2 students are ready to read”

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January 24, 2025

Chalkbeat Philadelphia: “Two AI-powered charter schools could soon open in Pennsylvania”

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January 16, 2025

Tech & Learning: “What is Polypad and How Can Teachers Use It?”

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2024

December 18, 2024

EdSource: “State takes another step toward mandatory testing for reading difficulties in 2025”

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December 6, 2024

Chalkbeat Philadelphia: “Philadelphia is now spending over $100 million on its curriculum overhaul. Here’s a breakdown.”

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November 27, 2024

Lincoln Journal Star: “Lincoln Public Schools drops a classification rating on statewide assessment”

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November 6, 2024

EdNC: “New K-3 literacy data shows growth in skills for North Carolina students”

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October 1, 2024

The 74: “As NY District Implements Science of Reading, Parents Push for New Focus on Math”

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September 18, 2024

Tech & Learning: “Tech & Learning Announces Winners of Best for Back to School 2024”

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August 22, 2024

Chalkbeat Philadelphia: “Philadelphia school board renews charters, funds tutoring and a new science curriculum”

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August 2, 2024

EdNC: “‘Dedication of our teachers’ praised in an update on the state’s science of reading journey”

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July 31, 2024

The 74: “Classroom Case Study: To Maximize the Impact of Curriculum Mandates, Follow the Science of Reading”

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July 23, 2024

Chalkbeat: “Should teachers customize their lessons or just stick to the ‘script’?”

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July 7, 2024

The Economist: “Will artificial intelligence transform school?”

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June 24, 2024

Chalkbeat: “Math instruction overhaul: NYC unveils new curriculum mandate for middle and high schools”

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June 6, 2024

EdNC: “Perspective | Teachers are the heroes of the literacy story in North Carolina”

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May 24, 2024

The Dallas Morning News: “How Don Quixote changed a Dallas public school classroom”

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May 2, 2024

Akron.com: “Tutoring program at Summit Academy Akron Elementary School attracts national interest”

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April 25, 2024

Edutopia: “Using Tech Tools to Energize Young Students’ Math Learning”

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April 4, 2024

EdNC: “State Board hears update on district ESSER spending, literacy data, and Restart schools”

Read Full Article

March 22, 2024

Thomas B Fordham Institute: “Five takeaways from Ohio’s baseline survey of elementary reading curricula”

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March 15, 2024

The 74: “New Data: Despite K-2 Reading Gains, Students Face a ‘Much Harder Journey’ Ahead”

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March 5, 2024

The 74: “Case Study: How One Texas School District Is Repurposing Staff Development Time to Embrace the Science of Reading”

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February 21, 2024

Times Record News: “UPDATED: Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath likes what he sees at local school”

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February 19, 2024

Chalkbeat: “Chicago Public Schools recover from pandemic declines more than other districts, study shows”

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February 7, 2024

The 74: “Building Oral Language Skills and Equity Through High-Quality Reading Curriculum”

Read Full Article

2023

December 19, 2023

The 74: “Best Education Articles of 2023: Our 23 Most Important Stories About Students, Schools & Learning Recovery ”

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December 8, 2023

Education Week: “Aligned Science Curriculum, Better Scores? Research Finds a Connection”

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December 6, 2023

WRAL News: “Reading readiness rises in NC’s K-3 classrooms, new data shows”

Read Full Article

November 27, 2023

The Dallas Morning News: “Dallas’ new lessons aim to keep kids on track, but some worry about limiting teachers”

Read Full Article

November 2, 2023

Fort Worth Report: “Black students in Fort Worth ISD still struggle to read at grade level”

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October 31, 2023

Chicago Tribune: “Lake Forest-area schools take stock of state grades; ‘While we celebrate our successes, we acknowledge that the journey … is ongoing’”

Read Full Article

October 19, 2023

Chalkbeat: “NYC eyes middle and high school literacy overhaul. It’s asking families to weigh in.”

Read Full Article

October 16, 2023

The 74: “As Virginia Rolls Out Ambitious Statewide High-Dosage Tutoring Effort This Week, 3 Keys to Success”

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October 6, 2023

Language Magazine: “Embracing Bilingual Assessment”

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September 18, 2023

Tech & Learning: “Best for Back to School 2023”

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September 18, 2023

Chalkbeat: “Chicago Public Schools hired hundreds of tutors with federal COVID money. Can they keep them?”

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September 7, 2023

EdNC: “Perspective | Union County Public Schools empowers educators, elevates readers”

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August 14, 2023

Chicago Parent: “Common Core Math: How to Help Your Kids”

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August 6, 2023

The News & Observer: “NC sees big increase in reading skills among K-3 students. Is the state back on track?”

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August 4, 2023

The 74: “Slow Literacy Gains, Long COVID in Kids: 7 Insights into Pandemic Recovery and Aftermath in U.S. Schools”

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August 3, 2023

EdNC: “State Board of Education: New reading data, parental leave, and a call to support public schools”

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July 28, 2023

Houston Public Media: “New literacy curriculum is among the many changes coming to HISD”

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July 17, 2023

Houston Chronicle: “Mike Miles says HISD schools will teach the ‘science of reading.’ Here’s what that means.”

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July 11, 2023

The 74: “‘Education’s Long COVID’: New Data Shows Recovery Stalled for Most Students”

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July 6, 2023

Houston Chronicle: “HISD superintendent gives voluntary schools one last chance to back out of New Education System”

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June 29, 2023

The Report Card: “Larry Berger on Curriculum”

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June 2, 2023

EdWeek Market Brief:”K-12 Dealmaking: Substitute Teaching Startup Secures $38M; Amplify Raises Undisclosed Series C”

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May 25, 2023

The 74: “Expanding Access to Tutors: Nonprofit Grants $6 Million to 32 Learning Organizations Across 20 States to Help More Students”

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April 21, 2023

The 74: “The ‘Transformation is Real’ as Science of Reading Takes Hold in N.C. Schools”

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April 18, 2023

The 74: “Louisiana District Ravaged by Hurricane & COVID is Bouncing Back with Science”

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April 5, 2023

WFAE: “NC midyear reading data shows gains, but third-grade goals remain elusive”

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April 5, 2023

EdNC: “K-3 students show growth in literacy skills, mid-year DPI data show”

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March 24, 2023

The 74: “COVID & School Recovery: Critics Warn Washington Bill Would Reduce Classroom Learning Time By 4 Hours a Week”

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March 24, 2023

Edutopia: “Using Collective Leadership to Make a Major Shift in Your District”

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March 15, 2023

K-12 Dive: “California at center of latest push for science-based reading approaches”

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March 7, 2023

District Administration: “ESSER pressure: How one district intends to spend wisely as deadline looms”

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March 3, 2023

The 74: “‘The Other Long COVID’ Affecting Kids: Missed Opportunities”

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March 2, 2023

3 WTKR: “More students on track to learn to read in 2022-2023 school year since start of pandemic, researchers say”

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March 2, 2023

ABC 7: “Reading skills rebounding for young students following pandemic disruptions”

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March 1, 2023

K-12 Dive: “By The Numbers: DIBELS testing shows improved reading progress over last two years”

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February 27, 2023

The 74: “Exclusive: Despite K-2 Reading Gains, Results Flat for 3rd Grade ‘COVID Kids’”

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February 27, 2023

Education Week: “Students’ Early Literacy Skills Are Rebounding. See What the Data Show”

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February 7, 2023

The 74: “Using High-Quality Curriculum Doesn’t Mean You Can’t Still Have Fun Learning”

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January 13, 2023

NPR: “Can a middle school class help scientists create a cooler place to play?”

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January 6, 2023

News & Record: “After a numbing low, NC students now heading in ‘right direction’ in reading, math”

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January 5, 2023

CBS17.com: “K-3 students in NC make significant strides on literacy exams, DPI says”

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2022

December 20, 2022

District Administration: “Literacy Under the Lights: 10 ways to bring the community back together”

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December 14, 2022

The 74: “14 Charts This Year That Helped Us Better Understand Covid’s Impact On Students Teachers and Schools”

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December 14, 2022

The 74: “Learning Loss Is Worse than NAEP Showed. Middle School Math Must Be the Priority”

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November 21, 2022

Voicebot.ai: “SoapBox Labs Brings Child-Centered Voice AI to Dyslexia Detection Assessment”

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October 24, 2022

Education Week: “Two Decades of Progress, Nearly Gone: National Math, Reading Scores Hit Historic Lows”

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October 20, 2022

The 74: “Exclusive Literacy Data: Small Gains Since Last Fall, But No Reading Rebound”

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August 30, 2022

The 74: “Test English Learners in the Languages They Speak at School and at Home”

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August 29, 2022

WTKR TV NC: “News 3 investigates childhood literacy rates, raising money to give books to local kids for new school year”

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August 28, 2022

EdNC: “Elementary students made growth last year in skills that lead to reading proficiency, new data show”

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August 18, 2022

SHRM Blog: “The Great Resignation Skipped Us. Here’s why.”

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August 16, 2022

Forbes: “Curious About Knowledge-Building Curricula? Check Out This Website”

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July 20, 2022

District Administration: “Out-of-school STEM learning is much more powerful when it’s inclusive”

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July 19, 2022

Chalkbeat: “The state of learning loss: 7 takeaways from the latest data”

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June 28, 2022

The Preschool Podcast: “Early literacy strategies that stick with Darryl from Run-DMC and Makeda from Nickelodeon [Podcast]”

Listen To The Podcast

May 24, 2022

Forbes: “States That Want To Boost Literacy Should Keep An Eye On Texas”

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April 24, 2022

Business Ecosystem Alliance: “Ecosystems in Education–Collaborating to Efficiently Serve the End User”

Watch Full Video

April 18, 2022

KQED Mind Shift: “Weighing the best strategies for reading intervention”

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April 15, 2022

Fordham Institute: “Assessing a standards-aligned physical science curriculum”

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March 23, 2022

The Baltimore Sun: “National test scores show student gains from in-person learning in all but a critical group: new and pre-readers | COMMENTARY”

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March 15, 2022

NPR: “Two years ago schools shut down around the world. These are the biggest impacts”

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March 11, 2022

The Hub – Dallas ISD: “Students at Greiner and Anson Jones Elementary find success in reading and writing with a new program”

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March 10, 2022

NY Daily News: “Read it and weep: The new reading instruction emergency”

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March 10, 2022

WISH TV Indianapolis: “Study shows student performance plummeted during pandemic”

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March 9, 2022

New York Post: “Young students have suffered ‘alarming’ drops in reading skills during pandemic”

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March 9, 2022

The Daily Caller: “Childhood Literacy Plummeted Following Pandemic Shutdowns, Studies Show”

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March 8, 2022

The New York Times: “It’s ‘Alarming’: Children Are Severely Behind in Reading”

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March 7, 2022

Education Next: “The Education Exchange: Pandemic Hurt Younger Students’ Learning Worse, Amplify Data Suggest”

Listen to the Podcast

February 28, 2022

The 74: “Our 12 Best Education Articles in February: Reflections on 700 Days of COVID Chaos, Setting a Bar for Unmasking in Schools, Burying Schools in Record Requests & More”

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February 24, 2022

The Daily Advertiser: “Reading scores improve slightly, but pre-COVID reading levels are ‘the wrong goal’”

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February 24, 2022

Wall Street Journal: “The School Shutdowns and Lost Literacy”

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February 23, 2022

K-12 Dive: “DIBELS data illustrates pandemic reading setbacks”

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February 22, 2022

ABC 7 Buffalo: “Children falling behind in reading”

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February 18, 2022

The Carolina Journal: “Report: Elementary students lag in literacy due to pandemic”

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February 16, 2022

The 74: “‘We Have First-Graders Who Can’t Sing the Alphabet Song’: Pandemic Continues to Push Young Readers Off Track, New Data Shows”

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February 16, 2022

Education Week: “More Than 1 in 3 Children Who Started School in the Pandemic Need ‘Intensive’ Reading Help”

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February 4, 2022

Literary Hub: “EXCLUSIVE: Watch Joshua Bennett Discuss A.R. Ammons’s poem “Cascadilla Falls”

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January 26, 2022

The Ross Kaminsky Show: “Susan Lambert and the Literacy Gap”

Listen to the podcast

January 19, 2022

K-12 Dive: “Report: Colorado reading law update boosts quality of literacy curriculum”

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2021

December 15, 2021

Chalkbeat: “How Denver plans to address a drop in early elementary reading scores”

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December 8, 2021

The SHRM Blog: “What’s the Best Work Perk of All? Contributing to the Social Good”

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November 13, 2021

Hechinger Report: ‘The Reading Year’: First grade is critical for reading skills, but kids coming from disrupted kindergarten experiences are way behind”

Read full article

October 20, 2021

Hechinger Report: “OPINION: Younger students were among those most hurt during the pandemic”

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September 2, 2021

EdSurge: “An Edtech User’s Glossary to Speech Recognition and AI in the Classroom”

Read full article

September, 2021

SIIA Education: “ED TECH SUCCESS STORIES”

Read full article

August 23, 2021

CNN: “Irish tech firm helps kids’ voices be heard”

Read full article

August 18, 2021

SoapBox Labs: “Can Speech Recognition Help Children Learn to Read?”

Read full article

August 12, 2021

FOX Chicago Broadcast Interview: “Pandemic widens literacy gap for students”

Read full article

August 3, 2021

T.H.E Journal: “More Students of Color at Risk in Reading After Pandemic”

Read full article

July 28, 2021

The 74: “Early Reading Skills See a Rebound From In-Person Learning, But Racial Gaps Have Grown Wider, Tests Show”

Read full article

July 28, 2021

K-12 Dive: “Reports: Math, reading progress slowed during first full school year of pandemic”

Read full article

July 20, 2021

EdNC: “The mCLASS reading assessment tool is back in North Carolina classrooms, but it’s going to look different”

Read full article

July 5, 2021

WBAL: “Baltimore students from all socio-economic backgrounds get a chance to ‘Amplify’ their learning skills”

Read full article

June 15, 2021

Language Magazine: “Using Evidence to Overcome Adversity”

Read full article

May 7, 2021

The Dallas Morning News: “How can a one-minute kindergarten test help teachers tackle the ‘COVID slide’?”

Read full article

April 20, 2021

Education Week: “How Teachers and Curriculum Will Shape Ed Tech’s Future: A CEO Makes the Case”

Read full article

March 24, 2021

The Hechinger Report: “OPINION: Children will need summer tutors to make up for pandemic learning loss”

Read full article

March 23, 2021

Education Week: “Most States Fail to Measure Teachers’ Knowledge of the ‘Science of Reading,’ Report Says”

Read full article

March 17, 2021

Axios: “How online education and tutoring could fight COVID learning loss”

Read full article

March 16, 2021

USA Today: “Students are struggling to read behind masks and screens during COVID-19, but ‘expectations are no different’”

Read full article

March 16, 2021

The 74: “Schools and COVID, a Year Later: 12 Months After Classrooms Closed, 12 Key Things We’ve Learned About How the Pandemic Disrupted Student Learning”

Read full article

February 25, 2021

K–12 Dive: “Reading gaps widen in mid-year data, especially for K-1 students of color”

Read full article

February 24, 2021

The 74: “One Year into Pandemic, Far Fewer Young Students are on Target to Learn How to Read, Tests Show”

Read full article

February 17, 2021

NBC Los Angeles: “Local Students Design Rovers in Mission to Mars Student Challenge”

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February 5, 2021

District Administration: “To save literacy, focus first on high-quality core instruction”

Read full article

February 4, 2021

The Hechinger Report: “5 ways schools hope to fight Covid-19 learning loss”

Read full article

January 5, 2021

The 74: “Science Matters Now More than Ever. The Time to Start Teaching It Is in Elementary School”

Read full article

2020

December 15, 2020

Education Week: “Students’ Reading Losses Could Strain Schools’ Capacity to Help Them Catch Up”

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December 9, 2020

Education Post: “How to Help Beginning Readers During the Pandemic”

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December 3, 2020

American Consortium for Equity in Education: “The Importance of Quality Curriculum With Industry Voice”

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September 29, 2020

The 74: “Beyond the Scantron: Ed Tech CEO Larry Berger on Why the Pandemic Is No Excuse to Abscond Accountability and ‘Disruptions Are Great Opportunities to Try Something New’”

Read full article

May 25, 2020

The 74: “Class Disrupted Podcast Episode 2: Why Is My Child Doing So Many Worksheets Right Now?”

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February 5, 2020

Getting Smart Podcast: “Larry Berger on EdTech Past and Future”

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S5.E6. Why skepticism is essential to the Science of Reading, with Dr. Claude Goldenberg

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What’s included in our Spanish language arts curriculum

Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts® (CKLA) is available in both English and Spanish. Amplify Caminos al Conocimiento Esencial, our robust Spanish language arts companion for grades K–5, supports multiple teaching models, including dual language immersion and transitional classrooms.

A laptop screen displays a kindergarten instructional webpage in Spanish, showing lesson categories with illustrated thumbnails and navigation options.

Year at a glance

The program’s intentional Knowledge Sequence from K–5 connects knowledge and vocabulary within a grade level and across grade levels, for deeper reading comprehension and preparation for college, career, and life. Instead of “activating prior knowledge,” Amplify Caminos helps you build it in the classroom from day one, for every child, expanding each student’s knowledge base long before they transition to reading to learn.

Curriculum flowchart showing reading themes and activities from Kindergarten to Grade 5, organized by grade level and literary theme, with interconnected boxes for each topic.

Units & domains at a glance

Each Knowledge Domain in grades K–2 and Unit in grades 3–5 varies in the number of days based on instructional purpose. Just as with our top-rated Amplify CKLA program, the Amplify Caminos materials engage and delight young learners with resources that are both appealing and original.

Una mujer rubia con un vestido azul cuida ovejas blancas y negras, sosteniendo un bastón de pastor. Un cerdo vestido de azul corre y un hombre de negro toca el violín en una valla. Al fondo hay una casa.

Domain

Nursery Rhymes and Fables/Rimas y fábulas infantiles

Start learning about literature with these classic Mother Goose rhymes.

Ilustración de tres personas en un paisaje cubierto de hierba, una tratando de atrapar mariposas con una red, otra escondiéndose detrás de una escultura alta y frondosa de una mano y otra con binoculares.

Domain

The Five Senses/Los cinco sentidos

Learning about the body starts with learning about how we experience the world.

Una ilustración que representa a un gran lobo con sombrero de copa liderando un desfile de animales y personas con instrumentos musicales a través de un paisaje montañoso.

Domain

Stories/Cuentos

Learn about the parts of a book and some of the stories that go in one.

Una ilustración vibrante de una escena rural con colinas, una granja, una mariposa, un sol brillante, varias verduras como tomates y lechugas, y un gusano en el suelo.

Domain

Plants/Plantas

Discover the lifecycle of plants and the history of George Washington Carver.

Ilustración de una escena de granja que muestra un camión rojo que transporta verduras, campos de cultivo, vacas pastando en una colina, un granero y un molino de viento contra un cielo azul.

Domain

Farms/Granjas

Now we know how plants make their food… but what about animals?

Ilustración de un nativo remando en una canoa en un río con búfalos pastando en un campo, tipis al fondo y pájaros volando en el cielo bajo un sol brillante.

Domain

Native Americans/Los nativos americanos

Who were the first people in America? A look at the Lenape, Wampanoag, and Lakota Sioux.

Una ilustración muestra un rey y una reina en tronos, un castillo en un acantilado y una mujer con enanos cerca de un árbol. Cortinas rojas enmarcan la escena.

Domain

Kings and Queens/Reyes y reinas

To understand fairy tales, it’s best to first understand royalty.

Ilustración que muestra las cuatro estaciones: primavera con flores, verano con árboles verdes, otoño con hojas que caen e invierno con nieve y gente en trineo. Un niño lee debajo de un árbol.

Domain

Seasons and Weather/Las estaciones y el tiempo

The study of natural cycles continues with the weather and why it happens.

Un velero de madera con símbolos de cruz roja en sus velas navega cerca de una isla tropical con exuberante vegetación y palmeras. A lo lejos se ven otros dos barcos en el agua.

Domain

Columbus and the Pilgrims/Colón y los peregrinos

A look at the first contact between Europe and the Americas, and some of its results.

Una escena histórica muestra gente afuera de una gran mansión de estilo colonial con dos chimeneas. En primer plano se ve un carruaje tirado por caballos y a la izquierda se ve una casa más pequeña.

Domain

Colonial Towns and Townspeople/Las colonias y sus habitantes

Before the War for Independence, how did the town and country depend on one another?

Ilustración de personas clasificando materiales reciclables en un parque cerca de un río contaminado. Las fábricas emiten humo al fondo, mientras que las mariposas, las flores y los árboles están presentes en el primer plano.

Domain

Taking Care of the Earth/Cuidar el planeta Tierra

We only have one Earth—here are some ways to help care for it.

Ilustración del Monte Rushmore con los rostros tallados de cuatro presidentes de Estados Unidos. Un águila vuela en primer plano.

Domain

Presidents and American Symbols/Presidentes y símbolos de los Estados Unidos

Start learning about government through the lives of five presidents.

Una ilustración caprichosa que muestra animales de granja alrededor de una casa en un árbol junto a un río. Un zorro, un conejo y una oveja interactúan mientras la gente acampa junto a una fogata al fondo. Una araña cuelga del árbol.

Domain

Fables and Stories/Fábulas y cuentos

Learn some of the key elements of a story through classic fables.

Ilustración que presenta anatomía humana, actividades de estilo de vida saludable, profesionales médicos, símbolos dietéticos, una ambulancia y microorganismos, destacando la conexión entre salud, nutrición y ejercicio.

Domain

The Human Body/El cuerpo humano

What are germs? What are the organs? And what does it all have to do with health?

Una ilustración que presenta varias escenas de cuentos de hadas y folclore, incluida una calabaza grande, un tigre, Caperucita Roja, personas con atuendos tradicionales y una pagoda roja con una montaña de fondo.

Domain

Different Lands, Similar Stories/Tierras diferentes, cuentos similares

A world tour of storytelling, and the stories that stay the same across the world.

Ilustración que muestra el antiguo Egipto con pirámides, la Esfinge, agricultores arando un campo con bueyes y ganado pastando bajo un cielo soleado.

Domain

Early World Civilizations/Antiguas civilizaciones del mundo

Rivers, farming, writing, and laws: just what does it take to build a civilization?

Escena ilustrada de la antigua Mesoamérica con maíz, un río, agricultores y pirámides al fondo. En primer plano se ve a una persona con traje tradicional.

Domain

Early American Civilizations/Antiguas civilizaciones de América

What will we find in the great temples of the Aztec, Maya, and Inca civilizations?

Ilustración de la exploración espacial: se lanza un cohete, un astronauta se para cerca de un módulo de aterrizaje, una persona usa un telescopio y aparece un planeta distante con anillos sobre un fondo estrellado.

Domain

Astronomy/Astronomía

How the Earth relates to the moon, the sun, and the rest of the planets.

Dos paleontólogos en un paisaje volcánico examinan fósiles en primer plano, mientras un volcán emite humo y lava al fondo.

Domain

The History of the Earth/La historia de la Tierra

Just what lies beneath the Earth’s surface, and what can it teach us about the past?

Una escena de vida silvestre diversa que presenta un cactus del desierto con un pájaro, un conejo, elefantes, un león, un oso polar sobre el hielo y montañas distantes bajo un cielo nublado.

Domain

Animals and Habitats/Los animales y sus hábitats

A look at the connection between how animals live and where they make their homes.

Una princesa con un vestido rosa sostiene una rana junto a un arroyo con un castillo, árboles y gente al fondo. En primer plano camina un zorro con un sombrero con una pluma roja.

Domain

Fairy Tales/Cuentos de hadas

What do fairy tales have to teach us about how stories are told?

Ilustración que muestra una escena histórica con soldados, veleros y hombres con atuendo colonial discutiendo en el interior.

Domain

A New Nation: American Independence/Una nueva nación: la independencia de los Estados Unidos

The story of the birth of the United States out of the 13 Colonies.

Los pioneros con carros cubiertos y caballos señalan hacia un valle con tipis nativos, fogatas y humo elevándose. Un oso se encuentra sobre una roca y se ven montañas al fondo.

Domain

Frontier Explorers/Exploradores de la Frontera

The story of the journey west from the newborn U.S.A. to find the Pacific Ocean.

Un hombre con un hacha se encuentra entre paisajes exagerados con un castillo, un tren con humo, un buey azul y una persona con un mono observando la escena.

Domain

Fairy Tales and Tall Tales/Cuentos de hadas y cuentos exagerados

Learn about exaggeration and characterization on the frontier.

Ilustración de un paisaje vibrante que presenta diversos monumentos culturales, incluidos templos, palacios, pirámides, una escena de elefantes, montañas distantes y fuegos artificiales en el cielo.

Domain

Early Asian Civilizations/Antiguas civilizaciones de Asia

Tour the world of classical civilization, starting with India and China.

Ilustración que muestra la antigua Grecia con un anfiteatro, estatuas, soldados con armadura, un barco y un templo en una colina rodeada de vegetación.

Domain

Ancient Greek Civilization/La civilización griega antigua

The tour continues with the philosophy and politics of Greece.

Illustration of various mythological scenes including greek gods, a flying horse, and roman architecture under a sunny sky.

Domain

Greek Myths/Mitos griegos

Dive deep into the characters and storytelling of classic myths.

Ilustración de una batalla entre barcos británicos y estadounidenses cerca de un fuerte. El barco británico está a la izquierda con soldados, mientras que el barco estadounidense está a la derecha. La gente porta una gran bandera estadounidense en primer plano.

Domain

The War of 1812/La guerra de 1812

Learn about America’s “Second War for Independence.”

Un paisaje nevado con un zorro durmiendo en una madriguera, gente corriendo y andando en bicicleta por un sendero y árboles que muestran los cambios estacionales.

Domain

Cycles in Nature/Los ciclos de la naturaleza

Introducing the natural cycles that make our lives possible.

Ilustración de carros cubiertos tirados por caballos a lo largo de un sendero en el desierto, con un coyote aullando sobre una alta formación rocosa y un tren de vapor al fondo.

Domain

Westward Expansion/La expansión hacia el oeste

Why did pioneers go west? What happened to the people who were there?

Ilustración de un jardín vibrante con flores, abejas, mariposas, una oruga en una hoja, una crisálida y un apicultor que maneja una colmena junto a un estanque.

Domain

Insects/Los insectos

Lay the grounds for animal classification by looking at solitary and social insects.

Ilustración de una escena histórica con gente escuchando el discurso de un hombre en una plataforma. Al fondo se ve un río y una procesión de personas. En primer plano hay un documento de proclamación.

Domain

The U.S. Civil War/La Guerra Civil de los Estados Unidos

Begin to grapple with U.S. history’s central crisis over slavery.

Una escena en la que aparece una persona explicando un diagrama anatómico humano, otra persona haciendo ejercicio, una cadena de ADN, campos y un microscopio de fondo.

Domain

Human Body: Building Blocks and Nutrition/El cuerpo humano: componentes básicos y nutrición

A deeper dive into the digestive system and the nutrition process.

Un grupo diverso de personas se encuentra en un muelle con vistas a un bullicioso puerto con barcos y un gran barco, un avión volando por encima y la Estatua de la Libertad al fondo.

Domain

Immigration/La inmigración

Why did people immigrate to the United States, and what did they find here?

Women in early 20th-century clothing march with signs for voting rights and justice in front of a yellow bus labeled "Cleveland Ave.," making history that can inspire lessons in a K–2 language arts curriculum.

Domain

Fighting for a Cause/Luchar por una causa

How people can do extraordinary things to make the world better for everyone.

Dos ratones antropomórficos en un bote de remos, uno de ellos remando, navegan por un río tranquilo rodeado de exuberante vegetación y árboles. El ratón que rema lleva una chaqueta azul y el otro ratón parece conversar.

Unit 1

Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows/Cuentos Clásicos: El viento en los sauces

A deep dive into character, theme, and POV in classic stories from around the world.

Ilustración de un jaguar, una garza, una rana roja, una tortuga y un pez en un paisaje vibrante con montañas y vegetación bajo un cielo soleado.

Unit 2

Animal Classification/La clasificación de los animales

How do we classify different animals by their appearance and behavior?

Ilustración de una figura humana que muestra la anatomía interna, incluidos el cerebro, los pulmones, el corazón, el sistema digestivo y una articulación de la cadera resaltada sobre un fondo degradado.

Unit 3

The Human Body: Systems and Senses/El cuerpo humano: sistemas y sentidos

Let’s take a closer look at how the skeleton, muscles, and nervous system all work.

Un ángel se arrodilla ante una mujer sentada en un sofá dorado encima de un templo en una noche estrellada. Unas escaleras conducen al templo en un paisaje montañoso.

Unit 4

The Ancient Roman Civilization/La civilización romana antigua

What is Rome’s greatest cultural contribution? In this unit, your students decide.

Ilustración de un perro saltando bajo un árbol, persiguiendo una abeja, con una mesa en primer plano sosteniendo una jarra y vasos de limonada. El sol brilla intensamente en el cielo.

Unit 5

Light and Sound/La luz y el sonido

The science behind all the ways we see and hear the world.

Un barco vikingo con una proa en forma de dragón navega en el océano bajo un cielo azul con nubes. El barco tiene una sola vela grande y varios escudos recubren sus costados.

Unit 6

The Viking Age/La era vikinga

An immersive narrative experience about what life was like in Viking communities.

Ilustración de una escena espacial con varios planetas y anillos sobre un fondo de estrellas. Dos planetas grandes dominan el primer plano y se ven planetas más pequeños al fondo.

Unit 7

Astronomy: Our Solar System and Beyond/Astronomía: nuestro sistema solar y más allá

More about our universe, including a writing project about daily life on a space station.

Una persona sentada en el borde de un acantilado con vistas a un vasto paisaje desértico con nubes arremolinadas en el cielo.

Unit 8

Native Americans: Regions and Cultures/Los nativos americanos: regiones y culturas

How did Native American nations change their way of life in different parts of the world?

Ilustración de un velero en el océano con la costa este de América del Norte visible a la izquierda.

Unit 9

Early Explorations of North America/La exploración europea de América del Norte

What was it like to sail to North America with the early European explorers?

Una pintura representa una escena del siglo XVII con colonos, un velero al fondo y un hombre conduciendo un carro tirado por caballos cargado de mercancías. Se ve a otras personas descargando y trabajando cerca.

Unit 10

Colonial America/La época colonial en los Estados Unidos

A study of the very different ways of life in the different pre-U.S. colonies.

Ilustración que muestra el ciclo de la vida: un esqueleto en el suelo, un pájaro posado en una cerca, otro pájaro en una planta y un ave rapaz más grande arriba, todos conectados por flechas circulares.

Unit 11

Ecology/Ecología

Students keep ecologist’s journals to learn about our world and how best to protect it.

Una mano alcanza una manzana verde en una rama. Cerca hay una brújula, un termómetro, un lápiz, notas musicales y un granero rojo sobre un paisaje cubierto de hierba.

Unit 1

Personal Narratives/Narrativas personales

Read stories of personal experience… and learn to reflect on your own.

Ilustración medieval que representa un grupo de figuras con armadura a la entrada de un alto castillo gris con puente levadizo, adornado con banderas y rodeado por un paisaje decorado y fondos ornamentados.

Unit 2

Empires in the Middle Ages/Los imperios en la Edad Media, parte 1 & Los imperios en la Edad Media, parte 2

Explore the medieval history of Europe and the Middle East.

Ilustración dorada de un dragón con alas sobre fondo beige, rodeado de diversos elementos decorativos como estrellas, hojas y estampados abstractos.

Unit 3

Poetry/Poesía

Study the poetry of many nations using licensed text anthologies, and begin to write your own.

Vintage styled illustrations of a microscope, an old telephone, and a clock on textured background with geometric patterns.

Unit 4

Eureka! Student Inventor/¡Eureka! Estudiante inventor

Transform the class into a lab for students to build and present inventions.

Formaciones rocosas en un paisaje desértico con capas vibrantes y arremolinadas de arenisca roja, naranja y amarilla bajo un cielo parcialmente nublado.

Unit 5

Geology/Geología

Plate tectonics, volcanoes, erosion: all the forces that shape the Earth.

Una imagen abstracta y colorida que representa varias formas geométricas de edificios sobre un fondo azul estampado.

Unit 6

Contemporary Fiction with excerpts from The House on Mango Street/Ficción Contemporánea con Fragmentos de La Casa en Mango Street

Explore The House on Mango Street… and write a book while doing it.

Cuadro que representa a un hombre y un niño tocando una gran campana en una torre, con espectadores al fondo y un cartel de "LIBERTAD" visible.

Unit 7

American Revolution/La Revolución estadounidense

Why did America seek independence? Let’s investigate the causes and effects.

Un pequeño bote de remos con tres personas navega por mares agitados mientras dos grandes barcos luchan al fondo, con humo y fuego visibles.

Unit 8

Treasure Island/La Isla del Tesoro

How dSeek the treasure of plot in this detailed study of a classic fiction adventure.

Unit 1

Personal Narratives/Narrativas personales

Through writing and sharing their writing, students begin to identify themselves as writers.

Unit 2

Early American Civilizations/Las primeras civilizaciones americanas

Students craft a codex to explain the rise and fall of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca people.

Dos jinetes medievales a caballo, uno de ellos con la espada en alto, avanzan por un terreno rocoso. El fondo presenta un paisaje brumoso bajo un tono violeta.

Unit 3

Poetry/Poesía

Students close read many forms of poetry… and learn to write them.

Collage ilustrado con un paraguas, un cuervo, un sextante náutico, estrellas, una luna creciente y una brújula sobre un fondo beige texturizado.

Unit 4

Adventures of Don Quixote/Las Aventuras de Don Quijote

Was Don Quixote right to fight the windmill? In this full-length novel study, students decide.

Unit 5

The Renaissance/El Renacimiento

Exploring the art and literature of the Renaissance through the works of its masters.

Tres hombres vestidos con ropa de época examinan una gran hoja de papel dentro de una imprenta. Un hombre parece llevar un delantal, mientras que otro señala el papel y el tercero observa de cerca.

Unit 6

The Reformation/La Reforma

How did the printing press transform the religion and society of Europe?

Patrón botánico morado y lila con hojas, plantas y formas abstractas, incluida una luna creciente y estrellas, sobre un fondo violeta oscuro.

Unit 7

William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream/Sueño de Una Noche de Verano de William Shakespeare

Students enter the world of Shakespeare by reading, designing, and acting out his work.

Retrato en tonos sepia de una joven de pelo largo, con un collar de pedrería y un chal drapeado.

Unit 8

Native Americans/Los nativos americanos

How did the policies of the U.S. government impact Native American culture and lives?

Una lupa sobre documentos que contienen una pintura de paisaje de montañas, un dibujo con la etiqueta "Raptor Claw" y una nota adhesiva con la "Pista n.° 2". También se ven un sobre y una insignia exterior.

Unit 9

Chemical Matter/Química

Students use knowledge of chemistry to solve a mystery.

Print & digital components

The program includes instructional guidance and student materials for a year of instruction, with lessons and activities that keep students engaged every day.

Component

FORMAT

Knowledge (Conocimientos) Teacher Guides (K–2)

Knowledge Strand Teacher Guides contain Amplify CKLA’s cross-curricular read-alouds and application activities, all of which are standards-based to build mastery of content knowledge and literacy skills. There is one Teacher Guide per Knowledge Domain.

Print and digital

Knowledge Image Cards (K–2)

Amplify Caminos includes Image Cards for each Knowledge Domain to bring each topic to life through vivid visuals.

Print and digital

Knowledge Flip Books (K–2)

Projectable Flip Books are provided to accompany the read-alouds in each Knowledge Domain.

Digital

Teacher Guides (3–5)

Teacher Guides for grades 3–5 units are based on content-rich topics and incorporate reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills in the context of background knowledge. There is one Teacher Guide per unit.

Print or digital

Teacher Resource Site (K–5)

The program includes a one-stop-shop website for lesson projections, digital versions of all Amplify Caminos materials, lesson planning resources, multimedia (such as eBooks), and more.

Digital

Professional Learning Site (K–5)

The Professional Learning site includes training materials, best practices, and other resources to develop program expertise. Access professional development anywhere, anytime.

Digital

Component

FORMAT

Knowledge (Conocimiento) Activity Books (K–2)

Activity Books provide students with the opportunity to deepen world and word knowledge by responding to text in a diversity of ways.

Print

Student Readers (3–5)

Student Readers serve as content-rich anchor texts for each unit. Units such as Poetry and Contemporary Fiction feature authentic texts originally written in Spanish.

Activity Books (3–5)

Activity Books in grades 3–5 provide daily opportunities for students to hone reading and writing skills within the context of each unit.

Print and digital

Explore more programs

Our programs are designed to support and complement one another. Learn more about our related programs.

Core STEM programs: Strengthen sessions

Professional development sets teachers and leaders up for success, whether they are new to or experienced with a program. Each Strengthen session promotes a deeper understanding of the program through targeted instructional practices.

Explore STEM Strengthen sessions by program below.

Professional Learning Partner Guide Certified Provider

Amplify professional development has been vetted by Rivet Education’s team through a rigorous three-step process and is listed in the Professional Learning Partner Guide.

A man works on a laptop at a desk with pencils, next to an illustration of math equations and scales.

About Strengthen sessions

Target specific instructional practices with Strengthen sessions designed for teachers and leaders in year one and beyond.

Ready to schedule? Contact us and an Amplify expert will help identify the session(s) that best support your students’ success.

Each package includes one Strengthen session. Additional sessions can be added as enhancements.

Amplify Math

Amplify Math is a core math curriculum that serves 100% of students in accessing grade-level math every day. The program delivers engaging grade-level math lessons; flexible, social problem-solving experiences both online and off, and insights, data, and reporting that drive performance.

Explore the Amplify Math Strengthen sessions (for grade bands 6–Algebra 1 and Geometry–Algebra 2) for Begin packages and beyond. Click the session title or scroll down to learn more about each session.

Begin packages

  On-site package
(15 hr.)
Hybrid
on-site package

(15 hr.)
Hybrid 10 package
(10 hr.)
Hybrid
virtual package

(15 hr.)
Virtual package
(7 hr.)
One Strengthen session per package On-site
3 hr. sessions
On-site
3 hr. sessions
Virtual
1 hr. sessions
Virtual
3 hr. sessions
Virtual
1 hr. sessions
Enhancing planning for 6–A1 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Enhancing practice for 6–A1 teachers
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Enhancing observations for leaders A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Unit-level planning for 6–A1 teachers
    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Lesson-level planning for 6–A1 teachers
    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Increasing engagement with instructional routines for 6–A1 teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.

Begin: Enhancing planning for grade 6–A1 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Prepare to teach Amplify Math lessons effectively by engaging in collaborative backward planning with experts. Work alongside our facilitators to understand how to target key concepts and make successful instructional decisions across a unit, and leave with a completed unit plan for your class.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Enhancing practice for grade 6–A1 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

See the Launch, Monitor, Connect problem-based learning model in action, and practice integrating these practices into your facilitation of lesson activities. Leave with guidelines for using the Launch, Monitor, Connect model that you can implement during your next lesson.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Enhancing observations for leaders

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn to use our non-evaluative classroom look-for tool for Amplify Math to promote the use of instructional resources, focus on instructional delivery, and monitor instruction. Leave with an action plan for collecting and analyzing observation data to support teachers in their implementation of Amplify Math.

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Unit-level planning for grade 6–A1 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Dive into unit planning as you learn the story of how your upcoming unit is tied to other units and grade levels, and discover the big ideas you will explore alongside your students in Amplify Math.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Lesson-level planning for grade 6–A1 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Dive into lesson-level planning as you learn how to create a road map that guides student learning, makes connections across lessons, and measures student understanding of the learning goals in Amplify Math.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Increasing engagement with Instructional Routines for grade 6–A1 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Explore how to use Instructional Routines such as Notice and Wonder to support and engage students as they make sense of new contexts and mathematical problems in Amplify Math.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice packages

  On-site package
(15 hr.)
Hybrid 15,
on-site package

(15 hr.)
Hybrid 13 package
(13 hr.)
Virtual package
(9 hr.)
One Strengthen session per package On-site
3 hr. sessions
On-site
3 hr. sessions
Virtual
1 hr. sessions
Virtual
3 hr. session
Enhancing planning for 6–A1 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Enhancing practice for 6–A1 teachers
A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Enhancing observations for leaders A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Using differentiation supports for 6–A1 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. 
Using data to drive instruction for 6–A1 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Addressing prerequisite skills for 6–A1 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Orchestrating math discussions for 6–A1 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Building language with math routines for 6–A1 teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Unit-level planning for 6–A1 teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Lesson-level planning for 6–A1 teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Increasing engagement with Instructional Routines for 6–A1 teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  

Practice: Enhancing planning for grade 6–A1 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Prepare to effectively teach Amplify Math lessons by engaging in collaborative backward planning with experts. Work alongside our facilitators to understand how to target key concepts and make effective instructional decisions across a unit, and leave with a completed unit plan for your class.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Enhancing practice for grade 6–A1 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

See the Launch, Monitor, Connect problem-based learning model in action, and practice integrating these practices into your facilitation of lesson activities. Leave with guidelines for using the Launch, Monitor, Connect model that you can implement during your next lesson.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Enhancing observations for leaders

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn to use our non-evaluative classroom look-for tool for Amplify Math to promote the use of instructional resources, focus on instructional delivery, and monitor instruction. Leave with an action plan for collecting and analyzing observation data to support teachers in their implementation of Amplify Math.

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Using differentiation supports for grade 6–A1 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn how to leverage embedded differentiated supports in Amplify Math to ensure that all students can be successful. Walk away with a plan for supporting students in your classroom including multilingual/English learners (ML/ELs), students with disabilities, students who may need extra support, and advanced students.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Using data to drive instruction for grade 6–A1 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Grow your proficiency in data analysis. Turn student data gathered within Amplify Math into differentiated instruction targeting specific skills. Walk away ready to use the data provided in the curriculum to align embedded support to your students’ unique needs.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Addressing prerequisite skills for grade 6–A1 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Explore Amplify Math’s just-in-time approach to addressing prerequisite skills. Leave with a deeper understanding of how to use embedded curriculum resources to identify and support prerequisite skills essential for your next unit.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Orchestrating math discussions for grade 6–A1 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn strategies for leading discussions that promote more math talk among all students in your classroom. Walk away with strategies and Amplify Math curriculum tools you can bring back to your classroom to enhance discussion in your next lesson.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Building language with math routines for grade 6–A1 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Explore how Math Language Routines support students as they make sense of new contexts and mathematical problems in Amplify Math. Leave with strategies for using these routines to support students in learning mathematical practices, content, and language in your upcoming lessons.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Unit-level planning for grade 6–A1 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Dive into unit planning as you learn the story of how your upcoming unit is tied to other units and grade levels, and discover the big ideas you’ll explore alongside your students in Amplify Math.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Lesson-level planning for grade 6–A1 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Dive into lesson-level planning as you learn how to create a roadmap for a lesson that guides student learning, makes connections across lessons, and measures student understanding of the learning goals in Amplify Math.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Increasing engagement with Instructional Routines for grade 6–A1 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Explore how to leverage Instructional Routines such as Notice and Wonder to support students as they make sense of new contexts and mathematical problems in Amplify Math.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Amplify Desmos Math

Amplify Desmos Math is a core K–12 program—available in English and Spanish—that applies a problem-based approach to develop deep conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and application. Using technology inspired by students’ natural curiosity, Amplify Desmos Math connects the classroom and fosters real collaboration, discourse, and perseverance in problem-solving. Captivating activities, powerful teaching tools, and lots of support enable students to develop math proficiency that lasts a lifetime.

Explore the Amplify Desmos Math Strengthen sessions (for grades K–5, 6–A1, and high school) for Begin packages and beyond. Click the session title or scroll down to learn more about each session.

Begin packages

Strengthen sessions

  On-site package
(15 hr.)
Hybrid 15,
on-site package

(15 hr.)
Hybrid 10 package
(10 hr.)
Hybrid 15, virtual package
(15 hr.)
Virtual package
(7 hr.)
One Strengthen session per package On-site,
3 hr.
On-site,
3 hr.
Virtual,
1 hr.
Virtual,
3 hr.
Virtual,
1 hr.
Enhancing planning for
K–5, 6
–A1, or high school teachers
A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Enhancing practice for
K–5, 6
–A1, or high school teachers
A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Enhancing observations for K–5, 6–A1 leaders, or high school leaders A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Supporting all learners: Differentiation in Amplify Desmos Math for K–5 or 6–A1 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Unit-level planning for
K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers
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Begin: Amplify Desmos Math: Enhancing planning for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dive into planning for Amplify Desmos Math, both big picture and day-to-day. Practice using lesson- and unit-planning protocols that will help you build a deep understanding of the math content you’ll be teaching and the planning resources available to you in the curriculum. Walk away with practical strategies for planning, even when you may not have much time.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Amplify Desmos Math: Enhancing practice for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dig into Amplify Desmos Math’s Launch, Monitor, Connect framework to level-up the student discourse in your math class. Explore in-the-moment differentiation support to help you orchestrate discussion and make the most out of key opportunities for conversation and collaboration.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

New session

Begin: Strengthen: Supporting all learners: Differentiation in Amplify Desmos Math for K–5 or 6–A1 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn how to use the differentiation supports in Amplify Desmos Math to effectively support all learners, both in the moment during a lesson and beyond the lesson. Leave with a plan for implementing resources to support, strengthen, and stretch students’ thinking.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

New session

Begin: Amplify Desmos Math: Enhancing observations for K–5, 6–A1, or high school leaders

High school sessions are available October 2026.

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Elevate your program knowledge to support teachers with effective Amplify Desmos Math implementation. Leave prepared to identify key instructional elements in a problem-based math lesson, analyze data, and conduct effective classroom observations.

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

New session

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Amplify Desmos Math: Unit-level planning for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Dive into unit-level planning to learn the story of your upcoming unit, and discover the big ideas you will explore alongside your students in Amplify Desmos Math.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice packages

Strengthen sessions

  On-site package
(15 hr.)
Hybrid 15,
on-site package

(15 hr.)
Hybrid 13 package
(13 hr.)
Virtual package
(9 hr.)
One Strengthen session per package On-site,
3 hr.
Virtual,
3 hr.
Virtual,
1 hr.
Virtual,
3 hr.
Amplify Desmos Math: Enhancing planning for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Amplify Desmos Math: Enhancing practice for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Amplify Desmos Math: Enhancing observations for K–5, 6–A, or high school leaders A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Amplify Desmos Math: Supporting all learners: Differentiation in Amplify Desmos Math for K–5 or 6–A1 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Amplify Desmos Math: Supporting and facilitating meaningful discussions for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Amplify Desmos Math: Assessment in action: Analyzing data, reports, and planning next steps for K–5 or 6–A1 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Amplify Desmos Math: Unit-level planning for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers
    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Amplify Desmos Math: Teaching a lesson with digital student screens for K–5 teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Amplify Desmos Math: Snapshots in the Teacher Dashboard for
6–A1 teachers
    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Amplify Desmos Math: Increasing engagement with instructional routines for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  

Practice: Amplify Desmos Math: Enhancing planning for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dive into both big-picture and day-to-day planning for Amplify Desmos Math. Practice using lesson- and unit-planning protocols that will help you build a deep understanding of the math content you’ll be teaching and the planning resources available to you in the curriculum. Walk away with practical strategies for planning, even when you may not have much time.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Amplify Desmos Math: Enhancing practice for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dig into Amplify Desmos Math’s Launch, Monitor, Connect framework to level up the student discourse in your math class. Explore in-the-moment differentiation support to help you orchestrate discussion and make the most out of key opportunities for conversation and collaboration.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

New session

Practice: Amplify Desmos Math: Enhancing observations for K–5, 6–A1, or high school leaders

High school sessions are available October 2026.

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Elevate your program knowledge to support teachers with effective Amplify Desmos Math implementation. Leave prepared to identify key instructional elements in a problem-based math lesson, analyze data, and conduct effective classroom observations.

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

New session

Practice: Amplify Desmos Math: Supporting all learners: Differentiation in Amplify Desmos Math for K–5 or 6–A1 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn how to use the differentiation supports in Amplify Desmos Math to effectively support all learners, both in the moment during a lesson and beyond the lesson. Leave with a plan for implementing resources to support, strengthen, and stretch students’ thinking.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Available October 2026

Practice: Amplify Desmos Math: Supporting and facilitating meaningful discussions for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Explore how to transform your mathematics classroom into a social and collaborative environment where students deepen their understanding by sharing their mathematical thinking. Learn more about how Amplify Desmos Math provides support for these meaningful mathematical conversations.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Available October 2026

Practice: Amplify Desmos Math: Assessment in action: Analyzing data, reports, and planning next steps for K–5 or 6–A1 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Deepen your understanding of the different types of assessments in Amplify Desmos Math and how they provide evidence of student learning. Analyze sample student work to calibrate on assessment scoring, interpret student thinking, and make a plan for instructional next steps.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

New session

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Amplify Desmos Math: Unit-level planning for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Dive into unit-level planning to learn the story of your upcoming unit, and discover the big ideas you will explore alongside your students in Amplify Desmos Math.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Amplify Desmos Math: Teaching a lesson with digital student screens for K–5 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Get ready to facilitate lessons with digital student screens. Explore what’s possible with the Teacher Dashboard and plan to make the most of these exciting instructional moments.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Amplify Desmos Math: Snapshots in the Teacher Dashboard for 6–A1 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Explore how to use the Snapshots tool in the Teacher Dashboard to create a collaborative classroom that invites and celebrates student thinking. Leave with planning tips and tricks that will get you ready to use Snapshots during your busy math classes.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Available October 2026

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Amplify Desmos Math: Increasing engagement with instructional routines for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Explore how to use the instructional routines in Amplify Desmos Math to support and engage students as they make sense of new contexts, develop mathematical language, and solve problems.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Amplify Science

Amplify Science is a K–8 science curriculum that blends hands-on investigations, literacy-rich activities, and interactive digital tools to empower students to think, read, write, and argue like real scientists and engineers. 

Explore the Amplify Science sessions (for grade bands K–5 and 6–8) for year-one packages and beyond. Select the session title or scroll to learn more about each session.

Begin packages

Strengthen sessions

  On-site package
(15 hr.)
Hybrid 15,
on-site package

(15 hr.)
Hybrid 10 package
(10 hr.)
Hybrid 15, virtual package
(15 hr.)
Virtual package
(7 hr.)
One Strengthen session per package On-site,
3 hr.
Virtual,
3 hr.
Virtual,
1 hr.
Virtual,
3 hr.
Virtual,
1 hr.
Amplify Science: Enhancing planning for K–5 or 6–8 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Amplify Science: Enhancing practice
for K–5 or 6–8 teachers

A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Amplify Science: Enhancing observations for K–8 leaders A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Amplify Science: Planning an Amplify Science lesson for K–8 teachers
    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Amplify Science: Supporting all learners: Exploring the resources for K–8 teachers
    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Amplify Science: Supporting all learners: Teacher modeling and student discourse
for K–8 teachers

    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.

Begin: Amplify Science: Enhancing planning for K–5 or 6–8 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn how to use a planning protocol to internalize an upcoming Amplify Science unit. Leave with a plan to support students engaging in three-dimensional learning while also meeting the needs of all students in your classroom.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–5 or 6–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Amplify Science: Enhancing practice for K–5 or 6–8 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn how Amplify Science supports phenomenon-based learning. Experience a sequence of model instruction from the curriculum, and walk away with a plan for how you can enhance the curriculum through your teaching practice to build a powerful culture of figuring out in your science classroom.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–5 or 6–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Amplify Science: Enhancing observations for K–8 leaders

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn to use the non-evaluative classroom look-for tool for Amplify Science to promote the use of instructional materials, focus on instructional delivery, and monitor instruction. Leave with an action plan for collecting and analyzing observation data to support teachers in their implementation of Amplify Science.

Audience: Leaders grades K–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Amplify Science: Planning an Amplify Science lesson for K–8 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Develop structure and routines for planning Amplify Science lessons and leave prepared for an upcoming lesson.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Amplify Science: Supporting all learners: Exploring the resources for K–8 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn how to use lesson-specific differentiation briefs, embedded assessments, and activity-specific teacher support notes to maximize instruction for all learners with Amplify Science.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Amplify Science: Supporting all learners: Teacher modeling and student discourse for K–8 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Explore ways to leverage and build upon two key instructional elements in Amplify Science, and plan how you’ll use these supports to engage all learners in your next lesson.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice packages

Strengthen sessions

  On-site package
(15 hr.)
Hybrid 15,
on-site package

(15 hr.)
Hybrid 13 package
(13 hr.)
Virtual package
(9 hr.)
One Strengthen session per package On-site,
3 hr.
Virtual,
3 hr.
Virtual,
1 hr.
Virtual,
3 hr.
Amplify Science: Enhancing planning for K–5 or 6–8 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Amplify Science: Enhancing practice for K–5 or 6–8 teachers
A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Amplify Science: Enhancing observations for K–8 leaders A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Amplify Science: Supporting all learners with complex texts for K–5 or 6–8 teachers
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Amplify Science: Supporting multilingual/English learners for K–5 or 6–8 teachers
A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Amplify Science: Writing in science for K–5 or 6–8 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Amplify Science: Assessment system for K–5 or 6–8 teachers
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Amplify Science: Engineering Internships for 6–8 teachers
A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Amplify Science: Science Seminar for 6–8 teachers
A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Amplify Science: Planning an Amplify Science lesson for K–8 teachers
    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Amplify Science: Supporting all learners: Exploring the resources for K–8 teachers
    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Amplify Science: Supporting all learners: Teacher modeling and student discourse for K–8 teachers
    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Amplify Science: Analyzing student work for K–8 teachers
    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Amplify Science: Supporting all learners: Multimodal learning and multiple at-bats for K–8 teachers
    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Amplify Science: Grading with Amplify Science for K–8 teachers
    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Amplify Science: Enhancing the digital experience for K–5 teachers
    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Amplify Science: Planning with the Coherence Flowchart for K–8 teachers
    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  

Practice: Amplify Science: Enhancing planning for K–5 or 6–8 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn how to use a planning protocol to internalize an upcoming Amplify Science unit. Walk away with a plan to support students engaging in three-dimensional learning while also meeting the all needs of students in your classroom.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–5 or 6–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Amplify Science: Enhancing practice for K–5 or 6–8 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn how Amplify Science supports phenomenon-based learning. Experience a sequence of model instruction from the curriculum, and walk away with a plan for how you can enhance the curriculum through your teaching practice to build a powerful culture of “figuring out” in your science classroom.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–5 or 6–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Amplify Science: Enhancing observations for K–5 or 6–8 leaders

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn to use the non-evaluative classroom look-for tool for Amplify Science to promote the use of instructional materials, focus on instructional delivery, and monitor instruction. Leave with an action plan for collecting and analyzing observation data to support teachers in their implementation of Amplify Science.

Audience: Leaders grades K–5 or 6–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Amplify Science: Supporting all learners with complex texts for K–5 or 6–8 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Collaborate to solve common reading challenges alongside other educatorsLearn strategies to support students in grades K–5 or 6–8 in accessing complex texts in Amplify Science units by engaging in a model-reading sequence. Leave with a plan for incorporating effective strategies into your upcoming Amplify Science reading lesson.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–5 or 6–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Amplify Science: Supporting multilingual/English learners for K–5 or 6–8 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Explore strategies and engage in model activities to support multilingual/English learners in grades K–5 or 6–8 in developing their abilities to do, talk, read, write, visualize, and construct arguments in Amplify Science. Leave with strategies to support a deeper understanding of the critical role that language and literacy play in developing scientific understanding.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–5 or 6–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Amplify Science: Writing in science for K–5 or 6–8 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Develop an understanding of how the Amplify Science writing approach supports students in grades K–5 or 6–8 in engaging in science practices, making sense of science ideas, and growing as writers. Leave with a plan for supporting student writing in your next unit.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–5 or 6–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Amplify Science: Assessment system for K–5 or 6–8 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Analyze a sample formative assessment, deepen your understanding of learning progressions in each Amplify Science unit, and participate in discussions to understand the relationships between different types of assessments and your unit’s learning goals. Walk away with strategies for collecting, analyzing, and responding to student assessment data.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades of K–5 or 6–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Amplify Science: Engineering Internships for 6–8 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Plan for the first Amplify Science Engineering Internship course of your grade level (6–8) by exploring the Futura workspace and digital tools students will use during the internship experience. Leave with an understanding of how students will apply science concept knowledge to construct design solutions. This session will feature one of the following Engineering Internships based on your need: Metabolism, Plate Motion, or Force and Motion.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades 6–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Amplify Science: Science Seminar for 6–8 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Experience a Science Seminar sequence of a sample unit from Amplify Science grade 6–8 from the student perspective! Gain an understanding of how students apply science concepts to engage in argumentation about a phenomenon, and leave with a plan for teaching a Science Seminar unit in your own classroom.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades 6–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Amplify Science: Planning an Amplify Science lesson for K–8 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Develop a structure for planning Amplify Science lessons and leave prepared for an upcoming lesson.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Amplify Science: Supporting all learners: Exploring the resources for K–8 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn how to use lesson-specific differentiation briefs, embedded assessments, and activity-specific teacher support notes to supplement instruction for all learners with Amplify Science.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Amplify Science: Supporting all learners: Teacher modeling and student discourse for K–8 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Explore ways to leverage and build upon two key instructional elements in Amplify Science and plan for ways to use these supports to engage all learners in your next lesson.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Amplify Science: Analyzing student work for K–8 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Engage with a protocol to analyze real student work and plan for instructional next steps in Amplify Science. (You are required to bring student formative assessment samples to this session.)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Amplify Science: Supporting all learners: Multimodal learning and multiple at-bats for K–8 teachers

Virtual, 3 hours

Learn strategies to develop an understanding of how Amplify Science’s multimodal approach supports all learners.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Amplify Science: Grading with Amplify Science for K–8 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Develop an understanding of how to use assessment resources in Amplify Science to grade students three-dimensionally and use practices that align with district/school guidelines.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Amplify Science: Enhancing the digital experience for K–5 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn how to go further with Amplify Science digital experience tools to enhance teaching and learning.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–5 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Amplify Science: Planning with the Coherence Flowchart for K–8 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Practice using the Coherence Flowchart resource to plan an upcoming Amplify Science unit.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Get in touch with a PD expert.

Core STEM programs: Strengthen sessions

Professional development sets teachers and leaders up for success, whether they are new to or experienced with a program. Each Strengthen session promotes a deeper understanding of the program through targeted instructional practices.

Explore STEM Strengthen sessions by program below.

Professional Learning Partner Guide Certified Provider

Amplify professional development has been vetted by Rivet Education’s team through a rigorous three-step process and is listed in the Professional Learning Partner Guide.

Teacher attentively watching two children build with blocks at a colorful classroom table.

About Strengthen sessions

Support Amplify implementation with sessions that target specific instructional practices for teachers and leaders in year one and beyond. When you’re ready to schedule your Strengthen session, contact us. An Amplify expert will support you in selecting the session that best fits your needs and that will help you push student results forward.

Each package includes one Strengthen session. Additional sessions can be added as enhancements.

Amplify Math

Amplify Math is a core math curriculum that serves 100% of students in accessing grade-level math every day. The program delivers engaging grade-level math lessons; flexible, social problem-solving experiences both online and off ; and insights, data, and reporting that drive performance.

Explore the Amplify Math Strengthen sessions (for grade bands 6–Algebra 1) for Begin packages and beyond. Click the session title or scroll down to learn more about each session.

Begin packages

  On-site package
(15 hr.)
Hybrid
on-site package

(15 hr.)
Hybrid 10 package
(10 hr.)
Hybrid
virtual package

(15 hr.)
Virtual package
(7 hr.)
One session per package On-site
3 hr. sessions
On-site
3 hr. sessions
Virtual
1 hr. sessions
Virtual
3 hr. sessions
Virtual
1 hr. sessions
Enhancing planning A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Enhancing practice
A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Enhancing observations for leaders A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Unit-level planning
    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Lesson-level planning
    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Increasing engagement with instructional routines     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.

Begin: Enhancing planning for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Prepare to teach Amplify Math lessons effectively, by engaging in collaborative backward planning with experts. Work alongside our facilitators to understand how to target key concepts and make successful instructional decisions across a unit, and leave with a completed unit plan for your class.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Enhancing practice for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

See the Launch, Monitor, Connect problem-based learning model in action, and practice integrating these practices into your facilitation of lesson activities. Leave with guidelines for using the Launch, Monitor, Connect model that you can implement during your next lesson.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Enhancing observations for leaders

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn to use our non-evaluative classroom look-for tool for Amplify Math to promote the use of instructional resources, focus on instructional delivery, and monitor instruction. Leave with an action plan for collecting and analyzing observation data to support teachers in their implementation of Amplify Math.

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Unit-level planning

Virtual, 1 hour

Dive into unit planning as you learn the story of how your upcoming unit is tied to other units and grade levels, and discover the big ideas you will explore alongside your students in Amplify Math.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Lesson-level planning

Virtual, 1 hour

Dive into lesson-level planning as you learn how to create a road map that guides student learning, makes connections across lessons, and measures student understanding of the learning goals in Amplify Math.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Increasing engagement with instructional routines

Virtual, 1 hour

Explore how to use Instructional Routines such as Notice and Wonder to support and engage students as they make sense of new contexts and mathematical problems in Amplify Math.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice packages

  On-site package
(15 hr.)
Hybrid 15,
on-site package

(15 hr.)
Hybrid 13 package
(13 hr.)
Virtual package
(9 hr.)
One session per package On-site
3 hr. sessions
On-site
3 hr. sessions
Virtual
1 hr. sessions
Virtual
1 hr. sessions
Enhancing planning for teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Enhancing practice for teachers
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Enhancing observations for leaders A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Using differentiation supports for teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. 
Using data to drive instruction for teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Addressing prerequisite skills for teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Orchestrating math discussions for teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Building language with math routines for teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Unit-level planning for teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Lesson-level planning for teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Increasing engagement with Instructional Routines for teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  

Practice: Enhancing planning for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Prepare to effectively teach Amplify Math lessons by engaging in collaborative backward planning with experts. Work alongside our facilitators to understand how to target key concepts and make effective instructional decisions across a unit, and leave with a completed unit plan for your class.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Enhancing practice for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

See the Launch, Monitor, Connect problem-based learning model in action, and practice integrating these practices into your facilitation of lesson activities. Leave with guidelines for using the Launch, Monitor, Connect model that you can implement during your next lesson.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Enhancing observations for leaders

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn to use our non-evaluative classroom look-for tool for Amplify Math to promote the use of instructional resources, focus on instructional delivery, and monitor instruction. Leave with an action plan for collecting and analyzing observation data to support teachers in their implementation of Amplify Math.

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Using differentiation supports for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn how to leverage embedded differentiated supports in Amplify Math to ensure that all students can be successful. Walk away with a plan for supporting students in your classroom including English Language Learners (ELLs), students with disabilities, students who may need extra support, and advanced students.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Using data to drive instruction for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Grow your proficiency in data analysis.Turn student data gathered within Amplify Math into differentiated instruction targeting specific skills. Walk away ready to use the data provided in the curriculum to align embedded support to your students’ unique needs.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Addressing prerequisite skills for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Explore Amplify Math’s just-in-time approach to addressing prerequisite skills. Leave with a deeper understanding of how to use embedded curriculum resources to identify and support prerequisite skills essential for your next unit.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Orchestrating math discussions for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn strategies for leading discussions that promote more math talk among all students in your classroom. Walk away with strategies and Amplify Math curriculum tools you can bring back to your classroom to enhance discussion in your next lesson.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Building language with math routines for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Explore how Math Language Routines support students as they make sense of new contexts and mathematical problems in Amplify Math. Leave with strategies for using these routines to support students in learning mathematical practices, content, and language in your upcoming lessons.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Unit-level planning for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Dive into unit planning as you learn the story of how your upcoming unit is tied to other
units and grade levels, and discover the big ideas you’ll explore alongside your students in Amplify Math.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Lesson-level planning for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Dive into lesson-level planning as you learn how to create a roadmap for a lesson that guides student learning, makes connections across lessons, and measures student understanding of the learning goals in Amplify Math.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Increasing engagement with Instructional Routines for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Explore how to leverage Instructional Routines such as Notice and Wonder to support students as they make sense of new contexts and mathematical problems in Amplify Math.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Amplify Desmos Math

Amplify Desmos Math is a new core K–12 program from Amplify and Desmos Classroom —available in English and Spanish—that applies a problem-based approach to develop deep conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and application. Using technology inspired by students’ natural curiosity, Amplify Desmos Math connects the classroom and fosters real collaboration, discourse, and perseverance in problem-solving. Captivating activities, powerful teaching tools, and lots of support enable students to develop math proficiency that lasts a lifetime.

Explore the Amplify Desmos Math Strengthen sessions (for grades PreK–Algebra 2) for Begin packages and beyond. Click the session title or scroll down to learn more about each session.

Begin packages

Strengthen sessions

  On-site package
(15 hr.)
Hybrid 15,
on-site package

(15 hr.)
Hybrid 10 package
(10 hr.)
Hybrid 15, virtual package
(15 hr.)
Virtual package
(7 hr.)
One session per package On-site,
3 hr.
On-site,
3 hr.
Virtual,
1 hr.
Virtual,
3 hr.
Virtual,
1 hr.
Enhancing planning for K–5 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Enhancing planning for 6–A1 teachers
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Enhancing practice for K–5 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Enhancing practice for 6–A1 teachers
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Desmos Math to Amplify Desmos Math 6–A1 transition training for teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.

Begin: Enhancing planning for K–5 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dive into planning for Amplify Desmos Math, both big picture and day-to-day. Practice using lesson and unit planning protocols that will help you build a deep understanding of the math content you’ll be teaching and the planning resources available to you in the curriculum. Walk away with practical strategies for planning, even when you may not have much time.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Enhancing planning for 6–A1 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dive into both big-picture and day-to-day planning for Amplify Desmos Math. Practice using lesson and unit planning protocols that will help you build a deep understanding of the math content you’ll be teaching and the planning resources available to you in the curriculum. Walk away with practical strategies for planning, even when you may not have much time.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Enhancing practice for K–5 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dig into Amplify Desmos Math’s Launch, Monitor, Connect framework to level-up the student discourse in your math class. Explore in-the-moment differentiation support to help you orchestrate discussion and make the most out of key opportunities for conversation and collaboration.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Enhancing practice for 6–A1 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dig into Amplify Desmos Math’s Launch, Monitor, Connect framework to level up the student discourse in your math classroom. Learn strategies for leveraging the tools in the Teacher Dashboard to orchestrate discussion, and practice planning moves to make the most out of key discussion moments.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Desmos Math to Amplify Desmos Math 6–A1 transition training for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Participants will get an overview of the similarities and differences between Desmos Math and Amplify Desmos Math, including becoming familiar with changes in materials, the digital platform, and key lesson, assessment, and reporting components.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice packages

Strengthen sessions

  On-site package
(15 hr.)
Hybrid 15,
on-site package

(15 hr.)
Hybrid 13 package
(13 hr.)
Virtual package
(9 hr.)
One session per package On-site,
3 hr.
Virtual,
3 hr.
Virtual,
1 hr.
Virtual,
3 hr.
Enhancing planning for
K–5 teachers
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Enhancing planning for
6–A1 teachers

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Enhancing practice for
K–5 teachers
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Enhancing practice for
6–A1 teachers

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Strengthen Focus: Teaching a digital lesson for K–5 teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Strengthen Focus: Snapshots in the Teacher Dashboard for 6–A1 teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  

Practice: Enhancing planning for K–5 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dive into both big-picture and day-to-day planning for Amplify Desmos Math. Practice using lesson and unit planning protocols that will help you build a deep understanding of the math content you’ll be teaching and the planning resources available to you in the curriculum. Walk away with practical strategies for planning, even when you may not have much time.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Enhancing planning for 6–A1 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dive into both big-picture and day-to-day planning for Amplify Desmos Math. Practice using lesson and unit planning protocols that will help you build a deep understanding of the math content you’ll be teaching and the planning resources available to you in the curriculum. Walk away with practical strategies for planning, even when you may not have much time.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Enhancing practice for K–5 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dig into Amplify Desmos Math’s Launch, Monitor, Connect framework to level-up the student discourse in your math class. Explore in-the-moment differentiation support to help you orchestrate discussion and make the most out of key opportunities for conversation and collaboration.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Enhancing practice for 6–A1 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dig into Amplify Desmos Math’s Launch, Monitor, Connect framework to level up the student discourse in your math classroom. Learn strategies for leveraging the tools in the Teacher Dashboard to orchestrate discussion, and practice planning moves to make the most out of key discussion moments.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Teaching a digital lesson for K–5 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Get ready to facilitate digital lessons with your students. Explore what’s possible with the Teacher Dashboard and plan to make the most of these exciting instructional moments.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Snapshots in the Teacher Dashboard for 6–A1 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Explore how to use the Snapshots tool in the Teacher Dashboard to create a collaborative classroom that invites and celebrates student thinking. Leave with planning tips and tricks that will get you ready to use Snapshots during your busy math classes.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Amplify Science

Amplify Science is a K–8 science curriculum that blends hands-on investigations, literacy-rich activities, and interactive digital tools to empower students to think, read, write, and argue like real scientists and engineers. 

Explore the Amplify Science sessions (for grade bands K–5 and 6–8) for year one packages and beyond. Select the session title or scroll to learn more about each session.

Begin packages

Strengthen sessions

  On-site package
(15 hr.)
Hybrid 15,
on-site package

(15 hr.)
Hybrid 10 package
(10 hr.)
Hybrid 15, virtual package
(15 hr.)
Virtual package
(7 hr.)
One session per package On-site,
3 hr.
Virtual,
3 hr.
Virtual,
1 hr.
Virtual,
3 hr.
Virtual,
1 hr.
Enhancing planning
(K–5 or 6–8)
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Enhancing practice
(K–5 or 6–8)

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Enhancing observations for leaders
(K–8)
A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Planning an Amplify Science lesson
(K–8) 

    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Supporting diverse learners: Exploring the resources
(K–8)

    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Supporting diverse learners with embedded supports: Teacher modeling and student discourse
(K–8) 

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Begin: Enhancing planning for teachers
(grades K–5 or 6–8)

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn how to use a planning protocol to internalize an upcoming Amplify Science unit. Leave with a plan to support students engaging in three-dimensional learning while also meeting the diverse needs of students in your classroom.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–5 or 6–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Enhancing practice for teachers
(grades K–5 or 6–8)

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn how Amplify Science supports phenomenon-based learning. Experience a sequence of model instruction from the curriculum, and walk away with a plan for how you can enhance the curriculum through your teaching practice to build a powerful culture of “figuring out” in your science classroom.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–5 or 6–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Enhancing observations for leaders (grades K–8)

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn to use the non-evaluative classroom walkthrough tool for Amplify Science to promote the use of instructional resources, focus on instructional delivery, and monitor instruction. Leave with an action plan for collecting and analyzing observation data to support teachers in their implementation of Amplify Science.

Audience: Leaders grades K–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Planning an Amplify Science lesson

Virtual, 1 hour

Develop structure and routines for planning Amplify Science lessons and leave prepared for an upcoming lesson.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Supporting diverse learners: Exploring the resources (grades K–8)

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn how to use lesson-specific differentiation briefs, embedded assessments, and activity-specific teacher support notes to maximize instruction for diverse learners with Amplify Science.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Supporting diverse learners with embedded supports: Teacher modeling and student discourse (grades K–8)

Virtual, 1 hour

Explore ways to leverage and build upon two key instructional elements in Amplify Science, and plan how you’ll use these supports to engage diverse learners in your next lesson.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice packages

Strengthen sessions

  On-site package
(15 hr.)
Hybrid 15,
on-site package

(15 hr.)
Hybrid 13 package
(13 hr.)
Virtual package
(9 hr.)
One session per package On-site,
3 hr.
Virtual,
3 hr.
Virtual,
1 hr.
Virtual,
3 hr.
Enhancing planning
(K–5 or 6–8)
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Enhancing practice
(K–5 or 6–8)

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Enhancing observations for leaders
(K–8)
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Supporting all learners with complex texts
(K–5 or 6–8)

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Supporting English learners (K–5 or 6–8)
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Writing in science (K–5 or 6–8) A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Assessment system (K–5 or 6–8)
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Engineering Internships (6–8)
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Science Seminar (6–8)
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Planning an Amplify Science lesson (K–8)
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Supporting diverse learners: Exploring the resources (K–8)
    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Supporting diverse learners: Teacher modeling and student discourse (K–8)
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Analyzing student work (K–8)
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Supporting diverse learners: Multimodal learning and multiple at-bats (K–8)
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Grading with Amplify Science (K–8)
    A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Enhancing the digital experience (K–5)
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Planning with the Coherence Flowchart (K–8)
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Practice: Enhancing planning for teachers
(grades K–5 or 6–8)

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn how to use a planning protocol to internalize an upcoming Amplify Science unit. Walk away with a plan to support students engaging in three-dimensional learning while also meeting the diverse needs of students in your classroom.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–5 or 6–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Enhancing practice for teachers
(grades K–5 or 6–8)

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn how Amplify Science supports phenomenon-based learning. Experience a sequence of model instruction from the curriculum, and walk away with a plan for how you can enhance the curriculum through your teaching practice to build a powerful culture of “figuring out” in your science classroom.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–5 or 6–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Enhancing observations for leaders
(grades K–5 or 6–8)

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn to use the non-evaluative classroom walkthrough tool for Amplify Science to promote the use of instructional resources, focus on instructional delivery, and monitor instruction. Leave with an action plan for collecting and analyzing observation data to support teachers in their implementation of Amplify Science.

Audience: Leaders grades K–5 or 6–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Supporting all learners with complex texts (grades K–5 or 6–8)

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Collaborate to solve common reading challenges alongside other educatorsLearn strategies to support students in grades K–5 or 6–8 in accessing complex texts in Amplify Science units by engaging in a model reading sequence. Leave with a plan for incorporating effective strategies into your upcoming Amplify Science reading lesson.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–5 or 6–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Supporting English learners (grades K–5 or 6–8)

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Explore strategies and engage in model activities to support multilingual/English learners in grades K–5 or 6–8 in developing their abilities to do, talk, read, write, visualize, and construct arguments in Amplify Science. Leave with strategies to support a deeper understanding of the critical role that language and literacy play in developing scientific understanding.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–5 or 6–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Writing in science (grades K–5 or 6–8)

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Develop an understanding of how the Amplify Science writing approach supports students in grades K–5 or 6–8 in engaging in science practices, making sense of science ideas, and growing as writers. Leave with a plan for supporting student writing in your next unit.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–5 or 6–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Assessment system (grades K–5 or 6–8)

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Available: Fall 2024

Analyze a sample formative assessment, deepen your understanding of Amplify Science unit learning progressions, and participate in discussions to understand the relationships between different types of assessments and your unit’s learning goals. Walk away with strategies for collecting, analyzing, and responding to student assessment data.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades of K–5 or 6–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Engineering Internships (grades 6–8)

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Plan for the first Amplify Science Engineering Internship course of your grade level (6–8) by exploring the Futura workspace and digital tools students will use during the Internship experience. Leave with an understanding of how students will apply science concept knowledge to construct design solutions. This session will feature one of the following Engineering Internships based on your need: Metabolism, Plate Motion, or Force and Motion unit.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades 6–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Science Seminar (grades 6–8)

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Experience a Science Seminar sequence of a sample Amplify Science grade 6–8 unit from the student perspective to gain an understanding of how students apply science concepts to engage in argumentation about a phenomenon. Leave with a plan for teaching a Science Seminar unit in your own classroom.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades 6–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Planning an Amplify Science lesson (grades K–8)

Virtual, 1 hour

Develop a structure for planning Amplify Science lessons and leave prepared for an upcoming lesson.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Supporting diverse learners: Exploring the resources (grades K–8)

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn how to use lesson-specific differentiation briefs, embedded assessments, and activity-specific teacher support notes to supplement instruction for diverse learners with Amplify Science.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Supporting diverse learners: Teacher modeling and student discourse (grades K–8)

Virtual, 1 hour

Explore ways to leverage and build upon two key instructional elements in Amplify Science and plan for ways to use these supports to engage diverse learners in your next lesson.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Analyzing student work (grades K–8)

Virtual, 1 hour

Engage with a protocol to analyze real student work and plan for instructional next steps in Amplify Science. (You are required to bring student formative assessment samples to this session.)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Supporting diverse learners: Multimodal learning and multiple at-bats (grades K–8)

Virtual, 3 hours

Learn strategies to develop an understanding of how Amplify Science’s multimodal approach supports diverse learners.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Grading with Amplify Science (grades K–8)

Virtual, 1 hour

Develop an understanding of how to use assessment resources in Amplify Science to grade students three dimensionally and use practices that align with district/school guidelines.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Enhancing the digital experience (grades K–5)

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn how to go further with Amplify Science digital experience tools to enhance teaching and learning.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–5 (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Planning with the Coherence Flowchart (grades K–8)

Virtual, 1 hour

Practice using the Coherence Flowchart resource to plan an upcoming Amplify Science unit.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff grades K–8 (maximum 30 participants)

Get in touch with a PD expert

We’re here to provide answers and guidance as you explore your PD journey. Fill out the form to connect with us and discover how Amplify PD can enhance your educational journey.

1. Service Overview

As a provider of technology solutions to schools, Amplify’s commitment to data privacy and security is essential to our organization. This overview of Amplify’s Information Security Program describes physical, technical and administrative safeguards Amplify implements to protect student data in our care.

Company profile

Amplify Education, Inc. (Amplify) is a privately held company founded in 2000 as Wireless Generation. Amplify’s products include curriculum and instruction, assessment and intervention, professional development services and consulting services for K-12 education.

Service hosting

Amplify leverages Amazon Web Services (AWS) as its cloud hosting provider. Within AWS, Amplify utilizes Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs), which provide an isolated cloud environment within the AWS infrastructure. External network traffic to a VPC is managed via gateway and firewall rules, which are maintained in source code control to ensure that the configuration remains in compliance with Amplify security policy. In addition, the production VPCs and the development VPCs are isolated from each other and maintained in separate AWS accounts.

2. Policies & standards

Information security program

Amplify maintains a comprehensive information security program based on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework and the NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 family of information security controls. These provide a robust framework of best practices from which an organization can build its security policies and protocols based on identified risks, compliance requirements, and business needs. They cover critical practice areas, including access control, configuration management, incident response, security training, and other information security domains.

Governance

Amplify’s Information Security Committee has primary responsibility for the development, maintenance, and implementation of the Amplify information security program. The Information Security Committee is responsible for all information risk management activities within the company and is composed of technology, business and legal leaders from the organization. The Committee meets weekly and includes a dedicated VP of Information Security and a program manager to oversee, direct and coordinate its activities.

Policy execution

Adherence to the internal Amplify information security policy is an obligation of every Amplify employee. Amplify conducts a series of internal monitoring procedures to verify compliance with internal information security policies, and all Amplify employees undergo annual criminal background checks. In addition, any third-party contractors who come into contact with systems that may contain student data are contractually bound to maintain security and privacy of the data.

3. Data access controls

Access control

Amplify’s access control principles dictate that all student data we store on behalf of customers is only accessible to district-authorized users and to a limited set of internal Amplify users who may only access the data for purposes authorized by the district. Districts maintain control over their internal users and may grant or revoke access.

In limited circumstances and strictly for the purposes of supporting school districts and maintaining the functionality of systems, certain Amplify users may access Amplify systems with student data. All such access to student data by Amplify technicians or customer support requires both authentication and authorization to view the information.

Encryption

Data encryption is an important element of our protection of sensitive data at rest and in transit, and is reviewed and updated as appropriate annually, based on the latest standards and guidelines published by OWASP and NIST.

  • In transit: Amplify encrypts all student data in transit over public connections, using Transport Layer Security (TLS), commonly known as SSL, using industry-standard protocols, ciphers, algorithms, and key sizes.
  • At rest: Amplify encrypts student data at rest using the industry-standard AES-256 encryption algorithm.

4. Application security by design

Building the right roles into applications

Permissions within Amplify applications are designed on the principle that school districts control access to all student data. To facilitate this, Amplify applications are designed so that roles and permissions flow from the district to the individual user. For example, applications that offer schools a way to collect and report on assessment results have a web interface that requires district administrators to authorize individuals to view student data.

Security controls within applications are used to ensure that the desired privacy protections are technically enforced within the system. For example, if a principal is supposed to see only the data related to his or her school, Amplify ensures that, throughout the design and development process, our products restrict principals from seeing records for any students outside his or her school.

To make sure Amplify applications properly enforce permissions and roles, our development teams conduct reviews early in the design process to ensure roles and permissions are an essential component of the design of new applications.

Building security controls into applications

Amplify applications are also developed to minimize security vulnerabilities and ensure industry-standard application security controls are in place.

As part of the development process, Amplify has a set of application security standards that all applications handling student data are required to follow, including:

  • Student data is secured using industry standard encryption when in transit between end-users and Amplify systems.
  • Applications are built with password brute-force attack prevention.
  • User sessions expire after a fixed period of time.

We also conduct manual and automated static code analysis as well as dynamic application security testing to preemptively identify vulnerabilities published by industry leaders such as OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project)

5. Proactive security

Risk assessments

Amplify periodically engages a security consulting firm to conduct risk assessments, aimed at identifying and prioritizing security vulnerabilities. The Information Security Committee coordinates remediation of the vulnerabilities. The security consulting firm also provides ongoing advice on current risks and advises on remediation of vulnerabilities and incident response.

Penetration testing

Amplify engages third-party firms to continually conduct application penetration testing.  The purpose of this testing is to test for application security vulnerabilities in the production environment.  We work with third party penetration testing program partners. Third-party testing involves a combination of automated and manual testing.

Vulnerability management

Amplify ensures that its systems are free of known vulnerabilities in several ways. Every production server runs vulnerability detection software that compares the installed software against a global database of known vulnerabilities. Secondly, we employ real time network monitoring that reports on any potentially malicious traffic. In addition, a third-party security firm continually reviews all of our system logs for potential security breaches. Lastly we continually test our applications against common malicious internet traffic. Violations in any of these areas will alert one of our operations teams, who are available around the clock.

In addition, Amplify participates in a private bug bounty program through HackerOne, working with the security community to find security vulnerabilities and support our efforts to keep our data and systems safe and secure.

Endpoint security

Access to production systems at Amplify is restricted to a limited set of internal Amplify users to support technical infrastructure, troubleshoot customer issues, or other purposes authorized by the district. In addition, Amplify requires multi-factor (MFA) authentication methods for access to all production systems. MFA involves a combination of something only the user knows and something only the user can access. For example, MFA for administrative access could involve entering a password as well as entering a one-time passcode sent via text message to the administrator’s mobile phone. The use of MFA reduces the possibility that an unauthorized individual could use a compromised password to access a system.

Infrastructure security

Network filtering technologies are used to ensure that production environments with student data are properly segmented from the rest of the network. Production environments only have limited external access to enable customers to use our web interfaces and other services. In addition, Amplify uses firewalls to ensure that development servers have no access to production environments.

Other measures that Amplify takes to secure its operational environment include system monitoring to detect anomalous activity that could indicate potential attacks and breaches.

Security training

At Amplify, we believe that protecting student data is the responsibility of all employees. We implemented a comprehensive information security awareness training program that all employees  undergo upon initial hire, with an annual refresher training. We also provide information security training and annual social engineering tests for specific departments based on role.

6. Reactive security

Monitoring

Intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS) are in place to analyze the network device logs, monitor the network and report anomalous activity for appropriate resolution.

Incident response

Amplify maintains a comprehensive Security Incident Response Policy Plan, which sets out roles, responsibilities and procedures for reporting, investigation, containment, remediation and notification of security incidents. Amplify works with reputable firms for incident response and digital forensics support, as well as annual table-top exercises in coordination with cybersecurity experts.

Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery

Amplify maintains a comprehensive Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery Plan (BCP/DR), to guide personnel in procedures to protect against business disruptions caused by an unexpected event. The plans and related operations processes are tested on a semiannual basis, with ensuing operations improvement and remediation work.

7. Compliance

Audits

In addition to penetration testing and other proactive security testing and monitoring outlined above, Amplify undergoes annual SOC 2 Type 2 examinations of controls relevant to security. The examination is formally known as a Type 2 Independent Service Auditor’s Report on Controls Relevant to Security. The most recent examination was conducted by Schellman & Company, LLC and covers the period from April 1, 2024–March 31, 2025. The report states that Amplify’s systems meet the criteria for the security principle and opine on management’s description of the organization’s system and the suitability of the design of controls to protect against unauthorized access, use, or modification.

The Type 2 report also opines on the operating effectiveness of controls over the review period. This means that our auditors confirmed that we have continued to follow established security controls over the period of time of the review.

Certifications

SOC 2: Amplify successfully completed the SOC 2 Type 2 examination of controls relevant to security (see above, under “Audits”).

Privacy

Amplify’s products are built to facilitate district compliance with applicable data privacy laws, including FERPA and state laws related to the collection, access and review and disclosure of student data. Amplify’s Customer Privacy Policy describes the types of information collected and maintained on behalf of our school district customers and limitations on use and sharing of that data.

8. Supporting documentation

In the course of customer security assessment, the following documentation can be provided by Amplify upon customers’ request:

  • Penetration Testing Report
  • Risk Assessment Report
  • SOC 2 Type 2 Report

9. Report a vulnerability

To report a security vulnerability, click here.

S4 – 01. Joyful math teaching with Kanchan Kant

Podcast cover for "Math Teacher Lounge," Season 4, Episode 1, titled "Joyful math teaching," featuring Kanchan Kant, described as a math educator and transformative leader.

This season on the Math Teacher Lounge podcast, we follow the theme “joyful math” and uncover its meaning.

In this episode, Kanchan Kant joins Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer to discuss the key, early investment she makes at the start of the school year to ensure her math teaching will be joyful for herself and for her students for the rest of the year.

Explore more from Math Teacher Lounge by visiting our main page.

Download Transcript

Dan Meyer (00:00):
Okay, we are recording. Hey folks. Welcome back to Math Teacher Lounge. (laugh)

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:06):
Hardly off to a rocking start.

Dan Meyer (00:06):
Yeah. Yeah. <laugh> Did you like my energy there? Hey folks. Welcome back to Math Teacher Lounge. It’s a new season with your host Dan Meyer. And…

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:15):
I’m Bethany, Lockhart Johnson. How’s your summer Dan?

Dan Meyer (00:22):
Summer for me feels really hectic as we prepare, here at Amplify, for the new school year, and everyone’s starting these new math programs. So I’ve been feeling quite amped up, like usual in the summer. But also, my kids started big kid school. So I’ve been seeing the educational system from the role of a parent and all the anxieties and I worry, will I be my kids’ teacher’s most annoying parent <laugh> … So what kind of math curriculum you using? Oh, have you heard of core counting? Can I lead a math center? What’s this worksheet about? I’m really worried my kids are just overall gonna hate my vibe when I come around their classes. Uh, <laugh> so lots going on with me.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:06):
It’s already happening for me and I have a toddler.

Dan Meyer (01:10):
<laugh> There we go. Anyway, that’s what I’m up to. That’s how I’m feeling. I’m curious how you’re doing. We haven’t chatted in a while. We’re excited about the podcast, but it’s been a bit, you know? Bethany got a break from me and my antics over the summer. So, how are we finding you here, as we ramp up to the new season?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:24):
Uhhhh. Well, let me just tell you, I have a toddler. That’s kind of all I need to say. Except that’s not all I will say. Of course, I’ll say more. I am exploring, I’m dipping my toe into the extracurricular toddler activities; the music classes of the toddler world, the creative movement of the toddler world. And yeah, I have lots of opinions and lots of things to say about the teachers. And I’m like, Ugh, I can’t wait to be room mom. And just like…<laugh>

Dan Meyer (01:55):
Just let it rip, you know?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:57):
I have opinions on everything and just hope I don’t get kicked out of the class.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (02:05):
It’s been an eventfully recharging summer and we are ready for this new season. And in fact, we’re so ready that we decided that we were gonna mix up this season. Just a, just a tiny bit. Shall I explain Dan?

Dan Meyer (02:21):
Yeah. Let’s do it.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (02:22):
So we have loved all the different topics that we have explored in the Math Teacher Lounge world, but we kind of feel like we need to do some more deep dives. So for this season and the foreseeable seasons …

Dan Meyer (02:38):
We’ll see how it goes.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (02:38):
Let’s stick with this season. For this season. We’re going to be exploring a singular theme.

Dan Meyer (02:46):
We’re not bouncing around. Yep. We’re not bouncing around from a guest to guest going on whatever shiny thing in the river bed catches our eye. We’re gonna take one theme and see where it goes. What we working with here this season?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (02:57):
This season, we are going to be exploring the idea of joyful math, joyful math. And Dan, the question I have for you is, is the term joyful math one that you use on the regular?

Dan Meyer (03:10):
No, it definitely is not. I think that joy and math are very rarely, you know, connected in the popular mind. Number one, and number two, you know, I’m kind of an ornery fellow, so that’s not my natural kind of description of math. But we decided that it feels like an important one at the moment, because a lot of math teaching–a lot of teaching in general, math teaching in particular–math teaching is often not a joyful discipline for students, where, you know, I’ve done some research where you look at what people type into Google. And I looked at like, what they…why am I bad at X? And I looked at that for where X is math, where it’s science, where it’s reading, where it’s history. And it was just wild to see how many more hits there are out there on the Internet for “why am I bad at math?” People don’t really associate math with joy, but also we’re looking at joyful math in terms of joyful math teaching. Math teaching, teaching in general, is a tough field at the moment with a lot of teachers leaving teaching. And those who remain are having a lot of soul searching and thinking about, why am I here and how do I sustain this work? And in an environment that seems hostile to my interests or my talents, or work-life balance. And so that’ll be the theme that we’re gonna kind of uncover over the course of our season, talking to various interesting guests, including one today about, yeah, joyful math teaching and joyful math.

Dan Meyer (04:43):
And to help us think about what joyful math teaching looks like, we figured we’d first look at what UN-joyful math teaching looks like. It happens to be the case that we’ve been in a pandemic as you might be aware, and teaching has been challenging. And the NEA, our National Education Association, surveyed its member teachers and asked them the following question … Gave a list of issues that school employees have experienced and asked, for each one indicate how serious of a problem this is for you. This is a survey where more than half of members said they are more likely to leave or retire sooner than planned because of the pandemic. And this is almost double the numbers from July, 2020. It’s really hard to keep track of teacher departures and unfilled vacancies across states. So I don’t wanna like blow this up out of proportion, but it does indicate some real challenges in teaching. So Bethany, I was curious, what do you think like at the top of the list, like what kinds of factors, issues facing educators would you imagine there are?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (05:48):
So if I’m to understand you correctly, these are reasons someone is not actively experiencing joy in the profession of teaching. Like why would they leave?

Dan Meyer (05:58):
Exactly.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (05:59):
Well, the number one thing that came to mind for me, well, okay. Wait, wait, one other caveat I need to ask about, you said specifically pandemic-related or just in general, because if it’s pandemic-related, then I think, well, there’s health issues, right? That people are concerned about, but in general, the thing that came to mind was a lack of support from administration districts, lack of funding, and overcrowding in classrooms. Like, you know, I saw somebody had 40 students in their classroom. So those are the two things that I can imagine like top on someone’s list that would make them experience less than a joyful day.

Dan Meyer (06:44):
Yeah. There’s a bunch of you’re kind of identifying here. So number seven on the list is lack of respect from parents and the public, which is like 76% of teachers call that out as serious for them. Others that you kind of circled around in terms of resources go like, not enough planning or unstructured time in the job kind of ties into resources. Yeah. But there’s others that are on the list that I’m curious, you wanna take on the swing at it, given what I’ve said here,

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (07:15):
I feel like too much being asked of them, like being asked to wear too many hats, like they’re being asked to not only teach their class, but also cover all the vacancies and supervise recess and, you know, make a delicious, nutritious lunch. That’s what came to mind. Am am I close?

Dan Meyer (07:33):
Yeah. Number four on the list, unfilled job openings leading to more work for remaining staff. People covering, you know, not just the kind of external to teaching work like you’re describing, but also just taking on like losing your prep period, to take on a class that has been unfilled for all kinds of reasons. Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (07:54):
Yeah. I’ve only gotten the fourth. Give me one clue, one clue about …

Dan Meyer (07:59):
So, I mean like, so number one is general stress from the coronavirus pandemic, you know, which I feel like …

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (08:06):
I mentioned that.

Dan Meyer (08:07):
I’ll give you that one. Yep, yep, sure. And then number two, close behind, is feeling burned out, which I think ties into what you’re describing as well. I’m giving Bethany credit on that one. The third one is very different from the ones you’ve been describing. I think I cannot in good faith give you even partial credit for this one. I’ll just say it. Student…

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (08:28):
Wait! Dan, this is not how you give clues.

Dan Meyer (08:31):
Here’s a clue. It’s student absences due to COVID19. It’s really hard to deal student absences. That’s your clue.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (08:40):
That wasn’t a clue that you told me.

Dan Meyer (08:43):
Yeah, let’s see. I think that’s largely it. There’s also pay is too low, is on the list; student behavioral issues, on the list. And I think that about covers it. So all of that, that basket of items has led to more than half of teachers in this survey, saying that they’re more likely to leave or retire from education sooner than planned. And I don’t know. I think we all know teachers who have bailed.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (09:08):
I’ve never played a board game with you, Dan, but if we ever play a board game, we’re gonna work on your clue giving, ’cause I want to keep guessing. And you just told me.

Dan Meyer (09:22):
Yeah. Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (09:22):
In all seriousness, the <laugh>. In all seriousness, I think yes, the stress of the pandemic and students being absent, what some folks are calling unfinished learning, all of those pieces do play into it. But a lot of those things that you’re mentioning on the list are things that are not unique to the pandemic, right? Like those are things that I feel like there is some modicum of control that we could have over shifting the way the culture of the teaching profession is going so that we could create a more joyful experience for educators, administrators, and students.

Dan Meyer (10:03):
Yeah. Good call out. That’s exactly right. We could tax the people who are not in the classrooms more and increase the pay to classroom teachers. You know, there we go.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (10:11):
Oh. Bingo. Why didn’t we ask you sooner Dan, for your wisdom.

Dan Meyer (10:15):
Yeah. I’m … solved by Dan. Yeah, good point though. So I read that and yeah, I think that there’s been some … people have critiqued the NEA for being very alarmist about teacher departures as the year has ramped up. It has not been quite the flood of departing teachers as was predicted and thank heavens for that, but we should still be very bummed if teachers are unhappy and wanting to leave and feel like they can’t leave. That is definitely not good. So we were really excited to bring to the table, someone who is just a very joyful teacher and one in a very intentional way. Someone who has a lot of discipline in how she approaches the job and the students in it and tries to create a joyful environment for herself, Kanchan Kant. Kanchan is a math and computer science teacher at Newton North High School in Newton, Massachusetts. She’s been sharing her love for math with her students for the past four years, while also being instrumental in setting the culture and ethos of the math department at her school in her role as the assistant department head. We welcome you on the show Kanchan to help us understand joy and math teaching. Thanks for being here.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (11:29):
Welcome!

Kanchan Kant (11:30):
Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (11:33):
One of my friends, her son was asked as his first math homework assignment to write out his math bio. And I loved that idea because we got to hear a little bit about your bio from like a broader perspective. But if we were to ask about your math bio, I will speak for myself to say like, automatically certain images flash into my mind, right? To think about my relationship, my evolving relationship with math. But I’m so curious if I was to ask you, what’s your math bio? How did you become the person, mathematically speaking, that you are today? Would you mind sharing a bit about that?

Kanchan Kant (12:10):
Of course I would love to. So I was born and raised in India and I belong to a family which considers mathematics to be extremely important to succeed in life. My father used to have me add and subtract license plates since I was four years old, when we were out and about. I loved math in school, it just made like complete sense to me. It was logical and you know, it was my favorite subject. I loved it all through high school. I had a confidence speed breaker in undergrad. When in my second semester I almost failed the engineering math course that I took. That was the first time math felt like too much and not like my best friend, which it was supposed to be. So it was a while before I could summon the courage to take on another math course in college.

Kanchan Kant (12:56):
But once I did that, it was like old times. I realized I had to persevere through the challenging bits. And once I did that, it started to make sense again. And through my journey, as an educator speaking to people from various backgrounds and like coming to the United States, I realized that math is challenging for everyone at one time or another. For some people that is elementary school. And for some others, it is college or even later. Either way does not mean that you are not a math person. When I was in college, I felt I was not a math person. Whereas my sister, my very own sister said the same thing about math in middle school. Both of us use math every day. And we are definitely, definitely math people. So for me to be a math person is to persevere, to approach problem-solving in a logical manner, and to find the joy in the process ,as well as the answer.

Dan Meyer (13:47):
That’s wonderful. Yeah. A lot of people, have a moment where they feel like almost betrayed by what they thought was a close friend of theirs, with math, where it’s like, wait, I thought we were tight. You know, I thought we were cool. You and me. And there’s that moment. And I wonder if that’s been a useful moment for you to, you know, bring back now and then as a teacher with students who might feel that even, you know, in high school or in a secondary school as a kid.

Kanchan Kant (14:15):
Absolutely. Like when I talk to students and tell them, yes, I had difficulty in math too. It has not always been easy for men and there are still things I struggle with sometimes, then it’s like more modeling for them that you have to persevere, you should persevere. And once you do that, it makes sense and you can feel successful. So, almost every year I end up sharing the story with my students.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (14:38):
There’s so much value in that, right? That you are sharing that vulnerability with students. And to say your relationship with mathematics has not been, you know, smooth sailing the whole way through. There were times when you had to work harder than others.

Dan Meyer (14:55):
Yeah. Really fun to hear about you and your father as well. I tried to ask my five-year-old to do some skip counting the other day, like, okay, cool, you’re hot stuff. You can count, you know, up by ones, but what about by twos? And the moment really fell flat. And I watched myself becoming the kind of parent who is whose enthusiasm for math is one day resented by his children. I feel a lot of, yeah, I felt your anxiety Kanchan, with math itself. And now I feel anxiety as like someone who loves math and loves to teach math and may one day alienate the people closest to him. <laugh>

Kanchan Kant (15:31):
I don’t like that future. I have a three-month-old. I do not like this future of mine. If I have to go through what you’re going through. Uh, oh, <laugh>

Dan Meyer (15:38):
You got this. So Kanchan, you’re going back to the classroom coming up here at the time of this recording. It’s a few weeks out. And we’re thinking about like the kind of ways that math teachers sustain a disposition that is joyful. How are you feeling right now, as far as going back to class after this summer? Are you feeling excited, anxious, some combo, tell us about it.

Kanchan Kant (16:01):
I would say combo, but more excited than anxious. I was on maternity leave, as I mentioned, before the school year ended, and I missed the students dearly. Like, my students are what gives me hope in the darkest times. They are thoughtful. They’re empathetic. They’re so eager to learn. And very soon into my teaching career, I realized that if I take the time to get to know my students and make them feel safe and seen in my class, teaching them math would be so much easier and so much more fun. So I’m a little worried about this being like fourth year into the pandemic, but let’s see. Last year I felt the students were finding it difficult to interact with and work with their classmates because they had not been doing it for so long. So I’m hoping this year would go a little better and I’m really looking forward to working with them and building community and see how it goes.

Dan Meyer (16:53):
So if I’m understanding you correctly, you are feeling very well recharged here. You had basically an extended summer with this maternity leave, basically just like a lot of rest and relaxation over the last, like several months. Um, if I get you here. So anyway, I’m glad for that for you. And, yeah. I also hear you on the difficulties of teaching post pandemic or mid pandemic. Anyway, thanks for sharing that.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (17:19):
What I love is I hear you being so intentional, like thinking about those relationships and thinking about that community that you want to build, you know? How do you hope that you’re gonna cultivate joy in your teaching this year? I mean like, are there certain routines or disciplines that you specifically call forth or that you think other teachers should think about?

Kanchan Kant (17:41):
So at the start of every school year, I dedicate like about three to four weeks to set up the classroom culture, both social and academic. I call my classroom a learning community. We start with community circles, we do icebreaker activities, group building and all those kinds of things. But most importantly, we do a lot of collective problem solving. So I try to present students with problems, which can be solved using multiple strategies and have multiple entry points, basically they are low floor, high ceiling problems. These could be stretch problems that they have seen before, like concepts that they already know or logical puzzles, or just wrapping their heads around different problems. Then I have students share their strategies. The more strategies they have on the board, the more successful I think the problem was. Every year, inevitably, students come up with strategies that I’ve never ever seen before for the same problems that I do.

Kanchan Kant (18:35):
And so I have students come up to the board, they would share their strategies. If they’re not ready for that, they would walk me through their strategies. And I would write their name on the board with different colored markers and everything. Basically to give them choice and agency. It also shows them that the process of doing the problem is so much more important than just getting the right answer and that it is okay to make mistakes in our learning community. I use a lot of vertical whiteboards, some concepts and problems align so well with the vertical surfaces, especially when students can explore together, learn from each other. So I do a lot of that. As for routines, I would say consistency is the key. I consistently reinforce that I want to hear multiple strategies, that it is okay to make mistakes. I am willing to learn from you as much as you’re willing to learn from me. So all like that consistency in culture more than the routines, is I feel important to bring that joy.

Dan Meyer (19:29):
That’s super interesting. Thanks for that. So I’ve heard, I hear two common objections or two common concerns to using rich tasks or doing problem solving. And I think I heard like answers to those two common reservations within what you described there, but I wonder if we can kind of bring it to the surface. And so one of the reservations is around the time that those problems take and another is that teachers often feel like, well, I might be surprised, you know, I might not know what to do with what a student does. And I thought I was hearing like some very interesting answers to both of those kinds of reservations from you, but would you just surface those up if you have some.

Kanchan Kant (20:09):
So in terms of time, I feel if I spend the time at the beginning of the year, setting up that community and doing those problems, it makes learning the math and learning the concepts much more faster throughout the rest of the year. And even when I am trying, like, even throughout the year, if we are doing a warm up problem, as I call it, which has multiple strategies, that’s gonna clarify so many more concepts when we talk about those five, 10 strategies of doing the same problem, then going through multiple problems to clarify those concepts. So for me, it actually saves time instead of taking more time.

Dan Meyer (20:43):
Hmm. That’s super interesting. It’s an investment I’m hearing from you that, yeah, you might not be hitting the curriculum quite as hard early on, but that all of a sudden you’re in the spring and it’s like, oh wow, we’ve been moving so much faster through territory that has been more challenging. What would you say to you know, comfort concerned educators or to address the concern that I don’t know what I’ll do with these five, 10 different strategies. You say, I always see strategies that I’ve never anticipated. Like, it’s a good thing, you know, like you’re happy about that. I think that’s a very intimidating thing for lots of educators. What would you say to that?

Kanchan Kant (21:19):
I think like, for me, it’s a good kind of discomfort. That means like a student is teaching me something, which is actually doing two things. One modeling for them that I’m willing to learn and that I don’t know everything. And two, also telling them that they’re mathematicians. They know what they’re doing. They’re not just receivers of math, they’re actually creating it. So for me, that is very, very important.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (21:43):
I love that so much. When you think about your students and you’re about to start this new school year, how do you hope your students will experience math in your classroom?

Kanchan Kant (21:53):
So I hope my students can see the beauty and joy of math. They can see that math is a way to see the world and not as something we have to do to get through school. So my hope for my classroom is that we can learn to problem-solve and persevere through problems and learn from each other and not just get through the curriculum. Because like, I think math is a wonderful way to learn these skills, which are so important when you get out of high school. Most importantly, I just wanna make sure that my students see themselves as mathematicians. And like one of the things that like I have to share with you that, because one of my highlights for the year has to be the Desmos art project. I do it every year for the past three years, I think since I’ve started teaching sophomores. And I do it as a unit assessment for functions and my students design something that is meaningful to them, using all the different kinds of functions and colors and shading and everything that you can think of in Desmos.

Kanchan Kant (22:49):
Thank you so much for that though. It is such a cool way for me to see them do that. Like I have seen such amazing creations. One of my students once made a scaled working model of a solar system wherein the planets were rotating at relative speed. The Saturn had rings and they were like asteroids and everything. And then it was beautifully done. Then there was another one who did a very, very detailed whale scenery, her reasoning. I wanna be a Marine biologist and I wanna study whales. So this is what is meaningful to me. So like that one project is just a culmination of everything that I want students to see in math and in my classroom. And like I do more of those kinds of things, but that is one thing that it’s one of the highlights of my year.

Dan Meyer (23:32):
That’s awesome. I love hearing that. Yeah. Shout out to the team at Desmos Studio for building and continuing to develop a tool list that so good for art and animation, even, in addition to some mathematics with a more computational kind. Yeah, that’s really exciting. What’s interesting to me is that you teach high school, and I think that like students at that age have a very well-defined sense of what math is and who they are as mathematicians. And then along you come, you know, and like offer this really interesting disruption, you know, in their sophomore year of high school that like, oh, this can be totally different, this relationship who I am. And that’s just really exciting. I imagine it’s a very surprising year. I would imagine that first month, I would imagine is a very surprising month for a lot of your sophomores.

Kanchan Kant (24:20):
Yeah, it is. I mean, that’s why I take that time to build that community because then that sets the tone and the relationship that we’re gonna have for the rest of the year. Students get to know how to work with each other. They get to know each other, that whole piece is like super important because of that.

Dan Meyer (24:35):
Yeah. That’s awesome. So here’s the thing, like we’re exploring these ideas about joyful math teaching and what it will take to cultivate restore, reclaim joy in math, teaching this next year. And you’ve offered us these really interesting ideas some, some very, you know, philosophical and some technical about how you spend time in ways that lead to joy in the spring for you and your students. Love that. We don’t want to as hosts, as researchers, investigators of this joyful math teaching idea, we don’t wanna say it’s all up to teachers to change their mindset, to do different technical practices, and that will lead to joy. We also wanna be really attentive to the environment that surrounds you, the people who are around to support you, the policy makers, the social structures that influence your joy in very significant ways. So what we would love to know from you is, how are you supported by the greater educational community in keeping your joy in your work? I’m thinking, especially about administrators, you know, front office, staff, parents, even, can you name a few ways for those sorts of people who listen to this podcast, how they can cultivate a math teacher’s joy this coming year?

Kanchan Kant (25:54):
I would say trust. I think more than anything, educators want administrators, parents, the greater educational community, to trust them to be professionals and experts in what they do. That does not mean that we don’t want to learn, that we don’t want feedback, that we don’t wanna get better. It just means that we keep the wellbeing of our students as our top priority. And we would like to be trusted to do just that. Also just keeping in mind that whether we like it or not, we are still adjusting to the new normal while recovering from the worst of the pandemic times. A lot of us are recovering from trauma, a lot of our students are recovering from trauma, and we need time and space for our social and emotional wellbeing.

Dan Meyer (26:35):
Yeah. I’m really curious, Kanchan, you’ve done a lot of work in your area with your grading team and in thinking about equitable and biased resistant instruction. I’m curious how you see those efforts lining up with creating joyful math learning conditions for all students, not just students from a dominant culture of math doing, let’s say.

Kanchan Kant (26:55):
For me, creating an equitable environment in a classroom is most important because once you have that, that’s when you have the relationships, that’s when you have the culture, that’s when all students actually thrive. So to that end, our school and our department has been doing a lot of work around grading practices. We actually assess how we grade students, where the bias is, what we can do to make them more bias resistant. Should we move to mastery based grading? Like that’s something I’ve been experimenting with for the past two years. Through the pandemic, I started doing mastery based grading so that my students can get more opportunities to show that they have learned the content. And so like just little things which help bridge the opportunity gap. I would say another project that our school undertakes is called the calculus project wherein we have students in Black, Latinx, and low income families sign up for that and are recommended for that. And then we do summer classes and yearlong support to preview the material for next year, not as a remedial class, but to actually set students up for success in AP classes for the coming year. So we have the community buildup. We have the courses we have like math support. It’s a very beautiful thing actually. And I’ve been working with that program for four years now. So yeah, so those are my ways of creating more equity in our school.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (28:19):
That’s so beautiful and I deeply, deeply wish you had been my high school math teacher. And I have to say that the theme that I kind of keep hearing is this intentionality. How you are so intentional about your work, not just with what your students are learning, but how they’re learning it, how they are engaging with this subject and how they are building their own relationship. You talked a little bit about your relationship over the years with mathematics, but how are your students building that relationship? And so I’m just very appreciative of you sharing that with us and with our listeners. And we are so excited to have learned a little bit about, like, I feel like I got a little mini peek into your classroom.

Kanchan Kant (29:03):
Thank you.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (29:04):
And can I say that if you are listening to this prior to October at NCTM Los Angeles, you will get to hear Kanchan Kant speak at Shadow Con. Can I give that away, Dan? Is that, is that …

Dan Meyer (29:23):
You can drop that. Yeah, It’s pretty top secret.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (29:26):
Can I drop it?

Dan Meyer (29:27):
Yeah. Do it. Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (29:28):
Dan and I will be in the audience cheering you on. It’s been a joy to learn with and from you, and we are so excited to just, you know, kind of keep marinating on some of these ideas about how we can continue to be intentional about creating joyful math spaces for our students. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Kanchan Kant (29:49):
Thank you so much. It was a real pleasure.

Dan Meyer (29:57):
So Bethany, I loved hearing Kanchan talk about both her, just her joyful personality, but how she cultivates joy through craft and technique through, you know, through the various ways she interacts with students in intentional ways, that those make the job more joyful for her. And I thought it was really interesting to hear her talk about how autonomy is the thing that she needs most in her job environment to feel like she can be joyful in her work. In that context, I saw … something on Twitter popped up for me in my, you know, my many Twitter wanderings. This is a segment we might call, Dan finds something on Twitter and shares it with Bethany. Which we’ll tighten that up a little bit, but I’m sending this over to you right now, and I’d love to know as you check this out, what you’re seeing and what you’re thinking and we’ll chat about how it relates to our interview here in a moment.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (30:47):
All right. I’m ready, send it over. It’s opening. So this appears to be a document by the way, outlining, maybe it’s a district, maybe it’s administration, they’re outlining expectation type and expectation guidelines. Hmm. Okay. And these are lesson plan expectations. Expectation type. Timeliness. Plans are due no later than 6 p.m.. Friday prior to the week of instruction. Comprehensive, all activities for the week for all subjects taught should be included and complete by due date and time. Plans should have at minimum, the following, see template for detail. Okay. So then it goes through the things that the plans need to have, the topic title, target, the objective, the activities, the sequence, the display agendas to be displayed backward design. Okay. So basically <laugh>, we were just talking about, overwhelm. And when I see this document, listeners, have you ever received something from your administrator or anyone, let’s take it more broadly, that is requesting something of you that would take so much time to complete and be so out of touch with your lived reality that it really genuinely sucks the joy out of the experience.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (32:25):
So the first thing that I see that this document, and again, the goal of whichever district’s plan this is, is that these expectations will lead–now, mind you, I am a fan of like, you know, looking ahead, I’m not a like, oh, hey, what am I gonna teach in five minutes? No, but the idea that then it lays out all of the things in such detail that you’re gonna be teaching feels like one of those pacing guides where, oh, move on to the next page, whether or not your students have any sort of sense making whatsoever. So my first thought is, oh, sad. I have to stay here. I’ll be there past 6 p.m. But I’m gonna be there trying to make the plans for the next week based on what I think my students have learned. Hmm it’s sounds like a little bit of a bummer. Dan, what did you think when you saw this and did I do a fair description of what it is?

Dan Meyer (33:25):
No, it’s, it’s a tough one to describe, ’cause it’s basically a wall of text and commands from an administrator who like, I just have to imagine has just like acres and acres of teachers trying to beat down their door to teach at this school, if this is how you’re gonna treat your teachers. I mean just, yeah. The idea of having a week… I’m with you, you don’t wanna just like, just jump in by the seat of your pants, but the idea of having a full week of lessons for every section you teach, every prep you teach, planned and submitted with every minute, basically morseled out to different goals. It says down here, you gotta like, for all of these, download a CSV of grades and whatnot and attach those. It’s the sort of thing, like you said, there are some edicts that you get from administration where you just have to laugh or just like, you have definitely missed like what I am willing to do here. It’s so far beyond. Yeah. I can’t imagine it. And it just felt like, yeah, it was a great way to get teachers like Kanchan to feel like a real lack of autonomy. Like it’s this would not work. I don’t think.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (34:33):
And it’s not even like willing to do. Like, let’s say you’re even willing to produce it. Let’s say that me, the rule follower is like, okay. I’m gonna attempt to meet these demands. One, most teachers were just, you know, they probably would put baloney down there anyway. Not saying that I would, but I’m saying like, it’s clearly just a hoop that they’re having to jump through and two…

Dan Meyer (35:04):
Yeah. Compliance, right?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (35:05):
Yeah. Compliance, compliance. There you go. And two, yeah, it feels like it’s about control and not trusting the teacher. And I love that. Kanchan said that trust is what she needs. Right? You’re hiring me. Yes. I still have lots to learn, but you’re trusting me and you’re creating an environment where I can continue to learn from and with my students. And if I was being asked to submit this tome every Friday before six, that is predicting, what does it say, anticipating the steps necessary for student mastery? You know, I kind of feel like maybe it’s like that one or two teachers where maybe they feel like, oh, I don’t trust that teacher or that teacher isn’t doing a good job, whatever. We better do this for all of the teachers, but then it’s not gonna change the practices of that one teacher and all the other teachers are gonna be resentful.

Dan Meyer (36:00):
Like if there was like feedback that came back to you on, you know, on lesson plans or there was some like something that was very constructive or productive, like maybe that would be different, but it really just feels like these are gonna go into a digital drawer somewhere and not be looked at, at all.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (36:15):
Yes. The digital drawer. Like I’m gonna send you this report and then nothing is going to happen with it. Except that four hours of my time. Well, you wouldn’t do it, but <laugh>…

Dan Meyer (36:29):
You’ve worn me down. You’ve worn me down. I’m now putty in your hands and more compliant for the next thing. And I also just wanna shout out the administrator today, who I emailed asking about like a teacher participating in a project and this administrator said, I have a standing policy not to email teachers over summer break, which you know, as administrators out there doing just the good work, you know, trusting teachers, watching out for them, trying to be a force multiplier for teachers, making the road wider, the way easier for teachers. So shout out to y’all doing the out there. Really appreciate that.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (37:04):
Okay. Wait, wait. About that email thing, quick question. Did you ever check your email over the summer?

Dan Meyer (37:11):
Uh, yeah. That’s one way in which I was the, you know, I just love email, you know? Oh. Someone wanted to reach out. Oh, oh, Banana Republic wants to tell me about new clothes that are on offer. <laugh> I mean like, it’s just, I love those personal emails. So yeah, I did check my email over the summer.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (37:26):
Somebody emailed me recently and they emailed me at like two in the morning. And because I currently have a toddler, I received the email at four in the morning because you know, the best thing to help myself fall back asleep is to hop on my phone, right? Like I’m already up trying to get my toddler back to sleep. I might as well start scrolling. Anyway, so the person had this little thing at the bottom of their email and it said, I have, something to the effect of, I have really like wonky work hours. I may be sending this outside of the like more standard nine to five. But please don’t feel pressure in any way to respond outside of your time. Would you appreciate that, seeing that or does it make you feel like you should respond? ‘Cause I almost responded at four in the morning, and maybe that says something about …

Dan Meyer (38:15):
They’re telling you not to respond.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (38:16):
I know it was helpful.

Dan Meyer (38:18):
It says don’t, but you’re like, what if they’re saying that because they really expect me to respond and this is one of many ways that you and I are different. I’m always happy to see that.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (38:29):
Do you respond? I’ve texted you in the evening because you know I have some wonky hours. Do you respond to things, like where’s your boundary there? Or when you were in the classroom, where was your boundary there? Did parents have your phone number?

Dan Meyer (38:43):
No. I gave kids my cell phone number for a couple years and it was a wobbly experiment. But parents will email, you know, back and forth with you. And I think the best thing to like … I love just like adding some friction, some latency into the kind of the chain, you know, like I hate going like back and forth, like da, da, da, da, and then like respond and then da, da da respond. And it just like goes back and forth. So just like just sitting back for an hour or two hours, you know, not responding, just let someone cool down, calm down. Email just gets you more email. That’s like if you send an email, you are just making it more likely to get more email. It’s a, you know, it’s a problem.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (39:20):
Are you one of the zero people?

Dan Meyer (39:23):
My inbox is at zero. Most days before work.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (39:26):
You’re joking!

Dan Meyer (39:28):
I end work every day with inbox, at zero.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (39:31):
You’re joking!

Dan Meyer (39:32):
That’s just, you know.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (39:33):
Who are you?

Dan Meyer (39:34):
You know, you should take my life coaching, Bethany. I’ll give you a discount since we’re math teacher, lunch pals. But, um yeah. I can help.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (39:44):
Thank you for qualifying where our pal-dom lives. I wouldn’t even tell you how many are in my inbox. Point is, if you are actively starting the school year, we celebrate you and we are here and over the next few months, we’re gonna be diving into joyful math and that definition’s gonna keep evolving. But I wanna say something that is making me feel a little joyful, Dan. You ready?

Dan Meyer (40:15):
Tell me.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (40:16):
You and I, in person, at NCTM, the National Council for Teachers and Mathematics. It’s coming up and we are going to be recording Math Teacher Lounge, live. Live, in person! And I hear there’s gonna be like a t-shirt cannon and there’s gonna be, you know, like musicians marching through the aisles or something.

Dan Meyer (40:46):
A marching band?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (40:46):
A marching band!

Dan Meyer (40:46):
Trained animals. Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (40:48):
But the point is, I’m so excited, Dan. And you know, when I see you, I might just, it’s been so long since I’ve seen you, Dan. I’d love to give you a big old embrace.

Dan Meyer (41:04):
You might just, you might just cry. Yeah. Yeah. It’ll be great. Yeah. It’s gonna be awesome for you folks to see me and Bethany have a real awkward first hug since the pandemic. And, uh, but it’s gonna be a blast to hang with us in person. We’ll have some special guests, probably, some interesting segments. You folks should stop on by at NCTM, if you’re gonna be there. Highly recommended.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (41:29):
Now, we will be broadcasting that episode. You’re gonna get to hear … we’re gonna record it live. It’s gonna happen. In the meantime, you can find us at MTLshow on Twitter, or you can find us in our Facebook group, Math Teacher Lounge. We can’t wait to hear from you. And we’d love to hear what makes math joyful for you? Where can we add a little bit more joy to you this, this season? So thrilled to be back. Thanks for listening.

Stay connected!

Join our community and get new episodes every other Tuesday!

We’ll also share new and exciting free resources for your classroom every month.

What Kanchan Kant says about math

“Creating an equitable environment in the classroom is most important because once you have that, that’s when you have the relationships, and that’s when all students actually thrive.”

– Kanchan Kant

Meet the guest

As a math and computer science teacher at Newton North High School, Newton, MA, Kanchan has been sharing her love for math with her students for the past four years. Kanchan is instrumental in setting the culture and ethos of the mathematics department at her school in her role as the Assistant Department Head. Kanchan also leads the Math Department Grading Team and has been instrumental in making grading policies which are more equitable and bias resistant. In her new role as a Transformative Leaders of Massachusetts Fellow in collaboration with Springpoint and Barr Foundation, Kanchan looks forward to making equity and joy of learning the foundation of many more classrooms.

Businesswoman with long dark hair, wearing a dark blazer and blue blouse, poses in a professional portrait against a light background, representing math programs.
A graphic with the text "Math Teacher Lounge with Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer" on colored overlapping circles.

About Math Teacher Lounge: The podcast

Math Teacher Lounge is a biweekly podcast created specifically for K–12 math educators. In each episode co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson (@lockhartedu) and Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) chat with guests, taking a deep dive into the math and educational topics you care about.

Join the Math Teacher Lounge Facebook group to continue the conversation, view exclusive content, interact with fellow educators, participate in giveaways, and more!

Professional development for multi-program suites

Amplify professional development provides learning experiences that intentionally develop the knowledge and skills you need for effective and self-sustaining implementation.

Now you can learn and apply impactful instructional techniques and develop a deeper understanding of the suite of Amplify programs.

Professional Learning Partner Guide Certified Provider

Amplify professional development has been vetted by Rivet Education’s team through a rigorous three-step process and is listed in the Professional Learning Partner Guide.

A diagram shows three math programs: mCLASS Math with a student's photo, Amplify Desmos Math with math tools, and Boost Math with a robot illustration, all connected by orange lines.

Amplify suites

Each of Amplify’s high-quality, research-based programs is designed to help you teach inspiring math lessons that celebrate and develop your students’ brilliance. When used together, our comprehensive math suite provides even greater support and coherence for every student across your curriculum.

Contact your account executive to discuss PD options or request a quote.

Math

Amplify Desmos Math with mCLASS Math assessments and Boost Personalized Learning combine the best of problem-based lessons, intervention, personalized practice, and assessment into a coherent and engaging experience for both students and teachers. With the full suite, teachers gain access to all the tools they need to inspire and motivate all learners in math class.

Empower educators with:

  • High-quality professional development
    Comprehensive PD sessions equip teachers with the skills and knowledge necessary for effective program implementation, enhancing instructional practices and boosting student outcomes. These sessions support educators in leveraging the full suite of Amplify’s K–5 math programs, ensuring seamless integration and maximizing classroom impact.
  • Core instruction for grades K–12
    Amplify Desmos Math lessons provide a structured approach to problem-based learning, helping teachers create a collaborative math community with students at its center. Each lesson systematically builds on students’ curiosity to develop lasting grade-level understanding for all students. Available in English and Spanish.
  • Integrated personalized practice
    Personalized Learning activities help students access grade-level math through engaging, independent digital practice. Responsive FeedbackTM adjusts to students’ work, providing item-level adaptivity to further support their learning.
  • Screening and progress monitoring
    mCLASS Assessments, along with daily formative checks, measure what students know and how they think. The asset-based assessment system provides teachers with targeted, actionable insights, linked to core instruction and intervention resources.
  • Embedded intervention
    Integrated resources like Mini-Lessons, Fluency Practice, and Math Adventures provide targeted intervention on a specific skill or concept connected to the daily lesson. Extensions are also available to stretch students’ understanding.

Each suite package will include:

LAUNCH STRENGTHEN COACH
Beginning of year Mid-year, end of year Mid-year, end of year
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Two people sit at a table reviewing documents together against a yellow background. An icon of a barbell is displayed in the top left corner.
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Receive one on-site or virtual Launch session for Amplify Desmos Math.
Receive one on-site or virtual Strengthen session for Amplify Desmos Math.
Receive one on-site or virtual Coach session for Amplify Desmos Math.
  In addition, select one 1-hour virtual Strengthen Focus session for the program of your choice:

  • Amplify Desmos Math
  • mCLASS Math
  • Boost Math
In addition, select one more on-site or virtual Coach session for the program of your choice:

  • Amplify Desmos Math
  • mCLASS Math
Add-on: Suggested enhancements are available for each Launch, Strengthen, and Coach session options.
Before teaching After 6+ weeks of teaching  

Begin packages for grades K–5, 6–A1, or high school

Launch sessions

  On-site package
(22 hr.)
Hybrid 22, on-site package
(22 hr.)
Hybrid 17 package
(17 hr.)
Hybrid 22,
virtual
package
(22hr.)
Virtual
package
(14 hr.)
One Launch session per package On-site,
6 hr.
On-site,
6 hr.
On-site,
3 hr.
Virtual,
6 hr.
(2 half-days)
Virtual,
3 hr.
Amplify Desmos Math: Initial training for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers
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Amplify Desmos Math: Program overview for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers
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Suggested enhancements
Launch add-on On-site or virtual, 3 hr. session Amplify Desmos Math: Program overview for K–5, 6–A1, or high school leaders
Launch add-on On-site or virtual, 3 hr. session mCLASS Math 2nd Edition: Program overview for grades K–5 or 6–8 teachers

Strengthen and Coach sessions

One Strengthen session and one additional Strengthen session (1 hr. Focus only) per package. Choose any of the following as a secondary Strengthen touchpoint.

  On-site package
(22 hr.)
Hybrid 22,
on-site package

(22 hr.)
Hybrid 17 package
(17 hr.)
Hybrid 22,
virtual
package
(22hr.)
Virtual
package
(14 hr.)
Virtual
package
Strengthen On-site, 3 hr. Virtual, 3 hr. Virtual,
1 hr.
Virtual, 3 hr. Virtual, 1 hr. Virtual, 2 hr.
Amplify Desmos Math: Enhancing planning for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers
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Amplify Desmos Math: Enhancing practice for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers
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Amplify Desmos Math: Enhancing observations for K–5, 6–A1, or high school leaders A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.    
Amplify Desmos Math: Supporting all learners: Differentiation in Amplify Desmos Math for K–5 or 6–A1 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.    
Amplify Desmos Math: Teaching a lesson with digital student screens for K–5 teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Amplify Desmos Math: Unit-level planning for
K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers
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Amplify Desmos Math: Snapshots in the Teacher Dashboard for 6–A1 teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
mCLASS Math: Leveraging assessment data to strengthen mathematical explanations for K–5 or 6–8 teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Coach On-site,
6 hr.
On-site,
6 hr.
On-site,
6 hr.
On-site,
6 hr.
Virtual,
3 hr.
Coach session
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Suggested enhancements
Strengthen add-on On-site or virtual, 3 hr. session mCLASS Math + Boost Math: Understanding and using data to plan intervention for grades K–5 or 6–8 teachers
Strengthen add-on On-site or virtual, 3 hr. session Amplify Desmos Math: Supporting and facilitating meaningful discussions for teachers

Launch session options

Propel your school or district into the new school year. Program-aligned Launch sessions introduce teachers and leaders to their unique Amplify program(s) and support a strong implementation.

Begin: Amplify Desmos Math: Initial training for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers

On-site, 6 hours

Initial training sessions are designed for educators who are new to our program. In our initial training session, educators are oriented to the key components of their program(s), including learning how to navigate, teach, and monitor student progress, while exploring content and program resources. Participants will leave the session with foundational knowledge and skills necessary to begin teaching with the program.

Session options: Amplify Desmos Math (Grades K–5, 6–A1, or high school)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Amplify Desmos Math: Program overview for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Program overview sessions provide a basic introduction for educators who are new users of the program. In a program overview session, educators learn how to get started with the key features and materials of the program.

Session options: Amplify Desmos Math (Grades K–5, 6–A1, or high school)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Suggested enhancement: Launch add-on: Amplify Desmos Math: Program overview for K–5, 6–A1, or high school leaders

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Ideal add-on to Launch sessions
The Program overview for leaders supports district and school-level instructional leaders in effectively coordinating the implementation of the program. Leaders will learn the foundational elements of the program, build an understanding of the key teacher and student practices to look for in classrooms, and develop an implementation plan.

Session options: Amplify Desmos Math

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

New session

Suggested enhancement: Launch add-on: mCLASS Math 2nd Edition Program overview for K–5 or 6–8 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dive into the essentials of your mCLASS Assessments. Learn how these assessments both highlight students’ strengths and help identify what’s next through an asset-based approach. Leave ready to administer assessments and understand reporting.

Session options: mCLASS Math (grades K–5 or 6–8)

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Strengthen session options

Strengthen your Amplify implementation with program-specific sessions that support personalized learning and practice in your classroom.

Amplify will partner closely with you to select the appropriate session(s) that will deepen educators’ understanding of Amplify program(s) and equip them with the tools they need to improve student’s learning outcomes. Each package includes one Strengthen session. Additional sessions can be added as Enhancements.

Begin: Amplify Desmos Math: Enhancing planning for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dive into planning for Amplify Desmos Math, both big picture and day-to-day. Practice using lesson- and unit-planning protocols that will help you build a deep understanding of the math content you’ll be teaching and the planning resources available to you in the curriculum. Walk away with practical strategies for planning, even when you may not have much time.

Session options: Amplify Desmos Math (Grades K–5, 6–A1, or high school)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Amplify Desmos Math: Enhancing practice for K–5 or 6–A1, or high school teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dig into Amplify Desmos Math’s Launch, Monitor, Connect framework to level up the student discourse in your math class. Explore in-the-moment differentiation support to help you orchestrate discussion and make the most out of key opportunities for conversation and collaboration.

Session options: Amplify Desmos Math (Grades K–5, 6–A1, or high school)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Amplify Desmos Math: Enhancing observations for K–5 or 6–A1 leaders

Virtual, 1 hour

Elevate your program knowledge to support teachers with effective Amplify Desmos Math implementation. Leave prepared to identify key instructional elements in a problem-based math lesson, analyze data, and conduct effective classroom observations.

Session options: Amplify Desmos Math (Grades K–5 or 6–A1)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Supporting all learners: Differentiation in Amplify Desmos Math for K–5 or 6–A1 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn how to use the differentiation supports in Amplify Desmos Math to effectively support all learners, both in the moment during a lesson and beyond the lesson. Leave with a plan for implementing resources to support, strengthen, and stretch students’ thinking.

Session options: Amplify Desmos Math

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Amplify Desmos Math: Teaching a lesson with digital student screens for K–5 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Get ready to facilitate digital lessons with your students. Explore what’s possible with the Teacher Dashboard and plan to make the most of these exciting instructional moments.

Session options: Amplify Desmos Math (K–5)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Amplify Desmos Math: Unit-level planning for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Dive into unit-level planning to learn the story of your upcoming unit, and discover the big ideas you will explore alongside your students in Amplify Desmos Math.

Session options: Amplify Desmos Math (Grades K–5, 6–A1, or high school)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Amplify Desmos Math: Snapshots in the Teacher Dashboard for 6–A1 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Explore how to use the Snapshots tool in the Teacher Dashboard to create a collaborative classroom that invites and celebrates student thinking. Leave with planning tips and tricks that will get you ready to use Snapshots during your busy math classes.

Session options: Amplify Desmos Math (Grades 6–A1)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Strengthen Focus: mCLASS Math: Leveraging assessment data to strengthen mathematical thinking for grades K–5 or 6–8 teachers

Available for grades 6–8 teachers Oct. 2026

Virtual, 1 hour

Dig into mCLASS Math to reveal what students understand about mathematical concepts, and give them the tools to become more clear and confident communicators in math class.

Session options: mCLASS Math (Grades K–5 or 6–8)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

New session

Suggested enhancement: Begin: mCLASS Math and Boost Math: Understanding and using data to plan intervention for grades K–5 or 6–8 teachers

Available for grades 6–8 teachers Oct. 2026

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Ideal add-on Strengthen session
Explore how Boost Math uses mCLASS Math data to inform intervention recommendations and monitor student progress. Dig into your student data, explore relevant instructional resources, and leave with actionable next steps for intervention.

Session options: mCLASS Math (Grades K–5 or 6–8)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

New session

Suggested enhancement: Begin: Amplify Desmos Math: Supporting and facilitating meaningful discussions for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Explore how Boost Math uses mCLASS Math data to inform intervention recommendations and monitor student progress. Dig into your student data, explore relevant instructional resources, and leave with actionable next steps for intervention.

Session options: mCLASS Math (Grades K–5 or 6–8)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Coach session options

Elevate instructional practice and help meet teachers’ and schools’ specific needs with customizable Coach sessions.

Coach session

On-site, 6 hours

Coaching sessions focus on building internal school and district capacity and leadership excellence. Coaching is customized to meet a school or district’s needs and can include model lessons, observations, walk-throughs, and/or co-planning.

Session options: Amplify Desmos Math (K–5 or 6–A1) and/or mCLASS Math (Grades K–5 or 6–8)

Audience: Individual teachers, grade-level teams, PLCs, and/or instructional leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Practice packages (grades K–5 or 6–8)

Launch sessions

  On-site package
(16 hr.)
Hybrid 16, on-site package
(16 hr.)
Virtual package
(16 hr.)
One Launch session per package On-site, 3 hr. Virtual, 3 hr. Virtual, 3 hr.
mCLASS Math 2nd Edition Program overview for K–5 or 6–8 teachers
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Strengthen and Coach sessions

  On-site package
(16 hr.)
Hybrid 16, on-site package
(16 hr.)
Virtual package
(16 hr.)
One Strengthen and two Coach sessions per package Virtual, 1 hr. Virtual, 1 hr. Virtual, 1 hr.
Amplify Desmos Math: Teaching a lesson with digital student screens for K–5 teachers
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Amplify Desmos Math: Unit-level planning for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers
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Amplify Desmos Math: Increasing engagement with instructional routines for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
mCLASS Math: Leveraging assessment data to strengthen mathematical thinking for grades K–5 or 6–8 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Coaching On-site, 6 hr. On-site, 6 hr. Virtual, 3 hr.
Coach session
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Suggested enhancements
Strengthen add-on Virtual or on-site, 3 hr. Amplify Desmos Math: Enhancing planning for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers
Strengthen add-on Virtual or on-site, 3 hr. Amplify Desmos Math: Enhancing practice for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers
Strengthen add-on Virtual or on-site, 3 hr. Amplify Desmos Math: Enhancing observation for K–5, 6–A1, or high school leaders
Strengthen add-on Virtual or on-site, 3 hr. Amplify Desmos Math: Supporting all learners for K–5 or 6–A1 teachers
Strengthen add-on Virtual or on-site, 3 hr. Amplify Desmos Math: Supporting and facilitating meaningful discussions for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers
Strengthen add-on Virtual or on-site, 3 hr. Amplify Desmos Math: Assessment in action: Analyzing data and reports and planning next steps for K–5 or 6–A1 teachers
Strengthen add-on Virtual or on-site, 3 hr. mCLASS Math and Boost Math: Understanding and using data to plan intervention for K–5 teachers

Launch session options

Propel your school or district into the new school year. Program-aligned Launch sessions introduce teachers and leaders to their unique Amplify program(s) and support a strong implementation.

Practice: mCLASS Math 2nd Edition Program overview for grades K–5 or 6–8 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dive into the essentials of your mCLASS Math assessment program. Learn how these assessments both highlight students’ strengths and help identify what’s next through an asset-based approach. Leave ready to administer assessments and understand reporting.

Session options: mCLASS Math (Grades K–5 or 6–8)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Strengthen session options

Strengthen your Amplify implementation with program-specific sessions that support personalized learning and practice in your classroom.

Amplify will partner closely with you to select the appropriate session(s) that will deepen educators’ understanding of your Amplify program(s) and equip them with the tools they need to improve students’ learning outcomes. Each package includes one Strengthen session. Additional sessions can be added as Enhancements.

New session

Practice: Amplify Desmos Math: Strengthen: Focus: Teaching a lesson with digital student screens for K–5 teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Get ready to facilitate lessons with digital student screens. Explore what’s possible with the Teacher Dashboard and plan to make the most of these exciting instructional moments.

Session options: Amplify Desmos Math (K–5)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Amplify Desmos Math: Unit-level planning for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Dive into unit-level planning to learn the story of your upcoming unit, and discover the big ideas you will explore alongside your students in Amplify Desmos Math.

Session option: Amplify Desmos Math (Grades K–5, 6–A1, or high school)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

New session

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Amplify Desmos Math: Increasing engagement with instructional routines for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers

Available Oct. 2026

Virtual, 1 hour

Explore how to use the instructional routines in Amplify Desmos Math to support and engage students as they make sense of new contexts, develop mathematical language, and solve problems.

Session option: Amplify Desmos Math (Grades K–5 or 6–A1)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

New session

Practice: Strengthen Focus: mCLASS Math: Leveraging assessment data to strengthen mathematical explanations for grades K–5 or 6–8 teachers

Available for grades 6–8 teachers Oct. 2026

Virtual, 1 hour

Dig into mCLASS Math to reveal what students understand about mathematical concepts, and give them the tools to become more clear and confident communicators in math class.

Session option: mCLASS Math (Grades K–5 or 6–8)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

New session

Suggested enhancement: Practice: Amplify Desmos Math: Enhancing planning K–5 or 6–A1 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dive into planning for Amplify Desmos Math, both big picture and day-to-day. Practice using lesson- and unit-planning protocols that will help you build a deep understanding of the math content you’ll be teaching and the planning resources available to you in the curriculum. Walk away with practical strategies for planning, even when you may not have much time.

Session option: Amplify Desmos Math (Grades K–5 or 6–A1)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

New session

Suggested enhancement: Practice: Amplify Desmos Math: Enhancing practice for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dig into Amplify Desmos Math’s Launch, Monitor, Connect framework to level up the student discourse in your math class. Explore in-the-moment differentiation support to help you orchestrate discussion and make the most out of key opportunities for conversation and collaboration.

Session option: Amplify Desmos Math (Grades K–5, 6–A1, or high school)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

New session

Suggested enhancement: Practice: Amplify Desmos Math: Enhancing observations for K–5, 6–A1, or high school leaders

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Elevate your program knowledge to support teachers with effective Amplify Desmos Math implementation. Leave prepared to identify key instructional elements in a problem-based math lesson, analyze data, and conduct effective classroom observations.

Session options: Amplify Desmos Math (Grades K–5, 6–A1, or high school)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

New session

Suggested enhancement: Practice: Supporting all learners: Differentiation in Amplify Desmos Math for K–5 or 6–A1 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn how to use the differentiation supports in Amplify Desmos Math to effectively support all learners, both in the moment during a lesson and beyond the lesson. Leave with a plan for implementing resources to support, strengthen, and stretch students’ thinking.

Session option: Amplify Desmos Math (Grades K–5 or 6–A1)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

New session

Suggested enhancement: Practice: Amplify Desmos Math: Supporting and facilitating meaningful discussions for K–5, 6–A1, or high school teachers

Available Oct. 2026

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Explore how to transform your mathematics classroom into a social and collaborative environment where students deepen their understanding by sharing their mathematical thinking. Learn more about how Amplify Desmos Math provides support for these meaningful mathematical conversations.

Session option: Amplify Desmos Math (Grades K–5, 6–A1, or high school)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

New session

Suggested enhancement: Practice: Amplify Desmos Math: Assessment in action: Analyzing data, reports, and planning next steps for K–5 or 6–A1 teachers

Available Oct. 2026

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Deepen your understanding of the different types of assessments in Amplify Desmos Math and how they provide evidence of student learning. Analyze sample student work to calibrate on assessment scoring, interpret student thinking, and make a plan for instructional next steps.

Session option: Amplify Desmos Math (Grades K–5 or 6–A1)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

New session

Suggested enhancement: Practice: mCLASS Math and Boost Math: Understanding and using data to plan intervention for K–5 teachers

Available for grades 6–8 teachers Oct. 2026

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Ideal add-on Strengthen session
Explore how Boost Math uses mCLASS Math data to inform intervention recommendations and monitor student progress. Dig into your student data, explore relevant instructional resources, and leave with actionable next steps for intervention.

Session option: mCLASS Math (Grades K–5 or 6–8)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Coach session options

Elevate instructional practice and help meet teachers’ and schools’ specific needs with customizable Coach sessions.

Coach session

On-site, 6 hours

Coaching sessions focus on building internal school and district capacity and leadership excellence. Coaching is customized to meet a school or district’s needs and can include model lessons, observations, walk-throughs, and/or co-planning.

Session options: Amplify Desmos Math (Grades K–5 or 6–A1) and mCLASS Math (Grades K–5 or 6–8)

Audience: Individual teachers, grade-level teams, PLCs, and/or instructional leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Contact us

Ready to lock in your dates? Want to learn more about developing a professional development plan to meet your needs?

Amplify welcomes the opportunity to partner with you to design professional development plans to meet the needs of your staff. Whether you’re returning or new to Amplify program(s), we provide guidance in answering your questions and making package/session recommendations.

If you’d like to order professional development services, please contact your local Amplify sales representative or call (800) 823-1969.

Vulnerability Disclosure Policy

As a provider of technology solutions to schools, Amplify’s commitment to data privacy and security is essential to our organization. Amplify demonstrates that commitment in part through the physical, technical, and administrative safeguards we maintain to protect student data and other sensitive information entrusted to our care.

Amplify looks forward to working with the security community to find security vulnerabilities and support our efforts to keep our data and systems safe and secure.

Before reporting a vulnerability, please read our program rules, eligibility overview, report submission rules and guidelines, legal terms, and out-of-scope list set out below.

General Rules

  • We appreciate reports on any Amplify-owned asset, but only vulnerabilities that prove to be outside of expected behavior are eligible for acceptance.
  • Reports involving third party services or providers not under Amplify’s control are out-of-scope for submission.
  • Amplify places a high priority on privacy. Vulnerabilities in the areas of inadvertent exposure of our customers’ personally identifiable information (PII) are considered to be of Critical severity.
  • We classify vulnerability severity per CVSS (the Common Vulnerability Scoring Standard). These are general guidelines, and the ultimate decision over a reward – whether to give one and in what amount – is a decision that lies entirely within our discretion on a case-by-case basis.
  • In order to receive an award for validated reports, you must have a HackerOne account. Please note reward decisions are subject to the discretion of Amplify. Please note these are general guidelines, and that reward decisions are subject to the discretion of Amplify.
  • Only interact with test accounts that you created via self sign-up or were provided by Amplify. The use of any credentials outside of these areas for testing purposes, including legacy credentials supplied through the program and leaked credentials from third parties is strictly prohibited.
  • Do not contact Amplify’s customer support for questions or to submit a vulnerability report.
  • Amplify may, in its sole discretion, disqualify you if you breach this policy or fail to comply with any of the program’s rules and terms.
  • Amplify reserves the right to cancel or modify this program without notice at any time.

Eligibility

  • You are not eligible for participation if you 1) are employed by Amplify or any of its affiliates 2) are an immediate family member of a person employed by Amplify or any of its affiliates or 3) left the employment of Amplify or its affiliates or subsidiaries within the past (12) months.
  • You are not eligible for participation if you have been prohibited in writing from participating in the Bug Bounty Program by Amplify at any time.
  • You may not be in violation of any national, state, or local law or regulation with respect to any activities directly or indirectly related to conducting your tests.
  • You may not compromise the privacy or safety of our customer and the operation of our services;
  • You may not cause harm to Amplify, our customers, or others;
  • You must follow the policy guidelines to responsibly disclose vulnerabilities to Amplify.

Vulnerability Submission Rules & Guidelines

  • Any testing conducted on customer data or accounts is strictly prohibited and will result in removal from the program.
  • If during the course of testing you encounter any sensitive data outside of your test accounts (including student or teacher names, login info, assessment data, activity data, and student work, etc.), please cease testing immediately and report what you have found. DO NOT include any text, screenshots, etc. with PII in the report. This action safeguards both potentially vulnerable data and yourself.
  • Do not access, download, or share any data you encounter in your testing.
  • Only interact with test accounts that you created or that we provided. The use of any credentials outside of these areas for testing purposes is strictly prohibited.
  • Provide detailed reports with reproducible steps. If the report is not detailed enough to reproduce the issue, the issue will not be eligible for a reward.
  • In some cases, you may not have all of the context information to assess the impact of a vulnerability. If you’re unsure of the direct impact but are reasonably certain that you have identified a vulnerability, we encourage you to submit a detailed report and state the open questions on impact.
  • When duplicate submissions for the same vulnerability occur, we only award the first report that was received, provided that it can be fully reproduced.
  • Multiple reports describing the same vulnerability against multiple assets or endpoints must be submitted within a single report.
  • Avoid destruction of data and interruption or degradation of our service.
  • Proof of Concept (POC) videos that do not include PII are highly recommended to help verify the issue, provide clarity, and save time on triage.
  • Please provide timely responses to any follow-up questions and requests for additional information.
  • Understand that there could be submissions for which we accept the risk, have other compensating controls, or will not address in the manner expected. When this happens, we will act as transparently as we can to provide you with the necessary context as to how the decision was made.
  • Reports submitted using methods that violate policy rules will not be accepted and may result in account suspension from/denial of entrance to the program.
  • Please refer to any noted out-of-scope areas listed under Out-of-Scope Vulnerabilities.

Out-of-Scope Vulnerabilities

When reporting vulnerabilities, please consider (1) attack scenario / exploitability, and (2) security impact of the bug. The following issues are considered out-of scope. In addition, please refer to any noted Out of Scope areas listed under the program assets.

  • Social engineering (e.g. phishing, vishing, smishing) is prohibited.
  • Clickjacking on pages with no sensitive actions.
  • Unauthenticated/logout/login CSRF.
  • Attacks requiring MITM or physical access to a user’s device.
  • Previously known vulnerable libraries without a working Proof of Concept.
  • Comma Separated Values (CSV) injection without demonstrating a vulnerability.
  • Missing best practices in SSL/TLS configuration.
  • Any activity that could lead to the disruption of our service (DoS).
  • Content spoofing and text injection issues without showing an attack vector/without being able to modify HTML/CSS.
  • XSRF that requires the knowledge of a secret.
  • Automated tools that could generate significant traffic and possibly impair the functioning of our services.
  • Testing or demonstrating the ability to upload unlimited audio/video files to exhaust resources.
  • Leaked credentials from third party providers, including invalid or stale employee credential dumps, and/or leaked personal information of Amplify staff.
  • Leaked credentials for Amplify customers not caused by vulnerabilities in our systems.
  • Vulnerabilities identified via third party services or providers where Amplify is not the owner.
  • Issues that merely result in spam/annoyance without additional impact (e.g sending emails without sufficient rate limiting)
  • Attempts to access our offices or data centers.
  • Any activity that could contribute to the disruption of our service (DoS). Automated scanning tests should be kept to 10 requests per second or less.
  • Self XSS.
  • Broken links and/or crashes in general.
  • Issues that require unlikely user interaction.
  • Issues that do not affect the latest version of modern browsers
  • Issues that require physical access to a victim’s computer/device.
  • Disclosure of information that does not present a significant risk
  • Please refer to any noted out-of-scope areas listed under program assets.

Legal

  • Any information you receive or collect about us, our affiliates or any of our users, employees or agents in connection with the Bug Bounty Program (“Confidential Information”) must be kept confidential and only used in connection with the Bug Bounty Program. You may not use, disclose or distribute any such Confidential Information, including without limitation any information regarding your Submission, without our prior written consent. You must get written consent by submitting a disclosure request through the HackerOne platform.
  • Researchers must follow HackerOne’s disclosure guidelines. Public disclosure or disclosure to other third parties without the explicit permission of Amplify is prohibited.
  • We will not take legal action against you if vulnerabilities are found and responsibly reported in compliance with all of the terms and conditions outlined in this policy.
  • Amplify reserves the right to modify the terms and conditions of this program without notice at any time, and your participation in the Program constitutes acceptance of all terms.

Submit Vulnerability Report

S3-01: Science as the underdog, and the research behind it

A graphic with the text "Science Connections" and "Amplify" features colorful circles and curved lines on a dark gray background.

Get ready for season 3 of Science Connections: The Podcast!

In our first episode, we unpack the research around our season theme of science as the underdog with Horizon Research, Inc. Vice President Eric R. Banilower and  Senior Researcher Courtney Plumley. Eric and Courtney dive into the research they’ve found and their experiences as former educators to show how science is often overlooked in K–12 classrooms. We discuss how the science classroom compares to other subjects in terms of time and resources, how schools are a reflection of society, and what’s needed to change science and its impact on a larger scale.

We hope you enjoy this episode and explore more from Science Connections by visiting our main page!

DOWNLOAD TRANSCRIPT

Courtney Plumley (00:00):

We asked teachers how much science, professional development, they’ve had in the last three years, and nearly half of elementary teachers said none.

Eric Cross (00:10):

Welcome to Science Connections. I’m your host, Eric Cross. I am super-excited to be kicking off the third season with the show. This entire season will be exploring the theme of science as the underdog. And we’re gonna make the case for science, by showing how and why it can be used more effectively. In the coming episodes, we’re gonna talk about how science can be better integrated into other content areas like literacy and math, and explore some of the benefits that you might not be thinking about good science instruction. But first, science as the underdog. I bet some of you out there feel like science is the underdog in your community at school. I know I have at times. To kick off this season, I’m gonna talk to two people who really studied this question by looking at the state of science instruction across the US. Eric Banilower is Vice President of Horizon Research and Courtney Plumley is Senior Researcher at Horizon Research. Eric was the principal investigator and Courtney an author of the latest in a series of studies called “The National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education.” We’re gonna dive into the findings of their most recent report to see what the data’s showing us. Please enjoy my discussion with Eric Banilower and Courtney Plumley. Courtney, hello. And thank you so much for joining us.

Courtney Plumley (01:25):

Hi Eric. It’s nice to be here.

Eric Cross (01:26):

And Eric, welcome.

Eric R. Banilower (01:27):

We’re thrilled to be here, so thank you for having us.

Eric Cross (01:30):

I was reading through the report. Four hundred…a very thorough report, 471 pages, I think, as I got it?

Eric R. Banilower (01:37):

And that’s only one of the many reports from that study.

Eric Cross (01:40):

Yeah. You all have done your work, so I’m really excited to to talk to you about this. And on this season of the show, we’re exploring the theme of science as the underdog. And I think a lot of our listeners, we feel like science is an underdog either in their school or in their district. But you’ve actually done some research on this, in a 2018 study, “The National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education.” So I wanna talk about this report. But first I was hoping you can kind of set the stage. How did you come to work on this report, and then, big picture, what were you hoping to find out?

Eric R. Banilower (02:10):

So the 2018 study that you just mentioned was actually the sixth iteration of a series of studies dating back to 1977. And we collect data every decade or so—you know, plus or minus a few years. And really, what we’re trying to do is get a snapshot of what the science and math education system looks like in in the nation. So my role grew. I started working at Horizon in about 1998, after teaching high school for five years in California. And then going to graduate school. And right about that time, the company was doing the 2000 iteration of the survey. And I worked on it with the team here at Horizon. And then we did it again in 2012. And I had a much more prominent role in that study, and became the kind of leader of the study. And in 2018, the most recent version, we just did it again. So the goal of this study is really to kind of examine key aspects of the K–12 STEM education system. And the main audience of the work has traditionally been policy makers, researchers, and practitioners who work at the federal, state, and district level.

Eric Cross (03:30):

So this study, you took kind of a sample size, but it’s reflective of trends that we tend to see across the nation as a whole. Would that be fair to say?

Eric R. Banilower (03:38):

Yes, definitely it is. It is a random sample of schools in the country. So we start with a list of all the public and private schools in the nation, and then do a random sample of those schools, and then work really, really hard to recruit schools to agree to be in the study. And that has gotten harder every time we’ve done the study, for many understandable reasons. And then once we have schools on board, we sample teachers within schools. So we don’t even survey every teacher in a school. It’s really a sub-sample. So that we can make inferences about the nation as a whole.

Eric Cross (04:14):

Makes sense. And so Courtney, what did you find out about the time spent on science instruction in US schools?

Courtney Plumley (04:22):

So, I’m gonna talk about elementary teachers to begin with.

Eric Cross (04:26):

Because that was your past life, right?

Courtney Plumley (04:28):

I am a former elementary teacher, yeah. So that’s kind of where my head is. And that’s relatable for me. Right? So we asked teachers, like, how many days of the week or weeks of the year that they teach elementary school. And fewer than 20% teach science every day of the school year. They kind of do one or two things, for the most part. They teach a couple days a week or they teach every day of the week, but only for, like, maybe six weeks, and then they swap with social studies and they kind of do that across the school year. Which is really different from, like, math, right? We also asked elementary teachers, how often do they teach math, and it’s every day of the year. Then we also asked them how many minutes they teach when they’re teaching, and we kind of did the math to figure out, all right, if they taught science every day of the school year, how many minutes would it be in a single day, so that we could make a more comparable comparison with math and ELA. If you were to work it out, how many minutes of science an elementary teacher teaches across the year, and break it down to per day, it’s like 18 minutes for the lower elementary grades, 27 for the upper elementary grades. Which is not a lot. But it’s pretty much an hour a day in math, and 80 plus minutes in ELA. So, a lot less. And then, you know, when I was teaching, the first thing to go was always science, right? If there was an assembly, if there was early release or whatever, that was the first thing to go. So those numbers might even be higher. Just because they aren’t factoring that kind of thing in, too.

Eric Cross (06:05):

So, now I’m curious. That is something that I’ve seen just anecdotally, science being the first thing to go. I feel like I’ve seen that almost…it’s almost become a meme, that I’ve heard that so often. Just in your experience, why do you think that is that huge disparity between the two?

Courtney Plumley (06:26):

Well, I mean, when I was teaching, I was teaching third grade. I had an end-of-grade test in math and ELA for my kids. I didn’t have one in science. So the administration said, “Hey, if you’re gonna drop something, drop something that’s not tested.”

Eric Cross (06:41):

Simple as that. And Eric, you, past life: physics teacher. High school. What did you see? ‘Cause our listeners run the gamut from elementary all the way up to high school. What did you see, as far as relative science instruction in the secondary level?

Eric R. Banilower (07:00):

Sure. You know, secondary is just a whole different situation than elementary. Rght? Because you have departmentalization. I taught science. I didn’t have to teach other subjects. And students had periods, and they still do, sorry, they still have periods, even though it’s been a long time since I taught. And you know, they rotate from one class to another. So all the classes were essentially the same length. So, you know, when I was teaching, it was about 50-minute periods. So in terms of minutes of a class or minutes on a subject, it’s not really different. But what is different is what students are required to take in order to graduate high school. One of the things we asked schools about in this study was how many years of a subject do students have to take in order to graduate? And what we saw was in mathematics, over half the schools in the nation require students to take four years of mathematics to graduate. OK? And the vast majority of the rest, about 44%, require three years in science. Most schools require three years. Very few require four years. And many, or a fair number, still only require two years to graduate. So the expectation of what students are taking is lower in science than it is in mathematics.

Eric Cross (08:20):

So you were seeing the same trend in secondary, essentially.

Eric R. Banilower (08:24):

Yes.

Eric Cross (08:24):

The amount of time devoted to the instruction of science…we’re kind of seeing it mirrored just across K–12 across the board.

Eric R. Banilower (08:33):

That’s correct.

Eric Cross (08:34):

And that’s across the country. ‘Cause the sample size represents teachers from Alaska, Hawaii, the South, SoCal, everywhere. So what’s been the reaction to that number? Like 18 to 20 minutes is…I mean, it’s, it’s half of my lunch at our school. What’s been the reaction to that number since this data has been published?

Eric R. Banilower (08:58):

I don’t know, Courtney, if you want to take that…

Courtney Plumley (09:00):

It’s a lot of what you just did. Like, what??? Like, how is it possible to teach all the things you need to teach in such a little amount of time?

Eric R. Banilower (09:08):

What’s really kind of surprising to me, though — though now that I’ve worked on three iterations of the study, it no longer surprises me, but it did at first — is that these numbers really aren’t changing since we’ve started doing this study. You know, people thought maybe with No Child Left Behind and the increase in accountability, time on science might actually go down, because there was more testing in math and English Language Arts. It didn’t happen. It was pretty much constant, that this has been kind of the state of science education for a long time.

Eric Cross (09:44):

So Eric, if I’m hearing you right: The past studies, we’re not seeing an increase or a decline. This has been this way for how many years, roughly, would you say? Since it’s been studied?

Eric R. Banilower (09:54):

You know, I’d have to go back to the 1977 report to get the numbers, but I’m gonna say since then, it has not changed much, if at all.

Eric Cross (10:03):

So this has kind of been entrenched. This has been the norm for almost for the career of a teacher, almost generationally. We’re looking at anyone who’s been in the highest levels of leadership to someone just entering the classroom, this has been the way it’s always been. This is kind of for many people what they’ve only known.

Eric R. Banilower (10:20):

Right.

Eric Cross (10:21):

Kind of become the norm.

Courtney Plumley (10:21):

We didn’t even have science when I was in elementary school. We had science on a cart that came by, you know, every other week.

Eric Cross (10:28):

Was that like a food truck, but like the science version of it? It shows up and does quick science and takes off?

Courtney Plumley (10:35):

And New York was, I mean — we always watched Voyage of the Mimi. I don’t know if you ever watched that. But that’s what we watched every single time the Science on the Cart came. So it’s like a marine biology show. Ben Affleck was on it when he was a kid.

Eric Cross (10:48):

<laugh> Really? For me it was, Mr. Wizard. For some of my students, even now, Bill Nye. You know, the Bill Nye show or something would come on. So what happens when you look at less wealthy districts? Is there a relationship between community resources and science instruction, or is it pretty much equal no matter what the district resources are, the school’s resources are? Did you see any data there?

Eric R. Banilower (11:12):

Yes. We actually did a lot of disaggregating the data by community type, student demographics in the schools, to look to see whether there were areas of inequities across the country. And, you know, one of the factors we looked at was kind of a measure of socioeconomic status. You know, wealth in the community. By looking at percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. And interestingly, in terms of time on science instruction, there is actually not a relationship between income level and how much time is spent at the elementary level on science, which actually surprised us.

Eric Cross (11:54):

Because you might have expected it to be the other way now. And granted, it’s 18 to 20 minutes, there isn’t much more to shave off off of that. But were there other differences, like when you compared those communities? Maybe it wasn’t the amount of science instruction, but was there anything else, like teacher preparedness, resources? Were there anything else that you did see discrepancies in? Or was it equal across the board?

Eric R. Banilower (12:13):

No, unfortunately there, there have been, and still are, a number of areas where community resources are related to pretty substantial differences in educational opportunities that students have. So, you know, we’re talking about the high school science requirements. One of the things that we saw was that high schools in less wealthy communities tend to offer less rigorous science courses than high schools in better-off-financially communities. So they may not be AP courses or second year advanced courses to the same extent that there are in the wealthier communities. That’s one big difference that we saw. Another one was what you were just saying about, sort of, the teachers who teach in these communities. You know, I think that for many years people have had a feeling that the best teachers go to the better off schools because it’s easier to teach there. Well, we see that the schools with the most poverty, they tend to have the newer teachers, who are just starting their career. They tend to have teachers who are less well prepared to teach their subject. And there’s a host of other differences we found. And you know, you mentioned the report being 400 pages. This other report that looks at these differences is also quite long, and, you know, identified a number of areas where there are these disparities in the system.

Eric Cross (13:43):

Well, we appreciate you synthesizing this for us, because this is super-important. And you’ve fleshed out a lot of things. And the fact that it’s driven by data, we as science teachers, we as scientists, being objective, really, really value that. Because this is actually validating a lot of the things that our listeners and myself, we experience anecdotally. But you don’t have a lot of things to network you. And sometimes, when you see this, you wonder if it’s just you, or is are other people experiencing this? And so as you start talking about this data, realizing, oh wow, this is not something in isolation. This is systemic. This is something that’s impacted. And then Eric, what you said about schools that were lower-income, that were under-resourced, and didn’t offer those advanced classes, what are some of the impacts of that, maybe downstream, of doing that? Not having those AP classes? I just kind of wanted to put that out there and ask you.

Eric R. Banilower (14:31):

You know, this is a really…this is a current debate right now, about what the goals of schooling K–12 should be. You know, are all kids meant to go to college? Should there be alternative paths? And you know, I know when I was teaching, I would have students say, “Why do I need to know this? I’m not gonna go into science. I’m not gonna study physics. Why do I need to take this?” And, you know, the answer I used to give them was, “You never know where your life is gonna end up and what opportunities you’ll have. And by having these educational experiences, you have more opportunities available to you. Whether or not you choose to go down those paths, you have opportunities. And when you don’t take this kind of coursework, you know, even if you don’t want to go to college, you limit your potential careers. Because so many careers nowadays require some technical knowledge, some knowledge of science, even if it’s not explicitly a science job. It is embedded in our society now. We are a technological and science-based society.”

Eric Cross (15:37):

It reminds me of something that I’ve told my students, that if you become a scientist, that’s awesome. I love that. But if you don’t, and you want to be a dancer or an actor or a lawyer or anything that may not be directly related to STEM, I want you to choose it because it was a choice, and not a lack of options. So as long as you’re choosing not to go in STEM, and you don’t make that decision because you can’t, or because you weren’t given the opportunity. So that’s how I’ve always had this mindset as a teacher. And I’ve explained it to my students. So if you say, “Cross, you know what I want to do, I wanna be an awesome chef,” which, you know, low-key that’s science, right? <laugh> Molecular gastronomy, we know that. But like, you be the best chef. But as long as you’re being a chef because you choose that, and you’re like, “I love science, but I don’t wanna go that direction,” we’re good.

Eric R. Banilower (16:26):

Right. And if you think about, a lot of social justice issues with pollution and climate change, and you look at which communities are more affected by some of these larger environmental problems and challenges, it tends to be the lower socioeconomic communities, the more poverty-stricken communities have worse water, have worse air quality. And so if, if people from these communities are going to make informed decisions about who they’re gonna vote for, about what policies they’re gonna support, those are science topics that you have to have some understanding in order to make informed decisions in your life.

Eric Cross (17:09):

Courtney, you were one of the Swiss Army Knife teachers. This is how I perceive it for elementary. You had to teach everything. And shout out to all of my elementary school teachers that have to be mathematicians and grammar whizzes and scientists and PE instructors and social emotional, all of those different things. you also looked at teacher preparedness. How did teachers feel about teaching science compared to other subjects like language arts and math? Did you see anything there?

Courtney Plumley (17:39):

We did, we did. And I’m glad you said, “How did they feel about it?” Because one thing that, you know, in a survey you can’t really do is capture how someone actually…how good someone actually…the quality of someone’s instruction. But you can ask them how prepared they feel. And you can even ask them like stats, like, “What did you major in in college?” You know. But you really are going on based on what what they say. So we ask them how prepared they feel to teach all the core subjects. And two-thirds of elementary teachers felt very well prepared to teach reading. They felt very well prepared to teach math. But when it comes to science, it’s less than a third felt very well prepared. And you know, like you said, when you’re teaching elementary school, you’re teaching all the subjects. But also in science, there’s usually four main instructional units in a school year. And they’re all from different science disciplines. So not only are you going on, like, “Maybe in college took a lot of bio classes, but I didn’t take any physics classes, and now I have to teach physics to my kids and I have no experience there.” So, you know, we also ask them how well-prepared they felt in these different disciplines. And the numbers are even smaller, you know. Fewer than a quarter felt very well-prepared in life science. And like 13% felt very well-prepared in physical science. So there’s definitely a big difference between how much teachers feel prepared for ELA and math versus science.

Eric Cross (19:08):

And just from a human perspective, when we don’t feel prepared for something, we’re not really gonna probably lean into it as much as we are into our strengths. Like, that’s just kind of how we are across the board.

Courtney Plumley (19:18):

Yeah.

Eric Cross (19:18):

I’m even like that with my own chores in the house. Or when I have things I need to get done, and I might not be as good at doing those things—it’s gonna be a heavy cognitive load; I’m gonna have to do some background research—I tend to find other areas to excel in. Like, I’m gonna be productive in this other area. I’m gonna really crush it here. But this other thing gets put to the back burner.

Courtney Plumley (19:36):

Totally. And the same reason I might skip science today, <laugh> ’cause it’s scary.

Eric Cross (19:41):

Yeah, exactly. But I love this book. <Laugh> Or we could do this math, and let’s really, really dive deep into it. Now, did you also look at professional development and instructional resources that are being provided?

Courtney Plumley (19:53):

We did.

Eric Cross (19:54):

And on the whole, how was the amount—and I’m seeing a trend here, so I’m kind of feeling like I know where this might go—but I wanted to ask it, did the amount of professional development and resources for science, was there much of a difference between that and other subjects?

Eric R. Banilower (20:10):

Well, I’ll start on this, and Courtney, feel free to jump in. You know, one of the things that we asked was how much kind of discretionary funding do schools devote to science and how much to mathematics? So, for consumables or equipment and supplies or computer software for teachers to use in the classroom. And it’s hard to compare, I think, across subjects because the demands for this kind of supplies, et cetera, is very different, I think, in science than it is in mathematics. Right? We have a lot of, you know, equipment for doing investigations, consumable supplies in science. And those things need to be replenished on a regular basis. It turns out, when we look at the data for school discretionary spending on this kind of stuff, the median school spends less than $2 per student at the elementary level on science, compared to over $6 for mathematics. At the high school level, it’s kind of reversed. Schools spend more money on high school science than they do on high school math. but even still, at the high school, it’s less than $7 per student. Which is not a lot of money being devoted to thinking about all the materials, supplies, chemicals, et cetera, that you need to teach science well, at the high school level. More disturbing is the fact that, you know, we were talking about inequities before, schools that serve less well-off communities spend less than schools that serve wealthier communities, by quite a big amount.

Eric Cross (21:46):

So essentially the per-student thing just kind of popped out to me: So, like, an expensive Starbucks drink is what we’re spending on science per student.

Eric R. Banilower (21:57):

At the high school level. Yes.

Eric Cross (21:58):

At the high school level. And I get those catalogs in the mail, from all of those big science companies. You can’t get much for seven bucks. At least, nothing high-level. And I know I do a lot of 99-cent store science. I go down the street, go to the 99-cent store. Thankfully we could do a lot of awesome science with just, you know, cheap things. But a lot of the higher level experiences, they’re pricey. But the experiences are so rich! And $7 at the high school level is nothing. It’s not much at all.

Eric R. Banilower (22:28):

Yeah. It is definitely, you know, kind of shocking to think about what we’re investing in our children’s future.

Eric Cross (22:37):

Now, just to put you both on the spot, ’cause I feel like that we’ve identified some…we’re seeing a trend here, we’re seeing a pattern. We’re talking about, you know, being science teachers. There’s a pattern going on here. Do you think it’s fair to characterize science as the underdog?

Courtney Plumley (22:52):

I think in elementary school, it is a fair statement. Because, like we said before, I mean they’re gonna preference math and ELA almost all the time. I mean, the other thing you’d asked a little bit ago was about professional development, too. And we do have some data on that. And we ask teachers, you know, how much science professional development they’ve had in the last three years. And nearly half of elementary teachers said none. And I know I didn’t have any science professional development. If I was gonna pick from among the catalog, I was picking one that I needed more, like math. Math and ELA. I keep making that statement, but just over and over, it’s the truth.

Eric Cross (23:31):

And going back to what you said earlier, because that’s where the accountability was, right? And that kind of came top-down.

Courtney Plumley (23:38):

Yes.

Eric Cross (23:38):

And influenced everything else.

Eric R. Banilower (23:40):

Yeah. Now, really interesting thing that we did, a year or so ago, ’cause someone asked us, you know, “Hey, could you look at this?” is we compared elementary science instructional time among states where science counted towards accountability versus states where science doesn’t count towards accountability. And at the upper elementary grades, more time was spent on science in schools in states where they had science accountability. Now I’m not arguing for adding science to accountability systems. But that’s a pretty telling piece of data.

Eric Cross (24:19):

What gets measured gets done.

Eric R. Banilower (24:20):

Yeah.

Eric Cross (24:20):

Or what was getting evaluated was getting done. And that raises, that opens up a myriad of other questions about testing, and what that reveals, and all of those different things. But at the end of the day, what you’re finding is that the things that were getting tested were the things that were getting the priority.

Eric R. Banilower (24:36):

That’s right.

Eric Cross (24:37):

How did we get to this point? And Eric, you said it goes back at least to ’77, but we look at society and we’re…I wanna say we’re post-pandemic, but we’re we’re not. but we’re trying to, we’re trying to get past that. But we’re looking at…we had innovations in biology, we have innovations right now in green energy and electric cars and all of these things that are STEM-based. We know that these are things that have moved humanity forward. And we look at the pipeline of people who are in STEM and we, we see the disparities and things like that. Why was science given less of a priority? I’m just curious. Maybe, Courtney, we could start with you, if you have any ideas. Or Eric. Either one. But how did we get here?

Eric R. Banilower (25:22):

<laugh> I think Courtney wants me to take that one. I’m older so I’ve seen more <laugh>. So, you know, I have the gray hair. She doesn’t. I think it’s complicated. And I know this sounds cliche, but but schools are a reflection of society, right? And, and so science education, you know, if you think back when Sputnik was launched, there became this great demand in America to improve and produce more scientists and engineers in response to this Cold War threat. Right? And then in the ’80s there was rising, oh, the gathering storm was an economic argument that we needed to increase science and math, you know, education and people going into those fields in order to compete economically against the global competitors. And I think that America has always produced a fair number, a large number, of high-quality scientists and engineers, you know. And we still lead the world in many ways. But where we’ve identified as a problem is who has those opportunities to go into those fields. You know, it used to be a very select, a very male-dominated, white male-dominated field. Right? And other people didn’t have the opportunity, or they were shown the way out pretty early. And we, I think, have come to realize as a country that, you know, the, the greater the diversity of thought that we can get into these discussions, the more innovative we can be and the more productive as a society we can be. And so I think we’ve had this shift in the country to, instead of thinking about just the quality for the select few, but to be thinking about the quality for everyone. And so that makes it seem like some of these challenges are greater than they used to be. And I think they’re different challenges, right? We’ve evolved as a society and I think schools have evolved.

Eric Cross (27:40):

There is a conversation I was in on a plane with a person who was a materials manager for a company that made the adhesive for sandpaper. And we were flying…I was flying to Denmark and he was flying to some other Scandinavian country. And we were just talking about it. And he came from another industry, and somehow the conversation led to science. I don’t know how that happened. But somehow I just started talking about science and I asked him about, Eric, kind of what you said about the US kind of leading the way in science innovation versus the rest of the world. And I asked him why. And he said one of the reasons why is because the heterogeneous thought. The different groups of people that are coming to a problem actually create more innovative and novel solutions. Versus when it’s more homogeneous. And everyone’s either culturally or just for whatever reason, kind of thinks a certain way. While they might have a more efficient way, the variety of solutions are not as varied and not as novel. I was reminded of that story based on what you just said. So it’s really interesting. So it seems to be that it benefits if we have more heterogeneous groups, more folks who are contributing to STEM, because that’s gonna be solving the next problem more efficiently. Or I guess maybe in my head it seems like the next we need…we do really well when we have a dragon to slay. I mean, it seems like we come together when that’s the case, right? Like, I dunno.

Eric R. Banilower (29:06):

No, I think that’s…I think that’s accurate.

Eric Cross (29:09):

Later on the season of the podcast, we’re gonna explore ways to better integrate science with other subjects like literacy and math. Were you able to study at all any more integrated approaches to science instruction? Does any of your research support that approach?

Courtney Plumley (29:25):

Not on the national survey, we didn’t study that. And it’s something that we’ve talked about before, because it’s difficult to get teachers to…we were talking about instructional time. It’s hard for teachers to put a number on it when they’re integrating, because, you know, it’s not like I have my science block from 3 to 3:30 anymore. Now it’s kind of scattered about. But it’s something that has been in the ether. We’ve been looking at it in a couple of projects. So there’s some evidence that it can be effective, especially for getting more, you know…the idea is you can get more time for science if you are integrating with other subjects. But one thing to kind of caution is like, students need to have opportunities to learn each discipline when they’re doing integrated instruction. So you don’t wanna just have, like, math in your science. Kids already know to just, like, support it. Then it’s hard to take time from math to put it into science when they’re not actually learning anything new. That’s the easy thing to do, though, is say, “Oh, my kids already know how to measure. We did that in a previous unit. So now we’ll we’ll do it as part of our science instruction.” So it’s a lot of work to make it so they’re learning something new, mathematics and science, at the same time. And it’s not really something that we think that teachers should be having to do on their own, with all the other things that teachers have to do. The last thing they need to do is be creating their own, you know, curriculum. Something that’s already…you know, it’s not straightforward. So we’ve been talking about it, we think it’s really something that instructional materials maybe need to be focusing on instead of teachers having to do that on their own,

Eric Cross (31:01):

Teachers would implement it, but asking them to create it is a whole different thing, and it’s a huge ask.

Courtney Plumley (31:08):

Yes.

Eric Cross (31:08):

Yeah. And, did I hear you right? So the ideal situation would’ve been the students learning a newer math concept, but embedded in a science kind of context? Or was that the better way? Versus, “I’m gonna take a math concept they already know and then just put it into the science setting?”

Courtney Plumley (31:26):

Well, if the idea is that you can get more science time if you’re, you know, integrating things, so you can maybe take time away from a specific math block by putting it with science, or whatever, then if the math is something that the kids already know, now you’re just taking away. I think that that has to be new in both cases, in order to justify having more time.

Eric Cross (31:49):

Right. Eric, in the secondary level, any thoughts on that? On integrating these disciplines together?

Eric R. Banilower (31:56):

I think, you know, just like at the elementary level, it can be challenging to do it well. When I taught, I taught my last couple years in a kind of school-within-a-school kind of situation, where our goal was to try to integrate science, mathematics, and language arts. And it’s hard to do that in a meaningful way. And we did not have curriculum materials given to us to help us do this. We were trying to figure out how to do this on our own, while we were teaching 200 kids a day in our subjects. Right? And five preparations. And you know, it’s a big ask of any teacher. And there are teachers who thrive on this and are great at this. And, you know, that’s one thing I wanna, make clear: our data is about the system, and we are former teachers. Almost everyone who works at Horizon is a former teacher. We have the greatest respect for teachers and what they do. And what our data is showing is are kind of like areas where the system isn’t providing teachers and their students the opportunities to do great things. I think at the high school level, there has been this idea of project-based learning where students are bringing together different skills, different ideas from across disciplines. And I think there’s, again, a lot of potential in doing that. But trying to develop those experiences so that they are doing service to the different subjects, so students are learning what they’re supposed to learn in English Language Arts, that they’re learning, important mathematics, and that this is in a science context, where they are getting to do and understand what science is and how science, as a discipline, operates…that’s just a really hard thing to develop.

Eric Cross (33:53):

So what I’m hearing—and I really appreciate the nuance in this, because it’s not a simple “Yes. Integrated is better,”—I’m hearing “Yes. Quality control.” “Yes. It needs to be written not by teachers; they’re the practitioners.” It’s “Yes. And,” not just simply binary. Which…it’s so easy to wanna chunk things and say yes or no on things. But this one seems a much more nuanced approach. And in a future episode, you mentioned project-based learning, we’re gonna try and talk to people who have thoughts on this. And I really appreciate that you talked about project-based learning, because also, how do you evaluate that? How do you evaluate whether or not it is high quality? Is this is something I see? You know, high-quality standards, highest quality science teaching, highly qualified teachers. It’s something that I see often. Now, based on all your research, this is kind of the 30,000-foot view. What advice might you have for people who are thinking about changing the way science is taught in this country? Which hasn’t changed since 1977, at least since we’ve been measuring it. Any advice for people who do want to act? Another way to ask, it might be, if you were given a magic wand, <laugh>, you have all power, what might you do if you can control the entire vertical system?

Eric R. Banilower (35:07):

Yeah, so a clarification, I do think science instruction has changed. It has evolved. I think there’s a lot of really good things going on in different pockets of the country. One of the challenges is bringing those good ideas and good practices to scale. Right? There are approximately 1.2 million teachers of science K–12 in this country. That’s a lot of people. And about 80% of those are elementary teachers who are responsible for teaching other subjects as well. So my thinking is often about, “How do we take what we know and that we’ve learned through decades of research is effective, and impact a large number of teachers, and therefore a large number of students?” And you know, Courtney I think has hinted at this already. And you’ve mentioned it too, Eric, is that teaching is a profession, right? And it’s a craft. But in no other profession do practitioners have the expectation that they’re developing their own tools and methods for their work. I know when I was in my teacher preparation program, and it’s still extremely common, one of the assignments perspective teachers are given is to develop a unit and develop a lesson, right? You don’t have doctors being asked to develop new treatments and new tests to use. Their job is to get to know their patient, assess what’s going on, and then using research-based methods to develop a plan of action, right? And I think that analogy works really well in education and is a way that we could have a scalable approach for kind of raising the floor across the country for the quality of science education. Giving teachers research-based materials, high-quality instructional materials, that they can then use and adapt to meet the needs of their students, would allow them to focus on getting to know their students, seeing what their strengths are, seeing where they have room for growth, and using the materials they’re given to help those students progress. And I think that is definitely a way where we could have a big impact at a large scale.

Eric Cross (37:39):

Courtney, same question: Magic wand, all power. You can change systems from the elementary perspective. What would you do? I’m assuming part of it’s gonna be changing that 18 to 20 minute time. But even for that to happen, what would you do? What would you change?

Courtney Plumley (37:57):

Well, I don’t know. Like, for it to change, I don’t know the answer to that. But yes, increasing the time would be great. And like Eric was saying, giving teachers— ’cause again, I’m coming in, not enough probably background in science—and then, you know, when I was, when I was teaching, we had one set of textbooks for the entire grade. Six classes, right? Like, share them. But third graders aren’t gonna read textbooks anyway, right? So instead I’m going to the teacher store. I’m pulling things off the shelf. And like, “OK, yeah, sure, I’ll use this.” And nowadays, teachers are going to Teachers Pay Teachers or whatever. Because I didn’t have anything good to use. So like Eric is saying, if I had instructional materials that were good instructional materials that were gonna teach my kids, that they were gonna be engaged, that they weren’t sitting and listening to science, but they were doing science, you know, and I had professional development to actually help me do it? That’s what I think we need to have. And I mean, I know there are some people out there that are working on that, but it’s not a lot. I mean, if you look at Ed Reports, they rate how well-aligned science curriculum are to standards. And there are two right now that have Ed Reports green lights. There’s Amplify and there’s OpenSciEd. You know, so there’s not much out there for teachers to use. And, so it’s hard. It’s hard. Where am I gonna go and get this stuff if it doesn’t exist? And so I’m making it up by myself. Which we already said is not the best use of teachers’ time, when they’ve got so many other demands on their time.

Eric Cross (39:27):

Eric and Courtney, listening to both of your responses, it created a visual in my mind. And Eric, I loved your analogy of…I started thinking of a chef, a welder, and a farmer. And I thought about the chef saying like, “You’re a great chef! Now, can you go farm, and make your own food, so that you can cook it?” Or the welder who has to make his own welding tools and go smelting. You know, making the different rods. I’m not a welder. But you know, all those different parts. Or the farmer who has to build his own tractor and innovate all that stuff. You’re absolutely right, the way you articulated that. And then Courtney, you essentially said, “Give them the tools and then teach them how to use it so they can go and actually be effective with it, because you’re in front of kids doing so many different things.” There’s only so much time in the day, and teachers want to do these things; they want to, but you end up having to triage when you’re asked to. Going back to Eric’s analogy, if you’re in the ER, but you’re also creating the vaccines and you’re also doing the research on which types of vaccines are gonna be the most effective, that’s, that’s a lot to ask. And so, I appreciate both your responses on that. Now, last question, what are you both working on now? This report came out in 2018. What’s, what’s next on the horizon? Actually literally, that’s no pun intended. <laugh> What’s next? <laugh> What’s next for, for you both? What are you working on?

Eric R. Banilower (40:42):

Well, you know, we would love to do another national survey, in a few years. We have to get funding to do it. And you know, that’s always something that takes effort and isn’t a guarantee. We’ve written grants to do these studies in the past, and there’s also the dealing with the reality of the situation. I think a lot of schools, still coming off the tail end of dealing with Covid, are overwhelmed. And we’ve had a hard time, I mentioned before, recruiting schools, and it gets harder every time, just ’cause they have so much on their plate. And I couldn’t see going to a school now and saying, “Hey, one more thing. Do you mind?” So I think we have to kind of wait a little bit for things to settle down before we can do another one of these studies. It just doesn’t seem feasible right now. But we’d love to in the not-too-distant future. Other than that, Courtney and I actually work on some projects together and some projects not together. One of the things that we’re working on together is a study of a fifth grade science curriculum that was developed by Okhee Lee at NYU and her colleagues, that is both aligned with the NGSS and purposely designed to support multilingual learners in developing both their science knowledge and skills as well as their language skills. And we’ve been working with the crew at NYU to study this curriculum and try to figure out, how well it’s working and under what circumstances. So that’s been a really interesting project that’s going on right now.

Courtney Plumley (42:26):

I recently worked on a report with the Carnegie Corporation in New York that actually I think, compliments what we’ve been talking about a lot. It’s about the status of K–12 education in the US—or science education in the US! <Laugh>—and so as part of that report we interviewed like 50 science education experts across the country. We surveyed teachers, people in the university settings, researchers, and everything to kind of get a little bit more update of the state of science education right now. And so a lot of the things we’ve been talking about, we still are talking about with the people in this report four years later. So, work in progress. <Laugh>

Eric Cross (43:09):

And again, going back to 1977, based on what Eric was saying earlier, we’re looking at these large systems, these systemic changes don’t happen overnight.

Eric R. Banilower (43:20):

That’s right.

Eric Cross (43:21):

It’s very slow-moving.

Eric R. Banilower (43:22):

That’s right. I would say there is progress. I think we’ve learned a lot. We are getting better. Are we there yet? No, we’re not happy with where we are. But I think, you know, I think it’s important to be hopeful about the direction things are going in.

Eric Cross (43:37):

Well-said. I agree. Courtney. Eric, thank you so much for unpacking that report that speaks to, that validates what so many teachers across the country are experiencing. And thank you for your advocacy for high-quality science education and your passion for supporting teachers and being that voice from a data-driven perspective of what teachers experience and then advocating for solutions for them. It’s super-encouraging for me, and I know it’s gonna be really encouraging for a lot of our listeners. So thank you.

Eric R. Banilower (44:10):

Thank you for having us.

Courtney Plumley (44:12):

Yeah. Thank you, Eric.

Eric Cross (44:15):

Thanks so much for listening to my conversation with Eric Banilower, Vice President of Horizon Research, and Courtney Plumley, Senior Researcher at Horizon Research. For much more, check out the show notes for a link to the 2018 National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education. And please remember to subscribe to Science Connections wherever you get podcasts, so that you’re not missing any of the upcoming episodes in Season three. Next time on the show, we’re gonna start laying out the road map for using science more effectively. And we’ll start by looking at the how and the why of integrating literacy instruction.

Susan Gomez Zwiep (44:49):

When we look at Science First and build language development around it, the experience tends to be more authentic and organic.

Eric Cross (44:58):

That’s next time on Science Connections: The Podcast. Thanks so much for listening.

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What Eric R. Banilower says about science

“Our data is showing us places where the system needs to provide teachers and their students the opportunities to do great things.”

– Eric R. Banilower

Vice President of Horizon Research, Inc.

Meet the guests

Eric R. Banilower is a Vice President at Horizon Research, Inc. (HRI), and has worked in education for over 30 years. Eric was previously a high school physics and physical science teacher before he joined HRI in 1997, where he has worked on a number of research and evaluation projects. Most recently, he has been the Principal Investigator of the 2012 and 2018 iterations of the National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education, a nationally representative survey focusing on the status of the K–12 STEM education system.

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Courtney Plumley is a Senior Researcher at Horizon Research, Inc. She began her career in education as an elementary school teacher before starting at HRI in 2009. In her time at HRI she has worked on many K-12 STEM research and evaluation projects. Most recently, Ms. Plumley has worked with Carnegie Corporation of New York on mapping the landscape of K-12 science education in the US and is managing the field test for the OpenSciEd elementary materials.

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A laptop screen displays the “Science Connections: The Community” private group page, with science-themed icons decorating the background and edges.

About Science Connections

Welcome to Science Connections! Science is changing before our eyes, now more than ever. So…how do we help kids figure that out? We will bring on educators, scientists, and more to discuss the importance of high-quality science instruction. In this episode, hear from our host Eric Cross about his work engaging students as a K-8 science teacher. 

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The terms of this Agreement are governed by the laws of the State of New York, U.S.A., without regard to its conflicts of law provisions, and regardless of your location.

Arbitration

EXCEPT FOR DISPUTES THAT QUALIFY FOR SMALL CLAIMS COURT, ALL DISPUTES ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THIS AGREEMENT, WHETHER BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT, STATUTE, FRAUD, MISREPRESENTATION OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, WILL BE RESOLVED THROUGH FINAL AND BINDING ARBITRATION BEFORE A NEUTRAL ARBITRATOR INSTEAD OF IN A COURT BY A JUDGE OR JURY, AND YOU AGREE THAT COMPANY AND YOU ARE EACH WAIVING THE RIGHT TO TRIAL BY A JURY. YOU AGREE THAT ANY ARBITRATION UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL TAKE PLACE ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS; CLASS ARBITRATIONS AND CLASS ACTIONS ARE NOT PERMITTED AND YOU ARE AGREEING TO GIVE UP THE ABILITY TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION.

Arbitration procedure

Any arbitration under Section 23 above will be administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Commercial Arbitration Rules and Supplementary Procedures for Consumer-Related Disputes (“Supplementary Procedures”), as amended by this Agreement. The Supplementary Procedures are available online at http://www.adr.org/aaa/ShowPDF?doc=ADRSTG_015820. The arbitrator will conduct hearings, if any, by teleconference or videoconference, rather than by personal appearances, unless the arbitrator determines upon request by you or by us that an in-person hearing is appropriate. Any in-person appearances will be held at a location which is reasonably convenient to both parties with due consideration of their ability to travel and other pertinent circumstances. If the parties are unable to agree on a location, such determination should be made by the AAA or by the arbitrator. The arbitrator’s decision will follow the terms of this Agreement and will be final and binding. The arbitrator will have authority to award temporary, interim or permanent injunctive relief or relief providing for specific performance of this Agreement, but only to the extent necessary to provide relief warranted by the individual claim before the arbitrator. The award rendered by the arbitrator may be confirmed and enforced in any court having jurisdiction thereof. Notwithstanding any of the foregoing, nothing in this Agreement will preclude you from bringing issues to the attention of federal, state, or local agencies, and, if the law allows, they can seek relief against us for you.

Employment opportunities

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Other terms

This Agreement does not, and shall not be construed to, create any partnership, joint venture, employer-employee, agency or franchisor-franchisee relationship between you and Company. You may not assign, transfer or sublicense any or all of your rights or obligations under this Agreement without our express prior written consent. We may assign, transfer or sublicense any or all of our rights or obligations under this Agreement without restriction. The failure of Company to exercise or enforce any right or provision of this Agreement will not operate as a waiver of such right or provision. The Section titles in this Agreement are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect. References to and mentions of the word “include,” “includes,” “including,” or “e.g.” will mean “including, without limitation.” References to “discretion” will mean “sole discretion.” This Agreement operates to the fullest extent permissible by law. If any provision of this Agreement is unlawful, void or unenforceable, that provision is deemed severable from this Agreement and does not affect the validity or enforceability of any remaining provisions. Without limitation, you agree that a printed version of this Agreement and of any notice given in electronic form shall be admissible in judicial or administrative proceedings based upon or relating to this Agreement to the same extent and subject to the same conditions as other business documents and records originally generated and maintained in printed form. Company will not be responsible for failures to fulfill any obligations due to causes beyond its control.

Please contact us at legal@amplify.com with any questions regarding this Agreement.

What’s included in our Spanish language arts curriculum

Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts® (CKLA) is available in both English and Spanish. Amplify Caminos al Conocimiento Esencial, our robust Spanish language arts companion for grades K–5, supports multiple teaching models, including dual language immersion and transitional classrooms.

A laptop screen displays a kindergarten instructional webpage in Spanish, showing lesson categories with illustrated thumbnails and navigation options.

Year at a glance

The program’s intentional Knowledge Sequence from K–5 connects knowledge and vocabulary within a grade level and across grade levels, for deeper reading comprehension and preparation for college, career, and life. Instead of “activating prior knowledge,” Amplify Caminos helps you build it in the classroom from day one, for every child, expanding each student’s knowledge base long before they transition to reading to learn.

Curriculum flowchart showing reading themes and activities from Kindergarten to Grade 5, organized by grade level and literary theme, with interconnected boxes for each topic.

Units & domains at a glance

Each Knowledge Domain in grades K–2 and Unit in grades 3–5 varies in the number of days based on instructional purpose. Just as with our top-rated Amplify CKLA program, the Amplify Caminos materials engage and delight young learners with resources that are both appealing and original.

Una mujer rubia con un vestido azul cuida ovejas blancas y negras, sosteniendo un bastón de pastor. Un cerdo vestido de azul corre y un hombre de negro toca el violín en una valla. Al fondo hay una casa.

Domain

Nursery Rhymes and Fables/Rimas y fábulas infantiles

Start learning about literature with these classic Mother Goose rhymes.

Ilustración de tres personas en un paisaje cubierto de hierba, una tratando de atrapar mariposas con una red, otra escondiéndose detrás de una escultura alta y frondosa de una mano y otra con binoculares.

Domain

The Five Senses/Los cinco sentidos

Learning about the body starts with learning about how we experience the world.

Una ilustración que representa a un gran lobo con sombrero de copa liderando un desfile de animales y personas con instrumentos musicales a través de un paisaje montañoso.

Domain

Stories/Cuentos

Learn about the parts of a book and some of the stories that go in one.

Una ilustración vibrante de una escena rural con colinas, una granja, una mariposa, un sol brillante, varias verduras como tomates y lechugas, y un gusano en el suelo.

Domain

Plants/Plantas

Discover the lifecycle of plants and the history of George Washington Carver.

Ilustración de una escena de granja que muestra un camión rojo que transporta verduras, campos de cultivo, vacas pastando en una colina, un granero y un molino de viento contra un cielo azul.

Domain

Farms/Granjas

Now we know how plants make their food… but what about animals?

Ilustración de un nativo remando en una canoa en un río con búfalos pastando en un campo, tipis al fondo y pájaros volando en el cielo bajo un sol brillante.

Domain

Native Americans/Los nativos americanos

Who were the first people in America? A look at the Lenape, Wampanoag, and Lakota Sioux.

Una ilustración muestra un rey y una reina en tronos, un castillo en un acantilado y una mujer con enanos cerca de un árbol. Cortinas rojas enmarcan la escena.

Domain

Kings and Queens/Reyes y reinas

To understand fairy tales, it’s best to first understand royalty.

Ilustración que muestra las cuatro estaciones: primavera con flores, verano con árboles verdes, otoño con hojas que caen e invierno con nieve y gente en trineo. Un niño lee debajo de un árbol.

Domain

Seasons and Weather/Las estaciones y el tiempo

The study of natural cycles continues with the weather and why it happens.

Un velero de madera con símbolos de cruz roja en sus velas navega cerca de una isla tropical con exuberante vegetación y palmeras. A lo lejos se ven otros dos barcos en el agua.

Domain

Columbus and the Pilgrims/Colón y los peregrinos

A look at the first contact between Europe and the Americas, and some of its results.

Una escena histórica muestra gente afuera de una gran mansión de estilo colonial con dos chimeneas. En primer plano se ve un carruaje tirado por caballos y a la izquierda se ve una casa más pequeña.

Domain

Colonial Towns and Townspeople/Las colonias y sus habitantes

Before the War for Independence, how did the town and country depend on one another?

Ilustración de personas clasificando materiales reciclables en un parque cerca de un río contaminado. Las fábricas emiten humo al fondo, mientras que las mariposas, las flores y los árboles están presentes en el primer plano.

Domain

Taking Care of the Earth/Cuidar el planeta Tierra

We only have one Earth—here are some ways to help care for it.

Ilustración del Monte Rushmore con los rostros tallados de cuatro presidentes de Estados Unidos. Un águila vuela en primer plano.

Domain

Presidents and American Symbols/Presidentes y símbolos de los Estados Unidos

Start learning about government through the lives of five presidents.

Una ilustración caprichosa que muestra animales de granja alrededor de una casa en un árbol junto a un río. Un zorro, un conejo y una oveja interactúan mientras la gente acampa junto a una fogata al fondo. Una araña cuelga del árbol.

Domain

Fables and Stories/Fábulas y cuentos

Learn some of the key elements of a story through classic fables.

Ilustración que presenta anatomía humana, actividades de estilo de vida saludable, profesionales médicos, símbolos dietéticos, una ambulancia y microorganismos, destacando la conexión entre salud, nutrición y ejercicio.

Domain

The Human Body/El cuerpo humano

What are germs? What are the organs? And what does it all have to do with health?

Una ilustración que presenta varias escenas de cuentos de hadas y folclore, incluida una calabaza grande, un tigre, Caperucita Roja, personas con atuendos tradicionales y una pagoda roja con una montaña de fondo.

Domain

Different Lands, Similar Stories/Tierras diferentes, cuentos similares

A world tour of storytelling, and the stories that stay the same across the world.

Ilustración que muestra el antiguo Egipto con pirámides, la Esfinge, agricultores arando un campo con bueyes y ganado pastando bajo un cielo soleado.

Domain

Early World Civilizations/Antiguas civilizaciones del mundo

Rivers, farming, writing, and laws: just what does it take to build a civilization?

Escena ilustrada de la antigua Mesoamérica con maíz, un río, agricultores y pirámides al fondo. En primer plano se ve a una persona con traje tradicional.

Domain

Early American Civilizations/Antiguas civilizaciones de América

What will we find in the great temples of the Aztec, Maya, and Inca civilizations?

Ilustración de la exploración espacial: se lanza un cohete, un astronauta se para cerca de un módulo de aterrizaje, una persona usa un telescopio y aparece un planeta distante con anillos sobre un fondo estrellado.

Domain

Astronomy/Astronomía

How the Earth relates to the moon, the sun, and the rest of the planets.

Dos paleontólogos en un paisaje volcánico examinan fósiles en primer plano, mientras un volcán emite humo y lava al fondo.

Domain

The History of the Earth/La historia de la Tierra

Just what lies beneath the Earth’s surface, and what can it teach us about the past?

Una escena de vida silvestre diversa que presenta un cactus del desierto con un pájaro, un conejo, elefantes, un león, un oso polar sobre el hielo y montañas distantes bajo un cielo nublado.

Domain

Animals and Habitats/Los animales y sus hábitats

A look at the connection between how animals live and where they make their homes.

Una princesa con un vestido rosa sostiene una rana junto a un arroyo con un castillo, árboles y gente al fondo. En primer plano camina un zorro con un sombrero con una pluma roja.

Domain

Fairy Tales/Cuentos de hadas

What do fairy tales have to teach us about how stories are told?

Ilustración que muestra una escena histórica con soldados, veleros y hombres con atuendo colonial discutiendo en el interior.

Domain

A New Nation: American Independence/Una nueva nación: la independencia de los Estados Unidos

The story of the birth of the United States out of the 13 Colonies.

Los pioneros con carros cubiertos y caballos señalan hacia un valle con tipis nativos, fogatas y humo elevándose. Un oso se encuentra sobre una roca y se ven montañas al fondo.

Domain

Frontier Explorers/Exploradores de la Frontera

The story of the journey west from the newborn U.S.A. to find the Pacific Ocean.

Un hombre con un hacha se encuentra entre paisajes exagerados con un castillo, un tren con humo, un buey azul y una persona con un mono observando la escena.

Domain

Fairy Tales and Tall Tales/Cuentos de hadas y cuentos exagerados

Learn about exaggeration and characterization on the frontier.

Ilustración de un paisaje vibrante que presenta diversos monumentos culturales, incluidos templos, palacios, pirámides, una escena de elefantes, montañas distantes y fuegos artificiales en el cielo.

Domain

Early Asian Civilizations/Antiguas civilizaciones de Asia

Tour the world of classical civilization, starting with India and China.

Ilustración que muestra la antigua Grecia con un anfiteatro, estatuas, soldados con armadura, un barco y un templo en una colina rodeada de vegetación.

Domain

Ancient Greek Civilization/La civilización griega antigua

The tour continues with the philosophy and politics of Greece.

Illustration of various mythological scenes including greek gods, a flying horse, and roman architecture under a sunny sky.

Domain

Greek Myths/Mitos griegos

Dive deep into the characters and storytelling of classic myths.

Ilustración de una batalla entre barcos británicos y estadounidenses cerca de un fuerte. El barco británico está a la izquierda con soldados, mientras que el barco estadounidense está a la derecha. La gente porta una gran bandera estadounidense en primer plano.

Domain

The War of 1812/La guerra de 1812

Learn about America’s “Second War for Independence.”

Un paisaje nevado con un zorro durmiendo en una madriguera, gente corriendo y andando en bicicleta por un sendero y árboles que muestran los cambios estacionales.

Domain

Cycles in Nature/Los ciclos de la naturaleza

Introducing the natural cycles that make our lives possible.

Ilustración de carros cubiertos tirados por caballos a lo largo de un sendero en el desierto, con un coyote aullando sobre una alta formación rocosa y un tren de vapor al fondo.

Domain

Westward Expansion/La expansión hacia el oeste

Why did pioneers go west? What happened to the people who were there?

Ilustración de un jardín vibrante con flores, abejas, mariposas, una oruga en una hoja, una crisálida y un apicultor que maneja una colmena junto a un estanque.

Domain

Insects/Los insectos

Lay the grounds for animal classification by looking at solitary and social insects.

Ilustración de una escena histórica con gente escuchando el discurso de un hombre en una plataforma. Al fondo se ve un río y una procesión de personas. En primer plano hay un documento de proclamación.

Domain

The U.S. Civil War/La Guerra Civil de los Estados Unidos

Begin to grapple with U.S. history’s central crisis over slavery.

Una escena en la que aparece una persona explicando un diagrama anatómico humano, otra persona haciendo ejercicio, una cadena de ADN, campos y un microscopio de fondo.

Domain

Human Body: Building Blocks and Nutrition/El cuerpo humano: componentes básicos y nutrición

A deeper dive into the digestive system and the nutrition process.

Un grupo diverso de personas se encuentra en un muelle con vistas a un bullicioso puerto con barcos y un gran barco, un avión volando por encima y la Estatua de la Libertad al fondo.

Domain

Immigration/La inmigración

Why did people immigrate to the United States, and what did they find here?

Women in early 20th-century clothing march with signs for voting rights and justice in front of a yellow bus labeled "Cleveland Ave.," making history that can inspire lessons in a K–2 language arts curriculum.

Domain

Fighting for a Cause/Luchar por una causa

How people can do extraordinary things to make the world better for everyone.

Dos ratones antropomórficos en un bote de remos, uno de ellos remando, navegan por un río tranquilo rodeado de exuberante vegetación y árboles. El ratón que rema lleva una chaqueta azul y el otro ratón parece conversar.

Unit 1

Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows/Cuentos Clásicos: El viento en los sauces

A deep dive into character, theme, and POV in classic stories from around the world.

Ilustración de un jaguar, una garza, una rana roja, una tortuga y un pez en un paisaje vibrante con montañas y vegetación bajo un cielo soleado.

Unit 2

Animal Classification/La clasificación de los animales

How do we classify different animals by their appearance and behavior?

Ilustración de una figura humana que muestra la anatomía interna, incluidos el cerebro, los pulmones, el corazón, el sistema digestivo y una articulación de la cadera resaltada sobre un fondo degradado.

Unit 3

The Human Body: Systems and Senses/El cuerpo humano: sistemas y sentidos

Let’s take a closer look at how the skeleton, muscles, and nervous system all work.

Un ángel se arrodilla ante una mujer sentada en un sofá dorado encima de un templo en una noche estrellada. Unas escaleras conducen al templo en un paisaje montañoso.

Unit 4

The Ancient Roman Civilization/La civilización romana antigua

What is Rome’s greatest cultural contribution? In this unit, your students decide.

Ilustración de un perro saltando bajo un árbol, persiguiendo una abeja, con una mesa en primer plano sosteniendo una jarra y vasos de limonada. El sol brilla intensamente en el cielo.

Unit 5

Light and Sound/La luz y el sonido

The science behind all the ways we see and hear the world.

Un barco vikingo con una proa en forma de dragón navega en el océano bajo un cielo azul con nubes. El barco tiene una sola vela grande y varios escudos recubren sus costados.

Unit 6

The Viking Age/La era vikinga

An immersive narrative experience about what life was like in Viking communities.

Ilustración de una escena espacial con varios planetas y anillos sobre un fondo de estrellas. Dos planetas grandes dominan el primer plano y se ven planetas más pequeños al fondo.

Unit 7

Astronomy: Our Solar System and Beyond/Astronomía: nuestro sistema solar y más allá

More about our universe, including a writing project about daily life on a space station.

Una persona sentada en el borde de un acantilado con vistas a un vasto paisaje desértico con nubes arremolinadas en el cielo.

Unit 8

Native Americans: Regions and Cultures/Los nativos americanos: regiones y culturas

How did Native American nations change their way of life in different parts of the world?

Ilustración de un velero en el océano con la costa este de América del Norte visible a la izquierda.

Unit 9

Early Explorations of North America/La exploración europea de América del Norte

What was it like to sail to North America with the early European explorers?

Una pintura representa una escena del siglo XVII con colonos, un velero al fondo y un hombre conduciendo un carro tirado por caballos cargado de mercancías. Se ve a otras personas descargando y trabajando cerca.

Unit 10

Colonial America/La época colonial en los Estados Unidos

A study of the very different ways of life in the different pre-U.S. colonies.

Ilustración que muestra el ciclo de la vida: un esqueleto en el suelo, un pájaro posado en una cerca, otro pájaro en una planta y un ave rapaz más grande arriba, todos conectados por flechas circulares.

Unit 11

Ecology/Ecología

Students keep ecologist’s journals to learn about our world and how best to protect it.

Una mano alcanza una manzana verde en una rama. Cerca hay una brújula, un termómetro, un lápiz, notas musicales y un granero rojo sobre un paisaje cubierto de hierba.

Unit 1

Personal Narratives/Narrativas personales

Read stories of personal experience… and learn to reflect on your own.

Ilustración medieval que representa un grupo de figuras con armadura a la entrada de un alto castillo gris con puente levadizo, adornado con banderas y rodeado por un paisaje decorado y fondos ornamentados.

Unit 2

Empires in the Middle Ages/Los imperios en la Edad Media, parte 1 & Los imperios en la Edad Media, parte 2

Explore the medieval history of Europe and the Middle East.

Ilustración dorada de un dragón con alas sobre fondo beige, rodeado de diversos elementos decorativos como estrellas, hojas y estampados abstractos.

Unit 3

Poetry/Poesía

Study the poetry of many nations using licensed text anthologies, and begin to write your own.

Vintage styled illustrations of a microscope, an old telephone, and a clock on textured background with geometric patterns.

Unit 4

Eureka! Student Inventor/¡Eureka! Estudiante inventor

Transform the class into a lab for students to build and present inventions.

Formaciones rocosas en un paisaje desértico con capas vibrantes y arremolinadas de arenisca roja, naranja y amarilla bajo un cielo parcialmente nublado.

Unit 5

Geology/Geología

Plate tectonics, volcanoes, erosion: all the forces that shape the Earth.

Una imagen abstracta y colorida que representa varias formas geométricas de edificios sobre un fondo azul estampado.

Unit 6

Contemporary Fiction with excerpts from The House on Mango Street/Ficción Contemporánea con Fragmentos de La Casa en Mango Street

Explore The House on Mango Street… and write a book while doing it.

Cuadro que representa a un hombre y un niño tocando una gran campana en una torre, con espectadores al fondo y un cartel de "LIBERTAD" visible.

Unit 7

American Revolution/La Revolución estadounidense

Why did America seek independence? Let’s investigate the causes and effects.

Un pequeño bote de remos con tres personas navega por mares agitados mientras dos grandes barcos luchan al fondo, con humo y fuego visibles.

Unit 8

Treasure Island/La Isla del Tesoro

How dSeek the treasure of plot in this detailed study of a classic fiction adventure.

Unit 1

Personal Narratives/Narrativas personales

Through writing and sharing their writing, students begin to identify themselves as writers.

Unit 2

Early American Civilizations/Las primeras civilizaciones americanas

Students craft a codex to explain the rise and fall of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca people.

Dos jinetes medievales a caballo, uno de ellos con la espada en alto, avanzan por un terreno rocoso. El fondo presenta un paisaje brumoso bajo un tono violeta.

Unit 3

Poetry/Poesía

Students close read many forms of poetry… and learn to write them.

Collage ilustrado con un paraguas, un cuervo, un sextante náutico, estrellas, una luna creciente y una brújula sobre un fondo beige texturizado.

Unit 4

Adventures of Don Quixote/Las Aventuras de Don Quijote

Was Don Quixote right to fight the windmill? In this full-length novel study, students decide.

Unit 5

The Renaissance/El Renacimiento

Exploring the art and literature of the Renaissance through the works of its masters.

Tres hombres vestidos con ropa de época examinan una gran hoja de papel dentro de una imprenta. Un hombre parece llevar un delantal, mientras que otro señala el papel y el tercero observa de cerca.

Unit 6

The Reformation/La Reforma

How did the printing press transform the religion and society of Europe?

Patrón botánico morado y lila con hojas, plantas y formas abstractas, incluida una luna creciente y estrellas, sobre un fondo violeta oscuro.

Unit 7

William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream/Sueño de Una Noche de Verano de William Shakespeare

Students enter the world of Shakespeare by reading, designing, and acting out his work.

Retrato en tonos sepia de una joven de pelo largo, con un collar de pedrería y un chal drapeado.

Unit 8

Native Americans/Los nativos americanos

How did the policies of the U.S. government impact Native American culture and lives?

Una lupa sobre documentos que contienen una pintura de paisaje de montañas, un dibujo con la etiqueta "Raptor Claw" y una nota adhesiva con la "Pista n.° 2". También se ven un sobre y una insignia exterior.

Unit 9

Chemical Matter/Química

Students use knowledge of chemistry to solve a mystery.

Print & digital components

The program includes instructional guidance and student materials for a year of instruction, with lessons and activities that keep students engaged every day.

Component

FORMAT

Knowledge (Conocimientos) Teacher Guides (K–2)

Knowledge Strand Teacher Guides contain Amplify CKLA’s cross-curricular read-alouds and application activities, all of which are standards-based to build mastery of content knowledge and literacy skills. There is one Teacher Guide per Knowledge Domain.

Print and digital

Knowledge Image Cards (K–2)

Amplify Caminos includes Image Cards for each Knowledge Domain to bring each topic to life through vivid visuals.

Print and digital

Knowledge Flip Books (K–2)

Projectable Flip Books are provided to accompany the read-alouds in each Knowledge Domain.

Digital

Teacher Guides (3–5)

Teacher Guides for grades 3–5 units are based on content-rich topics and incorporate reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills in the context of background knowledge. There is one Teacher Guide per unit.

Print or digital

Teacher Resource Site (K–5)

The program includes a one-stop-shop website for lesson projections, digital versions of all Amplify Caminos materials, lesson planning resources, multimedia (such as eBooks), and more.

Digital

Professional Learning Site (K–5)

The Professional Learning site includes training materials, best practices, and other resources to develop program expertise. Access professional development anywhere, anytime.

Digital

Component

FORMAT

Knowledge (Conocimiento) Activity Books (K–2)

Activity Books provide students with the opportunity to deepen world and word knowledge by responding to text in a diversity of ways.

Print

Student Readers (3–5)

Student Readers serve as content-rich anchor texts for each unit. Units such as Poetry and Contemporary Fiction feature authentic texts originally written in Spanish.

Activity Books (3–5)

Activity Books in grades 3–5 provide daily opportunities for students to hone reading and writing skills within the context of each unit.

Print and digital

Explore more programs

Our programs are designed to support and complement one another. Learn more about our related programs.

S5-01. Investigating math anxiety in the classroom

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Season 5 is here! This season, we’ll be talking all about math anxiety: what it is, what causes it, and what we can do to prevent or ease this anxiety in the math classroom. To launch this very important theme, we sat down with Dr. Gerardo Ramirez, associate professor of educational psychology at Ball State University.
 
As someone who’s been studying math anxiety for more than a decade, he had some interesting research and advice to share on why math anxiety affects so many students (and adults), and tips for how to start reducing it.
 
Listen now and don’t forget to grab your MTL study guide to track your learning and make the most of this episode!
 
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Dan Meyer (00:01):
Hey, folks. Welcome back to Math Teacher Lounge. I’m one of your hosts, Dan Meyer.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:05):
And I am your other host. I’m Bethany Lockhart Johnson. Season five! Hello!

Dan Meyer (00:11):
Bethany, how are you doing? How have you been spending the long break between our recording sessions?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:16):
As much as I loved sharing content from previous seasons, I am so thrilled that we’re back for season five. I have been, you know, chasing a toddler. I think he’s already tired of me saying, “Ooh, can we count that?” He’s like [sighs] “One two, one two.” Like, he’s done already.

Dan Meyer (00:36):
Too much counting. Yeah, I worry about that so much, that my love of mathematics might be perceived by my kids as smothering. Yeah, I worry about the same. We shared with you folks some bangers of reruns, in my humble opinion. Some great guests. But, we’ve been excited—me and Bethany—to hop back on the mics, on the ones and twos, and explore some new ideas together.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:01):
Well, I loved our season talking about joy in mathematics. And personally I could…like, we could turn this whole podcast into joy in mathematics. However, we’re kind of going a different route. Because if you ask folks why they don’t feel joy in mathematics, a lot of times at the root of that is some really intense math anxiety. So this whole season, we’re going to be delving into math anxiety. Exploring what it is, who has it, why do we think it happens, what do we think we can do about it, and how can we navigate through it, so that we can experience that joy in math? These are questions that we’re gonna explore over the course of the season. Dan Meyer, how do you feel about that?

Dan Meyer (01:49):
It feels big and it feels personal. I mean, as we shared in our math stories back from season…whatever it was, math anxiety was a huge part.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:59):
It was last season, Dan.

Dan Meyer (02:00):
Last…? I mean, who can remember? Big part of your journey. I’ve had some very punctuated but intense moments of anxiety in math class. And socially, we have built math up to be this incredibly powerful thing. You know, restricting movement on economic ladders, preventing people from getting into careers they want. Whether or not they have much to do with math class, math anxiety is a really large part of educational but also social life. And yeah, I’m really excited to explore it with you. We’re bringing on some really excellent guests. Some researchers, yes. But not just researchers! Also people who practice in the field and know firsthand what it looks like to resolve issues of anxiety with students.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (02:45):
Yeah, you’re right, Dan. My math story contained quite a bit of math anxiety, so I am particularly invested in this season. I mean, I still navigate math anxiety. And, you know, many of us do, and let’s talk about it. And let’s—I love that you reminded me. We’re gonna have a lot of great researchers all throughout the season, and a lot of times folks feel like the research happening, there’s sometimes a gap between researchers and what’s actually happening in the classroom. Not in all cases, but a lot of times. Right? And I remember a lot of conversation about the latest research when I was in grad school, but unless you’re actively studying something, sometimes we don’t know what’s happening. Right? We’re really focused on what’s happening right in front of us in our classroom. So let’s take some of that research; let’s break it down; let’s talk to some of the folks who are thinking about this for the bulk of their day, right?

Dan Meyer (03:41):
Yep. So we got our first guest coming up in a moment here.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (03:45):
So to kick off this season, we’re starting episode one by talking to Dr. Gerardo Ramirez, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at Ball State University. And he’s been researching math anxiety for more than a decade. He’s worked with so many amazing folks in the field. He’s worked with students, he’s worked with teachers, with educators…I’m just so excited to talk to him. If you look up math anxiety, you see his name as one of the folks who is really thinking about this at so many different angles, and we get to talk to him. So enjoy our conversation with Dr. Gerardo Ramirez.

Dan Meyer (04:29):
We are so excited to have Dr. Gerardo Ramirez on the show with us. Dr. Ramirez is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at Ball State University. Thanks so much for joining us.

Dr. Gerardo Ramirez (04:40):
Yeah, thank you for inviting me to talk about math anxiety.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (04:43):
So with your interview, Dr. Ramirez, we are actually launching the season. We’re gonna be talking about all different aspects of math anxiety, and it feels pretty perfect that you are first guest of the season, because of the sheer breadth of research and conversations you’ve had about math anxiety. Could you start us off kind of telling us a story of how did you get interested in studying math anxiety? Or why, you know, why did you dive into this topic that, you know, I think a lot of folks might…like, if you’re on a plane, and you say, “Oh, I study math anxiety,” what kind of reaction are you gonna get?

Dr. Gerardo Ramirez (05:24):
Oh, sure. Yeah. I think most people are actually very interested because they all have their own story about feeling anxious about math, or just being anxious about evaluation situations that involve math. And, yeah, they wanna share those stories. People feel quite comfortable talking about their anxiety about math, for some reason. But for me, I started off, when I was in undergrad, I was studying to take the GRE quiz. I was hoping to go into a psych program. But I wasn’t exactly sure what direction yet. As I took some of the practice tests, there’s some situations in which I was very nervous about taking the practice test. And I just noticed that I did really poorly on some of these exams. And so I became very interested in issues like choking under pressure, which means when you underperform relative to what you expected to perform. And so, as I was researching these issues, I started to come across this whole field of math anxiety. And I saw that while there are some people who choke under pressure during tests, there are other people who just have a strong general fear of mathematics.

Dan Meyer (06:29):
That’s really helpful. I can imagine you’re doing a lot of free psychology sessions, free therapy for people on airplanes when they bring to you their own stories of math. So let’s thank you for your service in that sense. I’m super-curious. So Bethany and I have both taught math. We both have seen firsthand what it looks like when a student is anxious in math class, though maybe we don’t have kind of the clinical language to describe it. And I’m curious, from a clinical sense, how do we define math anxiety?

Dr. Gerardo Ramirez (06:57):
Sure. So first off, math anxiety is not something that you would find in the DSM, for instance. But we generally define that as a fear or apprehension to situations that involve math. So it doesn’t have to necessarily be educational situations. It could be someone asks you a math-related question during a party, or you have to calculate the tip at a restaurant, for instance. It doesn’t have to be about schooling situations, although that’s obviously where it seems to matter a lot for many people. So it is basically a fear or apprehension to situations that involve math. And I think distinguishing the term “fear” from “anxiety” is really important here. A lot of times people use those terms interchangeably, and the term “fear” is obviously within our definition of math anxiety. But oftentimes what differentiates anxiety from fear is that, anxiety is—think of it like a recipe. Anxiety is fear plus a little bit of unknown. OK? So if, for instance, if you hated snakes, and they threw a snake at you, you’d be in intense fear. Whereas if you hated snakes and they said, “There is a snake in the room, but I’m not gonna tell you where,” that’s gonna cause anxiety. And so the reason why we call it math anxiety is because a lot of times people experience this fear for a possible unknown future that involves math or possible unknown evaluations that people might have about your competence, because of math. And so for a lot of kids, they feel anxious about how they’re gonna do on a test or whether they’re gonna be able to pass a class or whether they’ll be able to understand what you’re saying in your lessons, for instance. And so the anxiety component really gets at fear of something that’s unknown, but related to mathematics situations.

Dan Meyer (08:47):
Math is somewhere in the ceiling right now. Perhaps I might be surprised with a math situation!

Dr. Gerardo Ramirez (08:52):
Yeah. yep.

Dan Meyer (08:52):
So I have this tendency to assume that every other subject that we teach has it better and easier than math does. It’s not true. I know this is not true. But I’m kind of curious here. Is math anxiety, like, part of a general just set of anxiety around schooling itself? Like, is there a reading anxiety, a writing anxiety, and does that all just flow from the same kind of fount of anxiety around schooling or situations about learning? And what makes math special in this regard? If it is its own special anxiety, for instance?

Dr. Gerardo Ramirez (09:27):
There are different…so some people obviously suffer from generalized anxiety. Right? And so they would, you know, feel anxious both for evaluative and non-evaluative situations. But in the research that we’ve done and that other people have done, there are differences between things like reading anxiety, math anxiety; I’ve also studied spatial and creativity anxiety. A lot of times what we’re trying to do in these studies is we measure all of the above, and we try to show that, look, math anxiety predicts math situations above and beyond these other things. So yeah, we definitely distinguish those things. And so what’s special about math is that, well, I think the symbolic nature is a big part of it. The abstract symbolic nature is just not as tangible to students. They can’t touch it. And so it doesn’t allow ’em to use their full cognitive faculties to play with it, as you might see, for instance, in science. Or it doesn’t allow people to relate math to their own interests the way you might see, for instance, in English. So maybe I hate reading novels, but I’m interested in zombies and you give me a book on zombies, well, ok, great, you’ve connected my personal assets to the topic. Whereas with math, either that’s harder to do or instructors don’t do such a good job of setting that connection up.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (10:46):
Also, I think, you know, I’ve heard of students being really anxious, let’s say, during a reading session, when teachers used to do—hopefully they’re still not doing it—the popcorn reading, where you just randomly call on a student to read out a sentence. Right? But you don’t really hear students or adults talking about, “Oh, no, no, no, I don’t read; I don’t mess with reading.” You know? Whereas with math, you do hear, “Oh, I’m not a math person. Oh no, no, no, don’t ask me any math questions.” And that is such a distinction.

Dr. Gerardo Ramirez (11:18):
Yeah. And I think a lot of that’s because it’s just so common. As an adult, to be nervous about reading is kind of an uncommon thing. So people feel a stigma around admitting that. But math is something that everyone feels like they’re inadequate in. And so there’s a lot of comfort in telling you how they’re just one of the many people who don’t like math. And that, you know, can have a lot of different consequences and outcomes. I think on the one hand, I think for a lot of kids it becomes a normalized message that if you fear math, that’s OK, join the club. Right? But we have to be careful about that, ’cause a lot of math anxiety researchers will oftentimes say, part of what leads to math anxiety is adults normalizing that it’s OK to be scared of math. So I think a lot of times adults, teachers, for instance, math teachers, they’ll tell kids, “You know, if you’re scared, that’s OK.” And so a lot of the math anxiety community says, “No, no, no, you’re not supposed to do that.” But my recent view is different. I view that as a form of validation. Because math is hard. And so telling kids, “Hey, look, it’s actually easy if you just try,” I don’t think that’s true. It’s actually just hard. And I think even if it was easy, to the kid, it feels hard! And I think something that’s not really well-studied right now in our field is the value of validating people’s math negative math experiences. We don’t want to validate that, ’cause we think that we’re gonna reinforce that. But actually, I think the opposite. I think when you validate people’s negative math experiences, it helps ’em to feel that they can handle it. They can start to take control over their own emotions.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (12:52):
I love that. And I, I actually, I think that’s so powerful, what you’re talking about, that validation. I taught kindergarten, and I vividly remember being in a parent-teacher conference and that parent saying, “Oh, I wasn’t a math person either,” right? Or, you know, their language and their experience with their own math schooling, their anxiety about math was actually impacting their students’ experience of math. Or the conversation that, when I would go to talk about a math assessment, let’s say, you could see the parent actually tensing up. And there was this moment of validation, that I felt like we needed to make space for that in the conversation with the parents, right?

Dr. Gerardo Ramirez (13:38):
Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (13:38):
Like, this is a real thing. And we are working on teaching students that math is something that gets to—your experience with math gets to look all sorts of different ways. And it’s OK if we, you know, make a mistake, or if we kind of only get this part, but we’ve really got that part. Or let’s talk about it; let’s write about it. So I really feel like that that validation is something that’s so missing. And instead of the validation, like you said, you see folks being like, “Oh yeah, me neither. I’m not a math person either.” Right?

Dr. Gerardo Ramirez (14:10):
Yeah. I think…part of the reason why people are comfortable sharing this because they’re looking for validation also. When they say, “Oh, I’m not a math person,” you know, I think they’re hoping that, you’ll say like, “Yeah, me neither,” or “Of course not, ’cause math is terrible.” Right? They’re looking for validation, not to reinforce their perspective, but to feel that it’s OK not to be a math person. And I think that’s one of the techniques that I’m trying to work on in my research right now, is to provide evidence that actually people will work harder when you validate their math experience. You don’t have to tell them a positive story per se. If your current story is “Math is hard and I’m very, very anxious; I’m scared,” then we can just validate that and help you work through that. And it actually will strengthen our relationships. Because if you’re a student and you’re struggling with math and I tell you, “Yeah, it’s hard; it’s OK to struggle with math,” that makes you feel seen. And that’s gonna lead you to want to ask me more for help, because I’m someone who understands you. And that’s a great, you know, remediation opportunity.

Dan Meyer (15:14):
A common thread that I think I’m seeing here in several answers is that math sometimes asks students to disassociate part of themselves. Where success in math oftentimes means working from an a level of abstraction with symbols, like you said, that can feel alien. Like, who am I here? And in the same way, I love that you’re proposing we validate and reassociate people with a very deeply felt part of themselves that is anxious about mathematics.

Dr. Gerardo Ramirez (15:44):
Yeah. I mean, I think that’s what validation’s supposed to do, right? So a lot of us, when we feel these strong emotions, we wonder, “Is this even a real thing? Are other people feeling this? Is there something wrong with me?” So we feel the emotions, but we can’t actually deal with them, because we wonder if they’re legitimate. And so when someone says, like, “Yeah, this is hard,” it crystallizes that emotion. And once something is made real, you can actually choose how you want to deal with it. Some kids are gonna deal with it by staying anxious. But some people are gonna choose to deal with it by saying, “Well, there’s nothing I can do about it now; I have to take this math test, so I’m just gonna think positive.” And that’s great. If the kid can end up saying that to themselves, that’s much more effective than me telling the kid, “Hey, you just gotta think positive. You’re gonna start the test anyway.” And so we want the kid to make meaning of their experience, and the way we do that is by crystallizing their emotions through validation.

Dan Meyer (16:36):
Yeah. I love that. And so what you’re proposing there, I think, sounds like, a solution, like a post-talk solution after students are feeling anxiety.

Dr. Gerardo Ramirez (16:43):
Yes.

Dan Meyer (16:43):
To validate and empathize.

Dr. Gerardo Ramirez (16:45):
Yes.

Dan Meyer (16:45):
And over the course of our season, we hope to explore a lot about solutions to math anxiety that are preventative, that reduce the odds of anxiety arising, through instruction and curriculum, before it arises. And I’m just wondering if you’ve seen anything that would hint at either specific or general words of wisdom you wanna share with the educators, about not just addressing it after the fact, but preventing math anxiety before it arises?

Dr. Gerardo Ramirez (17:14):
To be honest, at this point, I haven’t seen enough evidence for me to recommend anything concretely as an intervention for math anxiety, or an intervention to prevent its development. All I can really do here is rely a lot on the more broad cognitive-behavioral research on anxiety, which says that one of the ways we prevent people from developing anxiety is by helping them to make more positive appraisals of challenge situations. So a lot of times, when kids are challenged, they don’t know how to interpret that. “What does it mean that I’m struggling with this thing?” And so that’s where I think a lot of teachers can help students’ interpretations of that. ‘Cause if you leave kids to their own devices, they’re gonna think, “I’m struggling because I’m stupid. I’m struggling because I’m not good enough. I’m struggling because my dad is right; I’m gonna be a failure.” You know? They’re going to impose an interpretation to a challenge situation regardless. And so, as teachers, one thing we can do is we can help shape that interpretation and say, “What does it mean to struggle with math? People will say it means you’re stupid. That’s one interpretation. What’s another one? It means that your brain is working really hard to think through something. That’s another interpretation. What’s better? What do you think is more helpful?” And then, helping students to see how interpretations matter to how you ultimately feel about something. And that’s a very metacognitive way of thinking about things. So yeah, I would say that one way to prevent it is to help students to take more positive interpretations of their experience. But another way, and I think a more successful way, I think, is to give students early experiences where they feel efficacious dealing with math. One of the ways you do that, for instance, is by obviously making sure that the students understand the material—but that’s obvious; people are trying to do that. One of my favorite recommendations is to keep reassigning assignments, the same exact assignment, for, say, three weeks, back-to-back. So if in week one you do the homework assignment, you do OK, you don’t do so great, when week two you do it, you give the exact same assignment, and now the student can see like, “Wow, OK, this was much easier.” And then, week three, you give the exact same assignment; now the kid’s feeling really confident. And the reason why that’s great is because it helps kids to see that they’re growing in confidence. A lot of times kids don’t get to see that because we’re constantly throwing new assessments at them. And so they’re never seeing that growth. All they’re seeing is a new challenge, a new challenge, a new challenge. So I think we need to set up situations where they can feel that they’re growing, when we keep the assessment static. That can be a formative assessment, for instance—doesn’t have to be a summative assessment.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (19:55):
That feels so powerful and it feels like it really connects to that validation piece, right? We are actually helping to create a culture in our math classroom where we might struggle with something, but we keep revisiting it. And it’s not so much to reach mastery, but as Dr. Megan Franke — we talked to her about this partial understanding and about pulling on those threads of things that you do understand, so that you can build your confidence…build, not just confidence, but build your…I guess, kind of get your footing, right? You’re saying, “Well, I do understand this. I see how this works.” And if I’m revisiting an assignment, I feel like that would give me permission to like, “Hey, I don’t have to have this figured out on the first pass. You know?

Dr. Gerardo Ramirez (20:44):
Yes, yes. Yeah. I mean, I’m gonna give you a silly analogy, but I think it works. You know, a lot of times people will have nightmares, right? And they’ll keep having the same nightmare over and over again, right? And so one reason that we suspect this happens is because they haven’t worked through whatever that nightmare’s supposed to be about. So if, say, I’m scared of driving, I may be having the same dream about driving and crashing over and over. And we keep having these nightmares. And I think math anxiety is kind of like a waking nightmare, where you keep rehashing something because you haven’t had the chance to finally address that dragon. You know? And so if someone was having a lot of fear over driving, then one behavioral approach would be, you know, to work with a therapist to actually get behind the wheel and maybe drive around the same track over and over until you feel comfortable at that, and then the nightmares stop. Well, the same thing is true, I think, about math, math and math anxiety, is that you wanna give people these opportunities to feel confident by going back to that original experience that caused them to feel anxious, and saying, “This one assignment that we did in week three that really freaked you out, let’s try it again now in week five. How was that?” “Yeah, it wasn’t so bad. It was still kind of annoying.” “OK, we’ll we’ll come back to it.” “Now it’s week seven. Now let’s go back to that assignment. How is it now?” “That’s actually…it wasn’t that terrible.” And that gives people the opportunity to reflect on how they’ve grown past that nightmare.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (22:05):
I have to say, Dan talked about you being like a therapist. I’m like, wait, “How did you know, Dr. Ramirez? I did have this recurring dream! I did! And I had to face it. No, but I had such intense math anxiety in high school and it was debilitating. And the biggest thing for me, I thought I was the only one. I thought there was something wrong with me. I thought, “Why can’t I figure this out?” There wasn’t a conversation about “Here are some tools,” or “Here are some, some, some…”. Like, “This is OK, for you to feel scared about this or overwhelmed!”

Dr. Gerardo Ramirez (22:41):
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (22:42):
You know, I think often when we talk about how widespread math anxiety is, I think a lot of folks automatically jump to high schoolers or college students avoiding math courses. But we see this in really young kids.

Dr. Gerardo Ramirez (22:56):
Yeah. So people are…people are just constantly making meaning of themselves, regardless of the age range. And that’s true even with young kids; they are trying to figure out who they are. Right? And so one of the things you see oftentimes with young kids is you ask ’em, “What are you good at?” And they say, “Everything!” And that’s their attempt to, you know, make meaning of themselves. But sometimes they’re not good at everything. Sometimes they actually struggle in math. And I think even early on, they have to make meaning of that. They say, “Well, I’m good at everything except math.” And how do you make sense of that? Well, why not math? “Oh, because math is terrible. It’s not for everybody. You know, it’s not something that I like.” And so, yeah, in a lot of the studies that we did early on, we basically went into these first-grade classrooms with the purpose of trying to assess whether we can actually show variability in kids’ math anxiety, even early on. In other other words, do kids even report feeling anxious about math situations? Or do they tell us that they’re great at everything? And what we found was that in fact, a good chunk of kids are, again, perfectly willing to tell you that “No, certain situations involving math make me very anxious.” Counting or addition, or doing a problem on the board. And the way we do that is by—I think there are probably more sophisticated ways that can be done, but this is the best we have at this point—is we go in there and we ask them, we show them a bunch of smiley faces and anxious faces. And we say, “I want you to tell me how you feel about these different situations that involve math.” And so we say, “If you feel kind of nervous, I want you to point to this face. If you feel very nervous, point to this face.” And we basically will read to them situations. We’ll say, “How would you feel if your teacher asked you to open up your new math textbook and you saw all the numbers inside of it?” And they’ll point to the really nervous face. So right now, those are some of the more reliable assessments for math anxiety among young kids. And that work showed us that even young kids are self-reporting math anxiety.

Dan Meyer (24:51):

Obviously this is worth our study, because we would hope people would not feel anxious in general, and especially if we have a mandated…kids are mandated to be in math classes for their entire childhood. So I see the need for this study, these studies. I’m curious: What are the consequences, though? Like what, what correlates with math anxiety? What are other reasons why we should care about math anxiety and work to remediate it?

Dr. Gerardo Ramirez (25:16):
Oh, sure. So it correlates with their actual math performance. It can correlate when they choose to do homework. Right? So a lot of times, the parents report having to fight with their kids over math homework a lot. And you also oftentimes see a lot of frustration over mathematics specifically. And so it can, you know, not only affect their academic ongoing outcomes, like math tests and math assignments, but it can also affect their relationship with their parents. So if every time you come home, your dad’s screaming at you because you haven’t done your math homework, and when he asks you to solve the problem in front of them, you don’t remember, ’cause you were checked out, ’cause you’re so stressed out, that’s gonna cause a really negative experience. You know, a lot of times people grow up and they still remember their dad screaming at them over the math homework. You know, it’ll affect your relationship with your teacher. So if you’re making me feel incompetent, if you’re stressing me out, you’re not the kind of person I wanna come to for help. So it can predict relational outcomes as well as academic outcomes. And down the line, of course, when it affects students’ opportunities to get into things like AP classes, it affects students standardized test performance and their choice of colleges, as well as scholarship opportunities.

Dan Meyer (26:29):
Once you show that it correlates to performance, then that opens up a whole range of other correlations that are pretty important, it sounds like. Whether that’s career options or, you know, post-secondary education and the like.

Dr. Gerardo Ramirez (26:40):
Yeah. And a lot of times, when people are choosing a career at college, a lot of times students will make a decision specifically based on what career has less math requirements or less math courses. So I think this finding needs to be verified further. But, there’s some studies showing that, for instance, elementary ed teachers, one factor that feeds into the decision to go into elementary ed is the math requirements are very low in elementary ed. So that can…obviously it’s not what we wanna hear, because these are our first formal math teachers, right? For our kids.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (27:16):
It feels so powerful, the impact that math anxiety can have, not only while you’re in, let’s say, elementary school, high middle school, high school, but then the impacts beyond that in terms of your career. And I shared this last season, when we talked about our personal math story, but I know when I was navigating the deepest part of my math anxiety, I really felt like, maybe this is a reason I can’t be an elementary school teacher. Because I was so worried that I wouldn’t be able…not that I wouldn’t understand the math for fourth grade, fifth grade, but that there was something about my ability to teach it or understand it or develop a love and passion for it that I wouldn’t be able to do. And I really had to reclaim it in my own way. But, you know, something that I think is so powerful about your research is just the applicability — not only to the field of mathematics, but folks’ everyday lives. And the way that you have talked in the past about math being a gatekeeper…I have a family member who, brilliant American Sign Language interpreter. I mean, amazing. Like a dance with her fingers. I could just watch it all day. And she actually didn’t complete the program because she couldn’t complete the math requirements. And I remember talking to her about like, “Well, have you gone to the free tutoring? Have you gone to, you know, this or that?” But it was a paralyzing fear, you know? So Dr. Ramirez, what do you wish educators understood about math anxiety? Or the research about math anxiety? Or maybe even the general public at large, what do you wish folks understood about math anxiety?

Dr. Gerardo Ramirez (28:58):
Oh, I think that a lot of students, they struggle with math. And I think we wanna normalize that struggle as much as possible. We want to create a culture where it’s OK to do math slow; it’s ok to take your time. And I know that’s not possible with a lot of these requirements that a lot of math teachers have to do. But I think if we want to prevent math anxiety, we have to create opportunities to tell better stories. So that’s ultimately what I tell people is, why do people develop math anxiety? Because they had experiences that challenged their competency and they told a negative story. And so making space to reflect in math classrooms about what does it mean to go slow in math, or what does it mean to make mistakes, and then helping kids to tell better stories, I think it’s really the best thing we can do as math educators. ‘Cause you know, your job is not to be a therapist ultimately. You know, there’s only so much math teachers can do. But I think one of the most powerful things we can create is setting up students’ experiences where they feel confident, and they can tell better stories, so they can have better dreams about math.

Dan Meyer (30:06):
Really appreciate this introduction to math anxiety. It’s been a fantastic kickoff to our season. Dr. Ramirez, thank you so much for joining us.

Dr. Gerardo Ramirez (30:14):
Sure. Thank you.

Dan Meyer (30:16):
Thank you folks so much for listening to that conversation with Dr. Gerardo Ramirez, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at Ball State University.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (30:25):
Dan, OK, if not for your frantic signaling, I would’ve probably asked another 20 questions. I need to know what you thought .

Dan Meyer (30:34):
I found it interesting at all points. And especially I think I started to understand a little bit better where the anxiety comes from for some students. I got a little bit here, which is that I think math, more than other disciplines, involves alienation. Check that word. You like that? Alienation? I’m into it. I’m feeling it. It’s like…to get good at math, to be successful in math, you gotta, as a kid, lose your attachment to the world you understand. And I mean, “got to” as in like, “you are asked to” — many times, unfortunately, by curriculum and instruction. Which is to say, you’re turning things you can hold onto into numerals. Right? You’re turning the world and its patterns that you can see and touch into Xs and Ys. And I just don’t know that other disciplines deal with that as much. Maybe I’m wrong and just guilty of, you know, “grass is always greener” syndrome here. But I think that’s an experience that kids have in math. And I thought that Dr. Ramirez got at that when he’s talking about the need to validate a student’s experience of anxiety. Like, in treating anxiety, sometimes we alienate people further by just like saying, “Oh, no, no, no, it’s just like, you need to, you know, drill yourself more, practice more,” and kind of invalidate that. So this feeling of alienation, I think permeates a lot of math instruction. I’m looking forward to learning more about that with our future episodes

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (32:00):
Alienation. That’s interesting. I definitely felt, I definitely felt isolated and alone many times in my math journey, when I was having my…you know, in high school, when I was feeling like, “Clearly everyone can look at tan, sign, cosign, and that means something to them.” Right? I think it’s really interesting, because I’m thinking about the other disciplines; I’m running through them, and I’m like, even in science, which can seem abstract, so oftentimes there’s these experiments that accompany these concepts, where you’re like, “Look at this concept made real in front of you.” Right? . And so yeah, that’s really interesting.

Dan Meyer (32:39):
You’re always one step away from blowing something up! Or, you know, dissecting something that’s tangible to you.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (32:46):
Yeah. That’s really interesting. I did really love how he brought up the abstract. And how, I think, even validating it…he talked so much about validation. Which to me was like, YES. If somebody just said, “Hey, it’s not only possible to have math anxiety, but it also doesn’t mean that you don’t belong here.” If somebody had said that, it would’ve literally changed the trajectory, you know? And I wonder what those conversations could look like in our classrooms, where teachers celebrate that. Like, WHOA, this is a new way to think of this. This is a new way. Asking how many, or what do you notice for this image, through a mathematical lens, or looking…we talked to Alison Hintz and Antony Smith, like mathematizing books, like looking through these lenses — it’s an invitation to step into this other world, right? But there’s not only one way to do it. And I think oftentimes it’s like that anxiety of “Am I gonna say the right thing?” or “Am I gonna notice the right thing?” Right? How do we create that space more, where there’s so many possibilities and we want kiddos to notice what they notice, right?

Dan Meyer (33:54):
You gotta become a certain kind of person to be successful in math class. I feel like is part of the implied deal. Where you’ve gotta—like how you said—say a certain thing or think about a certain thing a certain kind of way. You’re trying to become someone who is not necessarily you. Which I think is fundamentally an experience of alienation, separating you from important parts of yourself.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (34:19):
I will never, ever dive into mathematics on the scale and level that you have with your PhD. You understand math in a way that my brain just…I won’t get there, right? And yet I’m allowed to call myself a mathematician, with all of my deep dives in elementary math and my love of early numeracy and thinking about how we start thinking about counting and numbers. Right? It’s like, if we make more space for what mathematicians can look like, and what is your personal relationship with math…I mean, that to me feels really exciting. ‘Cause I think we both have something to offer each other.

Dan Meyer (35:03):
I think I have never found early math more interesting than when I talk to early math educators. And learn just like all the different ways that students come to understand a concept that I had thought was simple. Like addition of whole numbers. Whoa! There’s a lot of ways kids do that work, and their brains think those thoughts. And, yeah. That’s a good word there you’re offering us and our listeners.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (35:27):
Yeah. Yeah. I’m really excited about this season. I think there’s — again, there’s no way we’re gonna cover all facets of math anxiety. But I think having the chance to explore it over the course of a season is going to be really fascinating. And really, I hope, destigmatize it and open up the conversation for our listeners. And, you know, if you listeners…we wanna know what you thought of this episode. Do you have any particular questions? Do you have questions related to math anxiety? Questions related to this episode? We are in development for this season, so we’re gonna do our best to get those questions answered. You can keep in touch with us in our Facebook discussion group, Math Teacher Lounge Community, and on Twitter at MTLshow.

Dan Meyer (36:14):
Next time, we’re gonna go deeper into the causes and consequences of math anxiety.

Dr. Erin Maloney (36:20):
It’s not just the case that people who are bad at math are anxious about it. It’s actually that the anxiety itself can cause you to do worse in math. And that for me is really exciting, ’cause it means that if we can change your mindset, then we can really set you on a path with several more options available to you.

Dan Meyer (36:41):
Til next time folks,

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (36:41):
Bye.

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What Dr. Gerardo Ramirez says about math

“A lot of students struggle with math, and we want to normalize that struggle as much as possible. We have to find opportunities to tell better stories and reflect on our experiences.”

– Dr. Gerardo Ramirez

Associate Professor of Educational Psychology, Ball State University

Meet the guest

Dr. Gerardo Ramirez obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, where he studied the  role of teachers and parents in shaping the math attitudes of their students, as well as reappraisal techniques to help students cope with anxiety during testing situations.

Dr. Ramirez is currently an associate professor at Ball State, where he examines the role of frustration, empathy, and cultural capital in shaping students’ success and persistence.

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About Math Teacher Lounge

Math Teacher Lounge is a biweekly podcast created specifically for K–12 math educators. In each episode co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson (@lockhartedu) and Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) chat with guests, taking a deep dive into the math and educational topics you care about.

Join the Math Teacher Lounge Facebook group to continue the conversation, view exclusive content, interact with fellow educators, participate in giveaways, and more!

S5-02. Uncovering the causes of math anxiety

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We’re continuing our season theme of math anxiety, going beyond the basics, diving deeper into what causes it, and how we can help students move forward. In this episode, we talk to Dr. Erin Maloney from the University of Ottawa to better understand what’s actually happening in the brain when a person experiences math anxiety, and how we can take steps to shift student mindsets in a positive direction.
 
Listen now and don’t forget to grab your MTL study guide to track your learning and make the most of this episode!
 
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Download Transcript

Dr. Erin Maloney (00:00):

It’s the anxiety itself in many ways that can cause people to underperform.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:06):

Welcome back to Math Teacher Lounge. I’m Bethany Lockhart Johnson.

Dan Meyer (00:10):

And I’m Dan Meyer.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:11):

This is episode two of our new season, all about math anxiety. Who has it? What is it? What do we do about it?

Dan Meyer (00:20):

I’m learning so much, learning a ton.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:22):

I loved our first conversation with Dr. Gerardo Ramirez, episode one, our first episode of the season. Really, our goal with that conversation was just to—we need to talk about the basics of it, for reals. Like, what is math anxiety?

Dan Meyer (00:36):

What is it? How do you measure it? How’s it defined? Super-helpful stuff.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:40):

There’s not only one way that it’s measured. But it’s like, in active research right now, how are folks making sense of it? And I think Dr. Ramirez did such a fantastic job of sharing that with our listeners. And I learned a lot. You learned a lot, Dan?

Dan Meyer (00:56):

I did. And I’m also super-excited to take that knowledge that we have developed together and go and build on top of it and keep on climbing up up the mountain here, and learn more about math anxiety. Which is why we’re super-excited to have a guest on, Dr. Maloney, who is going to help us learn more—especially about what happens to the brain when it’s experiencing math anxiety. There’s some really complex stuff that happens there, including the role of parents and educators in creating and resolving math anxiety. And I think we’ll also learn that the whole situation is a bit of a hot mess. And we’ll try to make it a little bit less messy together.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:34):

Little bit less messy. Dan, if we do nothing else, can we make it a little less messy?

Dan Meyer (01:41):

I sometimes prefer more mess, but in this case I prefer less. So.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:45):

I have a two-year-old, so everything is a mess.

Dan Meyer (01:47):

Your life is mess. Yes. <laugh> Right. Well, I’m excited for you folks to hear this. It was a delightful conversation, so yeah, tune in. We are joined by Dr. Erin Maloney.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:56):

Let’s go. We are joined by Dr. Erin Maloney, associate professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa, where she directs the Cognition and Emotion Laboratory, as well as serving as the Canada Research Chair in Academic Achievement and Well-being. Welcome to the show, Dr. Maloney. We’re so excited to have you in the Lounge.

Dr. Erin Maloney (02:20):

Yeah, thank you so much for having me. This is fantastic.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (02:24):

So our last season was all about math and joy. And even when I read your title, I felt more joyful. Like, somebody is thinking about academic achievement, but with well-being in mind. I love it.

Dr. Erin Maloney (02:39):

Aw, thank you.

Dan Meyer (02:40):

Cognition and emotion!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (02:42):

E-mo-tion!

Dr. Erin Maloney (02:43):

I don’t think they can be separate. I think that you have to think about them together, ’cause they’re so intricately connected.

Dan Meyer (02:49):

Love that. People try, but we love that. Yeah. That’s our vibe here, too.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (02:52):

People try. That was a big problem with my math anxiety. They just wanted…there was no room for my emotion. They’re like, stop weeping at your desk—

Dan Meyer (03:00):

It’s rearranging neurons….

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (03:01):

—you’re distracting the other children. So would you mind telling us the story of how you even got interested in this topic? You know, when you tell people that you study math anxiety—or, actually, I don’t know how you describe it to them; I’m hopeful you bring in that well-being part—but how did you get here? What do you, what do you, what do you…yeah, tell us! We love it!

Dr. Erin Maloney (03:23):

<laugh> I feel like what you’re actually asking is, “How did you make life choices that got you to here?” <Laugh>

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (03:29):

Justify your life choices! Ready? Go!

Dr. Erin Maloney (03:32):

<laugh> Whoo. OK. So, all right. So we often, in psychology, we joke that instead of doing research, we do “me-search.” And that’s, that’s admittedly true in my case. I was a student who absolutely loved math up until about eighth grade, and then something changed, and all of a sudden I was terrified of math and I had absolutely no sense of self-efficacy in it. Despite trying really hard, I was extremely anxious about it. And so I initially, I set out…my parents were completely convinced that I was absolutely capable of doing mathematics and that I was getting in my own way. And when I went to university, I decided to prove them wrong. So I set out to prove that some people just can’t do math, and that’s the end of it. And, you know, 20 plus years later, my parents were right. And it turns out that many people—well, I would argue virtually everyone—can do math. And that if you are really anxious about it, it can get in the way. And interestingly, you know, in, in the years that we’ve been doing this research, there’s really good strategies that can be used—that hopefully we get a chance to chat about—that can really help reduce the amount of anxiety that students are experiencing. But I really did set out, like the bold teenager that I was, to prove my parents wrong. And that backfired <laugh>. So I know it’s kind of a strange answer, but it’s the truth. So I was really interested in understanding why it was some people just could not do math.

Dan Meyer (05:10):

That makes two for two so far, on guests for this season who did a version of me-search. And I feel like this is pretty common for a lot of researchers. Like, I wanna figure out…my experience as a teacher, the part where you, I think, diverge from a lot of people I knew in grad school, myself included, is that you actually let counter evidence change your perspective on things. Whereas I feel like a lot of us go in: “I know this is true and I’m gonna gather data!” and lo and behold, I’m true! But only now, with the research TM, you know, trademarked research, attached to it. So that’s, really exciting. Thanks for sharing that.

Dr. Erin Maloney (05:43):

No, you’re welcome.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (05:44):

But don’t people say that the more personal you get, the more universal it is? Right? So if you go and get your doctorate about something that you think is just your experience or in your brain, then people are gonna be gonna be like, “Wait a second; you think that too?” “Wait, that math anxiety isn’t just you?” I don’t know, it sounds like a pretty great path to me. When you tell folks that you study math anxiety or when you’re speaking to folks about your research, do you find that there is a lot of folks who relate to what you’re studying? Or how does that conversation typically go?

Dr. Erin Maloney (06:20):

Yeah, so it is I think an extremely relatable topic. Not in the sense that everyone experiences anxiety about math, but everyone seems to know somebody who’s really anxious about math. Or everyone’s at least aware of the stereotype that like some people are math people and some people aren’t, and that’s just the way it is. So it feels like everyone has feelings about math and everyone seems very happy to share those feelings. So one thing I’ve always found really interesting, and actually, so I, I know you mentioned that you had Gerardo on recently. Gerardo and I have had really interesting conversations about how people are really quick to tell you that they hate math and they can’t do math, and they’re anxious about math. And I’ve yet to have anyone ever tell me they hate reading, they can’t read, they’re really anxious about reading as an adult. So for some reason math seems really different. And in that sense people always seem to be pretty excited to talk about their feelings towards math.

Dan Meyer (07:23):

Yeah, definitely. Been on an airplane or two myself and had those conversations. You know, people asking to be reseated because they found out that I do math for a living or whatever. Or just unburdening themselves, for sure. I’m super-curious: I think that the fact that you are doing the me-search is reason enough to want to dedicate your life to this study. But I am curious: If you were gonna justify to someone else, why is math anxiety important to study? What are its consequences, even outside of math education? What would you say to that?

Dr. Erin Maloney (07:57):

So I think it’s probably not hard to convince people that success in math is important, right? So we know that children who start elementary school behind in mathematics tend to stay behind in mathematics, unless they have any kind of very targeted intervention. We know that children who do worse in mathematics throughout K to 12 education in general get lower-paying jobs when they’re older. We also know that when they do worse than mathematics relative to their peers, there’s fewer jobs that are open to them, relative to if they excelled in math. Right? And so I think in many ways there are really clear consequences for students who are not comfortable with math and who avoid it. But I think one of the really, really interesting things about math anxiety, and maybe part of why I’ve fallen in love with it as a research topic is that it’s the anxiety itself in many ways that can cause people to underperform. So it’s not just the case that people who are bad at math are anxious about it. It’s actually that the anxiety itself can cause you to do worse in math. And that for me is really exciting, ’cause it means that if we can change your mindset, then we can really set you on a path with several more options available to you career-wise. And I think that is really empowering.

Dan Meyer (09:18):

Hmm. Yeah, definitely. And I’d love for you to explore — your laboratory is the cognition and emotion laboratory, which I love, how you’re creating those linkages between how you feel about a thing and what your opportunities or your aptitude for learning it. I’m really curious, can you say more about the, the relationship there? How does feeling anxiety impair your ability to do mathematics?

Dr. Erin Maloney (09:41):

Yeah, so feeling anxiety, typically what you tend to experience is these negative thoughts and ruminations. So you can imagine, you’re somebody who doesn’t really love math, you’re pretty anxious about it; you know, Bethany, maybe you’ve had this kind of experience before. I’m gonna call you out on it. I’ve had it many times, where you sit down to do a math test and all of a sudden you’re not focusing on the actual math test in front of you. You’re focusing on things like the consequences of not doing well on this. Right? Or “my parents are gonna be really disappointed if I don’t pass this test,” or “my teacher is gonna think negatively negative of me,” or sometimes we see things like, “I’m a girl, girls don’t do math.” These types of stereotypes. And what happens is that those thoughts actually tie up really important cognitive resources, like, really important memory resources, that you need to do the math test. And so if you are trying to essentially do two things at once, right? You’re trying to deal with all these negative thoughts that are distracting you and you’re trying to do the math test, then you’re not going to do as well as someone who’s sitting down and doesn’t have all of these distracting thoughts to deal with. And we actually know that from research that we have in our lab right now, where we just ask people like, “Hey, when you did this math test, what kind of stuff are you thinking about?” what we find is that the people who are really anxious about math report a whole bunch of thoughts that are unrelated really to the math test, per se. It’s more about the consequences of doing poorly. And as a result of those thoughts, they actually end up doing worse.

Dan Meyer (11:14):

This has been really helpful to figure out, how the emotional state of doing math affects the ability to do math. And it’s really interesting how you’re saying that the direction of the causality can go from the emotions to the cognition. And I’m just curious then, what is the source of the bad emotions about math? Where does that come from? Is it nature? Is it nurture? Some combination? How do you see it?

Dr. Erin Maloney (11:39):

Yeah, so one, that’s a fantastic question. And there’s been a whole bunch of people all around the world that have been spending a lot of time really trying to pinpoint that down. And I think the answer is that it’s, you know, it’s complex. So most of what it’s looking like right now is that it is a combination of both. So essentially what we find is that kids who start elementary school who are a little bit behind in math—and for the question of why they’re behind, that’s also complex; it could be genetics, it could be just environmental input, before the child ever entered formal schooling kind of thing—but in essence, what we find is that kids that start school behind in mathematics, those are the children who are most likely to develop anxiety about math by the time they’re finished first grade. OK? But we also know that once they’ve developed the anxiety about math, then that’s when they get these thoughts and ruminations that kind of tie up those memory resources, that then is gonna make it harder for them to succeed in math tests. So you get into this sort of vicious cycle, right? Where maybe you start behind a little bit and then you develop the anxiety, the anxiety causes you to underperform relative to what you should be able to, so now you’re even further behind, you get more anxious because you’re not doing as well as you’d like to…but again, kind of coming back to the “Why are the children starting behind in the first place?” Some of that seems to be the role that parents are playing in the household. So some kids come from a household where parents are playing a lot more math games with them, talking about mathematical concepts on a regular basis. Maybe they have older siblings who are, you know, practicing arithmetic and, and mathematical processing in front of them. And so those kids are exposed to more math before they ever even start formal schooling. Those kids seem to do better. And then we also know that the parents’ attitudes matter a lot too. So what we find is that when parents are high in math anxiety themselves, especially when they help their children a lot with their math homework in really early ages, we find that those kids end up being more anxious about math by the end of the school year, and they also end up doing worse in mathematics. So it really does seem to be, you know, kind of a complex set of factors that have something to do with both maybe genetic predisposition to success in math and genetic predisposition to anxiety, but then also the social attitudes and stereotypes about math to which you’re exposed at home that really seem to be coming together to create this anxiety in young children.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (14:24):

I feel like everything you’re saying is <laugh>…it makes so much sense and yet it’s so often not talked about, right? Because it’s just more like, it gets boiled down to, “Oh, they’re just not a math person,” instead of all these other factors that are at play. And I completely remember the anxiety I felt, whether it was a test or not, walking into my math classroom when I was in ninth grade. And there’s no way I was set up and ready to learn. Right? <Laugh>. And something with—we mentioned Dr. Ramirez, he was talking about validating that anxiety. If teachers validate that like, “Oh, you know what, sometimes you might feel stumped, or this might feel overwhelming.” Even the power in creating space for that in the classroom, right? And acknowledging that it doesn’t—math doesn’t have to “come easy” to you in order for you to have access or make sense, is such a powerful concept. And I love the way that you are looking at all these different factors and saying, “Hey, it’s both simple and also a lot more complicated than we’re we’re making it.” Right?

Dr. Erin Maloney (15:36):

No, and I agree with that sentiment so much. Like, I think, though—one thing I will sort of caution is that I think when teachers are validating the anxiety, or when parents are validating the anxiety, I think there’s a very fine line that needs to be walked where we need to be able to say, you know, “It’s OK to struggle with something. That’s, that is completely OK.” And as we’re, you know, as we’re working towards something that’s really valuable, right? We can, we can work hard at something and by working hard at it, we’re going to get better. And I think that type of validating is really, really important and valuable. I think what we wanna be careful of is not to say things like, “Oh, it’s OK. I also never loved math.” And, you know, “Oh, I was never a math person either.” And so even though we might be bringing comfort to the the child, I think that that’s sending the wrong message. And so sometimes it’s really well intentioned and really not great—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (16:37):

A hundred percent.

Dr. Erin Maloney (16:38):

—in terms of the messaging. So that’s the only…so just for people listening, the only sort of caution that I would give there is that I think there’s nuances to the validating of the feelings that are important.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (16:50):

I am so glad you said that because as a kindergarten teacher, I vividly remember—and this is as early as, you know, the kids are five years old, right?—and I remember in a parent-teacher conference, a parent saying, “Oh, I wasn’t a math person either,” or, “Oh, no, ugh.” And they were so quick, like you said, they wouldn’t say that about reading, but they were so quick to talk about their lack of natural math aptitude, right? And, and it was really interesting because you know that even if they’re not saying that specific thing at home, those attitudes are absolutely carrying over at home. And they’re absolutely carrying over to, to how they interact with their kiddo around math and around what’s happening in the conversations about math. And I felt like a lot of times my work as a teacher was also to help support parents through their own math anxiety, and help give them some new language for how they can talk about math. And that math is more than just getting to an answer quickly. Like, let’s talk about, let’s go on math walks, let’s go on number walks, what numbers are around the home? Or oh, is that bigger than this? Do you have more of this? And even those little things, I, my hope was that it was starting to shift the conversation around what math was possible in the home, particularly when you saw that it was the parents who had palpable math anxiety. Right? And how much you know that that’s gonna impact what’s happening when you sit down to do homework together.

Dr. Erin Maloney (18:22):

Yeah. And I love that you have worked to encourage parents to do that. So we do similarly. Like even from a research perspective, where I will often give talks to parents and teachers and we talk about the idea of trying to mathematize everything, right? So just the idea that math is absolutely everywhere, and you know, whether it’s a matter of playing games in the car with your kids where you’re thinking of a number and it’s “My number is higher than 42, but lower than 80, and what number do you think I might be thinking of?” And, and gradually trying to get the child to that number. Or, you know, asking questions like, “What’s your favorite even number and why?” And just little things like that that, that I think can make math fun for kids, that help—I don’t even know how to explain it, but just that idea of bringing joy into it, so it’s not always this heavy subject that kids have to come to. So we definitely try to talk to parents about the idea of, like I said, mathematizing everything. And usually it’s well-received, ’cause often parents find it empowering, right? They’re like, “Oh, well, I could do that! But like, that’s not math!” And you’re like, “No, but it is.”

Dan Meyer (19:33):

Yep.

Dr. Erin Maloney (19:34):

Like, it is! And sometimes parents will say like, “Well, I don’t know how to do fractions.” And you’re like, “OK, but how do you bake?” “Well, I don’t know! I just, like, I know how to do those fractions!” And you’re like, “OK, but that’s the starting point. Let’s work with that.” Like, let’s, you know. And I think a lot of times, it’s reminding the parents that they’re actually far more capable than what they think they are, despite the fact that maybe they struggled with math when they were younger.

Dan Meyer (19:58):

Yeah. This is so interesting. And I feel like part of the challenge around conversations about anxiety and math and how to, how to resolve it and where it comes from, is that it, like, it presupposes a single definition of math. And so, you know, we’re talking about like how to be more mindful about math. But you know, like if kids were walking every day through a treacherous street, you know, the solution might not be become more mindful about that street. It’s just like, we gotta fix the treacherous nature of the street, really. You know, I love that we’re talking also about redefining what math is, making it more playful. That feels like a super-important component here. I’d love to know more about what you know about the role of gender in all of this. Are there differences in the way boys and girls experience math anxiety and how it relates to achievement in math?

Dr. Erin Maloney (20:48):

Yeah, so, there’s really, really interesting research on gender in math anxiety. So in general, we find that girls tend to experience more anxiety about math than boys do. So one hypothesis is that it has to do with just social stereotypes that, you know, girls are, are good at reading; boys are good at math, kind of thing. So there’s some evidence to suggest that that might be playing a role. There’s other evidence to suggest as well that maybe boys actually do experience as much anxiety, they just don’t really own up to it.

Dan Meyer (21:20):

Ooh, yikes.

Dr. Erin Maloney (21:21):

So thoughts are, you know, there’s a bit of an apprehension for males to admit experiencing the anxiety. But I think one of the things that is extremely interesting about it—at least to me—is that we don’t tend to see gender differences in young children. So in early elementary school, even though we’ll see that kids as young as six years old will experience anxiety about math, and that that anxiety is related to how well they do in math and how much they enjoy math, it doesn’t seem to vary as a function of gender at that young age. It doesn’t seem to be related to gender until kids are at about sixth, seventh grade that we really start to see this gender difference coming online. And so that, to me, suggests that it’s probably something more social than biological at play. It probably has something more to do with these stereotypes and stuff. But another really interesting—or at least, I’m biased, but to me—another really interesting line of research that comes into play—and some of this is stuff out of my own lab—so we know that boys in general tend to do better at spatial processing than girls. And we know that spatial processing is really important for math, right? So math and space are pretty connected. And by spatial processing, I mean things like being able to picture something rotating in your mind or, you know, envisioning how these puzzle pieces might fit together. And so we know that boys tend to do better at that type of processing. And the gender difference there seems to be related to gender differences in math anxiety. So there’s some speculation, too, that it might be that as the math starts to become more reliant on spatial processing, that that’s when we see this separation between boys and girls with respect to how much anxiety they feel about math. So a lot of this is to say, I think the answer to the gender question right now is what I think what we would officially call a bit of a hot mess, <laugh> where I think there’s probably more questions than answers. But I think that there’s definitely something going on. And it really seems to be coming on later in elementary school.

Dan Meyer (23:32):

That’s a refreshingly honest admission from a social scientist, that it’s a hot mess and not perfectly clear, <laugh> so I appreciate that. It’s interesting what you said about the spatial reasoning. In our work creating curriculum at Amplify, I find we lean a lot on trying to tie abstract math towards spatial topics. Like, can you estimate a quantity before you calculate it? Can you identify a pattern and where it breaks before you prove it abstractly? And, I dunno, it’s just interesting to me. I’m just thinking out loud about how I feel like math becomes more abstract rather than more spatial. The farther you venture into secondary math…I’m wondering if I misunderstand what you’re meaning by spatial, and the progression of math from K–12.

Dr. Erin Maloney (24:20):

Yeah, so I think you can still have—you can have math be abstract, but still really relying on spatial processing. Right? And I think part of that is maybe a bit of us having different definitions of when we say “spatial.” So in cognitive science, when we talk about spatial representations or spatial reasoning, it’s really like anything you’re picturing in your mind, any time you’re really picturing these things in your mind and manipulating those images at all. So if you imagine, even like at a simple level, but it’s gonna hold when you’re going more complex as well. So doing like equivalence problems, for example, where you have to balance the equations.

Dan Meyer (24:58):

Yeah.

Dr. Erin Maloney (24:59):

Even just being able to envision things kind of moving around that equal sign and bringing one piece of the equation from this side to the other is actually an extremely spatial kind of reasoning. Right? Or when you’re expanding, that’s actually extremely extremely spatial, despite the fact that it might not feel like it initially. Obviously anything in geometry is going to be very spatial. So I think, in that sense, we would argue that the spatial processing is still playing a pretty important role. But it’s maybe a different type of spatial processing than what we’re seeing at a very early level in elementary school. That said, you can completely disagree with me too. ‘Cause I could also just be wrong, and that’s fair. My kids tell me I’m wrong all the time. So I’m used to <laugh> being told that I’m wrong.

Dan Meyer (25:47):

Well, we’re a bit more deferential on this here show, with our guests. So I would not do that. But it makes sense, what you’re saying about how these are things that you manipulate in your mind, whether they are Xs and Ys or numbers and fractions. These are all things that we manipulate. That ties into differences in this spacial reasoning category, it sounds like, which then contributes to math anxiety. And it does start to feel like there’s a lot going on here, is what it feels like.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (26:14):

You mean hot mess?

Dan Meyer (26:16):

I meant hot mess.

Dr. Erin Maloney (26:17):

Yeah. <laugh>, I think that’s the technical term, right? I’m pretty sure that’s the technical term for it.

Dan Meyer (26:21):

I didn’t know the citation for it. So I didn’t say it. But I knew who in literature named that. But yeah.

Dr. Erin Maloney (26:28):

I’ll write something at some point.

Dan Meyer (26:30):

We’ll cite Maloney, 2022. Yeah. Yes.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (26:34):

So I will say that one of my dreams in thinking about this season and last season, but particularly this season, since we’re really getting to talk to some researchers who get to think about this, and have really interesting conversations about it all the time…one of my dreams is that we’re bringing—’cause we do have some folks who are researchers that are listening, right? But then we also have teachers and folks who are in the classroom every day, and parents and caregivers listening. And so I think one of the beautiful things about the way that I hear you talking about it is you’re thinking about the research, but it’s so applicable. Right? And I wonder if there’s anything else you can say around it. I wanna reduce that divide, that gap, between the research that’s happening and then what’s happening with the kiddos and in the classroom and at home. And I don’t know if it’s like a magic wand thing where like <laugh> if there were changes you’d wanna see at a societal level, to try to combat math anxiety, but you see where I’m going. You know, it’s like <laugh>….

Dr. Erin Maloney (27:39):

  1. So I’m gonna answer maybe in two ways. So I think the first thing that I’m hearing from you is that idea of diminishing this divide, right? And so one thing I try to keep in mind, as someone who’s a researcher and working in the lab, I will often be called in to talk to teachers and give professional development sessions. And they often want the sage-on-the-stage academic, that stands up there and tells you the answers to things. And one of the first things that I’m gonna admit when I get up there is, “I am not on the front lines.” So what I do in the lab, for me to tell you that that’s gonna work in a classroom of 30 kids who may or may not have eaten dinner that day, and may or may not have snow pants, and may or not…like it’s–

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (28:23):

Mmm, yes.

Dr. Erin Maloney (28:24):

You know, I think we also need to be a little bit reasonable. So I try really hard in my own program of research to make sure that I’m always talking to teachers and to principals and to curriculum designers to make sure that the ideas that I have make sense. In fact, one of the most recent book chapters that I wrote, I wrote in collaboration with a really good friend of mine who’s a principal, an elementary school principal, and a former math consultant. And we wrote it together, to really say like, “Hey, here’s how we can help each other inform how research can inform practice and how practice can also inform research.” ‘Cause he can come to me and say, “I’m doing this. I can’t find anything in the literature to support this, but I’m sure it works!” And we can design something in the lab to test whether or not it seems like it’s gonna work.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (29:11):

That’s huge. Yeah.

Dr. Erin Maloney (29:12):

Empirically. And so I think that open communication is massive. One thing that we’re doing in my own lab to try to keep that open communication available. So to anyone listening who’s ever tried to get access to a journal article, they’re held behind paywalls, right? So one, the way it works, my understanding of this anyway, is that the journal owns the formatted version of the paper. So what we do is we put up audio recordings of all of the research papers that we ever publish. So I’m pretty sure I own the words as the author, and the journal owns the prettified version that you can buy. So we audio-record all of our papers, so that if teachers or parents ever want to hear the actual science that’s going into some of these decisions, they have access to at least the stuff that we do in our lab. And we also put up an infographic for every paper, just highlighting kind of the main questions and main findings. And we do that because I think that the only way for the information to actually be useful is if it gets into the hands of the stakeholders that actually need that information.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (30:21):

And is accessible. That’s huge. That’s huge!

Dr. Erin Maloney (30:24):

Yeah. Yeah. So that’s one way that we try to do it. And like I said, the other thing, we try to always be working with principals and with teachers. I joke that the way that I remedied this in my own life…so my husband’s a teacher; it’s like, I just married one! It’s fine! <laugh> I can grill him on a regular basis, and be like, “I wanna try this experiment. Do you think it’s gonna work?” And he can say, like, “It’s not going to. Here’s why.”

Dan Meyer (30:47):

That’s awesome. Marrying a participant—you know, a research participant—is unethical, of course. Would not clear IRB. But turning your partner into a participant? Like, what are you gonna do? That’s great.

Dr. Erin Maloney (30:57):

Yeah, no, that’s fair game.

Dan Meyer (30:58):

Yep.

Dr. Erin Maloney (30:59):

Yeah. So that’s—I think we we compensate each other <laugh>. So, no…so I do joke a little bit about that. He was a teacher simply ’cause he wanted to be one. Not ’cause I needed him to be one. But, I think that communication part is, is really key. That’s one thing. Then the other part of the question or the other sort of piece of the question that I was hearing is that idea of, how do we fix math anxiety. Right? Like, what’s the great, “I’m glad that there’s a whole bunch of time and effort and energy going into trying to understand this, but what, where are we at?” And I think with that, it’s really, really promising. So there’s been a lot of research coming out looking at how best to help children or even adults manage their own anxiety about math. And there’s a few really interesting strategies that seem to be quite effective. So one, and I don’t know if—um, it feels weird calling him Dr. Ramirez, just ’cause I know him well!—but I don’t know if Dr. Ramirez would’ve talked about this when he chatted with you, but he has some really interesting work on expressive writing. Did he chat about that at all?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (32:07):

He didn’t, but I’ve read some of his work about it and I think it’s so fascinating.

Dr. Erin Maloney (32:11):

Yeah! So, OK, well, I’ll tell you about his work on it.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (32:13):

Yes, please. Please.

Dr. Erin Maloney (32:14):

Because it’s super-useful. So when we talked about that idea of how anxiety causes these thoughts and ruminations, and they tie up the memory resources that you need, what Gerardo has found is that when you get students to write about their anxiety for about 10 minutes before they do a test, what ends up happening is they end up doing better on the test, relative to if they would not have written about their anxiety at all. And this is particularly true for students who are really high in anxiety. OK? And the idea is that all of those thoughts that they were going to have about the test or the consequences of the test, et cetera, you just kind of get ’em…it’s like a mind dump where you get ’em all onto the page at first before you even go to do the test. And now when you go to do the test, you’re not having to do two things at once. You’re no longer dealing with these thoughts ’cause you got ’em all out on the paper beforehand. And so Gerardo has some really interesting work showing that that works for math anxiety. And then it also works for just testing anxiety in general. And so that’s a strategy that I love. I also—part of what I really love about it is it’s so low-cost, right? You need a paper and a pencil and it’s great. So those are always my favorite strategies, the ones that don’t really cost us anything. So that’s one way of dealing with like the cognitive part of the anxiety. The other thing you can do is try to deal with the anxiety part of the anxiety. So for that, what we find is that the typical strategies that you’re gonna see for anxiety tend to work for math anxiety. So things like focused breathing. Right? Making sure you’re doing deep inhales and exhales. That really diaphragmatic breathing seems to be quite helpful. We know that what we call progressive desensitization is really key. That’s the idea of doing things, you know, starting with the questions that you know how to handle. And then gradually working up to the more difficult questions. So you’re sort of gradually exposing yourself to the more complex stuff. And how that can play out on an actual test at school is, you sit down, and instead of just starting with question number one, you actually read the whole test, see which questions you feel like you know the best, start with those questions, and that helps build your confidence so that you’re better able to tackle the questions that are maybe a little bit outside of where you’re currently at. So that seems to be really helpful. The other part that I will say, too, that’s extremely helpful: So we know that anxiety really ties up those memory resources. And so the more you can make the math automatic, the more immune it’s going to be to anxiety in the moment. And so I know that this part can be a little bit controversial, because we don’t wanna necessarily demotivate children, and kill the enthusiasm for math that we’re trying to cultivate…but really, you know, really committing your arithmetic facts to memory can be extremely helpful. So really learning those times tables, really learning your addition and subtraction facts. ‘Cause what happens is, then when you’re in a situation where you need that information, even if you’re anxious and you’re working with fewer cognitive resources than what you would normally have, you actually don’t need that many cognitive resources to be able to pull something from memory that you’ve memorized. So it really helps to kind of protect you against some of the negative impacts of the anxiety while you’re doing that test.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (35:37):

And you’re not using all your cognitive resources to figure out seven times eight, because you can really focus on what you’re trying to do with that. Oh, that’s fascinating. Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Erin Maloney (35:47):

Yes. No, a hundred percent right. And so I know that’s one that, like I said, I know it can be somewhat controversial because it’s…you know, we’ve talked about—or we haven’t talked about in this conversation, but we often talk about—the idea of drilling and killing. Right? So you drill the facts, you kill the, the enthusiasm. But I think that there are ways that we can drill arithmetic facts, or help make them automatic, but still fun, right? It doesn’t have to always be in a high-pressure kind of way.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (36:16):

Totally. And we’ve talked about fluency, and I’m sure we’ll talk about it more in the Lounge. And that is interesting, that link between anxiety when the fluency isn’t there, that—or, of course we hear about anxiety with timed tests, but the idea of that IS something you can do to reduce it, because you have those facts just at your ready. Right?

Dr. Erin Maloney (36:37):

Yeah. So I actually, again, I’m gonna be a little bit controversial. So I don’t hate timed tests in the way that a lot of people do. But I love time to practice. So I think once we’ve got to a point where children have a fairly decent understanding of skills, of a skill, once they’ve got a fairly decent grasp on it, then I love the idea of the timed practice. So it can be still in a low-pressure situation, where in many ways it doesn’t matter if you get the answer to the question correct. But we’re practicing doing it in a situation in which you might be feeling a little bit of pressure, but it’s not real pressure, if that makes sense. And I think that can be really, really useful for students. And again, it can be done in a fun way, right? It doesn’t have to be these super-intense ways. It can be fun. But I think that in life there are situations in which the time that it takes you to complete a problem matter. And I think that we have to make sure that we don’t get too far away from that.

Dan Meyer (37:40):

Yeah. It feels like we should do an entire other episode thinking about ways to develop that fluency and automaticity that don’t contribute to anxiety, or create further disparities between people who are high math anxiety and low math anxiety. Not a small question, I’m sure. And I appreciate you alluding to all of that. You know, this whole thing, as you said, is quite the hot mess. And I feel like you, Dr. Maloney, have helped us make this a little less messy, in our heads, and hopefully the listeners’ heads. I really appreciate that. I just love…you’ve mentioned lots of resources that you have. You’ve alluded to them: audiobook-style readings of your research, which I need ’cause I just finished, you know, Harry Potter, the seventh book, so I need a new thing to listen to like that. Also infographics. Can you tell our listeners where they can find this work of yours, and if there are any other kinds of resources that you wanna plug for our listeners here?

Dr. Erin Maloney (38:32):

Yeah, for sure. So all of our resources can be found on my lab website. So the address for that is www.ErinMaloney.ca. So there we have, like you said, the infographics and the audio articles and all that stuff. And then we also have a link to a new kids’ book out, actually, that a colleague of mine and I have published recently, that really walks through some of these strategies on combating math anxiety. The book is written as a children’s book, so it’s Peyton & Charlie Challenge Math. But it secretly is a book that would also work for adults. So if you are a parent that’s a little bit anxious about math, or a teacher that maybe is a little bit anxious, and you wanna see how some of these strategies can play out, in that book—we linked to it on the website, but it is available for purchase on Amazon. And the one thing I will say about the book, ’cause this is something that we were pretty proud of, so Sheri-Lynn Skwarchuk, who is a school psychologist, and I wrote the book. And it’s available for purchase at our cost price, so we don’t actually make any money on the book. It was literally just a way of getting some of the science out to people who might be able to benefit from it.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (39:45):

Reducing that divide!

Dr. Erin Maloney (39:46):

Yeah, well that’s what we’re trying to do! Right? So I think in the U.S., I think it’s like $6 on Amazon. And then in terms of other resources, we’re in the process right now of creating some informational videos and and stuff like that that hopefully will be useful for parents and for teachers, just in terms of understanding a little bit more about the anxiety and understanding how to deal with the anxiety in the classroom more, at home or wherever it might be coming up.

Dan Meyer (40:15):

Well, thanks so much. I really appreciate—we appreciate!—you coming on, and hearing about how you’re trying to bridge so many different barriers from research to practice, and school to home. It’s just really inspiring. And we’d love to have you back on sometime. So thank you so much for joining us.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (40:29):

I feel like we’ve just hung out! Don’t you, Dan?

Dan Meyer (40:31):

Are we rolling here? Oh my gosh, we’re rolling. I just thought we’re just hanging. Yeah,

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (40:34):

I thought we were just hanging!

Dr. Erin Maloney (40:36):

I know, I do, I really appreciate that it has a very kind of chill vibe to it.

Dan Meyer (40:41):

Chill vibe. Like a lounge.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (40:42):

It’s the lounge!

Dan Meyer (40:43):

Thank you. You get us; you get us. <laugh>

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (40:45):

Dan Meyer. I was shopping for children’s books, and there was this book, and it was talking about being at home with Mom. And it’s going through all the things that the child did that day with Mom. It’s like, “We played outside, we ran through the sprinklers, we even did some homework.” And it shows them sitting at the table with the homework, that’s clearly math homework, in front of them. And the mom is like, “Harrumph!” Like a very perplexed, anxious face. And there’s all these question marks above her. And it’s just like,

Dan Meyer (41:24):

“There should not be numbers on that paper!”

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (41:25):

Exactly. And the child is like, “Ohhhh,” you know. And I mean, I have to give credit to the illustrator, because they really did capture the clear message of this interaction, which was sitting down to do math homework or think about math together is a source of angst. Right? According to this author and according to too many people. And so I think what’s really important is that we recognize those images when we see them out there and speak back to them, and say, “Hey, wait a second.” Yeah, it can feel like that, and it doesn’t have to. And what’s going on that that’s just the assumed way that it’s gonna feel, to sit down and math together. You know?

Dan Meyer (42:11):

Yeah. It feels like we all have a lot of work to do on the whole math-anxiety front. Dr. Maloney helped us see how parents play a part, educators play a part, society and how they create people plays its own part in how we all define math as a thing where we evaluate student thought or where students play it with their thoughts, has its own huge part as well. So yeah, it was a really fantastic conversation with Dr. Maloney. I hope you folks will check out the show notes, where you will find links to Dr. Maloney’s website. A lot of her work, which as you heard, is very geared towards practitioners and parents and even directly at kids, especially the new children’s book she co-authored, Peyton & Charlie Challenge Math.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (42:55):

Next time we’re gonna dive even more into the nitty gritty of combating math anxiety. To do that, we’re actually gonna be joined—I am so excited about this—by Dr. Rosemarie Truglio from Sesame Workshop.

Rosemarie Truglio (43:09):

Our core audience are two- to four-year-olds, and they love math. And what’s not to love? Children don’t come with this math anxiety. Math anxiety is learned.

Dan Meyer (43:23):

So excited.

Dr. Erin Maloney (43:24):

Sesame Street was a huge part of my childhood and my toddler doesn’t know it yet, but Sesame Street is coming. It’s coming. Like, we’re we’re gonna introduce Sesame Street to him. We just haven’t yet.

Dan Meyer (43:37):

Sesame Street straight raised me.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (43:38):

Right?

Dan Meyer (43:39):

Yeah. Don’t tell my parents. But that’s, yeah, that’s true. I’m excited, too. It’s gonna be a blast.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (43:45):

I’m really excited. I think that the more we dive into this topic—which, again, we’re gonna look at math anxiety from a lot of different angles—and I’m excited to talk to Dr. Truglio about how we can take this research and these conversations that are happening about math and how it can actually impact what’s happening in homes. ‘Cause we wanna help create positive relationships with mathematics, with kids in math. I’m so excited. And I hope you folks keep listening. We love having you here in the Lounge. And if you haven’t already, please subscribe to Math Teacher Lounge, wherever you get podcasts. And if you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a rating and a review. It helps more listeners to find the show, and let other folks know about this show. Recommendations are great. Thanks so much for listening.

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What Dr. Erin Maloney says about math

“If we can change their mindset, then we can set students on a path to more opportunities and success.”

–Dr. Erin Maloney

Associate Professor in the School of Psychology, Director of the Cognition and Emotion Laboratory, and the Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Academic Achievement and Well-Being, all at the University of Ottawa

Meet the guest

Erin Maloney is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair at the University of Ottawa. Her research sits at the intersection of Cognitive Psychology, Developmental Psychology, and Education and focuses on cognitive and emotional factors that relate to academic achievement. She is a world-renowned expert on the study of math anxiety, conducting research in the lab, in homes, and in classrooms with children, parents, and their teachers. She is passionate about both knowledge mobilization and equity, diversity, and inclusion within education and science.

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About Math Teacher Lounge

Math Teacher Lounge is a biweekly podcast created specifically for K–12 math educators. In each episode co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson (@lockhartedu) and Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) chat with guests, taking a deep dive into the math and educational topics you care about.

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Last modified: October 30, 2025

Winter Wrap-Up 02: Mathematizing Children’s Literature

Promotional graphic for Math Teacher Lounge podcast, episode 2, featuring Allison Hintz and Antony Smith, discussing how mathematizing children's literature can build math fluency.

While we’re hard at work producing the exciting fifth season of Math Teacher Lounge: The Podcast, we’re continuing to share some of our favorite conversations from our first four seasons. This time around, we’re revisiting our popular episode that connected literacy and math!

In this episode, we sit down with Allison Hintz and Antony Smith, authors of Mathematizing Children’s Literature, to talk about what would happen if we were to approach children’s literature, and life, through a math lens–and how we can apply those same techniques to classroom teaching!

Explore more from Math Teacher Lounge by visiting our main page

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Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:02):

Hi, I’m Bethany Lockhart Johnson.

Dan Meyer (00:04):

Hi, I’m Dan Meyer.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:05):

And we are so excited for another episode of Math Teacher Lounge. And as you know, podcast format; you’re listening now. I think one beautiful thing about the podcast format is that it gives us a little bit more time to have these rich conversations. And I promise I won’t do it, but I could talk to our guests for hours, hours! Authors Allison Hintz and Tony Smith have just released Mathematizing Children’s Literature: Sparking Connections, Joy, and Wonder Through Read-Alouds and Discussion. And today we get to talk to the authors. Allison, Tony, welcome. Welcome to the lounge.

Allison Hintz (00:53):

Thank you. We’re so grateful to be here.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:55):

We’re so excited to have you here. And I wanna say that my very first—was it my first math conference? Maybe it was my first math conference—up in Seattle, the CGI conference, and I’m all like, you know, wide-eyed and just like, “Can this be a place for me, this math community?” Re-envisioning my relationship with math and thinking about myself as a math teacher, what? And I went to your session on mathematizing children’s literature, and I was just so fired up. I was so wowed by your ideas, your energy, and your passion for students’ thinking. And I feel like as I read this book, I felt like I was hanging out with you. Like you were just so encouraging all the way through. Of educators, of other folks working with young people, and really guiding us how to listen with joy and with an open curious mind.

Dan Meyer (02:03):

Yeah. I would love to hear a bit about the genesis of this book for you folks. Like, I’m coming at this from a secondary educator lens. I’ve got small kids, so that’s also part of my interest here. But I love any book, any idea that seeks to merge what seems like two disparate worlds. Like it’s often the case that we feel like, well, there’s approaches for ELA and approaches for math, and they’re kind of separate disciplines. And these poor elementary teachers have to learn all of them and be experts at all of them. And here you both come along and say, “Hey, what if they are the same kind of technique?” Can you just speak to how this came about?

Allison Hintz (02:38):

Definitely. Tony, do you wanna take a try? Do you want me to start us off?

Antony Smith (02:42):

I can start. We oftentimes present and talk together and so we kinda switch back and forth. So that’s just how we are. So probably about eight or nine years ago, Allison and I, our offices were next to each other on our small campus. We’re both professors and we just happened to have a few children’s books that we looked at together and we were just thumbing through the pages. We really liked children’s literature. And we noticed that I would stop at certain points wondering about character motive or plot or sequence of events or language use. And Allison would stop at very different points in the book and notice number and concepts or something about mathematics. And that’s when we started to wonder, what would it be like if we were sharing a children’s book with a group of children and we put our ideas together? Where would we stop? What would we talk about? What would we ask children about in terms of their thinking and what they notice?

Allison Hintz (03:42):

And so we started playing with these questions that we had and started approaching stories with multiple lenses to see what kinds of things would children notice and what kinds of things might they say. And we were also on our own journey in trying to understand how to plan for and facilitate lively discussions and classrooms that surface really complex mathematics. And it felt like stories were a place where that might be a fruitful context for hearing children’s thinking. We’ve worked with a lot of teachers and students in our region. We live in the Seattle area and we’ve applied for some funding over time that’s really helped us be in a lot of community-based organizations and educational contexts and libraries and pediatricians’ offices and classrooms, various classrooms, and see what’s interesting about this and what might teachers and children do with stories that would surface complex mathematics to think about together.

Antony Smith (04:41):

Over time, we came to the realization that if we wanted to hear children’s ideas, we had to stop bombarding them with questions. <laugh> Yeah. And at first it made it worse that we were asking them math and literacy questions at the same time. And so we realized that what we needed to do was to back off and to ask children what they noticed and wondered.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (05:01):

Can you say more about that and how that kind of evolved into mathematizing children’s literature?

Antony Smith (05:07):

We did work with a number of very thoughtful, talented classroom teachers and children’s librarians in public library systems who were just so masterful at asking open-ended prompts and questions, rather than kind of like the de facto reading quiz, that a read-aloud can become, which I’ve always disliked as a literacy educator. And we realized in our observing these read-alouds or interactive read-alouds or shared reading experiences that given the opportunity in the space and an adult who was actually listening, that children came up with all of the ideas we would have asked them about and more. So we didn’t have to be bombarding them with questions. They were already much more thoughtful than what would’ve been sufficient to answer our questions.

Allison Hintz (05:58):

And much like mathematics, it was really an iterative process. You know, we had some clunky read-aloud discussions where we were trying to accomplish so much and toggling multiple chart papers and different colored pens and all sorts of “how do we capture these ideas” and “do we separate ’em? do we keep ’em together?” And so it’s really been over time that with partners, we’ve learned these ways of having multiple reads of the same story that allow us to hear what children notice and wonder, and then to delve more deeply into their questions and their ideas through multiple reads where we might spotlight literary ideas that they notice; we might spotlight mathematical ideas that they notice. We might make purposeful integrations between those. But we found it to be most productive—and Kristin Gray really help us think about this—to have an open Notice and Wonder, get everything out much like an open-strategy share. We welcome here, record all the ideas, and it goes all over everywhere. You know, it can be a really not math-y noticing! And those are amazing! So there’s a lot of, um, yes, there is a ladybug on this page! The grandma is wearing green triangle earrings! Oh, your grandma wears green earrings! I mean, it all comes out.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (07:27):

Wait, have you been in my classroom? ‘Cause that’s exactly— <laugh>

Allison Hintz (07:29):

<laugh> And then, you know, we think of it a lot like if math teachers might use the 5 Practices for selecting and sequencing, or if you might move from an open-strategy share to a targeted share, how can we get out all the questions that children are asking and then step back from them, take some time to really think about what they’re telling us they’re curious about, and plan some purposeful, intentional subsequent discussions that can delve more deeply into their ideas.

Dan Meyer (08:02):

I’d love to go into that a little bit more if that’s all right. Um, I’m gonna speak from someone who doesn’t have an elementary background and I’m gonna voice some worries that I had, some anxiety. One anxiety I have like in a classroom or a curriculum is when there’s no room for student ideas. Right? When it’s like, oh, there’s just room for the curriculum author or the teacher here. That is a sadness. But I when I see an instructional environment like you’re describing here, where there is openness to all kinds of different student ideas, of different levels of formality, from different kinds of cultural fonts of knowledge or wherever, I also get a little bit nervous because that, like, increases the risk that a student might come to understand that “my ideas are not good enough,” whereas in the class with no room for their ideas from their home or their language or their hobbies, like, they’re not gonna internalize the message that, “that wasn’t good enough.” And so I’m really curious as you move from the open Notice and Wonder where kids share all of themselves with you, and then you move to a targeted focus on some sort of disciplinary objective, how do you navigate that tension and help students feel like their contributions are valuable, even though we aren’t taking them up per se?

Allison Hintz (09:18):

That’s such an important question. I mean, I think we’ve grappled with this broadly in math education. I think any time we’re thinking about which ideas we choose to take up to pursue to consider, we have a responsibility to think carefully about whose ideas are being taken up and heard and considered. And so one of the tensions I hear you naming, I think, Dan, is when we engage in lively discussion where children’s thinking’s at the center, how do we make sure to upend and interrupt kinda status norms that run the risk of being deepened? Um, and I think by paying attention to whose ideas are taken up as much as which ideas are taken up, and what’s the mathematics we wanna explore is one tension. Um, another tension I might hear you naming is, you know, the complications that teachers face with time and pressure and coverage, and which mathematics ends up getting worked on. And, um, you know, it’s something we’ve really had to struggle with in mathematics education, where we move to more discussion-oriented classrooms that are really centered in sense-making to know that it takes a lot of time to do this thoughtful, thoughtful work. Um, does that begin to get at some of the tensions you’re raising? Is there, is there more you’re thinking about?

Dan Meyer (10:53):

I think it’s really helpful that you kind of broadened the scope of the question beyond your book to “this is an issue that we are, you know, really challenged by and focused on broadly in math education.” And, um, I appreciate you bringing the element in of whose idea—not just which idea is taken up, but whose idea is taken up—is an opportunity where, let’s say, multiple people raise an idea that is towards an objective the teacher has, they have the opportunity to disrupt certain kinds of status, like ideas about status, in that moment. From your perspective, like, are there techniques to say, I don’t know, parking-lot certain kinds of questions and say like, “Hey, like these are awesome”? I don’t know. I just know that I see kids at like ninth grade. They are very reticent, often. They’ve internalized totally this sense of like, “I’m not gonna just, like, share about the pants the grandma’s wearing, you know; that will not be received well.” And so I’m just kinda wondering how that happens and like, what are the ways we can disrupt that? That process?

Antony Smith (11:54):

So thinking about that, Dan, from the teacher’s perspective, in those kinds of scenarios where you wanna honor each child’s contribution, a couple of things that come to mind: One is that by, you know, initially by modeling what I as a teacher, something that I notice or wonder about, helps kind of set the expectation for what kind of response would be encouraged. And it’s broad, but it gives an example. And then also we really try to record or to chart all of the ideas that are shared so that we can revisit and honor those together. And then either later or on another day, if we choose one or two of those to explore in some way within a more focused read, then another thing that we do is have the idea investigation afterward that continues that thought, but goes back to being as open-ended as possible, so that those students or children who maybe didn’t have their idea as the one that was focused on by the group could go back to that or explore some other idea of their own, so that the idea investigation isn’t a lockstep extension activity, which is why we don’t call it that. So they could again bring in their own perspective. But I have to say from the teacher’s point of view, there is that moment of potential panic <laugh> because there is that power transfer when you’re asking children to help steer where this is going. And if you really mean it, you have to let them steer a little bit. And that can be terrifying. And, um, I always think of one teacher, Ashley, we worked with who read an adorable book, Stack the Cats, by Susie Ghahremani. And in that book, there’s a point where there are eight cats and they’re kind of trying to be a tower of cats and they fall and they’re sort of in the air on that page. And she asked her first graders—she stopped, and she asked, “How, do you think, how will the cats land?” And for about a minute and a half, the entire <laugh> class, was silent. They had their little papers; they had chart paper; they had clipboards; they had everything they needed. But that unusual phenomenon of a group of six- and seven-year-olds actually just sitting and thinking and not being peppered with activities was really stressful, but amazing. And then, after about the 90 seconds, they started out into their exploration of how the eight cats might land. They just needed a minute to think. And it’s so rare that we’re able to let children have that.

Allison Hintz (14:40):

In that same moment, Ashley, who’s a learning partner to us, she turned to us kind of quietly, like, “Should I pose a different question?” And <laugh>, we’re like, “No, let’s stick with it. Let’s see what happens.” So I think it creates this space too, this thinking culture, right? And this culture of “what does that mean to really pose a rich task?That’s open-ended, where there’s multiple access points?” Those eight cats could land in so many different ways. And there was broad access, there was a wide range of all the cats landing, and one’s on their feet, ’cause cats always land on their feet <laugh>, and there was every combination. And so, um, I think what’s really interesting—and to me, this brings back to your wonder, Dan—is, you know, “What’s the risk in openness?” And there’s always risk in openness. Um, it’s scary as a teacher, right? If I’m not the authority of knowledge and I don’t have control over where we’re gonna go, it might get into places that I didn’t anticipate. Or I don’t really feel as solid in the math as I want to. Or I don’t know what it sounds like to stick with silence and wait time, to know if my students are really in productive struggle or if that question was a flop. And so, um, I think this is some practice space for young mathematicians and teachers of mathematics, and just teachers, to explore with that openness and kind of the risk of the openness required for complex thinking to emerge.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (16:12):

You know, it feels like the way you’re both describing this, it really is a culture shift, right? I kept feeling like I was given permission to be a beginner as I read this book. Like I was really…I loved how you said, I believe it was you, Allison, when you were in the class, you had a couple index card that you kept on your clipboard and that as you walked around, you were like, “Hey, if I don’t know what to ask, I ask one of these questions.” You know? And just this idea that, that, like Dan was saying, there is that loss of control, but that’s also a way to create this culture where students ideas are valued and we are allowing students to really generate the questions, which I thought was such an important idea to explore.

Allison Hintz (17:00):

We started this work long ago, super-excited about math-y books. And we saw a lot of potential in them and we still do. But the limitation we saw is that math-y books, they, they put forth a certain mathematics to be curious about. In some ways they tell you what mathematics to think about. So we started asking ourselves what would happen if we considered any story a chance to engage as mathematical sense-makers. And we started playing with non-math-y books and we got to a place where we could consider every story an opportunity to engage in mathematical thinking. And so we started noticing things over times, oh, these books tend to be really math-y. We call those text-dependent. We’d have to pay attention to the mathematics to understand the story. Whereas this pile of stories, these, they’re not overtly math-y. You could really enjoy the story and not pay attention to mathematics and have an amazing conversation. But what would happen if we thought of about this story as mathematical sense-makers and how might it deepen our understanding of the story? And then this other teetering pile of books, these are books where, you know, children didn’t tend to engage as overtly as mathematicians in it, but there’s opportunities in this story to go back to something—to a moment, to an illustration, to a comment—and think as mathematicians. And those were more about illustration exploring. And so, as we notice these different kinds of books, we really broaden what we thought about. And I think one of the things we really wanna think about in community through this book is what happens if we approach any story, every story, as mathematical sense-makers, because stories are alive in children’s lives, in homes and communities and in schools. And it’s a broad opportunity that we wanna take up. I was thinking, as I stay in this strait for just a moment about book selection, before we move into that process, um, Bethany in a previous MTL, you talked about representation.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (19:12):

Mm, yeah.

Allison Hintz (19:14):

And do you remember when you shared the image of hair braiding?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (19:19):

Yes. Vividly, yes. <laugh>.

Allison Hintz (19:22):

Yeah. And can you say just what that meant to you? What that….

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (19:27):

Yeah. Well, it was from a conference; Sunil Singh had used it and was talking about the artistry in mathematics and beauty in hair braiding. And, um, particularly, he was showing this particular image of this Black woman with her hair braided in profile and looking at the angles and the symmetry. And I shared that, you know, I spent so many hours in the beauty shop with my aunties and my mom and my grandma and continue to, to this day, that it just, it struck me immediately as familiar. And it struck me immediately as seeing an image that was reflective of my lived reality, projected as valuable and worthwhile for consideration in the world of mathematics. Which is not what I felt as a student of mathematics as a young adult or child. So it was this beautiful moment of, for me, the power of when we see images and we allow opportunities for re-envisioning what may be a common practice for that student, or may be something that they see every day.

Allison Hintz (20:44):

And in that same way, that image that was put up, we wanna think really carefully about representation in the stories that we select. And when we think of stories as mirrors or windows, we really wanna be mindful in story selection of whose stories are told and whose stories are heard. And when you said that you would sit down to listen to a story and you felt at ease or that you saw an image and you saw yourself that can be and should be something we really think carefully about when we select the stories that we select.

Dan Meyer (21:21):

It’s a wider path for representation of different kinds of people in literature, because people’s stories seem so much more present and towards the surface of their lives, versus, say, the abstractions and numbers and shapes in mathematics. It feels like more of a struggle to find ways to show people, hey, like you’re here, this, this place belongs to you. So in all these reasons, I think it’s really great you folks are using literature, which has this history of humanities, literally humanities, as a vehicle for mathematics. That seems pretty special here.

Antony Smith (21:56):

We both go to libraries and bookstores and look through books as often as we can, but also our partner, a children’s librarian, Mie-Mie Wu, helped us go through—when we would meet, she would bring three or four hundred books at a time.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (22:13):

When you described her wheeling in the cart, oh, I wish I been in that room! <Laugh>

Antony Smith (22:18):

And the cart was, you know, probably three or four times bigger than she was sometimes. And we would go through hundreds of books and look at them and listen to her thoughts as a skilled librarian sharing with families, diverse families, and what catches the attention of a three-year-old sitting with her grandfather. And that was really a valuable, helpful experience. And it’s a partnership that continues. So in Last Stop on Market Street—and this is in the book; we talk about this, this children’s book quite a bit—in this story, CJ with his Nana, his grandmother, are riding the bus to the last stop on Market Street in San Francisco, to go, as we will find out, to help serve in a soup kitchen to help the community. And the teacher, Susan Hadreas, had the children record their ideas. She charted them in an open Notice and Wonder read. And one of the ideas that a young boy noticed was that CJ on the bus…a man with a guitar starts playing the guitar on the bus and CJ closes his eyes and it says CJ’s chest grew full. And he was lost in the sound and the sound gave him the feeling of magic. So this boy said, “I wonder, what does that feel like if you’re feeling the magic? What’s that?” And that was one of many ideas in the open Notice and Wonder, and Allison will talk about the math lens read, but first Susan went back and read with them. She had that idea, she circled it on the chart paper, and another day that week, she said, let’s go back and visit this story we really liked. And remember, we wondered what feeling the magic was like. Let’s go back through and let’s keep track of all the feelings and emotions that CJ had across the journey to the soup kitchen in this book. And so they did another read of the story; they were very familiar with it, of course, but they noticed new things and they also, every few pages, stopped and she helped chart all of the emotions that CJ experienced from envy to excitement to sadness. There’s a huge range in this book. And it was fascinating.

Allison Hintz (24:36):

I think one of the things that the children noticed was that CJ’s feelings were shaped by community. And that he shaped and shaped…he was shaped by and helped shape his community. And so the ways that he felt across the story were impacted by the other characters that he comes across. The guitar man on the bus. The bus driver who can pull a coin out from behind someone’s ear. The lady with the butterflies in the jar. Nana helping him to see the rainbow. And the students started, you know, being curious about that. How do we shape and how are we shaped by community? What communities are we a part of? This class is one community. I’m in many communities across my life. And they started to quantify the number of people in the story. So Mrs. Hedreas went back for a math lens read, and she said, let’s just keep track of and pay attention to how many people are in CJ’s life in this day. Because I can hear you starting to think about quantity. This class at the same time in other areas of the day had been working on counting collections, how to keep track, so they got out their tools. Some people pulled out ten frames, some people pulled out clipboards. They had a wide range of things they could use to help them keep track. They developed their own strategy, keep track however you want. She did a quicker read through it, flipping the pages, and then they get into these debates: <laugh> “We already counted that person!” “But they took their hat off and put it down to collect money!

Antony Smith (26:10):

“What about the dog?”

Allison Hintz (26:11):

“That’s the same person!” “Yeah, there’s a dog pound in his community!” <laugh> “Do animals count in our community?”

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (26:17):

I love it!

Allison Hintz (26:17):

“Yes, they count!” Uh, and so we went through and quantified and there was really this understanding as you saw these people throughout the story that communities can be of different sizes, but community has impact. And you have responsibility in your community to show up and to lean in and to know that bringing your full, authentic, vulnerable self, you shape people and they shape you. And what communities are people a part of. And it turned into this really interesting discussion about quantity and helped us think more about quantity and community. I think a really important moment for us and for that class was the transition from being people who almost did mathematics to a story, like counted things on a page, um, count acorns on a page in an autumn book, to being mathematicians who thought within the story.

Antony Smith (27:17):

And then two idea investigations that came from that —not at the same time, of course, but with the same group of children—one was they identified an emotion of their own and wrote and drew about that. And also, who helped them address or get out of or acknowledge that emotion. And then the other idea investigation was that all of the children drew or kind of mapped out a community that they were part of. Whether it was their neighborhood or their classroom or their soccer team or whatever it was. And so then those investigations strengthened the connections of those concepts to the lives of those children.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (28:05):

Well, I, actually wanted to ask you about idea investigations. Because I feel like that was such an important invitation in your book. And the way I understood the idea investigation is you’re really paying attention to what’s coming up in your other reads. Right? And then these are opportunities to extend the thinking, or like you said, to extend a particular aspect: What’s your community? Can we map your community? Or what’s a particular emotion? And it was in such contrast to what I think I have probably done in my classroom more than once, which was like, “Oh, we read this story about seals. So now my story problem is gonna be about seals, right? <laugh> Like in the story, you know, Jojo, the seal had five balls. <laugh> So if Jojo still had five balls and two of them bounced away…” You know, or whatever. Right? But that’s not what an idea investigation is. Right?

Allison Hintz (29:03):

Yeah. I think this is where we also had some stumbles and can totally relate to what you’re saying as previous classroom teachers as well. We have come to a place where we are pretty in favor of a super open-ended idea investigation that takes up the things that have surfaced in the multiple reads and making sure it’s a rich task with many, many ways children can engage with that. There’s many, many, many right answers or ways to engage. Less is more there. So we moved way away from, like, even a worksheet that might have an idea from it to blank paper and math tools and places to get into some productive struggle around some of the complex things that were raised.

Antony Smith (29:59):

A challenge with worksheets is that they put a frame around children’s ideas. So either there are only three lines to write on, or there’s only a small box to draw in. Whereas a blank page really opens up the possibility. Um, and so—is it Ann Jonas who wrote Splash!? sorry, I don’t have it in front of me—the book Splash!, about animals that end up in and out of the pond, including a cat that is not happy about ending up in the pond, an idea investigation after that for very young children was, with the list of the different creatures displayed at the front of the room: On blank paper, hey, draw your own pond and decide how many of which and each type of animal you want in your pond and then write about it. Just on blank paper. And so that allowed some children to draw, like, three giant goldfish. But other children drew 17 frogs and three cats. And, and just, it lets children follow—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (31:02):

It was theirs, right? It was theirs.

Antony Smith (31:04):

Their idea. <laugh> And that comes partly from, I think, as Allison mentioned, we both were classroom teachers before moving into academia. And I remember giving children worksheets, particularly math worksheets, where they weren’t necessarily bad, but right at the bottom, it says like, explain your strategy. And it gives two lines.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (31:23):

Right! <laugh>

Antony Smith (31:25):

The only thing a seven-year-old can write there is “I thought.” Or “I solved it.” <laugh> And that’s not where we need to go.

Dan Meyer (31:34):

Yeah. If I could just ask the indulgence of the primary crowd here, like, I’m trying to make sense of all this. And I just wanna like, offer my perspective. My summary statement of what’s going on here. I’m trying to—I love how you both came here—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (31:45):

<laughs> How ya doin’, Dan? How ya doin’?

Dan Meyer (31:47):

<laughs> I’m, ah, A, I’m loving this a lot. Um, B, I came in here loving how you folks are broadening the work of primary education to kind of find commonalities between these sometimes seemingly disparate kinds of teaching in ELA and math. Love that, I wanna say. But I think you folks are describing, with all these teachers you observed and your own work, is the work of attaching meaning to what students might not realize yet has meaning. Or they might think it only has one kind of meaning. But you, the teacher, with their knowledge, realizes that there are many more dimensions of meaning that can be attached to those thoughts. And I’m hearing that from you folks, when you describe A, what math is and the power of a teacher to name a thing as mathematical. Like, “Oh, you didn’t think math was that, but math is noticing; math is wondering; math is asking questions,” for one. But also this work you’re describing of how, like, first the task has to invite lots of student thoughts and then to say like, “Oh, I see that there’s a similarity to these two.” And to raise those up for a conversation or to ask a question like to extend one person’s, one student’s question a little bit more. But it’s always…I’m just hearing you folks attaching more meaning than the student might have originally thought. I appreciate the conversation. That’s really interesting.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (33:03):

Well, and now that the book is out, I think it’s gonna keep evolving, right? Now that it’s gonna be in the hands of teachers and librarians and educators and caregivers, it’s exciting to see kind of where it goes next. Which actually brings us to our MTL challenge. Dan Meyer, do you wanna share?

Dan Meyer (33:22):

Math Teacher Lounge, we have a challenge for the folks who listen and we’d love for them to hop into the Facebook group Math Teacher Lounge, or hit us up on Twitter at @MTLShow and just, like, kind of exercise beyond listening, exercise the ideas you folks are talking about, some kind of a challenge that can help us dive deeper into your ideas. So what would you folks suggest for our crowd, for our listeners?

Allison Hintz (33:42):

I would love to invite people to playfully experiment with a favorite story, with a story that’s new to you. I would love to invite listeners to sit with a story maybe on your own, and just ask yourself as a mathematician: What do you notice and wonder in this story? Don’t feel any pressure. Maybe sit with a child or some children and listen to what they notice and wonder. Like, really listen! Don’t ask questions! But hear their questions and place children at the center and consider multiple reads. Consider continuing to pursue their questions. And we have a planning template that might support people in kind of sketching out some ideas if you’re open to playing with that too.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (34:34):

And we will post—

Dan Meyer (34:36):

That’s awesome.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (34:36):

—a link for that planning template in our Facebook group and on Twitter as well. So thank you so much for that resource, because I think it’ll definitely help. It could help you, like you said, it could help you kind of organize your thoughts or help you think about this work in a new way. So thank you for that resource and thank you for the amazing resource that is Mathematizing Children’s Literature. I am so excited to continue to engage with you both and with listeners as they dive into this book. If folks want to engage with you more, where can they find you? How can they reach you?

Allison Hintz (35:12):

Well, we’re on Twitter.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (35:14):

Great.

Dan Meyer (35:15):

What’s your home address? <laugh>

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (35:24):

Wait, let me try that again. <laugh> ‘Cause it does sound like I’m like, <fake ominous voice> “Where can they find you?”

Allison Hintz (35:29):

4-2-5…. <laughs>

Antony Smith (35:32):

At the bookstore!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (35:34):

Y’all, if folks want to continue this conversation or share these ideas or the math challenge, how can they tag you? How can they, they reach you on the World Wide Web, besides the Math Teacher Lounge Facebook group?

Antony Smith (35:50):

Yeah. Well, we are both on Twitter, and we’ve been trying to promote the hashtag #MathematizingChildrensLiterature. It’s very long, but once you type it once, your phone or computer…

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (36:01):

Easy. Yeah, those click, right? Is that what it is now?

Antony Smith (36:03):

<laugh> The other is that we do for our project, we have an Instagram account that is @MathematizeChildren’sLiterature.

Allison Hintz (36:11):

We care really deeply about hearing from people. You know, we think our ideas are constantly evolving and that there’s such exciting room to grow. And we just felt compelled to share what we were learning now so that together we could learn and build vibrant experiences for young children and teachers and families through stories. So we want to hear from people! We wanna learn about stories that are important in your lives and what children say, and grow these ideas together.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (36:42):

And credit to Dan, you told me you went and ordered a bunch of the books they have on the suggested read list.

Dan Meyer (36:48):

Oh my gosh.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (36:49):

You read ’em to your son.

Dan Meyer (36:50):

I got such a side-eye from my significant others around here for what I dropped on Amazon in one night! <laugh> Uh, all these books I didn’t have. Some of them I did. We are not fully illiterate around here! We do love the written word at the Meyer household! But there were a bunch that that I grabbed. I’m morseling them out day by day.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (37:09):

Wait, at bedtime I read my one-year-old One Is a Snail, Ten Is a Crab. <laugh> And let me tell you, he had vigorous pointing and “Da? Da da da da?”

Allison Hintz (37:22):

<laugh> Aww, da da!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (37:22):

So hey, we’re on the road. <laugh> <music> Deeply grateful, not only for your work and your beautiful book and your work, but also for the invitation to dive into the world of children’s literature in a way that many of us have not before. And it’s fun! Thank you, Tony. And thank you, Allison. And thanks for hanging out in the lounge.

Allison Hintz (37:48):

Thanks for having the lounge!

Antony Smith (37:49):

It’s been fun!

Allison Hintz (37:52):

Thank you both.

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What Allison Hintz says about math

“We started asking ourselves, “what would happen if we considered any story a chance to engage as mathematical sensemakers”.”

– Allison Hintz

Author and Associate Professor, University of Washington Bothell

Meet the guest

Allison B. Hintz: Dr. Hintz’s research and teaching are in the area of mathematics education. Her focus on mathematics came about during her years as a fifth grade teacher – it was alongside her students that she developed her own positive identity as a mathematician! Today she studies teaching and learning, specifically facilitating engaging discussion. Her research and teaching happen in partnership with educators and children in formal and informal settings and focuses on beliefs and practices that support all children in lively mathematics learning. She is a co-author, with Elham Kazemi, of Intentional Talk: How to Structure and Lead Productive Mathematical Discussions.

Twitter: @allisonhintz124

Antony T. Smith: Antony T. Smith is an associate professor of literacy education at the University of Washington, Bothell. He works alongside teachers to create engaging literacy-mathematics learning experiences through exploring and discussing children’s literature. He is committed to the concepts of motivation, engagement, challenge, and creativity in literacy teaching and learning.

 Twitter: @smithant  Instagram: mathematizechildrensliterature

Two people appear in separate circular frames; the woman is smiling and wearing headphones, while the man stands in front of bookshelves, perhaps discussing Mathematizing Children’s Literature.
Podcast cover for "Math Teacher Lounge" with Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer; bold text on orange and teal semicircle background.

About Math Teacher Lounge: The podcast

Math Teacher Lounge is a biweekly podcast created specifically for K–12 math educators. In each episode co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson (@lockhartedu) and Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) chat with guests, taking a deep dive into the math and educational topics you care about.

Join the Math Teacher Lounge Facebook group to continue the conversation, view exclusive content, interact with fellow educators, participate in giveaways, and more!

Why hands-on learning matters in science

A knowledge board, a child examining a geode, and a hand holding a geode in front of colorful geode art illustrate personalized learning through hands-on science exploration.

Science should be more than just reading about concepts—it should be something students can see, touch, and explore. When students actively engage with science through hands-on activities, technology, and even literature connections, they develop not only essential science skills, but also deeper understanding and lasting curiosity.

Bringing science to life: Hands-on activities

Perhaps the most effective way to engage students in science is to combine a high-quality curriculum with an interactive teaching style to make it experiential. In my classroom, we use the Amplify CKLA Geology unit to dive into earth science concepts. While these strategies can be applied across grade levels and scientific topics, the following is an example from my fourth-grade classroom’s geology lessons:

  • Examining geodes: Students predict what they will find inside before breaking geodes open. Then they analyze the crystal structures, connecting their observations to Amplify CKLA’s science concepts.
  • Writing about Earth’s layers: After learning about the Earth’s structure, students reinforce their understanding by writing creative descriptions or short stories from the perspective of different layers.
  • Diagramming volcanoes and the rock cycle: Drawing detailed diagrams, students visualize how rocks change over time and how volcanic eruptions shape the Earth’s surface.

Connecting literacy skills to science skills

Incorporating literature deepens students’ understanding of science. I use a mix of trade books and digital resources to bring concepts to life through storytelling and informational texts. These books help students connect scientific ideas with real-world applications, fostering both literacy and science skills.

Literacy skills like reading comprehension and critical thinking are key to understanding complex scientific ideas. When students dive into science-related materials, they practice making sense of data, thinking critically about evidence, and building arguments. These practices boost students’ overall literacy, expanding their vocabulary, sparking their curiosity, and developing their media literacy.

Digital resources for students: Exploring science with Google Earth

To further engage students, I integrate Google Earth into our lesson plans. This allows them to explore real-world scientific phenomena—such as geological formations, ecosystems, and weather patterns—making abstract concepts more tangible. Students love zooming in on famous landscapes, discussing how they were formed, and identifying scientific features. This interactive approach using relevant digital tools helps make science feel relevant and exciting.

Final thoughts: The power of engagement in science

By combining hands-on activities, literature, and technology, I’ve helped my students develop a genuine curiosity about science. As the school year progresses, they ask more questions, make deeper connections, and take ownership of their learning.

Engaging students in science doesn’t have to be complicated—it just has to be meaningful. By making learning interactive, Amplify (through Amplify CKLA and Amplify Science) helps students connect with scientific concepts in meaningful ways. I encourage other educators to bring Amplify’s lessons to life with interactive approaches that spark wonder and excitement in young scientists.

Explore more

  • Let’s keep the conversation going! Join the discussion in our Amplify learning communities.
  • Looking for inspiration? Watch Teacher Connections, a video series featuring practical advice and tools straight from fellow educators—our very own Amplify Ambassadors.
  • Dive into our podcast hub to hear from top thought leaders and educators and uncover cross-disciplinary insights to support your instruction.

Core Principles:

These core principles guide our operations, employee behavior and product development:

  • Customer Control: We help school districts securely manage their personally identifiable student information. The districts direct our use of the data, and control who has access to that data and with whom it is shared.
  • Educational Purpose: Personal student information can only be used for customer-authorized purposes to support student learning through the secure and effective operation of our educational tools. 
  • Transparency: School districts, teachers, parents and students have the right to know what information is collected by school technology, how it is used and by whom, as clearly described in our privacy policy.
  • Commitment: Privacy and security are thoroughly embedded into our organizational practices. We dedicate substantial resources to systems, processes and personnel required to protect student information.

Amplify Data Privacy and Security Practices:

Amplify maintains a customer data privacy policy that explains our data collection, handling and use practices. 

Amplify also maintains a data security policy that explains how student data is protected from unauthorized access.  Data security practices at Amplify are developed and maintained in accordance with the internationally recognized ISO27002 security standards.  In addition, Amplify has successfully completed the SOC 2 Type 2 examination of controls relevant to security and conducts such examination on an annual basis. 

For more information, please review our customer privacy policy and security practices. If you have additional questions, please contact us at privacy@amplify.com.  

State Law Compliance

Amplify has entered into Data Privacy Agreements (DPAs) with districts across the country to facilitate compliance with applicable laws governing student data privacy. These DPAs can be applied to any Amplify product.

Unless otherwise noted, the DPAs are based on the Student Data Privacy Consortium’s (SDPC) model agreement which was created to simplify the contracting process between providers and local education agencies (LEAs) while ensuring LEAs have the necessary data protection obligations in place with providers. For additional information please visit the SDPC website and select your state.

General Offer of Privacy Terms:
To expedite your district’s need for a DPA and streamline the contracting process, we have compiled the following DPAs, listed by state.

By executing the General Offer of Privacy Terms, your LEA can “piggy back” off an existing DPA that other LEAs in your state have already agreed to. If you do not see your state below, please contact privacy@amplify.com.

Instructions: 
(i) Please download the General Offer of Privacy Terms, (ii) sign and send the executed copy to your Amplify account representative, and (iii) retain a copy for your records. If you have any questions please reach out to privacy@amplify.com.

*Please note, states marked with an asterisk do not have a General Offer of Privacy Terms; however, please review the instructions below on how to quickly implement a DPA in compliance with your LEA’s state law.

Arizona: To enter into Amplify’s AZ-NDPA-V1, please sign the General Offer of Privacy Terms

Arkansas: To enter into Amplify’s AR-NDPA-V1, please sign the and General Offer of Privacy Terms

California: To enter into Amplify’s CA-NDPA, Version 1.5, please sign the General Offer of Privacy Terms

Connecticut*
To facilitate your district’s compliance with the requirements of Connecticut’s student data privacy law (Connecticut General Statutes §§ 10-234aa through 10-234dd), Amplify is proud to offer our “Connecticut Terms of Service Addendum” linked below. This Addendum supplements Amplify’s Terms and Conditions for use of Amplify products licensed by the district available at https://amplify.com/customer-terms.
Addendum: Connecticut Terms of Service Addendum
Instructions: Please retain a copy for your records – no further action is required.

Florida: To enter into Amplify’s FL-NDPA, Version 1.0, please sign the General Offer of Privacy Terms

Hawaii*
Amplify has entered into a Data Sharing Agreement with the Hawaii State Department of Education (HIDOE) which applies to any LEA associated with HIDOE. If your LEA is not a part of the HIDOE and you require a data privacy agreement, please reach out to privacy@amplify.com.

Illinois: To enter into Amplify’s IL-NDPA (which includes the IL State Supplemental Terms), please sign the General Offer of Privacy Terms

Iowa: To enter into Amplify’s IA-NDPA (which includes the IA State Supplemental Terms), please sign the General Offer of Privacy Terms

Maine: To enter into Amplify’s MA-ME-MO-NH-NY-OH-RI-VT DPA, Version 1 (which includes the ME State Supplemental Terms), please sign the General Offer of Privacy Terms 

Massachusetts: To enter into Amplify’s MA-ME-MO-NH-NY-OH-RI-VT DPA, Version 1 (which includes the MA State Supplemental Terms), please sign the General Offer of Privacy Terms

Missouri: To enter into Amplify’s MO-NDPA, Version 1.0, please sign the General Offer of Privacy Terms

Montana: To enter into Amplify’s MT DPA, Version 3, please sign the General Offer of Privacy Terms

Nebraska: To enter into Amplify’s NE NDPA (which includes the NE State Supplemental Terms), please sign the General Offer of Privacy Terms

New York*
Option 1:
To facilitate your district’s compliance with the requirements of New York State Education Law § 2-D and regulations promulgated thereunder, Amplify is proud to offer our “New York Data Privacy and Security Addendum” linked below. This Addendum supplements Amplify’s Terms and Conditions for use of Amplify products licensed by the educational agency available at https://amplify.com/customer-terms.
Addendum: New York Data Privacy and Security Addendum
Instructions: Please retain a copy for your records- no further action is required.
Option 2:
To enter into Amplify’s MA-ME-MO-NH-NY-OH-RI-VT DPA, Version 1 (which includes the NY State Supplemental Terms), please sign the General Offer of Privacy Terms

New Hampshire: To enter into Amplify’s MA-ME-MO-NH-NY-OH-RI-VT DPA, Version 1 (which includes the NH State Supplemental Terms), please sign the General Offer of Privacy Terms

North Carolina*
The Data Confidentiality and Security Agreement issued by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) is not applicable to Amplify’s services given Amplify does not have a direct integration to any state system via API/plugin. You can review the NCDPI guidance here: https://www.dpi.nc.gov/about-dpi/technology-services/third-party-data-integration. However, Amplify can sign this form with some revisions. As such, we have prepared an Addendum which supplements the Data Confidentiality and Security Agreement.
Instructions: Please download a copy of the Data Confidentiality and Security Agreement with Amplify Addendum, return an executed copy to your account executive, and retain a copy for your records.

Ohio: To enter into Amplify’s OH-NDPA Version 1.0, please sign the General Offer of Privacy Terms

Oregon: To enter into Amplify’s OR-NDPA-V1, please sign the General Offer of Privacy Terms

Rhode Island: To enter into Amplify’s MA-ME-MO-NH-NY-OH-RI-VT DPA, Version 1 (which includes the RI State Supplemental Terms), please sign the General Offer of Privacy Terms

Tennessee: To enter into Amplify’s TN-NDPA-V1, please sign the General Offer of Privacy Terms

Texas: To enter into Amplify’s TX-NDPA-V1R6, please sign the General Offer of Privacy Terms

Utah: To enter into Amplify’s UT-NDPA, Version 1, please sign the General Offer of Privacy Terms

Vermont: To enter into Amplify’s MA-ME-MO-NH-NY-OH-RI-VT DPA, Version 1 (which includes the VT State Supplemental Terms), please sign the General Offer of Privacy Terms

Virginia: To enter into Amplify’s VA-DPA, please sign the General Offer of Privacy Terms

Washington: To enter into Amplify’s WA-NDPA, Version 1, please sign the General Offer of Privacy Terms

Wisconsin: To enter into Amplify’s WI SDPA, Version 1, please sign the General Offer of Privacy Terms

Wyoming: To enter into Amplify’s WY-NDPA-V1, please sign the General Offer of Privacy Terms

Oregon Enhanced ELA State Review for K–5

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Professional development for assessment and intervention programs

Amplify professional development (PD) provides learning experiences that intentionally develop the knowledge and skills you need for effective and self-sustaining implementation.

Learn how to administer and score your assessment and develop a deeper understanding of reporting and instruction by investing in professional development.

Amplify professional development has been vetted by Rivet Education’s team through a rigorous three-step process and is listed in the Professional Learning Partner Guide.

About Amplify PD

Change is more likely to stick and get results if you take a systemic approach. As our partner, you’ll develop a learning plan that will drive your program implementation, enrich your instructional practices, and increase student impact.

Amplify’s professional development is designed to ensure successful, sustained implementation of our programs. Through strategically bundled packages, our PD sessions provide continuous support that adapts to your educators’ evolving needs.


Prepare

Begin

Practice

Advance
Program-agnostic sessions will set up educators for success in areas such as the Science of Reading and/or problem-based approaches to math. Program-aligned packages will support those who are new to Amplify’s programs. Program-aligned packages will support those who have experience using Amplify’s programs. Offerings will support advanced implementation, build capacity for instructional leaders, certify in-house trainers to deliver Launch sessions, and more.

Our packages include:

  • Launch sessions: Propel your teachers into the new school year by introducing them to their Amplify program, laying a strong foundation for effective implementation.
  • Strengthen sessions: Boost implementation with mid-year sessions that target specific instructional practices, providing the support needed to enhance program efficacy.
  • Coach sessions: Provide tailored guidance and support for educators and leaders to address specific needs, refining and advancing their instructional practices.

About mCLASS Texas® assessment PD packages:

  • Begin packages: Ideal for the first year of implementation, these packages help educators transition to evidence-based practices. Each package includes Launch and Strengthen sessions to set the foundation and support the initial phases of program adoption.
    • Format options: On-site, Hybrid, Virtual
    • Components: One Launch session introduces and supports a strong implementation and one Strengthen session deepens understanding of the program.
  • Practice packages: Designed for the second year of implementation and beyond, these packages deepen educators’ knowledge and refine their practice. They focus on continuous improvement, using data to drive instructional decisions and enhance student outcomes.
    • Format options: On-site, Hybrid, Virtual
    • Components: Two Strengthen sessions expand practice and drive outcomes. We recommend enhancement Coach sessions for ongoing support and addressing customized needs.

About mCLASS Intervention PD sessions:

  • Each intervention program offers Launch and Coach sessions for up to 30 participants per program for year one and beyond.
  • Our interactive sessions are available on-site or virtually, empowering teachers and leaders anywhere with the tools and skills they need to inspire all students to think deeply, creatively, and for themselves.

About Amplify assessment and intervention programs

Amplify’s high-quality programs make it easier for educators to teach inspiring, impactful lessons that celebrate and develop the brilliance of their students. Empowering teachers with tools to provide robust scaffolding and differentiated instruction, assessment, and intervention programs take the hassle and guesswork out of assessments with real-time, actionable plans personalized for every learner.

Learn how to get the most out of your assessment and intervention program(s) through Amplify’s PD.

Assessment

  • mCLASS Texas
  • mCLASS Lectura Texas
  • mCLASS Texas + Lectura

Intervention

  • mCLASS Intervention

We provide PD sessions for all Amplify programs. Contact your account executive to discuss the extended catalog of PD session options or request a quote.

mCLASS Texas Assessments

We’ve created professional development offerings that will help you meet your unique needs this school year. Explore the Begin and Practice packages available for mCLASS Texas Edition and mCLASS Lectura Texas by selecting the session titles to learn more.

Please note that mCLASS Texas and mCLASS Texas + Lectura biliteracy sessions are currently unavailable for the Hybrid 4 and Virtual 4 packages.

Begin packages

Assessment programs

  On-site package
(9 hours)
Hybrid 9 package
(9 hours)
Hybrid 4 package
(4 hours)
Virtual 9 package
(9 hours)
Virtual 4 package
(4 hours)
  One Launch and Strengthen session per package
Launch sessions
  On-site
6 hr.
On-site
6 hr.
On-site
3 hr.
Virtual
6 hr.
(2 half-days)
Virtual
3 hr.
Administration and instruction essentials for teachers    
Administration and scoring training for teachers
     
Administration and reporting training for leaders      
Strengthen sessions
  On-site
3 hr.
Virtual 
3 hr.
Virtual
1 hr.
Virtual 
3 hr.
Virtual 
1 hr.
Creating a data-driven classroom for teachers    
Building a data-driven culture for leaders    
Assessing with fidelity for teachers
     
Reporting and instruction basics for teachers      
Goal setting and growth outcomes for teachers      
Progress monitoring for teachers      
Reporting basics for leaders
     

*Assessment Strengthen sessions should be scheduled after the most recent benchmark window has closed for participants to work with their own data.

  Coach session
Suggested enhancements

On-site On-site or virtual
6 hr. 3 hr.

Begin: Administration and instruction essentials for teachers

On-site or virtual, 6 hours

Dive into the essentials of your mCLASS Texas assessment program. Learn how to administer and score the assessment and leave ready to leverage mCLASS Texas reports and lessons to accelerate data-driven student outcomes.

Session options: mCLASS Texas, mCLASS Lectura Texas, and/or mCLASS Texas + Lectura biliteracy

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura Texas session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Begin: Administration and scoring training for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn how to administer and score your mCLASS Texas assessment(s) and leave ready to collect data using standardized guidelines.

Session options: mCLASS Texas, mCLASS Lectura Texas, and/or mCLASS Texas + Lectura biliteracy

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura Texas session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Begin: Administration and reporting training for leaders

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Prepare to implement your assessment program(s) at your school site(s). Determine systems-level actions that will ensure assessment fidelity and leave ready to leverage key admin reports to support data-informed decisions.

Session options: mCLASS Texas, mCLASS Lectura Texas, and/or mCLASS Texas + Lectura biliteracy

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura Texas session is facilitated in English only.

Begin: Creating a data-driven classroom for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dive deep into mCLASS Texas reports and instructional recommendations to drive stronger student outcomes in your classroom. You will leave ready to leverage mCLASS Texas progress monitoring and grouping tools to support a robust MTSS program.

Session options: mCLASS Texas, mCLASS Lectura Texas, and/or mCLASS Texas + Lectura biliteracy

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura Texas session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Begin: Building a data-driven culture for leaders

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Cultivate a schoolwide culture of data-driven practices. Use mCLASS Texas reports to drill into key school-level data and leave with a systems-level action plan to drive stronger student and teacher outcomes.

Session options: mCLASS Texas, mCLASS Lectura Texas, and/or mCLASS Texas + Lectura biliteracy

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura Texas session is facilitated in English only.

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Assessing with fidelity for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Fortify your assessment administration with trainer-led practice targeted to your unique needs.

Session options: mCLASS Texas, mCLASS Lectura Texas, and/or mCLASS Texas + Lectura biliteracy

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura Texas session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Reporting and instruction basics for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn how to use mCLASS Texas classroom reporting, instructional tools, and resources to accelerate data-driven student outcomes.

Session options: mCLASS Texas, mCLASS Lectura Texas, and/or mCLASS Texas + Lectura biliteracy

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura Texas session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Goal setting and growth outcomes for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn how to use mCLASS Texas Zones of Growth (Zonas de crecimiento for mCLASS Lectura) reports to set meaningful, ambitious, and attainable student goals that drive student progress and growth.

Session options: mCLASS Texas, mCLASS Lectura Texas, and/or mCLASS Texas + Lectura biliteracy

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura Texas session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Progress monitoring for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Implement mCLASS progress monitoring and MTSS best practices to track student progress and accelerate growth.

Session options: mCLASS Texas, mCLASS Lectura Texas, and/or mCLASS Texas + Lectura biliteracy

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura Texas session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Reporting basics for leaders

Virtual, 1 hour

Examine your school-level mCLASS benchmark assessment data to identify key levers for improving student outcomes.

Session options: mCLASS Texas, mCLASS Lectura Texas, and/or mCLASS Texas + Lectura biliteracy

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura Texas session is facilitated in English only.

Practice packages

  On-site package
(6 hours)
Virtual 6 package
(6 hours)
Virtual 4 package
(4 hours)
Virtual 2 package
(2 hours)
Two Strengthen sessions per package
Strengthen session titles*
  On-site
3 hr.
Virtual
3 hr.
Virtual
3 hr. and 1 hr.
Virtual
1 hr.
Creating a data-driven classroom for teachers  
Building a data-driven culture for leaders
 
Assessing with fidelity for teachers    
Reporting and instruction basics for teachers    
Progress monitoring for teachers
   
Goal setting and growth outcomes for teachers
   
Reporting basics for leaders     

*Assessment Strengthen sessions should be scheduled after the most recent benchmark window has closed for participants to work with their own data.

  Coach session
Suggested enhancements

On-site   On-site or virtual
6 hr.   3 hr.

Practice: Creating a data-driven classroom for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dive deep into mCLASS Texas reports and instructional recommendations to drive stronger student outcomes in your classroom. You will leave ready to leverage mCLASS Texas progress monitoring and grouping tools to support a robust MTSS program.

Session options: mCLASS Texas, mCLASS Lectura Texas, and/or mCLASS Texas + Lectura biliteracy

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura Texas session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Practice: Building a data-driven culture for leaders

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Cultivate a schoolwide culture of data-driven practices. Use mCLASS Texas reports to drill into key school-level data and leave with a systems-level action plan to drive stronger student and teacher outcomes.

Session options: mCLASS Texas, mCLASS Lectura Texas, and/or mCLASS Texas + Lectura biliteracy

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura Texas session is facilitated in English only.

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Assessing with fidelity for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Fortify your mCLASS Texas Edition assessment administration with trainer-led practice targeted to your unique needs.

Session options: mCLASS Texas, mCLASS Lectura Texas, and/or mCLASS Texas + Lectura biliteracy

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura Texas session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Reporting and instruction basics for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn how to use mCLASS Texas classroom reporting, instructional tools, and resources to accelerate data-driven student outcomes.

Session options: mCLASS Texas, mCLASS Lectura Texas, and/or mCLASS Texas + Lectura biliteracy

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura Texas session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Progress monitoring for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Implement mCLASS Texas progress monitoring and MTSS best practices to track student progress and accelerate growth.

Session options: mCLASS Texas, mCLASS Lectura Texas, and/or mCLASS Texas + Lectura biliteracy

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura Texas session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

New session for mCLASS Lectura Texas and mCLASS Texas + Lectura biliteracy

Practice: Goal setting and growth outcomes for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn how to use mCLASS Texas Zones of Growth (Zonas de crecimiento for mCLASS Lectura Texas) reports to set meaningful, ambitious, and attainable student goals that drive student progress and growth.

Session options: mCLASS Texas, mCLASS Lectura Texas, and/or mCLASS Texas + Lectura biliteracy

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura Texas session is facilitated in English or Spanish.

Practice: Reporting basics for leaders

Virtual, 1 hour

Examine your school-level mCLASS Texas benchmark assessment data to identify key levers for improving student outcomes.

Session options: mCLASS Texas, mCLASS Lectura Texas, and/or mCLASS Texas + Lectura biliteracy

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The mCLASS Lectura Texas session is facilitated in English.

Amplify intervention PD sessions

Intervention programs

Each intervention program offers Launch and Coach sessions for up to 30 participants per program for year one and beyond.

mCLASS Texas Intervention

mCLASS Intervention is a staff-led Tier 2 and Tier 3 reading intervention program that does the heavy lifting of data analysis and lesson sequencing, freeing up teachers to teach the reading skills each student needs. View the table and select the session title to learn more about each mCLASS Intervention PD session.

  On-site or virtual sessions
3 hr.
Self-paced course
Launch sessions
Program overview for interventionists  
Program overview for intervention coordinators  
Program overview course for interventionists    

Coach sessions

  On-site sessions
6 hr.
On-site or virtual sessions
3 hr.
Coach session
 
Coach session
 

Launch

Propel your teachers into the new school year with sessions that introduce them to their Amplify program(s) and support a strong implementation.

Program overview for interventionists

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Prepare to deliver mCLASS Intervention lessons and learn how to administer the diagnostic and progress monitoring measures.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Program overview for intervention coordinators

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Intervention coordinators will learn the essentials of coordinating mCLASS Intervention and leave ready to implement the program at their school site.

Audience: Intervention coordinators (maximum 30 participants)

Program overview for interventionists

Online course, self-paced

Prepare to deliver mCLASS Intervention lessons and learn how to administer the diagnostic and progress monitoring measures through this on-demand course. This subscription includes an individual seat to the course, which takes approximately 3 hours to complete. Participants will be able to access and revisit the course as needed for up to one year.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (individual seat)

Coach

Support teachers and leaders with learning experiences tailored to meet their specific needs.

Coach session

On-site, 6 hours

Coach sessions focus on building internal school and district capacity and leadership excellence to accelerate data-driven student outcomes for teachers using mCLASS Intervention. Coaching is customized to meet a school or district’s needs and can include observations, modeling, real-time coaching, and/or co-planning.

Audience: Individual teachers, grade-level teams, PLCs, and/or instructional leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Coach session

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Coach sessions focus on building internal school and district capacity and leadership excellence to accelerate data-driven student outcomes for teachers using mCLASS Intervention. Coaching is customized to meet a school or district’s needs and can include observations, modeling, real-time coaching, and/or co-planning.

Audience: Individual teachers, grade-level teams, PLCs, and/or instructional leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Enhancement options

Enhancement options are available for assessment programs such as:

  • mCLASS Texas
  • mCLASS Lectura Texas

Enhancements can be purchased for all teachers/leaders or a subset of educators.

Enhancement offerings for assessment programs

Add the following session to any assessment or intervention package.

  On-site
6 hr.
Virtual
6 hr.
On-site or virtual
3 hr.
Coach session for individual teachers, grade-level teams, PLCs, and/or instructional leaders
 

Coach session

On-site or virtual, 6 hours; On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Coach sessions focus on building internal school and district capacity and leadership excellence to accelerate data-driven student outcomes for teachers using mCLASS Texas. Coaching is customized to meet a school or district’s needs and can include observations, modeling, real-time coaching, and/or co-planning.

Audience: Individual teachers, grade-level teams, PLCs, and/or instructional leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Online courses

Launch online courses are available for the following assessment programs:

  • mCLASS Texas
  • mCLASS Lectura Texas

Please view the table below for more information.

Online courses for assessment programs

  Self-paced
Online course

Administration and instruction essentials for teachers

Administration and instruction essentials for teachers

Online course, self-paced

Dive into the essentials of your mCLASS Texas assessment program through this on-demand course. Learn how to administer and score the assessment and leave ready to leverage mCLASS Texas reports and lessons to accelerate data-driven student outcomes. This subscription includes an individual seat to the course, which takes approximately 8 hours to complete. Participants will be able to access and revisit the course as needed for up to one year.

Course options: mCLASS Texas, mCLASS Lectura Texas, and/or mCLASS Math

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (individual seat)

Additional assessment and intervention programs

Additional sessions and online courses are available for other mCLASS programs (mCLASS Express, mCLASS Math, and mCLASS Intervention Universal).

To learn more about enhancing your Amplify experience by purchasing other mCLASS Texas programs and/or accompanying PD sessions, contact your account executive.

Contact us

We’re here to provide answers and guidance as you explore your PD options. Fill out the form to connect with us and discover how Amplify PD can enhance your educational journey.

S3 – 06. Bethany and Dan take on Twitter!

Promotional graphic for Math Teacher Lounge Season 3, Episode 6, featuring Bethany Lockhart Johnson, Educator, and Dan Meyer, Director of Research at Desmos.

In this episode, Bethany and Dan take a look at several tweets that caught the most fire on Twitter during the 2021-2022 school year. The pair answer questions about viral teaching methods, the best teaching advice you can give in three words, and if students should use pencils or pens in class. Join them as they take on those questions and several others in a fast-paced episode.

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Dan Meyer (00:02):

Hey folks. Welcome back to the Math Teacher Lounge. I’m your co-host, Dan Meyer.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:07):

And I am Bethany Lockhart Johnson. And I’m your co-host, Dan! Hi!

Dan Meyer (00:12):

We’re co-hosts! Hey! Great to see you.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:13):

Dan, this is the last episode of Season 3. Three seasons!

Dan Meyer (00:19):

It’s gotta have a cliffhanger. What will the cliffhanger be? You know?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:22):

The cliffhanger is that we love having guests! It’s one of our most favorite things, because selfishly, we love to talk to all of these amazing folks who are doing this interesting research and thinking about amazing things. But for this last episode, it’s just you and I, Dan. Cliffhanger!

Dan Meyer (00:40):

Yeah. I like this. I like this. So the cliffhanger was last episode, and people are all like, “So who’s the last guest gonna be of the season before we roll out into summer?” And yes, as Bethany said, we love all the fascinating guests we’ve had on throughout these last few seasons. And we realized…who is more fascinating to each other than both of us? You know, let’s talk to each other about things, right? <Laughs> You get that! You get that! Or am I alone here in this? We had this idea about what we should talk about here, and that’s this: I am on Twitter a lot. I’m @DDMeyer on Twitter; throw me a follow; might follow back; who knows? I don’t tweet much. Bethany, what’s your handle on Twitter? Let ’em know.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:22):

I’m @LockhartEdu, and I was much more active pre-mamahood. But I’m still up in there. Go ahead.

Dan Meyer (01:30):

Yep. In there. Yeah, great. So I’ve been keeping track of the hottest conversations in math education Twitter, the conversations that the most people who kind of describe themselves as math teachers in their bios and whatnot have been replying to. We’ve got some little things working in the background, keeping track of this sort of thing. And so we are gonna bring you folks some of those extremely hot conversations, and even better than the questions—which we hope you’ll reply to and tag us in your replies—even more than those questions, we’ll bring you our answers—our answers!—to those questions. Can you believe that? We’ll fully settle these questions! Won’t we, Bethany? My gosh, won’t we?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (02:15):

Jeez Louise! No! Dan Meyer, the point is not our final word on it! The point is this episode, we’re furthering the conversation. We wanna hear from listeners about what do you think?

Dan Meyer (02:25):

Right. You’re right. You all need someone in your life like Bethany who will help you become the best version of yourself. So here’s the deal. We have several questions in a few different categories. We’re gonna bust through some quick ones, pretty quick. And, uh, there’s some meaty ones as well. Let’s get into it! The first questions come to you all, and us, courtesy of MTL guest Howie Hua, who has a renowned knack for just creating math memes, but also conversation starters that really capture the curiosity and answers of of a grateful nation. So Howie’s first question, which I’ll pose to Bethany, is, “What’s your favorite number?” Bethany? And why is it your favorite number?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (03:14):

Oh, I love it. OK. Well, the first thing that came to my mind is 12. ‘Cause It’s a highly divisible number. I mean, 2, 6, 3, 4—I love it. And it coincides with the day and month of my birth. Which, like, the double-digit…come on, 12, 12, 12, 12. I dunno, am I giving away, like, my bank security code <laugh> or anything by saying that?

Dan Meyer (03:41):

Yeah. What’s your favorite PIN?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (03:43):

Let me change my PIN. Yeah, it’s just such a happy, happy number. Well, 12 is, you know, 10 and 2. Two more. Anyway. Love it. What about you, Dan? What’s your favorite number and why?

Dan Meyer (03:55):

I’m into it. I’m into it. I think I would choose 16. Because it’s the first number for me when it was like, “Oh, you can keep on making numbers forever!” Where I’m like, OK, 2times 2 is 4. Great. That’s kind of an elemental expression in mathematics. Four times 2 is 8. OK. But then, 8 times 2 is 16, and it’s like, “Oh, you can just keep doubling that thing over and over and over again!” And I can recall feeling pretty excited that numbers are just like, out there for the finding. For the taking. Cool stuff.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (04:33):

I’m sorry. Wait, I have to interrupt. You went 2 times 4 is 8 and you didn’t go 4 times 4 is 16? You went 8 times 2 is 16? You wanted to keep the 2 the same?

Dan Meyer (04:49):

Yup. Yup. You can keep on doubling. You can keep on doubling numbers and it just keeps on going.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (04:53):

More evidence that our brain works very differently.

Dan Meyer (04:56):

We learn more about each other…let me keep this rolling with Howie questions. OK? Howie says, “If you could co-teach with one teacher from Twitter, who would you choose?”

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (05:06):

Oh, oh, it has to be a teacher?

Dan Meyer (05:11):

Or anybody, I guess. I mean, like, I know you love Oprah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (05:15):

Can I co-teach with Oprah?

Dan Meyer (05:16):

Yup, yeah, so there we are. <Laugh> Yup. OK. Fair enough. We have to work Oprah into every single episode.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (05:23):

I’d just love to sit and like, we’d read together, we’d read to the students, and then we’d talk…I mean, obviously it’d be Oprah. But if we’re thinking more of like MTBoS, like math Twitter blogosphere-land, I suppose the person I would wanna co-teach with honestly would probably be Allison Hintz. One of our former guests as well. Her book, Mathematizing Children’s Literature, with Antony Smith, that book—I just love the idea of sitting and doing a read-aloud and then diving into some juicy math that’s inspired by what comes out of that read-aloud. So yes, that’s who I pick. Allison! Let’s co-teach!

Dan Meyer (06:00):

<Laugh> Shout-out to Allison.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (06:01):

What about you?

Dan Meyer (06:03):

I would choose MTL guest Idil Abdulkadir—because, and this relates to Allison and also Elham Kazemi—they talked about, in our episode about teacher time-outs. And I’m choosing someone who I think is—like I’ve never seen Idil teach, but I work with Idil at Desmos and think she’s fantastic. But what I really want in a co-teacher is someone that I can say, “Whoa, time out, do you see what’s going on here? This is really interesting. What should we do next about this?” And have a little strategy sesh in front of the kids and no one gets freaked out by that. And I think that that’d be a pile of fun. Idil seems like she’d be receptive to that kind of interaction, teacher to teacher. So that’s my vote right there.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (06:48):

Opportunity for you to grow your own practice, Dan.

Dan Meyer (06:52):

Yeah, yeah, exactly. 100%.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (06:56):

So Dan, I actually have a question for you from Howie. If we’re on the Howie tweet train, I have one from Howie too.

Dan Meyer (07:04):

Howie had some fire tweets, some fire tweets this current year. Yep.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (07:08):

Dan, I wanna know: Do you prefer doing math in pen or pencil?

Dan Meyer (07:16):

Ooh, yeah. Oh, I see that Howie says, “I don’t mean to start any drama, BUT,” and then asks the question–

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (07:23):

But!

Dan Meyer (07:24):

I think that Howie lives for drama. I think he knows he’s messy. He lives for drama. He knows what he’s doing this with this question here. He knows.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (07:32):

DRAAAAMAAAA!

Dan Meyer (07:32):

He knows what he’s doing. Yup. So I would just say it depends. Is that cheating? Like if I’m doing math to learn, or if we are learning in that process, then I want to use pen, actually. I wanna see the tracks of the thinking. And if we’re doing it for presentation, like if I’m presenting something, I wanna…I guess that’s an area where I’d be fine to not erase things. I don’t wanna prep it so it’s, you know…I guess you could use pen for presentation also. Just pen. Period. But I wanna see the tracks of the thinking if we’re doing some learning versus presentation. What about you?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (08:09):

Well, I heard the voice in my head telling one of my kindergartners, “No, you cannot do that in sparkly pen. You need to do it in pencil.” And I was like, “Wait, whose voice is that?” It was one of my math teachers telling me I couldn’t do it in pen! Why couldn’t this kid do it in pen? Sure! Do it in a sparkly pen! So I wanna say do it in pen. And since usually pen is what I have around…I mean, I do crosswords in pen, Dan.

Dan Meyer (08:36):

Wow, wow. With a piece of paper and math, you have lots of room to re-revise and cross off…but those little, little boxes on the crossword, that says a lot about your commitment to pen.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (08:46):

I got really good at making an A into an H or a P or whatever we need. So I would say, “Hey, if you’re in the room with your kiddos and you’re doing math, if somebody wants to do pen, let them do pen.” But I do know that I’ve seen teachers say you need to do pen so that I can see all of your thinking. So I think I hear what you’re saying. But do you think it should be like a classroom rule or something?

Dan Meyer (09:13):

Oh, no, no, no. I mean, I’m gonna ask you like, “How’d you get to this destination?” And I wanna know process somehow, and I think you’ll get tired of having to explain it verbally rather than just, like, showing. Just don’t erase stuff. Don’t scratch stuff off. Let’s let’s see how you’re getting there. That is what I’m into.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (09:30):

Thanks, Howie, for that trio of thought-provoking tweets, because I genuinely wanted to know what Dan thought and what our listeners think. I mean, Dan, I gotta say: Howie, you say you don’t wanna cause drama, but I gotta say I’m with Dan on that—

Dan Meyer (09:50):

Got the gift. Got the gift for drama. We’re still friends though. So I’m happy about that. Our next section, I got a few more questions queued up here and these ones relate to advice for educators, advice for yourself. Good advice, bad advice, that kind of thing. So let’s jump in. I would love to know—this one’s from Pernille Ripp—I’m very curious, Bethany, what is the worst teaching advice you have gotten in your life, ever?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (10:19):

<Laugh> Ooh. OK. Um, worst teaching advice was: “That’s OK, just move on anyway.” And that was in terms of pacing. It was like, students needed to do a deeper dive and the teacher who I was chatting with said, “No, no, it’s fine; it’s fine; just move on. Just move on to the next chapter.” That was probably the worst advice, because no, I don’t think that’s what I should have done at all! <Laugh>

Dan Meyer (10:48):

Right.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (10:48):

But I was a first-year teacher and I was trying to figure it out. And I learned that that was not good advice. And I understand the pressure of pacing. But it was totally antithetical to the type of listening to my students that I want to do in my craft. And this teacher meant well, but that was not good advice, teacher! <Laugh> What about you, Dan? What is the worst teaching advice?

Dan Meyer (11:13):

I dig that. That feels similar to one of the replies to Pernille here. Frances Klein says, “Never let them know you’ve made a mistake” being particularly bad advice. You know, just this like idea of like moving along, covering your tracks, not backtracking or admitting mistakes, those all feel kind of a piece. The worst advice I think I’ve ever received, and I wasn’t given this often, but it’s echoed by a lot of the commenters here on this tweet, which is “Don’t smile until X, Y, or Z,” where X, Y, and Z are like Christmas, October, December, January. Just the idea that you’ve gotta develop—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (11:54):

Wait, what?

Dan Meyer (11:55):

<Laugh> Did you never hear this from anybody? Don’t smile until Christmas? Perhaps this is more—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (11:59):

I’m a kindergarten teacher! Can you imagine? If I don’t smile the second they walk in? The tears?! The parents’ tears?! The kids’ tears?! If I’m just like, stoic?

Dan Meyer (12:07):

Yeah. Well.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (12:08):

So explain it to me.

Dan Meyer (12:10):

Well, the idea is, is that, you know, for older kids, they’re scoping you, they’re clocking you for weakness, they’re looking at you, they’re looking to take advantage. And so “don’t smile until Christmas” is like, hey, you can always relax. You can always relax your discipline, but you can’t UN-relax it if you start out, you know, Mr. Happy Pants Meyer. Which—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (12:33):

Smile perceived as weakness.

Dan Meyer (12:36):

Yeah. Very obviously poor advice. Eventually you come to realize that like having a rapport and a relationship that is trusting and warm and demanding, that has high expectations, that’s the best kind of classroom management. Not some kind of persona built around intimidation or stoicism, that kinda thing. So, terrible, terrible advice!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (13:01):

I feel like I did have a few of those math classes. Yeah.

Dan Meyer (13:04):

Yeah, exactly. <Laugh> You loved them, right? They were like your favorite math classes. It was a blast, right?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (13:11):

<Laugh> So we have to ask the opposite. Thank you, Daniel Willingham, who said, “What’s the best advice you got?” But hold on, Dan, he didn’t just want the best advice. He wanted the best advice in three words.

Dan Meyer (13:26):

Oh yeah. He doesn’t, he doesn’t want a book or dissertation or even a blog post or even a tweet. He wants just three words.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (13:32):

I think maybe that might have been to me. <Laugh>

Dan Meyer (13:34):

This is someone who’s doesn’t have much time for this advice, wants it distilled down. I’m just obviously stalling here as I try to think about this. I don’t know, there’s just like so much nuance lost here. I would say, listen to students, listen to students. I can’t say more that, I guess. I guess I’m done. I can’t say more than that there. But you’re in a bad place if you’re not listening carefully to students. How about you?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (14:04):

  1. Mine is “Ask…lots…questions.”

Dan Meyer (14:11):

Nice. ‘Cause I filled in the word! I filled in the word! I was able to kinda infer that. I did that. I got that.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (14:17):

Wait, wait, wait, wait! I could have said many! Wait, I could have said “Ask many questions.”

Dan Meyer (14:22):

Strong, strong.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (14:25):

So yeah. You know, no isolation, like don’t put yourself in a bubble. Ask, not just, not just your students, but the teachers! Ask a lot of questions. You don’t have to have it all figured out.

Dan Meyer (14:34):

Into it. Very much into it.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (14:37):

Thanks. Daniel. Thanks, Pernille.

Dan Meyer (14:40):

Yeah. Daniel and Pernille, Both great questions there about advice, best and worst. Another fire tweet popped up earlier this year from Dr. Khristopher Childs, which was “Name one thing every educator should stop doing.”

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (14:57):

Oh, I don’t know. This kind of ties into my best advice about asking questions.

Dan Meyer (15:03):

Stop not asking questions?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (15:06):

<Laugh> Avoid the isolation. I really love this idea of when we can, popping into each others’ classrooms, co-teaching, building this collaborative nature. Elham Kazemi, in our interview, talked about this idea of, like you said, the teacher time-outs, learning from each other. So I feel like if we could stop isolating ourself…and I don’t mean at lunch—sometimes you need to not be in the teacher lounge at lunch. Like if you need a minute, take the minute! But in general, as a practice, how can we not be isolated and instead be learning with, and from, each other? How can we stop the isolation? That’s what I would hope every educator would stop doing. What about you, Dan?

Dan Meyer (15:54):

I think that educators should…this is gonna require a little bit of elaboration. I think educators should stop taking responsibility for things that are not in their zone of influence. I think that as a society we are asking teachers to do more and more, to become more and more of a central fixture holding together with chewing gum and twine all the various parts of a student’s life. From their health, their fitness, emotional health, that we feed students at school. It becomes very tempting, I think, there’s a lot of pressures to blame outcomes, disparate and unjust outcomes later on in life, on teachers. And teachers should just flatly refuse. And to yeah, understand what the job has been set up to do. What it’s good for. And do that with excellence and intent and a lot of effort. And then not take responsibility for the rest of it.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (16:53):

If I asked five different people about the definition of what a teacher should be doing, I would get five different answers. So I think it’s really interesting that you say that because yeah, many, many hats, which I think, yes, can lead to burnout. Can lead to all sorts of things. We’re asking schools to be all things to all, all people. Interesting. I’m gonna think about that more. I need to hear folks’ response on that, Dan.

Dan Meyer (17:18):

Mm-Hmm. I’m curious too. I mean, yeah, there are definitely things that are in teachers’ responsibility and some that are not. That’s a tough one.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (17:26):

OK, for help, name an example of each. And what’s something that you think every teacher should not and should be doing. ‘Cause I feel like my brain goes to some things like, you know, I had teachers who were saying, “Well, I don’t wanna have my kids have to have breakfast in my classroom in the morning. That shouldn’t be my responsibility to serve breakfast in the morning.” But I’m like, “But then your kids are eating and they’re gonna be able to learn and be more focused.” Should that be the teacher’s responsibility? I’m not saying it necessarily should, but I’m saying…I don’t know. It gets murky for me.

Dan Meyer (18:06):

Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think that we should, as a country, have a really generous social welfare net so that everyone has food at home. Where a school is not the place where some students have to go to in order to receive nutrition and nourishment. That seems sad to me. And uncommon in developed nations. I think that teachers should watch out for, should be responsible for, the mathematical development of the students they teach, up to a point, they should be responsible for learning math and creating relationships in their classes. I don’t think that teachers should accept responsibility for larger kinds of outcomes, like the health of a democracy or international competition, who goes to the moon first. That kind of thing has historically been placed at the feet of teachers. And it’s tempting when you’re a teacher, I think, to take on that responsibility because it kind of develops your social importance. And I just say, we should say no to that. And get compensation, not in terms of social importance, but rather like in spendable dollars and monies.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (19:10):

I’m learning more about you, Dan. And you know, this is what I’ve gotten from that answer: If you’re gonna dream, dream big. Right?

Dan Meyer (19:17):

Is that what you got from that? I don’t know. I think I’m trying to dream realistically.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (19:23):

No, like if we’re gonna say, “Maybe teachers shouldn’t be responsible for serving breakfast in the morning,” well, because we want every child to have access to nutritious and filling food at home and time to eat it in the morning, right? It’s bigger than just, “I don’t want the teacher to have to do this.” So we’re dreaming big. We’re saying this should be the LEAST that students have access to, right?

Dan Meyer (19:53):

Yeah. Yeah. I’m here now. I’m with you. I like that dream. Where we take care of folks in their lives outside of schools. So schools don’t have to be the one linchpin for every kind of social outcome. Like currently a lot of them run through a school ’cause we don’t do a good job of setting up other ways to meet those needs. And we should.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (20:16):

And we’re also recording this in, what, two weeks, a week, after a tragedy where students and teachers were killed in the classroom. And I think both of us are taking some deep breaths and recognizing that there’s a lot of debate that is happening about what teacher’s role should be in preventing this in the future. And I don’t know if you’ve done drills in your classroom that are supposed to help mitigate disaster, but you know—collective deep breaths— <laugh> is where we’re at right now.

Dan Meyer (20:52):

Yep. The idea of “we should arm teachers” is another example of no, we should not do that. We should solve the tendency towards violence outside of the classroom so that teachers and students can teach and learn. That sounds awesome to me.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (21:06):

Collective deep breath. Whew. OK. So what else you got for me, Dan?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (21:33):

Ooh. So I feel like I’ve heard that in many teaching PDs. “I Do, you do, we do.” Actually I feel like I’ve seen like more “I do, we do, you do.” Like graduated release. I do it, then we’ll do it a little bit together, and then now you have permission to do it. And I feel like in directed draw, that’s a hundred percent true. Like I’m gonna show you this and then you draw it. And then you cut here and then you do it. If we’re trying to create this, like I’m teaching this new art technique. But in mathematics, I feel like that’s really not what I want my classroom to look like. I want to support my students and set them up for sense-making, and then I want them to try it out and I don’t want them to solve it the way it first comes to mind for me. I wanna see how they make sense of it and how they solve it. And then I want us to share it with each other so we can grow together. So I think time and place for “I do, you do, we do,” or “I do, we do, you do.” Or shoo-be-doo-be-doo-be. Yeah. You?

Dan Meyer (22:44):

I’ve got nothing. I have nothing to add. I thought that was just an excellent summary of a classroom I would love to be a part in, love to teach. I think it’s a certain tool in the toolbox that I think is overused. But it’s also a tool that can be useful in the case of certain kinds of operations. There are some operations that do benefit from “let me just show you how, like one way you might do this.” I don’t know. I’m like helping my kid whack a nail into a board and there’s a moment where it’s like, “Hey, actually, lemme just show you one way you can do this,” and do it, and then that’s helpful in some moments. But for so much of math, a lot of math does not relate to the operational kinds of fluency. And in those instances, it’s a little bit…it’s not a useful tool, I don’t think, for those kinds of skills and ideas.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (23:34):

I’m thinking of tool talks in my classroom. So in kindergarten, many of the tools that we use in math and just in class in general, are new to the students. And if I tell them, this is exactly how you should use this tool, then I feel like I’m taking a lot of the sense-making away from them. But if I introduce the tool, show them how to use the tool safely, show them this is not a safe way to use the tool, chewing on this is not safe. That’s not how we use this tool. This is how we take care of it, et cetera. But then support different modes of using the tool that are gonna help them use it to solve problems and make sense, I think…but I guess—Dan, have you heard “I do, you do, we do,” or is it “I do, we do, you do”?

Dan Meyer (24:22):

I’m with you. And I think that it got clarified post-tweet. But yeah, it typically is “I do, we do, you do,” the gradual release of responsibility it’s often called. And I, I have heard people do what you described, which is…what is it? It’s “You do, we do, I do”? Like an inversion of that? Like have people do a thing that I can do that’s not too, too abstract for them, and then like “We all do something together, and then I’ll offer a summary of what we learned,” is one way that goes. I like that tool as well.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (24:53):

I think particularly, at least I’ve seen in elementary classrooms, there’s sometimes this fear of letting students just try it out before I’ve really showed them, “but this is how it has to be.” And what I am most excited about is supporting students and creating a classroom environment where students don’t need my permission or need my direct “this is the only way to do it.” Instead, it’s like, yes, there’s lots of things we model. But there’s also like, “Hey, what do you think? How do you think this should be used?” And the joy of that exploration.

Dan Meyer (25:30):

Yeah. There’s a feeling of efficiency that comes from “I do, we do, you do,” for some kinds of math, but it’s undercut in my experience by what it cultivates in the students, which is “I’ve gotta wait until the teacher does before I can do anything.” So it pays off real diminishing returns over time. And it’s, just for me, an exhausting way to teach. Always being the bottleneck for new learning is a total drag.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (25:55):

Ooh, what a great way to describe it. You do not wanna be the bottleneck. You want to be…what’s the other thing? The facilitator? What’s the opposite of a bottleneck? The flowing river? The…The…Help me!

Dan Meyer (26:10):

Hit us up in the replies. I dunno. The opposite of a bottleneck. That’s what you wanna…you wanna not be the opposite? No, you want, yeah. We got this here. We’ll figure it out. We’ll get back to you. <Laugh> OK. Well, folks, those were a few of this year’s fire tweets. It’s been fantastic chatting with you—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (26:29):

Dan.

Dan Meyer (26:29):

—Bethany, About all those—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (26:32):

Dan. You know, my favorite thing to do is interrupting you, Dan. I have to interrupt you because we can’t end fire tweets, Dan, without including a tweet from you.

Dan Meyer (26:43):

Oh, that’s true. I do have my moments. Yeah, we should. We really should. <Laugh> Do you have one in mind?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (26:50):

No. Dan. Yes. I loved…you tweeted recently, “How many years have you been teaching?” Which, OK. “What Has been like the most influential? Like, what, OK, blah, blah, blah.” <blathering noises> You tweeted, “How many years have you been teaching? And at this point, what has most influenced how you teach?” And you gave some ideas: A methods course, PD sessions, curriculum, TV and movies, et cetera, et cetera. And I love that you put that out there because this episode is coming out as we’re wrapping up another school year. And it also got me thinking about summer and what teachers sometimes do during the summer, but what we might need to do this summer for self-care. But I’m really curious. I love that tweet. And I’m curious, Dan, what did folks say was the thing that had most influenced their teaching and what’s most influenced your teaching?

Dan Meyer (27:49):

Ooh, yeah. People’s responses to this one were really fantastic. I came into this, I was flying to the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators conference. And I just found myself wondering, so, the pre-service year, the one year of, like, you’re learning how to teach, is how we did it in California. Like how much of that has still infused my practice? And in what ways? I don’t think I think about that stuff consciously, but I think that did like set me up with a lot of images that I would be unpacking for going on two decades now working in education. I think conversations with people, I think observing classes, I don’t think that like the one-day PDs, the one-day development days throughout the year, four times per year, I don’t think those stuck to me much. I think that this summer, I have learned so much, just an embarrassment of riches, from non-educational sources. From other disciplines. From storytelling, for instance. From how people have constructed movies I like. I am proud of the way…one of the aspects of my character that I’m proud of—it takes a lot to admit this, as I’m sure you understand, Bethany—but to integrate lots of wacky stuff and pick from it and use that to affect my practice and teaching has been really positive. So for this summer, I hope that people read a good beach book and just kinda let your teaching mind rest a little bit. And in doing so, create some openings for new ideas about education from other parts of the world. Kids! Having kids has been helpful. I don’t know! Just everything! It’s such a big job, education. Everything has so helpful. What about you? What’s an influence on your practice that might surprise me or other folks out there in MTL land?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (29:52):

Well, I don’t know about surprise. I mean, I definitely feel similarly, like methods courses absolutely impacted my teaching. But I feel like opportunities where I was able to observe other teachers and where I was able to have conversations with folks about their practice, that has deeply impacted me. And books I’ve read. I mean, honestly, I’ve learned so much from sharing with other teachers. Like, for example, maybe I’ll bring student work and we’ll talk about it. And we kind of create this conversation together about how we wanna come back to the students based on the work we see. Those type of moments where we’re collaborating and we’re bringing multiple perspectives to the table, that I think, has really often shifted me out of my first initial reaction or what I thought I was going to do in the classroom the next day. So that continues to surprise and delight me. And thinking about this summer, I think there’s a lot of creativity and joy that can come out of the marination process, when you’re just kind of sitting back and healing yourself, whether through sleep or sunshine or time with friends and family or whatever that looks like for you. I think there’s a lot of creativity that can come from that place of fertile, you know, wellness. I never think of that as wasted time. I think of that as getting the soil ready for all that’s gonna come in the fall. And that being said, I also think it could be a fun time to dip your toes into something that you are excited to read, that you might not have a chance to read during the school year that could be teaching-related. So it’s like very low pressure, like, “Oh, I’ve really wanted to read more by this author. I’ve wanted to read this article. I’ve wanted to dip into this topic.” And not with a pressure, but just with a curiosity. And, yeah, I think so often we as teachers love learning, and to give yourself space to learn in whatever that looks like can be a real gift.

Dan Meyer (32:09):

Yes. And if you need book recommendations, hit the MTL back catalog of episodes. Loads of folks that we interviewed have real good books out.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (32:16):

Yes!

Dan Meyer (32:16):

Think about it. Think about it.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (32:22):

One quick recommendation: Again, gotta plug Antony Smith and Allison Hintz’s book. I read Mathematizing Children’s Literature before we did the interview, but this summer I wanna read all the children’s books that they mention. I just wanna go to the library and read all those children’s books. I wanna read them to my son. I wanna read ’em to myself. So, you know, diving into some good YA, children’s books, just, like, TLC. Dan, thank you for such a rich season and a chance to have so many interesting conversations. It is genuinely a joy to learn with and from you.

Dan Meyer (33:00):

Likewise. And always hope to see you folks on Twitter now and then. Let us know what you’re up to this summer at MTLShow on Twitter or in our Facebook group, Math Teacher Lounge. We’ll be there tuning in now and then. It’s been a treat interacting with you folks over this last season. Take care and until the new season, so long.

Stay connected!

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We’ll also share new and exciting free resources for your classroom every month.

What Bethany Lockhart Johnson says about math

“I’ve learned so much from sharing with other teachers… Those type of moments where we’re collaborating and bringing multiple perspectives to the table, I think, has really often shifted me out of my first initial reaction or what I thought I was going to do in the classroom the next day.”

– Bethany Lockhart Johnson

Meet the guests

Dan Meyer

Dan Meyer taught high school math to students who didn’t like high school math. He has advocated for better math instruction on CNN, Good Morning America, Everyday With Rachel Ray, and TED.com. He earned his doctorate from Stanford University in math education and is currently the Dean of Research at Desmos, where he explores the future of math, technology, and learning. Dan has worked with teachers internationally and in all 50 United States and was named one of Tech & Learning’s 30 Leaders of the Future.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson

Bethany Lockhart Johnson is an elementary school educator and author. Prior to serving as a multiple-subject teacher, she taught theater and dance and now loves incorporating movement and creative play into her classroom. Bethany is committed to helping students find joy in discovering their identities as mathematicians. In addition to her role as a full-time classroom teacher, Bethany is a Student Achievement Partners California Core Advocate and is active in national and local mathematics organizations. Bethany is a member of the Illustrative Mathematics Elementary Curriculum Steering Committee and serves as a consultant, creating materials to support families during distance learning.

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About Math Teacher Lounge: The podcast

Math Teacher Lounge is a biweekly podcast created specifically for K–12 math educators. In each episode co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson (@lockhartedu) and Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) chat with guests, taking a deep dive into the math and educational topics you care about.

Join the Math Teacher Lounge Facebook group to continue the conversation, view exclusive content, interact with fellow educators, participate in giveaways, and more!

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S4 – 02. Bethany and Dan share their math biographies

Promotional graphic for "math teacher lounge," season 4 episode 2, featuring photos and names of math teaching guests Bethany Lockhart and Dan Meyer.

In this episode, co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer get personal and share their “math bios”—their early experiences with math and how those experiences turned them into the educators they are today.

Explore more from Math Teacher Lounge by visiting our main page

Download Transcript

Dan Meyer (00:00):

We’re recording. What’s up, everybody. This is Dan Meyer with Math Teacher Lounge.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:08):

And I’m Bethany Lockhart Johnson. We are so excited to be back. Season Four, Episode Two. Hi, Dan.

Dan Meyer (00:16):

Hey, Bethany, how are you doing today?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:18):

I’m so excited to be talking with you! You know, as we record this, our reunion at NCTM is getting closer and closer.

Dan Meyer (00:28):

The NCTM live show is gonna be bonkers. I don’t think people are ready for it. You think you know what we’re about on MTL from listening to us, but the live show is gonna be outta control. You cannot imagine how many clowns and elephants Bethany wants to have at the live show. We’re still—we’re trying to talk her down from like three to one, but we’ll see.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:44):

All I want is the t-shirt cannon. Because I used to go to these baseball games and they would have a t-shirt cannon. And I thought, I wanna operate a t-shirt cannon! So like, if I could be standing on stage aiming t-shirts at people who are jumping up and down requesting a t-shirt? I don’t know. Doesn’t that sound fun?

Dan Meyer (01:01):

Sounds awesome. High point of my college education was catching a t-shirt. No, it was—it was a burrito. It was a burrito cannon. But I think it was just a t-shirt cannon, but it was a burrito cannon. And I caught a burrito at a game and it was probably the most memorable moment of all of college education for me.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:16):

Was the burrito still warm?

Dan Meyer (01:18):

Oh yeah. I think it got—like, I think it might’ve been warm at one point and then it got warmed back up through the muzzle velocity of the cannon. So it was a pretty great system they had going on there. <Laugh> Yeah. <Laugh> Anyway, I’m off topic, but, we’re thrilled to—I’m thrilled to chat with you and we’re thrilled to be listened to by you folks out there in MTL land. In the lounge itself. We got a fun show today.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:40):

So if you listen to Episode One—which if you haven’t, hope you go back and listen to it—if you listen to Season Four, Episode One, you’re gonna hear—we asked Huon, KT, who is this delight of a joyful teacher. We asked her to talk to us about what’s her math bio. And we want to ask all of our guests—like, I wanna go back and ask every single guest we’ve ever had to tell us their math bio.

Dan Meyer (02:06):

Yep.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (02:06):

Because, while seemingly simple in nature, our students enter our math classroom already having had this relationship with math and these notions about their role in math or what they think about math. And it impacts our school year with them if we’re a teacher. And it impacts our relationship with math as we move through our education and beyond. Right? And I I’m so excited about this question, ’cause I think it also ties into this theme for Season Four, which is joyful math, and diving into “When has math felt joyful? When has it not? Does it feel like—how do we think about how our math bio, our relationship with math, has evolved into a joyful or less joyful place?”

Dan Meyer (02:54):

I get it. And what’s really key here, I think, is that teaching more than other professions is a generational profession. You know what I’m saying? Like, no one is like, “Well, you know, I sold insurance to you and now you’re selling insurance to, you know, my grandkids; that’s amazing!” But people are always posting photos when, like, you teach someone who then becomes a teacher later. Teaching is a generational sort of thing. So the kinds of joyful experiences that we offer or don’t offer students now affect the experiences that students who haven’t even been born yet will have, you know, some 20, 30 years later. That, to me, is a trip. And well-worth exploring, you know, how we got here, mathematically speaking.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (03:39):

I remember a friend had sent me this image of an assignment that her son got that was asking for their Mathography. They wanted to know about their history of mathematics. And this was their first assignment. And this teacher, I would like to imagine, read them all and used it to inform conversations about students’ relationship with math. And, you know, some of the questions they asked were thinking about whether you consider yourself, quote, unquote, “good at math.” Like “what kind of experiences have you had? What do you like or dislike about math? What is, you know—what do you expect to learn in math this year?” Just asking students to actually pause and examine and reflect on their relationship and then also looking forward to, like, what kind of a classroom community do we wanna create? And I loved that assignment. And yeah, so today’s episode Dan, guess what?

Dan Meyer (04:32):

What’s going on? What’s happening?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (04:33):

I figured we should ask each other about our math bio.

Dan Meyer (04:39):

I think the people out there would love to know this about us. ‘Cause you know, we’re both awesome. But also what’s really cool here is that like, I don’t know this about you. Like not, not a lot. You know, the folks at Amplify, they kind of assembled me and Bethany together in the same way that record labels assembled pop boy bands, girl bands, that kind of thing, back in the day. You know, grabbing some stars from screen or film and just like throwing ’em together and saying, “All right, now you’re here to perform together.” And so it’s just a really good moment for us to, like, settle back and just know who we’ve been working with for the last three seasons and change here. I love it.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (05:15):

Well, I don’t know. I don’t actually agree with that, Dan. Because don’t you remember? We knew each other beforehand. And while I would like to think of us as…oh, I’ll say One Direction—well, no, One Direction is now defunct. Who’s another band that got formed by one of those shows and is still together and still—

Dan Meyer (05:33):

BTS! K-Pop, you know! Let’s go!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (05:35):

K-pop. BTS.

Dan Meyer (05:38):

Let’s go, Bethany <laugh>.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (05:39):

So can we incorporate some K-pop into the NCTM Math Teacher Lounge live episode? Don’t answer now. Don’t answer now. OK. So not only are we gonna share our math bios, but we want to encourage you listeners to share your math bio with somebody in your life. It could be a child in your life, maybe talking to your kiddo about what was it like. What was math like for you? It could be a student that you have. It could be a partner, a friend, a parent. I mean, the sky’s the limit. Share your math bio. And most of all, share with us. We wanna hear about your math bio and you can share it with us at Twitter, at MTLShow, or in our Facebook group, Math Teacher Lounge.

Dan Meyer (06:26):

Stop on by, please. All right. I’m gonna just share like, just a couple of quick, signposts. Not the full bio. Gotta leave them wondering about something here. But here’s a few quick highlights and lowlights of my math bio and how, maybe, it made me the teacher that I was and the educator I am. Is that cool?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (06:44):

Wait, I didn’t even, I didn’t ask you yet.

Dan Meyer (06:46):

Ask me what?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (06:47):

Hey, Dan!

Dan Meyer (06:49):

Is there like a magical word? Like, what’s your math bio? <Laugh> Oh, go for it. No, no, that’s right. They won’t know what I’m talking about. Why is he talking about his math bio? Bethany—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (06:57):

That whole lead-in that we just gave? They might not know.

Dan Meyer (07:00):

Yeah. We just talked about math bios for the last 20 minutes. But yeah, they might not know what we’re—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (07:04):

<laugh> So Dan, why don’t you go first? ‘Cause I know you were gonna ask me to go first, but why don’t you go first? Dan? What’s your math bio?

Dan Meyer (07:12):

Oh, wow. Well, thank you for the formal invitation to share my math bio, Bethany Lockhart Johnson. So, I’ll just share—I just wanna share a couple items here, not the full history. Gotta leave ’em—leave a little mystery in there, you know what I’m saying? But here’s a few highlights and lowlights, and I think what it means for me as an educator. So, I was homeschooled for eight years. That was big—did a lot of math learning on my own. Couple of lowlights from that, a lot of highlights, in terms of just like being able to, like, learn at my own rate and just jump on ahead and pursue different wacky things. But I tried to switch into public school in fourth grade and I lasted, um, four hours. I didn’t even go to class. I enrolled and then it was like, boom, I was out of there. Because we went to the school; we met the teacher, saw the room, very nice person and place. But I got the homework assignment and the homework assignment was gibberish. I had no idea what to do and such was this feeling of just, like, despair and hopelessness, I was like, I cannot be a part of this. I remember the assignment. It was about identifying scalene, isosceles, and equilateral triangles. I’ll tell you this: I am quite good at that now. But at the time, like, I didn’t know what those words meant. And you know, at that moment we had Encyclopedia Britannica, could not Google this or even Ask Jeeves or AltaVista this so well back then. It just—it was an entry moment of failure and realizing that so much of math is like a, kind of a social kind of construct. And if you’re not part of that social circle, what can you do? So that was a bummer. Another bummer was eighth-grade math, learned it all by way of videotape. You know, put in the tape and watch—not gonna say the person’s name and not this person’s fault—but it was just like watching someone work on a whiteboard. Kind of a precursor to Khan Academy, kind of a drag. Went to high school—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (09:02):

Wait, wait, wait, wait. We were—I’m not ready to jump to high school. Wait. Can you pause for just a second?

Dan Meyer (09:06):

Yeah. Rock on.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (09:07):

I just need you to go back to the triangle thing. So in that moment, what did that mean for you that you had had all these experiences with math and then you encounter math in a completely different sphere, a public school, and it did not have a connection or meaning to you because prior to that, it sounds like it was pretty positive. Right? Explore these things you’re curious about; there’s not, like, a level you need to stick with…

Dan Meyer (09:33):

Yep, yep. Yeah. I think that’s right. Maybe it was a little bit of a classic, like, “Oh, I didn’t have a growth mindset; my mindset was like, ‘Oh, I’m good at math because I am, you know, born that way,’” and all of a sudden, that identity was, you know, thrown into question. And, you know, my foundation was all of a sudden quite shaky. And yeah, that’s—you know, I think I taught a lesson recently where I was like, “Hey, this whole thing with a less-than or equal-to sign and a greater-than or equal-to sign, like what those signs are: it’s just, it’s language. And if it’s confusing to you, it’s not because you’re bad at math; it’s ’cause language is oftentimes confusing ’cause people have to agree on it.” So I dunno, that sort of thing is kind of filtered in, filtered back in periodically, some sympathy for like how a lot of math is like just socially agreed upon ways of working with, you know, numbers, shapes, patterns, that kind of thing.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (10:20):

OK.

Dan Meyer (10:21):

Anyway.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (10:21):

  1. And in this home school—I have a lot of questions about that, but I’ll stick to one—were you in a community of people that you talked about these math ideas with? Were you homeschooled solo? You have a sibling, so I think you were together, right?

Dan Meyer (10:39):

Yeah. Yeah. I’ve got a twin sister. So we were, you know, like, right on with each other the whole way through there. And yeah, so we had—but it wasn’t, it wasn’t like a—it was a lot of individual work, with my flavor of homeschooling.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (10:54):

  1. Got it. And the tapes—wait, before you go to high school, the tapes, the VHS tapes, which I’m just loving this image—

Dan Meyer (11:02):

Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (11:02):

Was that a positive experience? Was that because that was an area of math that whoever was homeschooling you wasn’t that comfortable with? Why was it that route for the tapes, and what was that? Was that joyful for you?

Dan Meyer (11:15):

Yeah, definitely not joyful. Yeah, it was like, if you had questions, you couldn’t really ask them of the VHS tape. It didn’t work out so well in that way. And it was a lot of operational-type math. It was, you know—there was no give and take; it was all kind of take. From the video teacher. And yeah, I was doing that because my homeschool teacher, my mom, who is very smart in lots of areas, did not have the math knowledge or confidence, especially to help with math at eighth grade. And that was a big reason why, flash-forward to the next year, went to high school.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (11:48):

Nice segue. OK.

Dan Meyer (11:50):

<laugh> You caught up to high school…I encountered just like four years of just crazy-good, just bonkers-good math teachers who just really changed a lot for me. Especially, Mr. Bishop and Mr. Cavender, very cool folks who did a lot. And especially, I think Mr. Bishop and Cavender both modeled for me what curiosity from a knowledgeable adult looks like. Like someone who, you know, now I can say to myself, “Oh, they were kind of like putting on an act of being very curious about answers they were hearing for the 2000th time from a student,” let’s say, but what a powerful experience that was for me to feel like, “Oh, wow, my thoughts are interesting to someone besides myself.” I got like, maybe it’s two real highlights that I’ll just point to, from my math bio that made me the math teacher and person that I am. Let’s see here. Maybe three, if you you’ll indulge me. One is just like the idea that you could do math wherever you have your brain, a pencil and a paper. And so I remember like in high school, I was in church with my family and kind of a little bit bored of whatever’s going on. And I just had the Bolton and I like drew a pentagon, a regular one, then a hexagon, a regular one, and kept on drawing, like adding sides to the shape. And it was like, it was becoming a circle. And, you know, I was able to take the area of each of those shapes and say, you know, “What happens as you send the number of sides to infinity?” And watch as the formula for area of a circle, Pi R squared, popped out. And it was kind of a literal religious experience, in that moment, just like, “Wow, like my brain’s so cool and math is so cool and paper and pencil’s so cool.” And so there’s that. Just that kind of experience was pretty awesome. And then I would just say like, I’ve had some really fantastic experiences with math in the world itself. Stuff like—let’s see, this is gonna invite more questions from Bethany, probably, maybe I should avoid—I got, I have a Guinness—I have a Guinness world record that’s almost 20 years old. This Guinness world record is—it’s old enough to drive basically at this point. And almost old enough to drink. But like it was—it was a record for chaining the longest paper clip chain together in 24 hours. And the only way I was able to break that record was through mathematics. Where, like, I would be finishing a box of clips. And I would say to my buddy who was there, “I just finished a box of clips.” And that person would type in the number of clips that I had just done. And then a mathematical formula that I had created would tell me how many—how long the chain was at that point. It was being rolled around a spool. And like, it’s just like, wow. So math just made this possible. You know, math revealed that the record I was trying to beat was beatable, because I did the math on it. It was, like, thousands of feet long in 24 hours. And other folks might be like, “Oh, like, that’s that’s huge!” But me, I was like, “All right, let’s divide this out. You know, divide by 24 hours in a day, divide by 60 minutes an hour, 60 seconds in a minute. Oh, that’s like one clip every four seconds. That’s really slow.” You know, think about that <counts aloud>, “Clip, two, three, four. Clip two, three…” It was just slow. So math helped me, you know, wreck that record. Which to my knowledge still still stands. Don’t get any ideas, Math Teacher Lounge Folks! Is this news to you, Bethany? You haven’t blinked in the last, like, five minutes. I’m curious if this is new.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (15:20):

It is news to me. And I have so many questions. Because OK, if four seconds was slow, so then what was your like—so then I’m assuming a hundred clips per box? Like, what was the rate, you know, per box? How long did it take you to complete a box? What did this friend like? Did this friend stick with you for the whole 24 hours? Did you really do it for 24 hours? Or once you beat the record, did you rest? How did you account for biological function? Like, needs? Like a restroom?

Dan Meyer (15:51):

<Interrupting> Like what?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (15:51):

Eating.

Dan Meyer (15:51):

Like what, Bethany? OK.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (15:52):

Um, Sleep.

Dan Meyer (15:55):

So yeah, maybe we dive into some of the specifics in a different time.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (15:59):

Just tell me one of ’em. Tell me one.

Dan Meyer (15:59):

I’ll just say. So as to discourage other Math Teacher Lounge listeners from taking this on—back off of the record, folks!—this was back in college, so I was a little more limber back then. But I did one—I think it was 1.8 seconds per clip. For an entire 24 hours. Just like, so just like think about it, would you? If you’re gonna step to me on this one, just think about that, OK? And then, and then, you know, make an informed decision.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (16:28):

Wait. Wait, wait, I just wanna tell you one thing. I’m picturing somebody with a straw, and like, giving you water as you keep clipping. I’m picturing, like, music, I…

Dan Meyer (16:37):

That’s not far. That’s not far. That’s not far from—yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (16:40):

So many questions! OK. Go on. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Go on. This is your bio.

Dan Meyer (16:44):

We gotta, I gotta wrap this up. I wanna hear your bio. But, like, I would just say like this move to this sense that math is actually a thing that’s useful for more than just a grade; it’s useful for more than just, you know, the societal, you know, adulation that comes from being a math nerd. That kind of thing. And so that, I think that affected a lot of math teaching for me. And, if I gotta, like, summarize math teaching itself in a journey, it went from like, “Hey kids, aren’t I awesome?” to, “Hey kids, isn’t math awesome?” to “Hey kids, aren’t you awesome?” And like that journey was facilitated by lots and lots of people, you know, a lot of personal growth, but at this point, at one point I was like, “Hey, math can help you get records and whatnot. It’s really useful.” And now I’m like, “Wow, your brain’s just doing just really interesting things. I can help you understand how interesting those things are, and maybe make them more interesting, or interesting in a different way, with some help here.” Let’s put a pin in that. That’s the math bio.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (17:50):

  1. So I have no doubt that if you ask someone in your life, listeners, for their math bio, that you will discover things about them that you never knew. Literally the questions that I have…I have so many question. And Dan is very good at, you know, bringing me back. Bring me back, like, come on, come on. But I just wanna say, overall, your journey seems pretty joyful. It seems pretty joyful. It seems pretty full of confidence. I don’t wanna say “ego” in a negative way, but I wanna say you were buoyed by these experiences that allowed you to feel like math was a place for you to thrive.

Dan Meyer (18:36):

Right.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (18:36):

Where you could try out things. You could try it out and just, “I could do that!” Right? Like…your relationship just felt very, like…you felt like you had autonomy, agency, perhaps much like you, you operate in this world. Dan, is that, is that right <laugh>?

Dan Meyer (18:54):

Yeah, I think it’s fair to say. And without telling too much of her story, my twin sister with whom I share most things, including genetics, you know—she had a very different experience in math early on. She’s brilliant. She’s a doctor. And not, you know, the book kind of doctor that I am, but like a real, you know, medical doctor. She’s brilliant. But we were—we encountered different messages about who math was made for, early on in, you know, in our entire math learning. And she—we both digested the messages that we were sent, and took, you know, different, different paths because of them, for sure.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (19:31):

Funny how that works. I thank you, Dan. I do. For in all sincerity, I appreciate you sharing that. And I think that it’s exciting to hear how it influenced your teaching. It feels like you want to cultivate those experiences for your students. And I’ve been in the room when you’ve presented; I was in a room where you taught a class live. It felt like you were making space for the students to have these aha moments. And it feels like in your work at Desmos, and now Amplify, you’re trying to create these products that allow folks to recreate these amazing math moments. Right? And that it’s for everyone and that it’s accessible and it can be very positive. I feel like I have this new perspective on kind of the energy you bring to your teaching. So thank you for sharing that.

Dan Meyer (20:24):

Yeah. Been a pleasure. Thanks for your questions here, Bethany. And it’s been—it’s been fun to reflect on it. And I do—I do feel very lucky in lots of ways. Privileged. Lucky. I know, like—I think the world has been set up for my success in lots of ways, as who I am. But I do just…yeah, I feel—I want more people to experience what it’s like when you walk into a math classroom and it’s like, “Hey, this place is for you. You have interesting thoughts about this. Let’s get ’em out.” So that’s awesome. I would love to hear about you and how you…I mean, we have taught different kinds of kids. You know, I taught kids who I think were somewhat set in, they’re a little bit more solid at secondary in who they are as a math learner. Like “I know who math is and who I am with math.” And I’m really excited to hear what your math bio allowed you to do with students who were perhaps open to the idea that they are very mathematical or at least not yet closed off to those possibilities. So, yeah. What are some of the high, the, you know, the high and low water marks of the making of Bethany Lockhart Johnson, math teacher? <Laugh>

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (21:24):

Thanks for asking, Dan. <Laugh> I’ve shared aspects of my math bio because I think it really informs the way that I talk to people about math and think about math. And I like to share it because I want folks to consider their own journey with math, as we like engage with problem-solving and sense-making and thinking about the students in our classroom. My dad is a math and computer science major. So he had a computer very early on. I wish he had invested in Apple early on when he had like one of the first Apple computers ever. And, sorry, dad, but it’s true. I do wish you had done that.

Dan Meyer (22:10):

I’m sure he does too.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (22:11):

Oh, he does. So math and computers and conversations about counting, you know, it felt like it was kind of just normal. Like it was around me. And I went to Montessori, which is a private school that—oh, they have some public Montessori—but it’s very self-directed. And so we would have these kind of charts, these goals for the day that you explored. And so we would explore math in very, I don’t know, very organic ways, with these natural materials. And I feel like I excelled at math, but it wasn’t something that I was conscious of. It was just like, “Oh, well, yeah. Math, it’s, you know, something we do.” And then when I went to—when I left Montessori in fourth grade, I remember that year being a lot of like repetition. I was like, well, we did this. We covered this. And except for the mission project that we hadn’t done, that was all new. And that’s it. For another time I’ll share about that. But <laugh> then, they actually, I was moved with a group of students to the fifth grade math class, ’cause we had already done the work that we were doing. And so, it wasn’t that it felt like it came easily, but it did make sense. What we were doing made sense. And then it all kind of changed. There was a lot of change in my family. There was, like, missed school time. And we moved and I went to a new middle school and I was in this environment with students who—it was like an accelerated program. And so I was in this environment with students who were pretty competitive with each other. And I remember going—and I was not from of a competitive environment; like Montessori is not competitive. It’s not about that.

Dan Meyer (24:02):

Right. Right.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (24:02):

It’s—it was very strange to me that I would be competing against anyone, even competing against myself. And I, you know, knew how to set goals. But it was a different level of energy. And I felt like, because I wasn’t competitive in that nature, I felt like that kind—I felt on the outside of a lot of the energy. Besides the regular, like, middle-school feeling outside of things. And I remember the first friend that I made. Hi, Susan! She had said to me, this was like maybe our second week of school, she’s like, “Oh, at lunchtime, come with me to math club.” And I was like, “OK.” And I remember walking into that room and I had no idea what was going on. And so that was one of the first times where I was just like, “Whoa, I have absolutely no concept of what they’re talking about or what.” These are my peers. I felt very—it was very—it was strange. It was strange. I was like, “This doesn’t feel like a space for me at all.” When I think ordinarily I was kind of excited about the idea of going to math club at lunch, you know? And over middle school, I kind of just got progressively more and more behind. It started with missing some work and then missing more and then checking out. And, you know, the problem was that I really made it about myself. That, like, it wasn’t something that I was then good at or could do. When really it was that well, pre-algebra, I was having a really hard time in like the rest of my life. And so I wasn’t real present in that class. And so when I got to algebra, it didn’t make a whole lot of sense. And then if I missed Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, well, Thursday is gonna be hard, you know? And, it just got progressively harder and harder. So I had this great idea that between eighth grade and ninth grade, I was going to take this accelerated geometry class. ‘Cause that was the ninth grade class, it was geometry. And I would take it. It was like geometry in three weeks or something. So then when I entered high school, I would’ve gotten this like jumpstart. But I wish I had said, “Oh, I’ll take this, and then in ninth grade I’ll take geometry.” So like I’ve already kind of gotten a preview of the material. But instead I went to the 10th grade math, which was like intermediate algebra, trigonometry. I had absolutely no clue what was going on. And I had a very, very difficult time and I wasn’t ready for that class. But it was exacerbated by the fact that this teacher felt very free to let the freshmen in that class know that they shouldn’t be in that class. That this class was for 10th graders.

Dan Meyer (26:49):

Oh wow. Oh, wow.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (26:51):

And we had a rather contentious relationship. And I will never forget that we were in the hallway, and he says to me, “You don’t belong here.” And I’ve talked to—I’ve talked to a girlfriend of mine about her experiences with this teacher and she has the fondest memories.

Dan Meyer (27:13):

Wow.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (27:14):

She—in fact, almost everyone I’ve spoken with, you know, if we are talking about past teachers or, “Oh, what was that class like?” I mean, they just have these wonderful memories! And for me, my sense of like belonging was already so on a tight rope anyway, that to have this adult, this teacher, tell me, “You do not belong here,” just crushed me. And in hindsight, I think he was saying like, “This class is too hard for you.” I mean, maybe. <Laugh> But all I heard was “You don’t belong here.” And I extrapolated it to connect to math and to anything having to do with math in general. And it just got worse and worse through high school in the world of math. My next math class was even—I had to repeat that class, and still didn’t understand what was going on, and felt more out of place, and, you know, it’s one of those things that I just kind of had started to accept that, I guess, math isn’t for me. I guess I’m just not a math person. Or whatever these stories are that I started to create and build and find evidence for around me that was informing that this wasn’t for me. And I had always done well in school. I was in, you know, accelerated classes. I felt like I was capable of problem solving. And yet in math, I just felt like I had all of this evidence saying that I didn’t belong there. And so when I went to college, I took whatever two math classes were—you know, I was in performing arts and then I did ethnic studies as well. And I remember you had to take two math classes that were GEs. There were these classes that if you don’t wanna deal with math, you go take those classes. And I was like, “Oh yeah, I’ll take that. I’ll take that.” The gulf widened, you know? <Laugh> And I didn’t feel like anxiety when I had to do things like balance my checkbook or navigate math in everyday spaces. It was just, it would never occur to me that I would like seek out opportunities to engage with math or think about it or talk about it.

Dan Meyer (29:35):

That is—yeah, that’s just so wild, how, I don’t know, like it’s often, from the student’s perspective, it is them in a vacuum with math, and the two of them interact and decide if, you know, if they’re right for each other. But from the grown-up perspective, it’s just, you know, it’s a little bit clearer that your story with math was not just you in math, but you with, you know, various external things happening. With family, various teachers playing their different roles—sometimes, you know, really tragic and horrible roles—and then like the compounding mathematical debt that it feels like you were kind of building up, as challenges in one year didn’t get resolved and moved into the next year and so on. And all that makes me wonder—it makes me, like really, really scared, first of all, because I would bet that your teacher might not even remember that moment, that for you is part of just a pivotal moment in your math story, and how many kids have I played—have I been a part of their story in that way and wouldn’t even recall? You know what I’m saying? So that’s a scary part. And then also I’m just wondering, like, how can we, how can we help kids who are in those moments recognize that, “Oh, this kid is like absent a bunch,” and give them more resources to be successful rather than say, “Well, you just gotta try harder now.” Those are things I’m wondering, hearing your story. Thank you for sharing that. I’d love to know more about how you then became a teacher and what all that did for you as you helped students.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (31:06):

Well, but to answer what you were saying, it wasn’t that I wasn’t—I was always absent physically, but at least like mentally at that point, because it had become so difficult. It didn’t make sense to me. So I was just really checked out in math class, you know? So in hindsight, you know, as a teacher, for sure I can look back, and especially hearing these stories and these experiences my friend had with this teacher and just like chalks up as one of like her most favorite teachers ever! And you know, he clearly did a great job for so many students. But for me, and I think for some people, they would’ve taken those challenges and, you know, it would have fortified them in a different way or something. But for me, I took it upon myself to mean certain things about myself and about my ability and what I was capable of. And so I think, I think in some ways, you know, yeah, it’s all, it’s all interconnected. You know, when your students walk in the door, they’re not this—the things that are impacting them in their life are coming into the room with them. And I don’t think we can take that for granted and think, “Well, if they just focus hard enough…”

Dan Meyer (32:21):

Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (32:23):

So let’s go back to my love of Oprah. You know, Oprah talks about living your best life. And something I really appreciate about Oprah is that she encourages you to examine, like, sticking points, right? Like she doesn’t just say, “Well, this…just pretend nothing ever happened, and everything’s fine!” You know, she really talks about making time for reflection. And I kind of got mad that anytime I thought about math, or math schooling came up. Or, you know, whatever, any time that came up that I just felt UGH about it. And I felt like a failure. And I’m like, “You know what, what if I took a math class? And I’m an adult at this point. I’ve graduated. I have—I’ve left college. I have my degrees. But I said, “What if I took a math class?” So I went down to, the city college and I found out that you have to take this exam, like a placement exam. And I went and took the placement exam. And I remember it’s one of the responsive tests where if you get it right, the next question’s a little harder. And so I’m taking it, panicking, because it’s getting more like…I just, you know. And I remember it placed me in like, whatever, Algebra Something, this class that was far more advanced than I thought I should be in. And I was like, there’s been a mistake! You know, and I went to the counselor and said, you know, “I got these results, but I couldn’t answer a lot of the questions on the test.” She’s like, “No, no, no, that’s how it works.” So I go take this class and the class was hard. And I decided that I was just gonna keep showing up. And every day before class, I kid you not, they had a little math…it was like a math center where you could go in and they had a bunch of tables and you’d sit at the table and you could sit and do your work or whatever. If you had a question, you walked up and put your name on a clipboard and then somebody would come and help you. So I did that, every single—like before every single class I would go in. I’d sit there. I’d do the work. I’d go. And I’d get help. Like somebody would walk over and you know, some kid for whom they’re like this…you know, they’re math—it might be you, Dan! It could be you! It could have been you! You know, would walk over and be like—

Dan Meyer (34:38):

Yeah, I was in Help like that. Naw, it’s awesome. Love, love those people. Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (34:42):

And you know, I did it. And I did so well in the class. I did exceedingly well in the class. And I said—

Dan Meyer (34:50):

Take that! Take that, everything! Every other math experience!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (34:53):

I said, what?

Dan Meyer (34:55):

Yeah!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (34:55):

Wait a second.

Dan Meyer (34:56):

Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (34:57):

And it was that I was present. I was not afraid to look at what didn’t make sense. And if something didn’t make sense, it didn’t mean there was something wrong with me. Whaaaaat?

Dan Meyer (35:10):

Yeah. Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (35:10):

So I was just in such a different space. And then I took another math class and that class was even harder. And I did the same thing where I went to the little lab and, you know, and it just buoyed me. And it made me realize that, like, this story, that my experience with it was very powerful and that was a real lived experience, but that it didn’t have to define my relationship with math. But then! I decided I wanted to go back to school to become a classroom teacher. And I totally—this was a couple years after that math class experience. So now, you know, I’m healing my relationship with math through basic positive experiences, da, da, da, you know, doing other work. But fast-forward, for a whole number of reasons, decided to become a classroom teacher. And I freaked out. All of my—like, I’m studying for the GRE and the CSET and all the things you have to the hoops you have to jump through to apply to the masters program and the credential program. And I freaked out. I was so close to quitting, Dan. Because I was convinced that the reason I couldn’t be a classroom teacher is because I wasn’t capable in math. Like I was—it was all that resurfaced. And even though I now had evidence to say something different, to the contrary, it was still so visceral. And I was so scared. But I passed that Math CSET.

Dan Meyer (36:47):

Get it.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (36:47):

I did well enough on the GRE—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (36:50):

Yes!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (36:50):

You know, I finished my credential. I worked really, really hard. I had to work so hard in my student placement, when I was student teaching for a fifth-grade class, ’cause I felt like, “Oh my God!” I mean, now I could do the mathematics, but I couldn’t TEACH it to someone, you know? But I had amazing professors at UCI, and my math professors really like just—and my mentor teacher! shout out to Jennifer! shout out to Phil!—these amazing mentor teachers who just loved teaching and who loved—like you said, you have these teachers in your life who you got to see the way that they listened to students. They taught me about that love of listening to students. And then I fell in love with, you know, CGI, cognitively guided instruction, and started learning all about all of these educators who just wanna learn from students’ thinking. And it was just so powerful. And I realize as a kindergarten teacher that I have this really special role in helping to create space for a positive school experience. Like we get to talk about—I talk about my students as mathematicians; they’re writers; they’re thinkers; they’re problem-solvers. And I also want to make space for parents. Some of them, this is their first kid in kindergarten, and they brought all of their experiences, a lot of it negative, that they had had with mathematics. So I felt like it was such an exciting opportunity to help show parents how they could have conversations about math with their students. That also, I hope helped heal their own anxiety with mathematics.

Dan Meyer (38:41):

Right, right.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (38:42):

Like, I’ve not even scratched the surface of math learning. But I just have such a changed perspective and relationship with math. And I just fell in love with the sense-making. And I fell in love with the journey of it. I still experience math anxiety about a wide variety of things, but I do love it. And I feel like there’s a space for me in relationship with math. And that really excites me.

Dan Meyer (39:09):

Yeah. Wow. Listen to that folks. We, we don’t deserve her! Bethany Lockhart Johnson! She got some math game and could have gone off there and, you know, become an accountant or something. And she chose to hang with kids and their parents. That’s so wild that you’re like rehabbing parents and their self-conception about mathematics at the same time. I think that is so cool.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (39:32):

Well, thanks Dan Meyer. I gotta tell you, I don’t know when or if I’ve ever shared that much of my math story. So there is a certain amount of vulnerability there. But thanks for listening. And I’m glad that, you know—I think there’s space for us to talk about these things that we care deeply about, but that can be really complicated.

Dan Meyer (39:56):

Yes. Yes. And I love how you you’ve really sharpened the point on what I feel like I know in my brain, but not my body all the time: That individual teachers are huge. Like, individual teachers, and individual moments of teaching, are just not something to play with. You know, like that kid that’s in fifth grade having a tough time, like there could be a month or a day-long period where all of a sudden, like, you’re just like, “Oh yeah, I’m back in the mix; like, me and math are still buddies.” And there’s also like moments that you had, where like one casual word from a teacher can just really put a huge wedge between you and a discipline that needs and wants you and your intellect in it.That’s a really powerful testimonial. Not just for math, but for teaching, your teaching bio.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (40:43):

I agree with you. And I also, I also…you know, I think we can’t put this—we are human. Teachers are human. And so I’m sure there’s things I’ve said to students. Twenty-second story: a student stapled his finger in my class. <Laugh> And I remember holding his hand and saying, “Why did you do that?” And I wasn’t yelling at him, but it was like, I am sure the panic in my face…like, that’s what he’s gonna remember about kindergarten. Right? <Laugh>.

Dan Meyer (41:19):

Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (41:20):

That. He will remember that. He won’t remember the really cool city project we did. He’s gonna remember his teacher holding his hand, in his face: “Why did you do that?”

Dan Meyer (41:30):

Yeah. Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (41:30):

You know, so we’re human. And yes, it was awful that that teacher said that to me. There were a thousand other ways that he could have said whatever it was he was thinking. And that did deeply wound me. But despite his influence—because teachers do have a lot of power and I think they need to examine that power, ongoing—it still doesn’t have to define us. So I don’t wanna put this pressure, like—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (41:55):

Sure.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (41:56):

“So never ever say anything negative!” You know, we’re human.

Dan Meyer (42:00):

I feel like that kid is currently on some office-supply podcast talking about “your office-supply bio” and saying, “Let me tell you how I first got really freaked out by staples. Here’s the deal: I only use paper clips. And here’s why.”

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (42:15):

“Here’s why.” But then—callback!—he’s going to stumble upon THIS podcast and think, “And because I’m so adept with paper clips, I can beat that record!”

Dan Meyer (42:30):

Though—aaay! whoa! Settle down!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (42:31):

BOOM.

Dan Meyer (42:31):

Don’t get any ideas, kid. No way. Uh-uh. I don’t like that at all. That’s not what—that’s not what I want to have happen here. No, thank you.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (42:41):

Well, I’m spent, Dan. I need a nap.

Dan Meyer (42:45):

Yeah. I need a box of Kleenex. I need a nap. I need a—yeah, for sure, a baba. Uh-huh. Definitely. Hey, so look, I’m not expecting you folks out there in the lounge to kind of give us the same depth or breadth. You know, we are here, of course, for your entertainment. Feast on our stories and dramas. But I would love to know at some point, like, what are a few, a few moments that really came to define you mathematically? Came to influence you as a teacher? I think we would do really well for each other to understand that about all of our processes. So yeah, I would just toss in a plug in for Twitter, @MTLShow, or Facebook, Math Teacher Lounge; it would be fantastic to hear from you.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (43:24):

Thanks so much for listening.

Dan Meyer (43:25):

Thanks, folks. Bye now.

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What Dan Meyer says about math teaching

“Teaching, more than other professions, is a generational profession. The kinds of joyful experiences we offer, or don’t offer, now affect the experiences students that haven’t even been born yet will have years later.”

– Dan Meyer

Meet the guests

Dan Meyer

Dan Meyer taught high school math to students who didn’t like high school math. He has advocated for better math instruction on CNN, Good Morning America, Everyday With Rachel Ray, and TED.com. He earned his doctorate from Stanford University in math education and is currently the Dean of Research at Desmos, where he explores the future of math, technology, and learning. Dan has worked with teachers internationally and in all 50 United States and was named one of Tech & Learning’s 30 Leaders of the Future.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson

Bethany Lockhart Johnson is an elementary school educator and author. Prior to serving as a multiple-subject teacher, she taught theater and dance and now loves incorporating movement and creative play into her classroom. Bethany is committed to helping students find joy in discovering their identities as mathematicians. In addition to her role as a full-time classroom teacher, Bethany is a Student Achievement Partners California Core Advocate and is active in national and local mathematics organizations. Bethany is a member of the Illustrative Mathematics Elementary Curriculum Steering Committee and serves as a consultant, creating materials to support families during distance learning.

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About Math Teacher Lounge: The podcast

Math Teacher Lounge is a biweekly podcast created specifically for K–12 math educators. In each episode co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson (@lockhartedu) and Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) chat with guests, taking a deep dive into the math and educational topics you care about.

Join the Math Teacher Lounge Facebook group to continue the conversation, view exclusive content, interact with fellow educators, participate in giveaways, and more!

S5-03. Cultivating a joy of learning with Sesame Workshop

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Listen as we chat with Dr. Rosemarie Truglio, senior vice president of curriculum and content for Sesame Workshop! Continuing our theme of math anxiety this season, we sat down with Dr. Truglio to chat about Sesame Street and her thoughts on how to spread a growth mindset to young children and put them on course to academic achievement and long-term success.
 
Listen today and don’t forget to grab your MTL study guide to track your learning and make the most of this episode!

Download Transcript

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (00:00):
Children don’t come with this math anxiety. Math anxiety is learned.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:07):
Welcome back to Math Teacher Lounge. I’m Bethany Lockhart Johnson.

Dan Meyer (00:11):
And I’m Dan Meyer.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:12):
Hello, Dan Meyer.

Dan Meyer (00:14):
Great to see you, Bethany. We are on episode three. Can you believe it?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:18):
So, I feel like we’ve just started scratching the surface about math anxiety. We’ve talked to two amazing researchers. We’ve talked about what math anxiety is, how it’s often screened for some of the causes, some of the consequences … I mean, we’ve had some good conversations. Dan, what do you think?

Dan Meyer (00:38):
Definitely, I think that the consequences have only grown more dire in my head. I’m not sure how you feel about the consequences. But, you know, it is enough for me that we ask students to take mathematics for much of their childhoods, to worry about their anxiety, taking that. But to hear about from these researchers about all the different things that correlate with math achievement and math anxiety—talking about future careers, certainly, but even some other, more serious lifelong concerns? That gives me a lot of motivation to continue this study of math anxiety here with you on the show.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:14):
It is really widespread. It has a big impact, not only on students, but on parents, on educators. You know, it’s—

Dan Meyer (01:23):
Multi-generational.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:25):
Yes. And you know, so often when folks think of math anxiety, what I hear them say is, “Oh, yeah, in high school is when math really ramps up. That’s when anxiety starts.” But we know that it starts in our youngest learners. And our research has already backed that up. We know it. I’ve seen it in my classroom. You may have seen it with some students you work with. And let me tell you, it starts young.

Dan Meyer (01:52):
It does start early. Right now, I have a son that’s just started kindergarten, and he seems relatively math-positive, but we’ve known from our interviews on this show and other kinds of experiences that oftentimes, that feeling —that math is for me, and I am for math, and we are all friends — can turn on a single moment. It seems like one teacher says a thing that changes a student’s perception of themselves as a mathematician or of math itself. So I keep waiting with bated breath, hoping not to find that one moment that changes our current open posture towards mathematics. So now it’s time to really dive into some strategies for combating math anxiety.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (02:34):
To help us out, we’ve called on a pretty exciting guest. I am so excited, Dan Meyer! We are being joined by Dr. Rosemarie Truglio. She is Senior Vice President of Curriculum and Content at Sesame Workshop. Sesame Workshop! As in, “Tell me how to get to Sesame Street.” Dan, I have to tell you, I spent many, many hours of my childhood watching Sesame Street. I have to ask, do you have happy Sesame Street memories? Is this part of your formation, Dan Meyer?

Dan Meyer (03:08):
At this point? In my advancing years, and the brain cells that I have left, Sesame Street is really kind of just a vibe in my head. But that vibe is such a pleasant one. One in which like nothing bad could happen. One in which learning is common and normalized and fun. And you just kind of feel at home, constantly.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (03:33):
I don’t know about the “just the vibe” part, because for me, it is visceral. I’m there. I am actually … I mean, I might still be there.

Dan Meyer (03:42):
You could reenact some of the skits?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (03:44):
. You didn’t watch Sesame Street with your kiddos when they were younger?

Dan Meyer (03:49):
We watched a lot of Elmo. A lot of Elmo. Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (03:52):
Next-generation Sesame Street. Well, I think it’s so perfect that we’re gonna be talking about what Sesame Workshop does to help combat math anxiety and create a positive connection and relationship with mathematics. So I’m really excited to hear what Dr. Truglio and her team have been working on. And here’s our conversation with Dr. Truglio.

Dan Meyer (04:15):
Welcome to the show, Dr. Truglio. It is an honor.

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (04:18):
Great to be here. Thank you for inviting me.

Dan Meyer (04:20):
You are Senior Vice President of Curriculum and Content at Sesame Workshop, which definitely sounds like the coolest job in the world to both four-year-old me and also Now me. Would you just help us help us with some backstory of how you ended up here, and what you do at Sesame Workshop?

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (04:38):
Sure. It is a pretty cool job. And I am very fortunate that I’ve been in this position for the past 26 years. So, I am a developmental psychologist, and my job is to help Sesame Workshop identify curriculum needs, so that we could address them in the content that we create on the show and across our various platforms. So, Sesame Street is currently in its 53rd season. And we just, wrapped production for the 54th season, which we’ll debut next fall. And Sesame Street began with an experiment: Can television actually teach children school readiness skills, to have them better prepared for school? Especially those children who did not have access to formal education during the preschool years? And it is what we call a whole-child curriculum, because we’re dealing with all of the school readiness needs. So that that includes the academic needs, their social-emotional needs, and their health needs, as well as what we call these cognitive processing skills—how children learn content. Right? So it’s not just content skills, but how you approach learning and how you actually learn content. So as a grad student, I was fortunate to work at the Center for Research on the Influences of Television on Children. Very special center. It was at the University of Kansas. And my advisors, developmental psychologists, they studied the effects of television on children, both the positive effects and the negative effects. And so part of their research was to actually look at the longterm educational effects of Sesame Street. So I was working with Sesame Street content as a grad student, and then came to New York City. My first job was Assistant Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. And when this position became available, Director of Research at the time, it was called, I took that job. And so my job was to oversee both the curriculum and the implementation of the curriculum, as well as the research. Because what we know, our co-founder, Joan Ganz Cooney has always said, for Sesame Street to be a successful educational program, production has to work closely with early childhood educators. They are the ones who know the curriculum and, and develop the curriculum goals, as well as the developmental psychologists who actually study how children are paying attention to the content. But more importantly, what are they comprehending from the content? And we all have to work together. Because even though we are the experts, the real experts are the children themselves. So nothing is deemed final until we actually show the children and see what they are learning from the content that we are producing.

Dan Meyer (07:54):
Are you referring to like, test audiences of kids then?

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (07:57):
Yeah, I guess you could call it test audiences. I mean, I don’t. I don’t like to call it that because I see them as co-collaborators. I don’t see them as a test audience. Because, as I said, they’re the experts. It’s a collaboration. I mean, they’re the experts. And so I wanna know—

Dan Meyer (08:12):
As collaborators. I got it now. Yeah.

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (08:14):
They help us. So that’s exactly what we tell the children too. So it’s called formative research. You know, we, we do what we call, um, storybook testing, an animated version of a storybook to have some little movement and see are they finding the story engaging, but more importantly, are they picking up on the intended educational lesson that we’re trying to teach in the story. So they are co-collaborators. they’re the ones who are helping us get the story just right for them.

Dan Meyer (08:46):
That’s really exciting, and makes me think about what classes might be like if students were regarded in that kind of lens as well. I just wanna say that my four-year-old self is on this interview as well, and is re-contextualizing all the stuff I saw as a kid. And it just felt like, at the time, you folks turned the camera on and went down to the street and we just had this real natural time. And it’s great to hear about all the intense preparation and co-construction at work and work that went into that time. Yeah,

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (09:12):
It’s about a year preparation from start to finish. From the start of identifying, “What is the educational need? Is it an academic need? Is it a social-emotional need? Is it a health need? Is it a cognitive-processing need?” And then once we have the need identified, we have what we call a curriculum seminar. We bring in the experts who are studying this topic with preschoolers, because we wanna get it, we wanna get it right.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (09:41):
Which, by the way, little behind the scenes: How often do you get to go to set?

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (09:46):
So we’re in a production probably about six weeks out of the year. Covid really messed things up. ‘Cause we have to be really—we have very strict Covid protocols, but there is someone on my team—and sometimes we have to, you know, rotate for availability—but there’s always an educator on set.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (10:06):
Awesome.

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (10:07):
Because even though you stick to the script, questions arise; they wanna make changes; sometimes they have to cut; things are running too long and they have to cut and we gotta figure out where to cut. So there’s always an educator on set.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (10:19):
But sometimes you go and have lunch, like—.

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (10:21):
Oh, I go, yes. Sometimes I go—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (10:23):
And just hang out with Big Bird, right?

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (10:24):
Sometimes I go hang out with Big Bird. No, those are my friends!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (10:27):
They are!

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (10:28):
No, no, I go hang out with them. They’re my friends. Yes.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (10:32):
When I think about Sesame Street and I think about … like, I can’t help but smile. Because I think I have such fond memories of the characters. I mean, we invited them, my mom invited them, into our home, right? And, you know, now I have a two-year-old and there’s no doubt that I’m gonna introduce him to Sesame Street. And I see how it really does feel like the folks who are doing this work, you and your team, you have a deep respect for children. So it makes sense that you call your test collaborators “collaborators,” right? They’re a part of it. And you know, I love that. And Sesame Street makes me smile. However, I’m like, we’re talking about math anxiety. And it’s so interesting, because as Dan and I were talking about our memories of Sesame Street … you know, it’s like Sesame Street feels like there’s not much anxiety. I mean, there are problems, and there’s problem solving, and it’s not like everything is perfect. But we figure it out. And it’s OK to make mistakes and it’s OK to try again. And a lot of times, we don’t see that in the math classroom—or at least, how folks talk about math. So, how do you all think about anxiety, about how to prevent it? Like, when you’re doing your work, you know that math anxiety is a real thing. But then that’s not translated in these experiences and the relationships with math that you’re building with your viewers.

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (12:07):
Yeah, that’s a really good question, because it’s really easy, because our core audience are two- to four-year-olds and they love math. And what’s not to love, right? Because they are figuring the world out as they’re exploring the world. So you said something really interesting, that when you turn on the TV—when you turned on the TV when you were a child, and now you’re a mom of a two-year-old, we wanna make sure that the show represents content that is relevant and meaningful to our target audience. And that comes through with the characters. So all of our characters have very specific personalities, as all children do. And our characters represent all children, in terms of not only personality, but interest and learning styles, ’cause we wanna see—we wanna make sure that children see themselves in these characters. And we have a character who actually loves math. And he’s The Count.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (13:12):
I’m like, “I know! I know who it is!” I will save you my impression. Although I have done it for my child. But I’ll save our listeners .

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (13:20):
And you know, he’s an adult character. Some of our characters are preschoolers, like Elmo and Abby—they’re preschoolers—and Zoe. But The Count is an adult. He lives in the castle and he just loves numbers. But what’s really important is while we have The Count to explain—not explain to, but to portray to children, cause we don’t explain anything; we show children that math is more than number, right? Math is a pretty wide concept. Which is what I love about math. And the other thing about math is math language. The language of math. ‘Cause when we’re teaching children vocabulary words, we’re also teaching children the concept. Be it a math concept or a science concept or a social-emotional concept. So children don’t come with this math anxiety. Math anxiety is learned and it’s unfortunate. It’s picked up by their observations of the adults in their lives, who sometimes say out loud, “I don’t like math,” or “Math is hard,” or even worse, “I’m not good at math.” Or may even label it as math anxiety. That word won’t mean anything to a young child. But it then provides a, whaddya call it, like a negative valence for something that they never felt negative about. Because as they’re growing and interacting with the world, math is all around them. And there’s that sense of awe and wonder and joy, especially as they’re learning and they’re figuring it out. So I think we have to reframe math. Instead of saying “math anxiety,” we have to talk about the joy of math and all the wonderful joys that come with the exploration of these math concepts. Number is great. We know kids love numbers. We know that they love to count and use a big word here: enumerate . Because so many parents don’t make this distinction. They’ll say, “Oh, my child is counting!” Well, there’s rote counting, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, which is important. But then it’s like there’s an item for each number. So it’s one Cheerio, two Cheerios. And then as you point to each number, you are then figuring out what the set is, of the number of objects that you have. And then you get at what I love to call the meaningfulness of math. Right? Number has meaning. And as I said, it’s all part of your everyday activities. It’s part of—it’s in your kitchen; you’re following recipes; you’re measuring; you’re weighing. It’s at bath time, right? You could have the sorting of nested cups and you could, you know, and once again, the math language: big, bigger, biggest. These are relational concepts. You could then count what sinks and what floats, if you’re doing science. And then you could put them in two different buckets, and count. These are the items that sunk and these are the items that float. So math and bath time could be a lot of fun. And then there’s math and music. Music is so rich with math, as you talk about rhythm and tempo and dynamics and pitch and duration. That’s all math.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (16:57):
The way that you talk about it, it is so rich, right? It is so multi-layered. And you know, I’ve shared on the podcast before: I’ve actually had parents in parent-teacher conferences say that, “Well, I wasn’t good at math either,” or “Math’s really not my thing.” And it’s really—it is, it’s rooted in that fear. And so I do see the way that you’re talking about it; I see that come through in Sesame Street. That, in a lot of ways, it’s reeducating parents, right? Because we hope that our caregivers are sitting next to their kiddo and enjoying it together and having conversations about it later. And there’s a way that parents then are also getting their own sense of what math can be, expanded. And I think there’s such a beauty in that. And I love the way that you talk about that, that you really are looking at, “Well, we wanna celebrate counting and the joyfulness of that. And let’s use math talk, you know, and let’s use these words and try out these ideas.” And it’s not because you’re trying to check some list. But you’re really exploring it and having fun together.

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (18:03):
And you’re embracing it. And you mentioned the word “mistake.” So often when it comes to math, if you make a mistake—you make a mistake in counting or, you know, we’re not doing a lot of math equations on Sesame Street, but that’s when people feel like they can’t do math. ‘Cause they made a mistake. And that’s something that we are trying to address on Sesame Street, that it’s OK to make mistakes and you learn through mistakes. But you have to have—and I’m gonna come up with this other phrase now—you have to have what we call a growth mindset. What that means is that I may not be able to do this yet. Like, it’s called “the power of yet.” So we know that learning any concept, it takes time and practice. And how do we have children embrace the process, right? So often we focus on right and wrong. Now, there is right and wrong with math, of course. You know, there’s a right answer and there’s a wrong answer. But how do we focus, not on the end product, but the process through which you are engaging in? So let’s talk about measurement. Let’s talk about measuring the length and the width or the height of something. You might make some mistakes along the way, but you’re processing it. My son used to make all of these little structures for all his little play animals. Well, you know, he would measure and think he got it right. And then when he put the animals in, of course, you know, either the animal was too wide or it was too tall. And he would have to redo it. But you’re not redoing it from scratch, you’re redoing it now from experience. “I realize that if I’m gonna put the giraffe in with the elephant, I’m gonna need something wide as well as high.” Right? For the length, tall. And that’s process. And then, for children, when they figure it out, that “oops” and “aha”—the “aha” was like, “I did it!” And it’s so empowering, you know, giving them agency—not swooping in and saying, “All right, I’ll fix it for you. You know, we got the wide elephant and the tall giraffe and I’ll you know…”. NO! Having them do it. And another fun activity is in what we call informal measurement. And that’s like getting something of an equal size. It could be paper clips or it could be same-size blocks, and then measuring how long something is. So if it’s measured by blocks versus paperclips, you’re gonna have a lot more paperclips than you are blocks. And that kind of comparison is so fascinating for children. And so that’s measurement. And now we have counting. Like, how many paperclips long is something versus how many blocks long is something.

Dan Meyer (21:02):
So checking my understanding here, you’ve talked about how caregivers and other adults can transmit math anxiety by naming it and claiming it for themselves. And you’ve talked about, some really exciting ways that adults can involve students and kids in different kinds of math. I’d love to go upstream with you a little bit and wonder out loud, where does this anxiety come from initially? It’s gotta be more than adult one to kid two talking about anxiety, and transmitting it from human to human. What is the original spring from which all this anxiety flows?

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (21:36):
Yeah. I do think it does—a lot of it does come from the adults in their lives. It’s unfortunate, because there is a lot of math talk about it, right? I can’t do math; I’m not good at math. Even when you’re at a restaurant and you get the bill and someone’s figuring out the tip, I can’t tell you how often it’s like, “Pass the bill, because I can’t do math.” Or if you actually then bring gender into it, you know, “Oh, girls aren’t good at math,” and that’s not true. There’s no evidence of that whatsoever, right? So in the younger grades, there’s no gender difference in terms of math ability. What’s also interesting about even socioeconomic status differences, you don’t see a lot of differences between low-income and middle-income children when it comes to math skills. Where you see differences is children’s ability to talk about their mathematical thinking. So if a child doing a math problem is asked, “How did you solve the problem?”, low-income children don’t often have the language to explain their thinking. So that’s something that we did on Sesame Street, where we focused a lot on what we call math talk. So, not just show number and show doing math, but actually narrate and giving the language. Because math literacy is one of the predictors of overall school achievement. So there’s that. They’re getting it from the adults in their lives. They’re getting it, unfortunately, sometimes from their teachers. But I think the anxiety comes from the fear of making mistakes. Because math, there is right and wrong, and always wanting to get the right answer. So that’s why this whole idea of reframing, and saying, “But really, it’s in the process.” So, you know, my son, math is not his strong suit. And I’ve been doing a lot of growth mindset with him as well. And there was a teacher that he had—I think in like 10th or 11th grade—who said, “In a test, I don’t wanna—I’m not even gonna look at the answer. I wanna see the process through which you GOT to this answer. And I’m going to grade the process. So the process could yield a right answer; it could yield a wrong answer. But you’re gonna get graded on the process. Because I wanna see how you are approaching the problem and how you’re thinking it through.” And I think that is a great example of, maybe, to try to reduce math anxiety. Because if you can get people excited about the process through which you’re learning—and that applies to all subjects, it’s not just math!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (24:36):
I’m like, that applies to life! Right?

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (24:38):
That applies to life!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (24:39):
That’s so spot on. Wow. Yeah.

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (24:41):
But I think that there’s so much focus on right and wrong, and not really understanding the value of the process. So on Sesame, we’ve been doing a lot of “oops” and “ahas.” You know, we’re gonna make mistakes, but what’s important is what do you DO when you make a mistake? So there’s a great episode with The Count. A couple of years ago. The Count was counting. Something he does every day. A lot of time, every day, ’cause he’s obsessed with counting and numbers. And he was counting an array of items.

Gladys the Cow (25:17):
I need 10 sandwiches all together.

The Count (25:22):
Well, of course.

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (25:23):
And he made a mistake.

Elmo (25:25):
The Count?

The Count (25:25):
Hmm?

The Count (25:25):
Elmo thinks The Count made a little mistake.

The Count (25:31):
No mistake.

The Count (25:32):
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (25:33):
And first time ever, did he make a mistake. And he fell apart.

The Count (25:38):
I must make sure that that never happens again. So I shall never count again.

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (25:46):
And that’s an example of showing that, you know, you could get upset when you make a mistake, but what’s important is you gotta come back and you gotta come back to doing what you love. In his case, is counting and letting him know that it was an “oops.” But you learn that mistakes are OK. It’s OK to make a mistake and continue to do what you love.

The Count (26:13):
I must keep trying and you should, too.

Elmo (26:17):
Yeah!

The Count (26:17):
So come, let’s count the carrots together!

Elmo (26:18):
Oh, cool!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (26:19):
And what a beautiful gift to show kiddos. Show that to kiddos, right? And to the adults. I wanna, you know, really acknowledge it, and say, “Hey look this, it’s OK.” And again, you’re giving them that language. That’s such a gift.

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (26:34):
Thank you.

Dan Meyer (26:34):
We spend a lot of time wondering why other subjects don’t seem to suffer from this negative perception. And I think you’ve unlocked a lot of that. You’ve mentioned that there are issues that cut across different subject areas, but I think from my own experience and research and interviews, it seems that in ELA and the social sciences, there’s this aspect where you need to come up with a claim and “how are you seeing this?” And there are multiple defensible claims. And I love how you imported that generous pedagogy over into math with this example of a teacher who says, “You know what? It’s about the process here.” Disassociating answer and process.

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (27:09):
And I think the other thing is like, when children are engaged in a project, for parents to point out: “You’re doing math!” Because they don’t realize that they’re doing math. Once again, math is so often equated solely with numbers and mathematical computations. So it was really interesting—the same is true for science. You know, when we’re talking to parents about the use of everyday—like, going to the supermarket or making dinner or bath time, there’s so much math and science in the everyday. And then when you point it out to them—”you’re doing math”—it’s like, “I’m doing math!” Like, you’re setting the table for a family of six: you’re doing math. That’s called one one-to-one correspondence. “I’m doing math: I’m setting the table.” Yeah, but you’re doing math. You can’t set the table because you have to know how many people are gonna be sitting at the table for dinner. You can’t follow a recipe without doing math. You can’t go shopping without doing math. There’s quantity; you gotta figure out how many peppers you gotta buy, or pounds. “I gotta get a bunch of potatoes and I gotta put ’em in the scale. And I have to get two pounds of potatoes.”

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (28:29):
So your book Ready for School: A Parent’s Guide to Playful Learning for Children Ages Two to Five. First, as a parent of a young toddler, I gotta say it’s such a tool; it’s such a resource. It’s very conversational. And I think about these ideas a lot, both in my work and, you know, just for fun. And yet, even if this wasn’t my chosen field, I still feel like it’s just so accessible. And I wanna flag something.

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (29:01):
Thank you.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (29:01):
Yeah, no. Thank YOU. . I wanna flag something that you said in the math chapter You were talking about the joy of math, and you said when it comes to our children, caregivers: “take pleasure in reading stories together, especially at bedtime, which in many households is a regular part of a child’s routine. But somehow the notion of introducing math concepts to our children seems daunting. In fact, some studies have shown that parents harbor a strong belief that while it’s important and pleasurable to support their child’s reading skills, it’s the responsibility of the schools to take care of teaching math.” And that quote, I highlighted it, I starred it! And I would love for you to say a little more about that, because you have given us already, like, a bounty of ideas that as caregivers we can do with our kiddos or the kiddos in our lives. And we’ve seen that even what they’re learning in school, it may not be the freeing, joyful math language that we hope our kiddos have access to.

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (30:05):
Yeah, I’m glad you brought that up. Because a lot of our focus is on how children learn through playful experiences, and how they learn through play in particular. And there are so many playing, either a game or even playing ideas—like we talked about building, you know, a house for animals or building a fort. It’s just so filled with math. And I wish I could narrate for every young parent how I would hope that they would talk as they are co-engaged in this activity. And I think … we asked about, with the anxiety, the adults have to find the joy in math first. They have to see the math. That’s the problem. That’s why I hope that my book provides that. I want you to know that you are doing math and I want you to know that your child is what we call a mathematician—or in the science chapter, is a STEMist. Your child is already doing science, technology, engineering, and math. STEM is so integrated. So to acknowledge them—because babies are doing math! Babies know, they can distinguish between a small quantity and something that is a of a larger quantity and want the larger. Right? So, it’s natural for them. And they are taking it all in. I mean, the joy of watching a child just early counting: you know, one, two. And trying to then figure out the meaningfulness of two. It’s not three objects. There are actually two. And for a parent to see the joy in that I think is step one. And then to see the richness and how expansive math is, and that power of, oops, “I made a mistake, don’t freak out,” and then [not] say, “See, I’m not good at math,” but say, “Let me try again. I know I could figure this out.” Right? It’s all of that supportive language and supportive experiences that builds this mindset, a positive mindset. So that you hope that when you get into the higher grades, they’re not walking in and saying, “I can’t, I can’t do math.”

Dan Meyer (32:26):
Yeah. Super helpful. I think you point at one of the grownups—great powers in the world of kids, which is to label. To name things. And you know, you’ve talked about how grownups should ideally downplay some of their negative experiences with mathematics for the sake of the kid, but also to play up the positive stuff that they’re doing as mathematics. Like that right there, that’s math. I would love to know … you have an extremely loud megaphone to communicate messages about math and the world and everything through Sesame Street. One of the biggest that there is—and I just wonder if you could step out and imagine you had a magic wand to wave over the world in which students grow up, play and learn—what would you do like to help students have better associations or less math anxiety? And, you know, learn more about math itself?

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (33:19):
If I had a magic wand, I would give everyone what we call a growth mindset that nothing is fixed and everything can be changed if you put the time and effort into the process, and enjoy the process. The joy of learning. I think, you know, it’s really sad. I don’t wanna be sad on your show. But when we were getting ready for the 50th anniversary, I was wondering, “What is gonna be the curriculum focus?” You know, we just came off of literacy and math literacy and social-emotional development. And we talked about the power of play. Playful learning. And building careers. Give children sophisticated play scenarios so that they could explore what they may wanna be when they grow up. Because there’s a concept: If I can see it, I can play it, I can be it. Right? So where are those portrayals? And it’s like, “What are we gonna do for the 50th?” And I had a convening of experts across all disciplines, and brought them into a room. And I said, you know, “What keeps you up at night? Like, what are you worried about?” Sort of like the State of the Union of Child Development. And this is where the sad part is. They talked about how that sense of joy, that sense of wonder, that sense of curiosity, that sense of flexible thinking and creative thinking, was disappearing in early childhood. Wow. If it’s disappearing in early childhood, we are in big, big trouble . ‘Cause I could see it disappearing later on, you know, as you advance in grade. But what do you mean, it’s disappearing in childhood? And then they talked about the fear of making mistakes. And that goes against—it’s the opposite of a growth mindset. And so we have to bring back that sense of joy, wonder, asking those why questions and embracing them. So it’s another problem parents have. They’re fine with the “why” questions until the “whys” become so difficult they don’t have the answers. And then they don’t want the “why” questions, because now they feel like they’re not smart enough to answer their child’s “why” questions. How do I flip that around to be much more positive and say, “You know, I don’t know! But let’s find out together. Let’s explore together; let’s experiment together.” That’s what I mean about the shift in the mindset, that growth mindset. We should not know all of the answers, but where’s the joy of, “Wow, I don’t know, let’s go find out together”? And that applies to math too. But you have to have that open mindset. You have to—you, as yourself, have to have that growth mindset.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (36:20):
I love that magic wand. I want that magic wand! And I think what—like Dan said about this megaphone, this opportunity to reach so many young people, so many caregivers—what a gift! And I’m so grateful that you took time to be in the lounge with us, and that you have shared these ideas. Because truly, I think, like you said, it’s really our youngest learners, right? How can we create and cultivate these opportunities for our youngest learners to find the joy in mathematics and just in learning, right?

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (36:54):
Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (36:55):
So thank you. Thank you so much, Dr. Truglio. We are deeply grateful for your insight and for all the work you do. And we continue to invite the world of Sesame Street into our homes.

Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (37:08):
Thank you. Thank you for allowing us to come into your home, and for you to re-learn with your child as you’re watching Sesame Street. Because it’s very much a parenting show, as it is for a child-directed show, because we are blessed to have these wonderful human cast members who are the stand-ins for parents. And so we are often giving you the language for how to talk about and how to problem-solve together. So thank you.

Dan Meyer (37:43):
Thanks so much for listening to our conversation with Dr. Rosemarie Truglio, Senior Vice President of Curriculum and Content at Sesame Workshop.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (37:51):
Dr. Truglio is also the author of Sesame Street Ready for School, A Parents Guide to Playful Learning for Children Ages Two to Five, and we’re gonna make sure we put a link to that in the show notes because it is really, really a rich resource. I’m diving in. I have so many ideas bookmarked that I wanna try out with my kiddo.

Dan Meyer (38:09):
Yeah, it’s really exciting to see—like, for a classroom educator, I just kinda assumed that a lot of math learning happens in the classroom context. That’s my lens. So yeah, I loved reading the book and seeing all the different opportunities for parents for just out there in the world, in front of your house, at the supermarket. All the different opportunities there are for mathematical thinking, and then to think about how to bring that into some of those routines and ideas into the classroom, into formal schooling.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (38:35):
Exactly. Exactly. Like Dr. Truglio said, the caregivers’s disposition about mathematics matters so deeply. Your teachers’ dispositions about mathematics, their beliefs, the way that you hear people talking about math, that impacts our learners. That impacts—like, as a student, that impacts what you think is possible for yourself. So I love this, re-educating ourselves about what math can look like out in the world, in everyday conversations. I don’t know. I really, really appreciated this conversation with Dr. Truglio.

Dan Meyer (39:12):
Same. Yeah. We’d love to hear what you folks think about the work. the book, her ideas. Definitely get in touch with us. Subscribe to Math Teacher Lounge, wherever you get podcasts. And keep in touch with us on Facebook at Math Teacher Lounge Community, and on Twitter at MTL show.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (39:27):
Also, if you haven’t already, please subscribe to Math Teacher Lounge wherever you get your podcast. And if you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a rating and a review. It’ll help more listeners find the show. And while you’re at it, let a friend know about this episode, because you enjoyed it; they might enjoy it. On our next episode, we’re gonna be chatting with Dr. Heidi Sabnani and taking a closer look at best practices for coaching teachers to reduce their own math anxiety.

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (39:56):
One of the teachers that I worked with had done her student teaching with a teacher who had math anxiety and who never taught math. And so she entered her teaching career never having taught math before or seeing it taught.

Dan Meyer (40:10):
Thanks again for listening, folks.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (40:12):
Bye.

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What Dr. Rosemarie Truglio says about math

“We all have to work together, because even though we are the experts [on curriculum and education], the real experts are the children themselves.”

– Dr. Rosemarie Truglio

Senior Vice President of Curriculum and Content, Sesame Workshop

Meet the guest

Rosemarie T. Truglio, Ph.D. is the Senior Vice President of Curriculum and Content at Sesame Workshop. Dr. Truglio is responsible for the development of the interdisciplinary curriculum on which Sesame Street is based and oversees content development across platforms (e.g., television, publishing, toys, home video, and theme park activities).  She also oversees the curriculum development for all new show production, including  Bea’s Block, Mecha BuildersEsme & RoyHelpsters, and Ghostwriter. Dr. Truglio has written numerous articles in child and developmental psychology journals and presented her work at national and international conferences. Her current book is Ready for School! A Parent’s Guide to Playful Learning for Children Ages 2 to 5, published by Running Press (2019).

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About Math Teacher Lounge

Math Teacher Lounge is a biweekly podcast created specifically for K–12 math educators. In each episode co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson (@lockhartedu) and Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) chat with guests, taking a deep dive into the math and educational topics you care about.

Join the Math Teacher Lounge Facebook group to continue the conversation, view exclusive content, interact with fellow educators, participate in giveaways, and more!

Winter Wrap-Up 01: Problem-solving and facilitating classroom discussions

Promotional graphic for Math Teacher Lounge podcast, episode 1, featuring Fawn Nguyen, Christy Thompson, and Kassia Omohundro Wedekind discussing classroom problem-solving and discussions.

As we prep for an exciting new season of Math Teacher Lounge: The Podcast, hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer are looking back at the amazing speakers and conversations from past episodes and sharing some of their favorites!

First up: A season 2 double feature of the power of problem-solving with Fawn Nguyen and Facilitating Classroom Discussions with authors Christy Hermann Thompson and Kassia Omohundro Wedekind.

Fawn is a specialist on Amplify’s advanced math team and a former math teacher and math coach—so she knows her stuff! You’ll hear about her five criteria for good problem-solving problems, and the power and importance of exposing all students to problem-solving.

Then, we’ll move into Bethany and Dan’s conversation with Christy and Kassia to learn how hands-down conversations allow students to become better listeners and the steps you can take to implement hands-down conversations in your classroom.

Explore more from Math Teacher Lounge by visiting our main page.

Download Transcript

Dan Meyer: (00:01)

Hey folks. Welcome back to Math Teacher Lounge. My name is Dan Meyer.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (00:03)

And I’m Bethany Lockhart Johnson. Hello! Happy New Year! Hello, Dan Meyer.

Dan Meyer: (00:09)

HNY, Bethany. HNY to you and to all of the listeners out there in Math Teacher Lounge. HNY is the abbreviation that I use sometimes.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (00:18)

Oh, is that what that is? Is that—I wasn’t sure what that was. If on my birthday you send me HBD…no.

Dan Meyer: (00:25)

Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (00:25)

No. Unacceptable.

Dan Meyer: (00:27)

I will. No, you want the full thing. To demonstrate my care for your birthday, I gotta spell the whole thing out. I’m just trying to stay relevant. You know, I’m just trying to stay relevant and youthful. So I’m using The Abreevs.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (00:38)

The Brevvies.

Dan Meyer: (00:40)

To the extent of even abbreviating the word “abbreviation.” . So, any New Year’s resolutions you wanna share with the listeners, Bethany? While you think, I’ll just share mine real quick here. This is the year of the perfect Wordle streak for yours truly, Dan Meyer. I’m going the full 365. Watch. Watch me do it, folks. I’m naming it here. Live on air. recorded on air. Perfect Wordle year. What you got for the listeners, Bethany?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (01:10)

Let’s see. It’s raining very hard here in Southern California, and my newest resolution is to embrace nature. My child wants nothing more than to go and splash in all the puddles.

Dan Meyer: (01:22)

Nice.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (01:23)

And be amongst the mud. And what I’m gonna keep telling myself—and so far, so far, I’ve been doing pretty good with this—thrive, child. Splash. Squish. We can dry you off. You will not melt. So I want to keep finding opportunities. Like, for instance, my response is, “It’s pouring rain. Let’s stay under covers and let’s read this book together!” And his response is like, banging on the windows, like, “Please let me go outside.” So I myself have some rain boots. I’m going to go forth and splash with my child. So hopefully you’ll see me doing that a bit more.

Dan Meyer: (02:08)

Love that.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (02:09)

Ask me what I’m doing. I’m outside, splashing in nature.

Dan Meyer: (02:12)

I don’t wanna put words in your mouth, but I have felt a bit like parenting is a means for rounding out aspects of my own personality that I have felt are—or habits or hobbies that are lacking. Like, I’ve never been real outdoorsy or into camping, but I don’t want that to limit my own kids’ aspirations or interests. So let’s do the thing that’s not super natural for me, for their own sake. Which is kind of what I’m hearing a little bit from you, which—that sounds exciting.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (02:35)

Do you wanna go camping together? Like, our families?

Dan Meyer: (02:38)

Uhhh. Let’s take this one off the air. I also love something that’s more relevant to a teachers audience that you said, that I think is super interesting, is how there’s ways that we can make the jobs harder for ourselves, that are optional. And what I hear from you is like, “I’m just not gonna freak out. We’re getting wet. We’re getting soggy. And I’m just not gonna freak out.” And I just think that that’s interesting to think about, the things that we take on, you know, that’s optional. Freaking out is optional, sometimes. And there’s other areas, I think, for parenting or for teaching, where it’s like, “Oh, do I really need to choose this particular battle?” And to reconsider that.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (03:19)

And in that spirit, our whole Wordle episode that we talked about? Do you remember you talked about how beautiful Wordle mistakes are, and how you keep learning from mistakes? I mean, you obviously want the final correct answer, but just, you know, when you get on a losing streak, Dan, I hope you’ll continue to pat yourself on the back.

Dan Meyer: (03:38)

Well, I will not be taking on a losing streak, or even lose one day. This is what’s gonna happen here. I’m just speaking that and putting it out in the universe.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (03:49)

Speak it!

Dan Meyer: (03:50)

But if it happens, I will be taking a long break from all human interaction. And lamenting, as I do.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (03:59)

Camping. Dan’s off in the woods, weeping.

Dan Meyer: (04:01)

That’s right. That’s right. Yeah. Well, we wanna share with you folks—an exciting programming note is that we are currently working very hard on producing a special fifth season of this podcast. You thought the other seasons were special? Let me tell you, this fifth season gives new meaning to the word “special.” And we can’t wait to tell you more about that. But in the meantime, Bethany, you wanna tell ’em what we’re up to in the meantime?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (04:26)

Well, Dan and I went back and we were having a conversation about some of our most favorite conversations, or the conversations that people bring up to us. Like, when we were at the CMC conference, or NCTM, folks, when we talk about the podcast, they’re like, “Oh, I loved this one.” “Oh, I love this one.” And that, to me, I don’t know, that is exciting. And so, while we’re putting together this new season over these next few weeks, we’re gonna feature a few of our favorite conversations from our first four seasons. Dan, four seasons!

Dan Meyer: (04:59)

We’ve been at this for four seasons! And I do want to just emphasize something you said, Bethany: that all of our conversations are our favorite conversations. They’re all our special children. What we just felt like you, the listeners, did not quite learn enough from some of these, and so we really needed you to hear them again to make sure you got everything that you should get out of them. So, let’s tell ’em who’s up first. And who’s up first is a conversation we had about problem-solving with Fawn Nguyen, who’s an advanced math team specialist here at Amplify. Been a former math coach, math teacher. Just really done the work, is what I’d say about Fawn.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (05:38)

If you have been listening to this podcast, you’re like, “Whoa, whoa. Wait, I have not missed an episode. I didn’t hear Fawn’s interview.” That is because we used to be video only, not podcasts. So this conversation with Fawn was from, what, our second season?

Dan Meyer: (05:55)

Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (05:56)

And we were on video. And another thing about it is it was, this is a conversation that, when folks talk about problem-solving, a lot of the responses we’ve gotten are like, “Wait, I’ve never thought of problem-solving this way.” In fact, you’ll hear us say that exact thing . So we really appreciated the time with Fawn. And yeah.

Dan Meyer: (06:17)

Enjoy it, folks. Especially enjoy Fawn’s—I think a four-part?—definition of problem-solving, a word that’s often kind of mushily defined. And Fawn really goes into, I think, precision and depth on it. So hope you folks enjoy it.

Dan Meyer: (06:35)

Give a wave, Fawn, to the camera. Would you? Cool. Fawn has been a teacher for a very long time. She is someone who could have left the classroom at any point and taken any number of jobs in the math-teaching universe. But I’ve always admired that Fawn has taught kids for a very long time, and that has given her, in my view, just a lot of clarity on what is important to her about students. I’ve seen her not get upset or obsessed with certain kinds of small niche issues that a lot of us, like, they get a lot of us down in the classroom, sometimes. And she’s maintained a laser focus on among many other things, problem-solving as a virtue in mathematics classrooms. So, please welcome Fawn to our show. Fawn, thanks so much for being here.

Fawn Nguyen: (07:18)

Hey, thank you so much. Thank you. I am so excited and honored that you guys invited me for this, Bethany and Dan.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (07:24)

Thank you for being here.

Fawn Nguyen: (07:26)

I love you, Bethany. Dan, I can tolerate, but I love you.

Dan Meyer: (07:30)

I really worked myself up there on that complimentary opening for you, and that’s how you get me back, here? OK. Problem-solving is fully on the consciousness of math teachers. Every math teacher knows that they need to say, like, “Yeah, oh, problem-solving. Yes. Love it. Do it. I dig it.” But even so, I feel like it’s become kind of a buzzword. Like, it’s not always obvious what that means…or am I doing problem-solving, really? So we’re curious: As someone who is a problem-solving expert, who is asked all over the world to talk about problem-solving: How do I know if I’m doing problem-solving in my classroom?

Fawn Nguyen: (08:12)

This is not my definition of it, but—nor am I an expert, by the way, Dan, thank you! but I try really, really hard and work on it!—my definition—or it’s not my definition, but I like it because it’s short and honest—is “problem-solving is what we do when we don’t know what to do.” And so—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (08:32)

Ooh!

Fawn Nguyen: (08:32)

—with that mind-frame, I’m hoping teachers think more about what they task. Because I think it gets mislabeled a lot, as to what is problem-solving. If the kids already know what to do, there’s a solution path. Then it’s not problem-solving.

Dan Meyer: (08:48)

Yeah. So what are examples then? An example of, like, I might call something problem-solving, but it it fails that particular definition that you just proposed there. Very short, very honest definition.

Fawn Nguyen: (08:59)

Just, it needs to have constraint and contradiction to what the kids think naturally. It should come as a surprise. There’s an element of surprise in it. There’s tension.

Dan Meyer: (09:11)

Maybe if there’s harder numbers or, you know, decimals or fractions in the same kind of procedure…I can feel myself thinking, “Yeah, this is hard. This is problem-solving. Problem-solving equals hard. But we already know what to do.”

Fawn Nguyen: (09:27)

Or just word problems. That’s the most common thing. As soon as it just has words attached to the math, it becomes problem-solving. But that’s just coding it to me. That’s just coding it with words, wrapping it around. It doesn’t mean anything until we read through and see if there’s true problem-solving in it.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (09:45)

Like, what’s the moment that it becomes problem-solving? In the way that you envision it?

Fawn Nguyen: (09:53)

Well, I think there’s the bigger problem-solving of really bringing a task…I wanna call it left field. It just—we rarely ever, if ever, see it in the regular coursework, but it can also be problem-solving if we just take what we expect the children to do at the end of the unit, how about we front-load that? To me, that’s also problem-solving. And I’m trying to encourage teachers to do that last problem first. The task writers put more thought—not that they don’t do the rest of it!—but you know, this is a special one, because they label it “challenge,” or “enrichment,” or “are you ready for more?” I’ve seen those. And so it is this really special problem. And I would love for us to think about “do that first.” Because my biggest fear is that because it comes at the end, that not all the children are involved. And so that to me is the saddest part. Because we might not get to it, right? In mathematics, we always think, “OK, well, let’s do these problems and then we don’t have time for the rest.” But I think that’s your richest task right there, is at the very end. So why don’t we front-load it, start it, and it’s OK—of course it’s OK!—that we don’t all get it. But the exposure to all students is so important. Talk about, you know, equity. Talk about that, everybody gets the same thing. If everyone dug into that first one with everybody’s collaboration, and we get to share that, and then we leave it, because “Yeah, OK, now we learn more of the other stuff, right? That hopefully support. And then we can go back. And now everybody had a chance to go get into it, and then we can come back to it as, as many problems, we need to go back to it.”

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (11:37)

And that feels so powerful. Because it feels like—as a teacher, I’m thinking it would also inform my work, how I approach the unit, and how I approach the next steps. Right? Like, what kind of work would we be doing if I let it, if I allow it, to change the way that I approach the unit.

Dan Meyer: (11:58)

Yeah. What you’re describing is so powerful, and really asks a lot of the task designers as well, I think. There are problem-solving tasks that really require, like, abstract knowledge of the way formulas and variables fit together. And what I love about what Amplify is doing with their problem-solving, what you’re helping them do, is that they start with a true low floor that can draw in every student. And they might get stuck at different places; that’s fine. But everyone has a way in. That’s exciting.

Fawn Nguyen: (12:24)

It’s a big deal for me to have this opportunity and this trust, to integrate problem-solving into the curriculum, make it intentional. It’s difficult to implement. It is, to be honest. Because for me, what is a good task? This makes one of my four criteria: One is, it is non-routine. It is simply stated. Simply stated—that’s like your low floor. And then has multiple solutions. And the fourth: This makes it. Because that the teacher enjoys solving it. And so you have to enjoy solving it to bring it. Because so that way I can say to my kids, “This is my gift.” It really is, Because, you know, it has so much fun and joy. And I appreciate the struggle. And I wanna illustrate an example. For example, let’s say Dan and I are classmates. And I know that Dan gets A’s on his tests and the lowest score he ever got was an 89%. I, on the other hand, just sitting right next to him, I average D. I have a D average on everything. While Bethany, our amazing and wonderful teacher, brings in a problem. And when she brings it in, she says, “I worked on this problem. I found this problem; I worked on it; and I struggled with it. And it was amazing. I enjoyed it so much, I’m sharing it with you.” And all of a sudden it’s like, “OK!” And I”m sitting there, right? My teacher loves this problem so much; she’s bringing it in to share with us. And now, all of a sudden, it’s not, you know…and I know she only gives us non-routine. When she talks about problem-solving, it’s non-routine. So it’s not directly tied to the textbook that I’ve been struggling with. So it gives me a chance, it gives me a chance to contribute. To think differently. And now, suddenly I look forward to working with Dan, because in this space, in this problem-solving space, Dan is no longer Mr. Know-It-All. And so that’s what I mean by—I am saying this a hundred times, and I will not stop saying it—problem-solving levels the playing field. Our world is filled with unsolved problems. Are you kidding me? Right? We look around us, we have so many things that are not solvable, or people are working on it, and yet in mathematics, what happens? The bell rings; we start; and we solve everything during that time, and we leave. And that’s…yeah. No! No! We need to wrestle with problems.

Dan Meyer: (15:04)

And that was our conversation with Fawn Nguyen, which we first released way back in November, 2021. You folks can follow Fawn on Twitter at Fawn P Nguyen. Um, that’s @ F A W N P N G U Y E N.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (15:18)

So our episode today is a double feature. We are featuring another conversation that we loved from Season Two. This is a conversation with Christy Hermann Thompson and Kassia Omohundro Wedekind. They’re authors of the book, “Hands Down, Speak Out: Listening and Talking Across Literacy and Math.” And I don’t know if you remember, but not only did we have a conversation with them, but we did a whole book study on Facebook, a Facebook Live book study, over the course of several months. And it was one of my most favorite things. And then they did a webinar at the end. So our conversation with them on the podcast for me felt like such a beautiful dive into their book. And you know, I’ve said it before, you think you have something down in the classroom, you’re like, “Oh, hand-raising, I’ve got that down.” You think you have it down, but then somebody says, “OK, but have you ever considered thiiiis?” You know, and it just—

Dan Meyer: (16:17)

NOT that??

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (16:18)

, Not that? Something totally different? And I loved talking with them. They’re a lot of fun. And I loved the book.

Dan Meyer: (16:23)

Wonderful conversation, great book. Very provocative ideas. Yeah. As someone who’s like, “OK, classroom management, I gotta get the hand-raising going…”. In the classroom before we talked, they offered a really potent challenge to some really standard classroom management ideas. Yeah. Loved it.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (16:40)

And this conversation also offers some really practical tips for facilitating student conversations. So we think you’ll enjoy it. Here’s our conversation with Christy and Kassia.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (16:53)

So today we are talking about “Hands Down, Speak Out: Listening and Talking Across Literacy and Math, K—5.” And we have the authors here, Kassia Omohundro Wedekind and Christy Hermann Thompson. Before we begin, let’s define what a hands-down conversation is. A hands-down conversation is just another way to structure discourse in your classroom. So in a typical classroom, you might see students raising their hand and waiting on a teacher to call on them before they share their ideas or engage in discussion. But in a hands-down conversation, it’s students’ ideas and voices that are taking the lead, and teachers are stepping back and focusing on listening and facilitating. Hello! Welcome to the Lounge.

Kassia Omohundro Wedekind: (17:44)

Thank you. We’re excited to be here. We’re fans of Season One. So we’re ready to go.

Dan Meyer: (17:50)

I was a secondary teacher but I still found so much to love about the book. I think facilitating conversations is just generally challenging, and perhaps even more so in math, where answers feel so tightly dialed-in, in lots of ways. But I loved it. I would love for you to just explain to our audience, what is a hands-down conversation and how does that contrast with what might be standard practice for some people? For some classes?

Christy Hermann Thompson: (18:13)

We just started using the term hands-down conversation because we wanted to differentiate the fact that there are different times to have different types of dialogue in the math classroom, in the literacy classroom. And we use this as one of our tools. Right? It’s not that every day, all day long, we’re very against hand-raising and should never see that again. We find that having this as one of our tools will be where we make really clear to the students that this is a moment where we’re turning it over to you to negotiate the space and make the decisions about when your voice comes in and who speaks next. You know, carry on kind of like that dinner table or that playground or, you know, whatever is your natural habitat for talk. And bringing that into the classroom and then hoping that it also someday transfers back out of the classroom back into the real world.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (19:09)

For the teachers who feel like that’s terrifying to have students just start speaking, and speaking without any sort of control or my little equity sticks, my little popsicle sticks, or my popcorn, or whatever other thing they’re using, what would you say is the first step?

Christy Hermann Thompson: (19:25)

So I think recognizing and naming that fear is part of it. And then saying to yourself, “What’s the worst that could happen here?” You know, I think the worst that could happen is that nobody talks and it’s totally silent. Or on the other hand, everybody talks at the same time. And both of those things will happen! And so what? It’s gonna be messy. And if you just acknowledge that it’s gonna look messy, and that’s part of growing; that every child as they learn—and every adult—is messy as they grow.

Kassia Omohundro Wedekind: (19:59)

And we have to see what kinds of things will happen in a hands-down conversation. Like there’s no prerequisite. You just start and then you see what happens. And those are the signs that tell you, “What can help this community grow as talkers and listeners? If everyone’s talking at the same time, and they’re kind of pushing each other over with their words by saying, “I have something to add!” “I have something to add!” or something like that, that’s a common thing that sometimes happens at the beginning. Then you know that the next step is to do some work about how to hold your thoughts back, how to add, wait for a space in the conversation to talk. And those are all things we need people to know out in the world.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (20:41)

So can you give an example of a micro-lesson that…well, first, what do you define as a micro-lesson? And then, what’s an example of one that maybe somebody who wants to dip their toe into the world of hands-down conversations that they could try?

Christy Hermann Thompson: (20:56)

The reason we call them micro-lessons is because we wanted to differentiate from the term mini lesson, which is out there and tends to describe about 10 or 15 minutes that might take place at the beginning of a work period of time. And this is much smaller than that. We usually follow a pretty predictable structure of naming. Here’s this thing that’s so helpful when we’re having conversations, and we love to especially be able to name something that a student had done: “Kaylee did this yesterday and it really helped us.” So what we might call that is, “And then here’s how Kaylee and other people might do that. They might do something like this.” And, you know, having a little anchor chart, so there’s a visual reminder of that skill. “So when we’re having a conversation today, you could try…”. And that’s basically a micro-lesson, just in a nutshell.

Kassia Omohundro Wedekind: (21:51)

When I was doing these hands-down conversations and I had more space for myself to listen as a teacher, I’m like, “Well, look at those kids, like, slumped onto the ground, like, pulling the carpet apart, but they’re having this amazing conversation!” And so I learned that listening is a lot broader. So in this lesson that I’m thinking about, we just talk with kids about what are lots of different ways that listening can look like. Sometimes with younger kids, I’ll take pictures of them listening in different ways and we’ll notice things about them together. And then we invite them to talk with their Turn and Talk partner about like, “How do you like to be listened to?” Or “Tell me about how you listen.” And just kind of broaden that. And really, I like to think that like the micro-lessons are for the kids, but also I’m saying those things to say them for myself. Like, “Remember, you don’t have to insist that kids are staring each other down in the eyes all the time. Like, “It’s OK when they’re doing other things. There’s other ways of listening.” So I think I’ve learned as much from the micro-lessons each time I do them as the kids that I’m trying to help grow as listeners and talkers, as well.

Dan Meyer: (23:00)

You folks have a lot of really eloquent ideals you express, around democratic classrooms and engagement. But you also have just some very tangible, practical…even down to, like, how a teacher positions their body in space and the way they use their eyes to connect. I think it would be really helpful for teachers to hear that it’s not just they’re signing on to a manifesto of sorts, but there’s ways they can act their way into the beliefs that you both expressed here.

Christy Hermann Thompson: (23:26)

When I’m starting hands-down conversation work, if I put myself a little bit outside of the circle and look down, and give myself a clipboard, it, it helps me bite my tongue and it helps me give better wait time and see what the kids are doing before I have that tendency to jump in and teach and do lots of teacher-y things.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (23:48)

Kassia and Christy, thank you so much for joining us. We are so excited to have this conversation and to share your work. This is exciting. And I feel like this conversation is just the beginning of a deeper dive into this book.

Kassia Omohundro Wedekind: (24:01)

Thanks for having us.

Christy Hermann Thompson: (24:02)

Thank you.

Dan Meyer: (24:03)

Thank you both.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (24:06)

Thanks so much for listening to our conversations with Fawn Nguyen and Christy Hermann Thompson and Kassia Omohundro Wedekind, both of which were released in 2021, part of our second season. And, you know, we hoped you enjoyed listening to it for a first, second, maybe third, fourth time.

Dan Meyer: (24:24)

Let’s be real. There’s some real fans out there.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (24:26)

We loved it then. We love it now!

Dan Meyer: (24:28)

Yep, yep, yep. Please keep in touch with the show by following us on Twitter at MTL Show, and join our Facebook group, the Math Teacher Lounge community. We’d love to hear from you there. And please stay tuned for more info on what we’re cooking up here in the Math Teacher Lounge. Thank you folks for listening. Take care, Bethany.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson: (24:47)

Bye now.

Stay connected!

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We’ll also share new and exciting free resources for your classroom every month.

What Fawn Nguyen says about math teaching

“It’s a big deal for me to have the opportunity and this trust to integrate problem-solving into the curriculum.”

– Fawn Nguyen

Specialist, Math Advance Team, Amplify Desmos Math

Meet the guests

Fawn Nguyen

Fawn began her work with Amplify in 2022 as a Math Advance Team Specialist. She was a math coach for a K-8 school district for three years, and a middle school teacher for 30 years before that. Fawn has also received a number of accolades as an educator.

Christy Thompson

Christy Thompson is a Literacy Coach in Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia. She has spent her teaching and coaching career particularly focused on listening to and learning from the talk of our youngest students.

Kassia Omohundro Wedekind

Kassia Omohundro Wedekind spent many wonderful years as a classroom teacher and math coach in Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia and now splits her time between being an independent math coach and an editor at Stenhouse Publishers. Her favorite days are spent in classrooms learning from the many ways children talk, listen and negotiate meaning together.

Three women are pictured separately in circular frames, each smiling and facing the camera, against a white background with overlapping pastel shapes—perfect for highlighting math teacher lounge discussions or sharing essential math teacher resources.
A graphic with the text "Math Teacher Lounge with Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer" on colored overlapping circles.

About Math Teacher Lounge: The podcast

Math Teacher Lounge is a biweekly podcast created specifically for K–12 math educators. In each episode co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson (@lockhartedu) and Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) chat with guests, taking a deep dive into the math and educational topics you care about.

Join the Math Teacher Lounge Facebook group to continue the conversation, view exclusive content, interact with fellow educators, participate in giveaways, and more!

Artificial intelligence at Amplify

Amplify is committed to using artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities transparently, safely, responsibly, and ethically to deliver tools and resources that continue to fulfill our purpose. We are also committed to aiding students, teachers, and our staff with the skills and understanding required to use AI technology effectively and fairly.

Thoughtful and intentional integration of AI technology supports Amplify’s purpose by extending teachers’ reach, saving them time, enhancing their understanding of each student, and providing new ways to engage students in powerful and rigorous learning experiences.

At the core of our work is our belief that these technologies, if used wisely, can support teachers in creating the kind of classroom experiences every student deserves—collaborative, interesting, and personalized.

Amplify’s AI principles

Governance and risk management: Amplify is developing and maintaining a governance and risk-management program aligned to EDSAFE AI Alliance’s S.A.F.E. Benchmarks Framework and the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, which includes internal policies and procedures to support compliance and safe and responsible use of AI. Amplify’s program guides the design, development, deployment, and overall implementation of AI in Amplify’s products and the tools used in Amplify’s operations. The governance program applies both to Amplify-developed capabilities and third-party development and integrations.

Amplify aligns to EDSAFE AI Alliance’s S.A.F.E. Benchmarks Framework as follows:

SAFETY: Uphold privacy, security, and reliability.
ACCOUNTABILITY: Be human-centered, responsive to human guidance, and transparent.
FAIRNESS AND TRANSPARENCY: Avoid creating or reinforcing unfair bias, and assess for impact.
EFFICACY: Be purposeful and rigorous.

Privacy and security: Amplify ensures that privacy protections are included by default in AI systems, including ensuring that data collection conforms to reasonable expectations and that only data strictly necessary for the specific context is collected, in conformance with our policies around the collection, use, and sharing of personal information. Amplify’s applications use student personal information solely for the purpose of performing the service, in alignment with Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and applicable state law and district policies and contracts. In addition, Amplify monitors security risks specific to AI systems, including dataset poisoning, prompt injection, and adversarial attacks, and shores up resilience against attempts to alter use, behavior, or performance, or to compromise security properties. Read more about Amplify privacy and security programs.

AI in Amplify’s products and services

Amplify uses AI in our programs in ways that respond to the demonstrated needs of districts, teachers, and students and that meet our high standards for safety, accountability, fairness, and efficacy. Amplify has established an AI Center of Excellence, with AI scientists, engineers, product managers, and designers dedicated to establishing best practices and guiding development in key areas that meet these criteria. 

Some ways Amplify leverages AI in products and services:

Amplify ELA: Amplify ELA’s Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE) tools give teachers the ability to understand, track, and support student progress with key foundational skills, which are strong indicators of students’ analytic writing proficiency. Developed in conjunction with the Writing Prompts in Amplify ELA, AWE assesses student writing for Focus, Use of Evidence, and Conventions, providing critical feedback for teachers and data for Amplify’s writing reports.

Boost Reading: Students in grades K–5 may take the Boost Reading Benchmark Assessment to determine their placement in Boost when they first log in. Students receive a set of word recognition, fluency, and comprehension activities, supported by automatic speech recognition.

Boost Math: Personalized Learning activities feature Spark, a virtual tutor that uses text-to-speech to provide personalized, engaging support to help students build mastery. The tutor incorporates student numerical responses in its conversation, but does not use student personal information.

Amplify and SFUSD Partnership

We recognize and respect the unique differences of each of our partnering districts—and that includes San Francisco USD.

Out of the box, Amplify Caminos offers districts a rich, comprehensive, research-based SELA experience. That said, no two districts are exactly alike. To that end, we are committed to working with San Francisco USD to ensure that Amplify Caminos addresses the needs of your community. This includes providing implementation guidance and support, as well as collaborating with your staff to determine which domains need to be modified or exchanged.

What is Amplify Caminos?

Amplify Caminos is a core Spanish language arts program for grades TK–5 that delivers:

  • Authentic instruction built from the ground up for the Spanish language.
  • A unique research-based approach truly built on the Science of Reading.
  • A combination of explicit foundational skills with meaningful knowledge-building.
  • Embedded support and differentiation that gets all students reading grade-level texts together.
  • Opportunities for students to see the strengths and experiences that all people share while also celebrating each others’ unique identities and experiences.



Watch the video below to learn more about Amplify Caminos for Grades K–2.



Watch the video below to learn more about Amplify Caminos for Grades 3–5.

How does Amplify Caminos work?

Amplify Caminos is built on the science of how kids learn to read—in Spanish.

Amplify Caminos is all about helping you teach students how to read, all while giving them authentic and engaging reasons to read. That’s why Amplify Caminos develops foundational skills and builds knowledge in tandem.

  • Knowledge: Through complex and authentic Spanish read-alouds with an emphasis on classroom interactivity, oral comprehension, and contextual vocabulary, students start to build their awareness of the world around them—and the way the reading skills they’re building give them access to it.
  • Skills: Starting with the sounds at the core of the Spanish
    language, students practice their phonemic awareness, handwriting skills, vocabulary, spelling, and grammar. Through daily practice, students become aware of the connection between reading and writing, building confidence as they go.
Illustration depicting the flow of genetic information, represented by ribbons transitioning from dna to rna, connected to various educational images and diagrams.

Respecting the development differences between grade ranges, Amplify Caminos teaches foundational skills and background knowledge as two distinct strands in grades K–2, and combines them into one integrated strand in grades 3–5.

Grades K–2:
Every day, students in grades K–2 complete one full lesson that explicitly and systematically builds foundational reading skills in the Amplify Caminos Lectoescritura strand, as well as one full lesson that builds robust background knowledge to access complex text in the Amplify Caminos Conocimiento strand. Through learning in each of these strands, students develop the early literacy skills necessary to help them become confident readers and build the context to understand what they’re reading.

Grades 3–5:
In grades 3–5, the Amplify Caminos Lectoescritura and Conocimiento strands are integrated in one set of instructional materials. Lessons begin to combine skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis. Students can then use their skills to go on their own independent reading adventures.

What do Amplify Caminos students explore?

Amplify Caminos builds students’ knowledge about the world.

In addition to teaching all students to crack the written code (which is vital for equity), the Amplify Caminos program helps students see the strengths and experiences we all share while celebrating their own unique identities and experiences.

This is accomplished through the exploration of topics and text that feature people who resemble students and familiar situations or experiences while also exposing them to people whose appearances, lives, beliefs, and backgrounds differ from their own.
 

Engaging domains

Amplify Caminos builds knowledge coherently across subjects and grades.

Throughout the program, students use their skills to explore domains that relate to storytelling, science, and the history of our world as seen through the eyes of many different groups.

Carefully selected to build from year-to-year, our grade-appropriate topics help students make and deepen connections while also reading, writing, and thinking creatively and for themselves.

Curriculum flowchart for Kindergarten to Grade 5, showing subject progression in language, science, and social studies, with highlighted and connected units.

New Knowledge Research Units for Grades K–5

Our brand-new Knowledge Research units carry forward Amplify Caminos’ powerful and proven instructional approach while also:

  • Adding more diversity. The rich topics and highly visual components featured in these units provide students with even more “windows and mirrors” and perspectives as they work to build knowledge.
  • Adding more authentic literature. Each new research unit revolves around a collection of high-interest authentic trade books that will spark more curiosity and inspire more inquiry.
  • Adding more flexibility. Units can be implemented for extended core instruction during flex periods, district-designated Pausing Points, or enrichment periods.

Units cover a variety of rich and relevant topics:

With these new units, students will soar to new heights with Dr. Ellen Ochoa, Amelia Earhart, and the Tuskegee Airmen. They’ll feel the rhythm as they learn about Jazz legends Miles Davis, Tito Puente, and Duke Ellington. And they’ll explore the far reaches of the world with Jacques Cousteau, Matthew Henson, and Eugenie Clark.

  • Grade K: El arte y el mundo que nos rodea
  • Grade 1: Cuentos de aventuras: relatos desde los confines de la Tierra
  • Grade 2: ¡A volar! La era de la aviación
  • Grade 3: Jazz y más
  • Grade 4: Energía: pasado, presente y futuro
  • Grade 5: Más allá de Juneteenth: de 1865 al presente

Units will be made available in English and Spanish, and will include the following components:

Why we added this unit:
“Every child is an artist,” said Picasso, meaning that every child uses art to explore and understand the world around them. El arte y el mundo que nos rodea honors that truth by introducing Kindergarten students to some of the ways in which artists have explored and understood the world around them.

This domain introduces students to artists from different time periods, countries, and cultures. Throughout the unit, students learn about different kinds of art and how artists use the world around them as they make art. They also connect this to what they have already learned about the earth, plants, and animals in other Caminos domains: GranjasPlantas, and Cuidar el planeta Tierra. In addition, students connect this to what they have learned about sculptors in the Presidentes y símbolos de los Estados Unidos domain. As they explore different artists and artistic traditions, they develop their ideas about how humans are connected to each other and to the world around them.

As you read the texts in this unit, students may observe ways in which the characters or subjects are both similar to and different from students. This is a good opportunity to teach students awareness and sensitivity, building on the idea that all people share some things in common, even as they have other things that make them unique. This unit also offers an excellent opportunity to collaborate with your school’s art teacher, as many lessons have suggested activities to help students understand the kind of art they are studying.

Within this unit, students have opportunities to:

  • Use details to describe art.
  • Identify three ways to create art.
  • Identify characteristics of cave art.
  • Sequence the steps of making pottery.
  • Describe how artists can create work connected to the world around them.
  • Describe what makes Kehinde Wiley’s portraits unique.
  • Explain how the texture of a surface can affect artwork created on it.
  • Explain what a sculpture is.
  • Describe what makes James Turrell’s artwork about the sky unique.
  • Explain what a museum is and what kinds of things you can see or do there.

Trade books in this unit:
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.

  • Georgia O’Keeffe por Erica Salcedo
  • Yayoi Kusama: De aquí al infinito por Sarah Suzuki
  • Tejedora del arcoíris por Linda Elovitz Marshall
  • Las tijeras de Matisse por Jeanette Winter
  • El museo por Susan Verde
  • Quizás algo hermoso: Cómo el arte transformó un barrio por F. Isabel Campoy

Sample materials:
Take a sneak peek at the rich instruction and engaging activities for this unit by viewing the PDFs below.

Why we added this unit:
This domain introduces students to adventure stories set around the world and challenges students to dig into the adventures through research. By listening to the Read-Alouds and trade books, students increase their vocabulary and reading comprehension skills, learn valuable lessons about perseverance and teamwork, and become familiar with gathering information for research.

In this unit, students study the careers of real-world explorers Dr. Eugenie Clark and Sophia Danenberg, marvel at the inventions of Jacques Cousteau, think critically about how teamwork and collaboration can make greater adventures possible, learn about the science and technology that enable adventures, and research some of the ways humans have confronted challenges at the edges of the world, from the oceans below to space above.

Each lesson in the domain builds students’ research skills as they ask questions, gather information, and write a paragraph about their findings. Students share what they have learned about adventures in an Adventure Gallery Walkthrough. By taking on the persona of one of the adventurers they meet in the Read-Alouds and trade books, students deliver their final paragraphs as if they are a “speaking portrait” of that person. Students are invited to dress up as that adventurer if they desire.

In addition, teachers can set aside time outside the instructional block to create the picture frames students will hold as they present to the Adventure Gallery Walk guests. Frames can be made from shirt boxes, cardboard, construction paper, or any art supplies that are on hand. This might be an opportunity to collaborate with the school’s art department if resources are available. Another option is to ask students to make their frames at home with their caregivers. On the day of the Adventure Gallery Walk, students will be the hosts and take on specific jobs, such as welcoming the guests, describing their work throughout the unit, and pointing out the areas of study on the domain bulletin board. You can find a complete list of student jobs in Lesson 13.

How this unit builds knowledge:
This unit builds upon the following Caminos units that students will have encountered in the previous grade.

  • Rimas y fábulas infantiles (Kindergarten)
  • Cuentos (Kindergarten)

The specific core content targeted in these domains is particularly relevant to the Read-Alouds students will hear in Cuentos de aventuras: relatos desde los confines de la Tierra. The background knowledge students bring to this unit will greatly enhance their understanding of the trade books used in this unit.

Trade books in this unit:
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.

  • My Name Is Gabito/Me llamo Gabito por Monica Brown
  • Galápagos Girl/Galapagueña por Marsha Diane Arnold
  • My Name Is Gabriela/Me llamo Gabriela por Monica Brown
  • El viaje de Kalak por María Quintana Silva y Marie-Noëlle Hébert
  • Señorita Mariposa por Ben Gundersheimer
  • Sharuko, el arqueólogo peruano/Peruvian Archaeologist Julio C. Tello por Monica Brown
  • Abuelita fue al mercado por Stella Blackstone

Sample materials:
Take a sneak peek at the rich instruction and engaging activities for this unit by viewing the PDFs below.

Why we added this unit:
With this domain, students head up, up, and away with an introduction to the soaring history of aviation. Students learn the stories of early aviators, such as the Montgolfier brothers, the Wright brothers, Aida de Acosta, and Amelia Earhart.

During the unit, students study the science of flight, including the physics concept of lift, and research the social impacts of the world of flight. Finally, students let their research skills take flight as they explore key figures from the world of aviation.

The lessons in this domain build on earlier Grade 2 Caminos domains about the westward expansion, early Greek civilizations, and Greek myths, and lay the foundation for learning about other periods of world history in future grades.

How this unit builds knowledge:
This unit builds upon the following Caminos units that students will have encountered earlier in the year.

  • La civilización griega antigua (Grade 2)
  • Mitos griegos (Grade 2)
  • La expansión hacia el oeste (Grade 2)

The specific core content targeted in these domains is particularly relevant to the Read-Alouds students will hear in ¡A volar! La era de la aviación. The background knowledge students bring to this unit will greatly enhance their understanding of the trade books used in this unit.

Trade books in this unit:
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.

  • ¡A volar! Todo sobre aviones por Jennifer Prior
  • Amelia sabe volar por Mara dal Corso
  • Héroes de la aviación que cambiaron el mundo por Dan Green
  • El niño que alcanzó las estrellas por José M. Hernández
  • La niña que aprendió a volar por Sylvia Acevedo
  • Buenas Noches Capitán Mamá por Graciela Tiscareño-Sato

Sample materials:
Take a sneak peek at the rich instruction and engaging activities for this unit by viewing the PDFs below.

Why we added this unit:
This domain teaches students about the vibrant music, poetry, and culture of the Jazz Age in the United States. Students learn about famous writers and musicians like Langston Hughes, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Melba Liston, Tito Puente, and Miles Davis. They study how the jazz art form took root in the South, then spread to the North to become the sound of the Harlem Renaissance, eventually connecting people around the world in musical expression.

During this unit, students perform guided research to further explore both the history of jazz and what jazz is today. They develop research skills and then use those skills to find deeper connections between the stories and music of the Jazz Age and music today. As students learn about the world of jazz, they collaborate and share ideas with their classmates. They also practice sharing feedback focused on their written work, and, at the end of the unit, students present their research to the group.

The lessons give students opportunities to dive into the rhythms and stories of jazz, utilizing the knowledge sequence in this unit to:

  • Collaboratively generate research questions about jazz, jazz musicians, contemporary musicians from the state where they live or have lived, and the evolution of jazz music.
  • Utilize Read-Alouds, independent reading, and partner reading to learn about the Jazz Age, the Harlem Renaissance, jazz music, and biographies of celebrated jazz musicians and writers.
  • Research the answers to their generated questions, gather information, write a short research essay about a famous jazz musician, write a short essay about a contemporary musician from the state where they live or have lived, and give a presentation about their research.

How this unit builds knowledge:
Within this unit, students have opportunities to:

  • Ask relevant questions and make pertinent comments
  • Identify details in texts
  • Determine key ideas of texts by evaluating details
  • Make text-based inferences
  • Generate questions based on prior knowledge and gathered information
  • Synthesize details across texts to demonstrate comprehension
  • Discuss and explain an author’s purpose
  • Identify and cite reliable primary and secondary sources of information
  • Compose a well-organized and focused informative essay
  • Make connections between topics
  • Present information using appropriate media

Trade books in this unit:
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.

  • ¡Esquivel! Un artista del sonido de la era espacial por Susan Wood
  • Ray Charles por Sharon Bell Mathis
  • Tito Puente, el Rey del Mambo por Monica Brown
  • Me llamo Celia, la vida de Celia Cruz por Monica Brown
  • ¡Azúcar! por Ivar Da Coll

In this unit, students also read the poem “Harlem” by Langston Hughes. (Available for free through the Academy of American Poets website and the Poetry Foundation website, with recorded audio available through the website for John Hancock College Preparatory High School.)

Sample materials:
Take a sneak peek at the rich instruction and engaging activities for this unit by viewing the PDFs below.

Why we added this unit:
With this domain, students become tomorrow’s problem solvers in this study of energy in the United States. Analytical reading skills are developed by examining the challenges of early energy innovators. Students then read about current energy practices and young energy change-makers across the world.

Throughout the unit, students conduct research into different sources of energy and present a proposal, putting them in the shoes of future energy innovators. They also use the knowledge sequence in this unit to:

  • Collaboratively analyze texts to identify cause-effect and problem-solution relationships.
  • Generate questions and conduct research about energy.
  • Write an opinion essay making their case for a fuel of the future.
  • Create energy proposals using primary and secondary resources.

How this unit builds knowledge:
This unit builds upon the following Caminos units that students will have encountered in previous grades as well as earlier in the year.

  • Plantas (Grade K)
  • La historia de la Tierra (Grade 1)
  • ¡Eureka! Estudiante inventor (Grade 4)

The specific core content targeted in these domains is particularly relevant to the Read-Alouds students will hear in Energía: pasado, presente y futuro. The background knowledge students bring to this unit will greatly enhance their understanding of the trade books used in this unit.

Trade books in this unit:
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.

  • La historia de los combustibles fósiles por William B. Rice
  • El niño que domó el viento por William Kamkwamba y Bryan Mealer

Sample materials:
Take a sneak peek at the rich instruction and engaging activities for this unit by viewing the PDFs below.

Why we added this unit:
Within this domain, Students learn about General Granger’s announcement in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865, a day marked in history as Juneteenth. Texts and multimedia sources will support foundational knowledge-building about the end of slavery in the United States. A review of the first freedom announcement, President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, provides students with background knowledge to further emphasize the significance of Juneteenth in American history.

This unit also takes students on a journey beyond Juneteenth, as they study specific contributions of African Americans from 1865 to the present day. Students participate in a virtual field trip to Emancipation Park in Houston, Texas and use the knowledge sequence in this unit to:

  • Collaboratively generate research questions about Juneteenth, The Great Migration, innovators and inventors, education, the humanities, activists, and allies.
  • Use Read-Alouds, independent, and partner reading to learn about African American contributions from 1865 to the present.
  • Research to find answers to their generated questions, gather information, and write a four-chapter Beyond Juneteenth book.

How this unit builds knowledge:
This unit builds upon the following Caminos units that students will have encountered in previous grades.

  • Los nativos americanos (Grade K)
  • Una nueva nación: la independencia de los Estados Unidos (Grade 1)
  • La Guerra Civil de los Estaods Unidos (Grade 2)
  • La inmigración (Grade 2)
  • Los nativos americanos (Grade 5)

The specific core content targeted in these domains is particularly relevant to the Read-Alouds students will hear in Más allá de Juneteenth: de 1865 al presente
. The background knowledge students bring to this unit will greatly enhance their understanding of the trade books used in this unit.

Trade books in this unit:
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.

  • Martí’s Song for Freedom/Martí y sus versos por la libertad escrito por Emma Otheguy
  • ¡Celebremos Juneteenth! escrito por Carole Boston Weatherford
  • Side by Side/Lado a Lado: The Story of Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez/La Historia de Dolores Huerta y César Chávez escrito por Monica Brown
  • Canto de alabanza para el día: Poema para la ceremonia inaugural del mandato de Barack Obama escrito por Elizabeth Alexander, traducido por Rodrigo Rojas

Sample materials:
Take a sneak peek at the rich instruction and engaging activities for this unit by viewing the PDFs below.

Diverse texts

Amplify Caminos puts a variety of texts in the hands of students every day.

Amplify Caminos includes both transadaptations and authentic texts written by Latin American and Spanish authors. In addition to featuring a diverse range of authors and topics, our texts represent individuals and characters with a broad range of identity factors, including socioeconomic status, age, ability, race, ethnicity, country of origin, religion, and more.

Amplify Caminos texts include:

  • Authentic literature: Authentic literature exposes students to a variety of text types and perspectives to deepen their knowledge of fascinating topics in social studies, science, literature, and the arts. Authentic texts support text-to-self, text-to-world, and text-to-text connections for readers.
  • Decodable Student Readers: Amplify Caminos is built on the conviction that equitable instruction is vital to an effective program. Decodable Student Readers at grades K–2 are newly re-designed to celebrate students’ diverse experiences and feature individuals with a broad range of identity factors, including socioeconomic status, age, ability, race, ethnicity, country of origin, religion, and more.
  • ReadWorks® texts: Amplify and ReadWorks have partnered to deliver high-quality texts curated to support the Amplify Caminos Knowledge Sequence and to extend student learning. Texts include high-interest nonfiction articles in topics in social studies, science, literature, and the arts. These texts are accompanied by vocabulary supports and standards-aligned formative assessment opportunities. Teachers can monitor their students’ progress using the ReadWorks reporting features.
Three book covers displaying children's books in spanish, each featuring colorful and stylized illustrations related to cultural stories.

Amplify Caminos Trade Book Collection Guide

Each book in our authentic literature collection was selected specifically to support and enhance the content of the K-2 Conocimiento Strand. These anchor texts are intended for use as an introduction to each domain—engaging students, piquing their curiosity, and building initial background knowledge—before diving into the deeper content of the domain Read-Alouds.

Every trade book has an instructional guide that includes the following:

  • Author and illustrator
  • Book summary
  • The Essential Question of the Knowledge domain, connecting the book to the domain
  • Key Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary words found in the book
  • A group activity to reinforce and extend students’ knowledge and understanding
  • A performance task to help gauge students’ comprehension of concepts in the text
  • Writing prompts to expand understanding and critical thinking
  • Text complexity ratings and descriptors for quantitative, qualitative, and reader/task categories

Download the Amplify Caminos Trade Book Collection Guide for Grades K–2.

Detailed information about text complexity ratings and descriptors; additional uses for the books before, during, and after domain instruction; and the complete list of domains and books for each grade level can be found in the More About the Books section of this guide.

What makes Amplify Caminos different?

Built on the Science of Reading

Built out of the latest research in the Science of Reading, Amplify Caminos delivers explicit instruction in both foundational literacy skills (systematic phonics, decoding, and fluency) and background knowledge in grades K–2 with an integrated approach to explicit instruction in grades 3–5.

Three connected orange blocks labeled

Explicit systematic skills instruction

The skills instruction in Amplify Caminos was distinctly developed with the Spanish language in mind. Its foundational lessons are specific to the language, rather than a direct translation from Amplify CKLA’s English skills instruction.

Reading instruction begins with the vowels first, then the most common consonants, and finally the least common consonants. Students will blend and segment sounds to form syllables, and syllables to form words.

Although Spanish has a highly predictable orthography, there are a few silent letters (h is always silent, u is silent after g or q), as well as letters that can make different sounds, depending on the letters that follow them. For that reason, syllables with these letters are taught somewhat later in the progression. The same is true for syllables with infrequently occurring consonants, such as z, k, x, and w.

Coherent knowledge instruction

While students are learning how to read, the Conocimiento strand gives them authentic and engaging reasons to read.

Amplify Caminos uses spiral learning to reinforce every student’s ability to develop skills like reading, writing, speaking, and listening in Spanish that can be transferred to English. As students engage with their lessons, they explore the similarities and differences in grammar, vocabulary, writing, and language use between Spanish and English. This bridge helps students learning two languages to strengthen their knowledge in both.

Through cross-curricular content, students explore units that relate to storytelling, science, and the history of our world in a holistic and thoughtful way. With these units, you’ll bring the world to your students, showing them how reading can become an exciting, rewarding, and useful part of their lives.

A collage of illustrated book covers, including themes of Don Quixote, space exploration, and anthropomorphic animals in various scenarios, all enriched with Spanish language elements.

Embedded differentiation for all learners

Amplify Caminos provides built-in differentiation strategies and supports in every lesson.

  • Apoyo a la enseñanza y desafío: Support and Challenge suggestions in every lesson provide assistance or opportunities for more advanced work toward the goal of the lesson.
  • Notas culturales: These point-of-use notes provide additional information about the traditions, foods, holidays, word variations, and more from across the Spanish-speaking world.
  • Apoyo adicional: Every lesson in the Lectoescritura (Skills) Strand provides additional support activities suggested to reinforce foundational skills instruction. These activities can be given to any student who requires extra help, including students with special needs.

Systematic and cohesive writing instruction

Writing instruction in Amplify Caminos builds systematically and cohesively within and across grades.

In Grades K-2, writing mechanics—including handwriting and spelling—are taught in the Amplify Caminos Lectoescritura strand. Starting in Grade 1, instruction includes four steps in the writing process: planning, drafting, editing, and publishing and features lessons that have modeling, collaboration, and sharing. As students gain skills and confidence, they are able to take on more of these steps independently. Students learn to use planning techniques, including brainstorming and graphic organizers.

Beginning in Grade 4, the Amplify Caminos writing process expands to also include sharing and evaluating. In Grades 4 and 5, the writing process is no longer conceptualized as a series of scaffolded, linear steps (an important change from the Grade 3 writing process). Rather, students move between components of the writing process in a flexible manner, similar to the process mature and experienced writers follow naturally.

young male students writing with a pencil

Amplify Caminos’ writing instruction provides a clear progression through the text types in each grade.

Because Amplify Caminos has two strands of lessons in Grades K-2, Lectoescritura and Conocimiento, students are exposed to both narrative and informational texts throughout the year. In Grades 3-5, the integrated units feature study in literary, informational, or a mix of both types of texts, depending on the content of the unit.

  • Grades K–2 introduce and establish the key elements of each text type, allowing students to gain comfort and confidence writing narratives, opinions, and informative texts. This enables students to practice thinking about content in different ways, offering more depth and breadth to their understanding of core content and of the writing text types.
  • By Grade 3, students will have gained significant practice in narrative, opinion/argumentative, and informational/explanatory forms of writing and will continue to apply those skills through Grade 5.

How does Amplify Caminos integrate with the other parts of the literacy system?

Amplify Caminos + mCLASS® Lectura

Achieve complete parity between English and Spanish assessments with mCLASS Lectura for K–6. mCLASS Lectura allows teachers to connect with their Spanish-speaking students face-to-face, one-on-one, and in the language most comfortable to them. The result? Valid and reliable student data reports
available in both English and Spanish, enabling teachers to pinpoint where their Spanish-speaking or emergent bilingual students really are in their skill development and what instruction to prioritize.

Reading assessment validated for benchmark, progress monitoring, and dyslexia screening

Amplify Caminos + Amplify Reading

Amplify Reading is an engaging, adaptive digital program that extends the learning in Amplify Caminos. Amplify Reading offers support to a large sub-group of English learners (ELs) through Spanish voice-over. Spanish voiceover instructions are available in vocabulary and sentence-level comprehension games so ELs can build their vocabulary, language, and critical comprehension skills before moving into analyzing complex texts

Spanish Support

Demo access and sample materials

Ready to explore on your own? First, watch the videos below to learn about the program’s components and how to navigate the digital platform.

Physical materials walkthrough video



Digital navigation video

Demo access

Next, follow the instructions below to access your demo account.

Laptop screen displaying a login page for
  • Click the CKLA and Caminos Demo button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • To explore as a teacher, enter this username: t1.sfusdreviewer@demo.tryamplify.net
  • To explore as a student, enter this username: s1.sfusdreviewer@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter the password: Amplify1-sfusdreviewer
  • Click the Programs and apps menu
  • Select CKLA Teacher Resource Site
  • Select the desire grade level
  • Use the toggle to switch between English (CKLA) and Spanish (Caminos) resources.

Sample materials

Finally, click on the grade levels below to explore your requested sample units.

Each book in our authentic literature collection was selected specifically to support and enhance the content of the K-2 Conocimiento Strand. These anchor texts are intended for use as an introduction to each domain—engaging students, piquing their curiosity, and building initial background knowledge—before diving into the deeper content of the domain Read-Alouds.

Every trade book has an instructional guide that includes the following:

  • Author and illustrator
  • Book summary
  • The Essential Question of the Knowledge domain, connecting the book to the domain
  • Key Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary words found in the book
  • A group activity to reinforce and extend students’ knowledge and understanding
  • A performance task to help gauge students’ comprehension of concepts in the text
  • Writing prompts to expand understanding and critical thinking
  • Text complexity ratings and descriptors for quantitative, qualitative, and reader/task categories

Download the Amplify Caminos Trade Book Collection Guide for Grades K–2.
Detailed information about text complexity ratings and descriptors; additional uses for the books before, during, and after domain instruction; and the complete list of domains and books for each grade level can be found in the More About the Books section of this guide.

Additional resources

Amplify Science professional development

Amplify Science blends hands-on investigations, literacy-rich activities, and interactive digital tools to empower students to think, read, write, and argue like real scientists and engineers. We’ve created a wide suite of professional development offerings that will help you meet your unique needs this school year. Find out more below!

Professional Learning Partner Guide Certified Provider

Amplify CKLA, ELA, and Science professional development has been vetted by Rivet Education’s team through a rigorous three-step process and is listed in the Professional Learning Partner Guide.

Three women sitting at a table using a tablet to discuss stimulus funding for schools in a professional meeting.

Plan your professional development

We’re excited to partner with you on your Amplify journey. Flexible professional development pathways have been designed to meet your needs.

Illustration of three educational phases: a teacher launches a rocket, another reads a book, and four individuals discuss in a meeting setting.

Recommended professional development plan

Our team has curated a recommended professional learning path from initial launch to continuous support. Use the Professional Development Planning Guide below to discuss the plan that best meets your school or district needs with your Account Executive.

Sessions overview

Recommended sessions are highlighted below.
Audience Title Duration Modality Available
Launch
K–5 instructional leaders Administrators’ program overview Half day Onsite/Remote Yes^
TK teachers Transitional kindergarten program overview Half day Onsite/Remote Yes
K–5 teachers Initial training 1 day onsite
or 2 days
remote
Onsite/Remote Yes*^
K–5 teachers Program overview Half day Onsite/Remote Yes
Interactive Classroom consultation 90 min. Remote Yes
6–8 instructional leaders Administrators’ program overview Half day Onsite/Remote Yes
6–8 teachers Initial training 1 day onsite
or 2 days
remote
Onsite/Remote Yes*
6–8 teachers Program overview Half day Onsite/Remote Yes
Strengthen
K–5 instructional leaders Strengthening consultation session 60 min. Remote 6/2022
Strengthening consultation package 3 1-hour sessions Remote 6/2022
K–5 teachers Guided unit internalization Half day Onsite/Remote Yes
K–5 teachers The Assessment System Half day Onsite/Remote Yes
Supporting all learners with complex texts Half day Onsite/Remote Yes
Writing in science Half day Onsite/Remote Yes
Supporting English learners Half day Onsite/Remote Yes
Strengthening consultation session 60 min. Remote 6/2022
Strengthening consultation package 3 1-hour sessions Remote 6/2022
6–8 instructional leaders Strengthening consultation session 60 min. Remote 6/2022
Strengthening consultation package 3 1-hour sessions Remote 6/2022
6–8 teachers Guided unit internalization Half day Onsite/Remote Yes
6–8 teachers The Assessment System Half day Onsite/Remote Yes
Supporting all learners with complex texts Half day Onsite/Remote Yes
Writing in science Half day Onsite/Remote Yes
Supporting English learners Half day Onsite/Remote Yes
Engineering Internships Half day Onsite/Remote Yes
Science Seminar Half day Onsite/Remote Yes
Strengthening consultation session 60 min. Remote  6/2022
Strengthening consultation package 3 1-hour sessions Remote  6/2022
Coach
K–5 instructional leaders Job-Embedded Coaching (JEC) 1 day Onsite Yes
K–5 teachers Job-Embedded Coaching (JEC) 1 day Onsite/Remote Yes
6–8 instructional leaders Job-Embedded Coaching (JEC) 1 day Onsite Yes
6–8 teachers Job-Embedded Coaching (JEC) 1 day Onsite/Remote Yes
Note for all workshops:  Any single three-hour offering can be repeated on the same day with different audiences to make one full-day session.
*When delivered remotely, this full-day initial training session (6 hours) is split into two half-day sessions (3 hours each). Part 1 and Part 2 may be scheduled consecutively on the same day or on different days, ideally within ~2 weeks. The same participants should attend both sessions in order to receive all content. This flexible scheduling opportunity for remote sessions will be available starting 6/2022.

^Session will be available for IC customers after June 1, 2022.

Launch

For teachers

Initial training

1 day onsite (6 hours) or 2 half days remote (6 hours)*
Grade band: K–1 / K–5 / 6–8
Grade level: K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

In the first half of this session, participants learn the essentials necessary to implement Amplify Science with success. They learn to navigate the digital Amplify Science platform and become familiar with planning resources and strategies. Through a model lesson and guided reflection, participants build an understanding of the instructional approach to teaching and learning. In the second half of this session, participants dig deeper into unit resources to start planning for instruction for their first grade-level unit.

When delivered as a grade band session, Part 1 will feature an exemplar from the following units:

  • K–1 workshops feature an exemplar from the grade 1 unit Animal and Plant Defenses.
  • K–5 workshops feature an exemplar from the grade 4 unit Energy Conversions.
  • 6–8 workshops feature an exemplar from the Metabolism Core unit.

When delivered as a grade level session, Part 1 features the following units:

  • K: Needs of Plants and Animals
  • 1: Animal and Plant Defenses
  • 2: Plant and Animal Relationships
  • 3: Balancing Forces
  • 4: Energy Conversions
  • 5: Patterns of Earth and Sky

6–8 workshops feature one of the following units:

  • Metabolism
  • Plate Motion
  • Force and Motion

Interactive Classroom customers: Select K-5 grade band or K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 grade level sessions (available starting 6/2022)

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants
Modality: Onsite/Remote

*When delivered remotely, this full-day initial training session (6 hours) is split into two half-day sessions (3 hours each). Part 1 and Part 2 may be scheduled consecutively on the same day or on different days, ideally within two weeks. The same participants should attend both sessions in order to receive all content. This flexible scheduling opportunity for remote sessions will be available starting 6/2022.

Interactive Classroom consultation

90 minutes
Grade band: K–5
Prerequisite: Initial training or program overview

In this remote consultation session, participants prepare to leverage Amplify Science’s new K-5 Interactive Classroom experience. The session includes a walkthrough of new digital features available to teachers and an opportunity for participants to experience these enhancements through modeled activities from an exemplar K-5 unit. The session closes with time for participants to explore the digital features and ask questions to support their planning.

*This session is designed for experienced Amplify Science users who are new to adding Interactive Classroom.

Audience: Teachers, maximum 30 participants
Modality: Remote

Program overview

Half day (3 hours)
Grand band: K–1, K–5, 6–8
Grade level: K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

In this session, participants learn the essentials necessary to implement Amplify Science with success. They learn to navigate the digital Amplify Science platform and become familiar with planning resources and strategies. Through a model lesson and guided reflection, participants build an understanding of the instructional approach to teaching and learning.

When delivered as a grade band session, an exemplar will be featured from the following units:

  • K–1 workshops feature an exemplar from the grade 1 unit Animal and Plant Defenses.
  • K–5 workshops feature an exemplar from the grade 4 unit Energy Conversions.
  • 6–8 workshops feature an exemplar from Metabolism.

When delivered as a grade level session, the following units will be featured:

  • K: Needs of Plants and Animals
  • 1: Animal and Plant Defenses
  • 2: Plant and Animal Relationships
  • 3: Balancing Forces
  • 4: Energy Conversions
  • 5: Patterns of Earth and Sky

6–8 workshops feature one of the following units:

  • Metabolism
  • Plate Motion
  • Force and Motion

Interactive Classroom customers: Select K-5 grade band or K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 grade level sessions

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants
Modality: Onsite/Remote

Transitional kindergarten program overview

Half day (3 hours)
Grade level: TK

In this session, participants dive into exploring and planning for the first TK unit, Wondering About Noises in Trees. They engage with model activities, experience key instructional routines, and plan how they’ll implement this flexible curriculum in their classrooms. Participants collaborate to build a deep understanding of the TK instructional approach and structure. They will leave ready to start instruction in their classrooms, and take away a suite of additional resources to support their preparation for other TK units.

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants
Modality: Onsite/Remotewelcome), maximum 30 participants
Modality: Onsite/Remote

For instructional leaders

Administrators’ program overview

Half day (3 hours)
Grade band: K–5 / 6–8

In this session, instructional leaders become familiar with the principles of phenomenon-based teaching and learning, and experience the instructional approach of Amplify Science units. Leaders consider their essential role supporting teachers and students with the implementation of a new science curriculum.

Interactive Classroom customers: Select K-5 grade band session (available starting 6/2022)

Audience: Administrators, department chairs, coaches, maximum 30 participants
Modality: Onsite/Remote

Strengthen

For teachers

The Assessment System

Half day (3 hours)
Grade band: K–5 / 6–8
Prerequisite: Initial training or program overview

In this session, participants learn about the structure and purpose of the varied formative and summative opportunities in the Amplify Science Assessment System. Participants experience and analyze a sample formative assessment, deepen their understanding of unit learning progressions, and acquire strategies for collecting, analyzing, and responding to student assessment data. Collaborative reflections and discussions support participants’ understanding of the relationships among different types of assessments and their unit’s learning goals.

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants
Modality: Onsite/Remote

Supporting all learners with complex texts

Half day (3 hours)
Grade band: K–5 / 6–8
Prerequisite: Initial training or program overview

In this session, participants learn strategies to support all students as they access the complex texts in Amplify Science units. They explore the connections among the ways professional scientists read and how Amplify Science lessons build students’ capacity as science readers. The workshop includes a model reading sequence, collaborative problem-solving around common student reading challenges, and planning time for upcoming reading lessons in participants’ units.

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants
Modality: Onsite/Remote

Writing in science

Half day (3 hours)
Grade band: K–5 / 6–8
Prerequisite: Initial training or program overview

K–5: In this session, participants develop an understanding of how the Amplify Science writing approach supports students to engage in science practices, make sense of science ideas, and develop as writers. Participants experience an example multimodal instructional sequence that demonstrates the connections among informal daily writing and the more structured formal scientific explanations and arguments students write in each Amplify Science unit. They dig into resources for analyzing student writing then apply their learning to plan for supporting student writing in their unit.

6-8: In this session, participants develop an understanding of how the Amplify Science writing approach supports students to engage in science practices, make sense of science ideas, and develop as writers. Participants experience an example instructional sequence that demonstrates the varied purposes for frequent small, informal writing opportunities in multimodal science instruction, then they analyze how each core unit’s culminating Science Seminar experience works as a scaffold to support students as they write sophisticated scientific arguments. The session closes with a guided reflection on strategies for supporting student writing.

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants
Modality: Onsite/Remote

Supporting English learners

Half day (3 hours)
Grade band: K–5 / 6–8
Prerequisite: Initial training or program overview

In this session, participants explore strategies to support English learners’ ability to do, talk, read, write, visualize, and construct arguments like scientists. By engaging in model activities, participants deepen their knowledge of the critical role that language and literacy play in developing scientific understanding. Participants become familiar with the research-based principles underlying the embedded supports and strategies in Amplify Science, which aid in students’ development of disciplinary literacy in science.

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants
Modality: Onsite/Remote

Guided unit internalization

Half day (3 hours)
Grade band: K–5 / 6–8
Grade level: TK, K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Prerequisite: Initial training or program overview

In this session, participants leverage a planning protocol to internalize an upcoming unit. They apply their understanding of how students engage in three-dimensional learning throughout the unit to plan for the diverse needs of their classrooms and students.

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants
Modality: Onsite/Remote

Engineering Internships

Half day (3 hours)
Grade level: 6, 7, 8
Prerequisite: Initial training or program overview

In this session, participants explore and plan for the first Engineering Internship of their grade-level course. Participants are oriented to the Futura Workspace and other digital tools used with students in the internship experience. Participants also dive deeper into how students apply science concepts from core units to construct design solutions, learning engineering concepts and practices throughout the process.

Workshop will feature one of the following units:

  • Metabolism Engineering Internship
  • Plate Motion Engineering Internship
  • Force and Motion Engineering Internship

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants
Modality: Onsite/Remote

Science Seminar

Half day (3 hours)
Grade band: 6–8
Prerequisite: Initial training or program overview

This session focuses on the culminating Science Seminar sequence at the end of the grades 6–8 core units, in which students apply the conceptual understanding built throughout the unit to engage in argumentation about a unique but related phenomenon. Participants experience a Science Seminar sequence from an exemplar unit as students do, then dive into a unit at their grade level to internalize the Science Seminar sequence and plan for instruction.

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants
Modality: Onsite/Remote

Strengthening consultation session

60-minute session
Grade band: K–5 / 6–8
Grade level: K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Prerequisite: Initial training or program overview

This 60-minute session focuses on a specific topic that will deepen teachers understanding of Amplify Science. An Amplify facilitator will align with the school or district leadership team in advance on the topic (chosen from a menu of options) that will best meet teachers’ unique options.

Topics include:

  • Supporting Diverse Learners: Exploring the resources (for K–8 teachers)
  • Supporting Diverse Learners: Leveraging and Building upon Embedded Supports A: Teacher modeling and student discourse (for K–8 teachers)
  • Supporting Diverse Learners: Leveraging and Building upon Embedded Supports B: Multimodal instruction
  • Planning an Amplify Science lesson (for K–8 teachers)
  • Unit kits and materials prep (for K–5 teachers)
  • Grading with Amplify Science (for K–8 teachers)
  • Analyzing Student Work (for K–8 teachers)

Available starting 6/2022.

Audience: Teachers, maximum 30 participants
Modality: Remote

Strengthening consultation package

3 1-hour sessions
Grade band:K–5 / 6–8
Grade level:K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Prerequisite:Initial training or program overview

This package consists of three 60-minute sessions that can be delivered on the same day or on different days. Each session will focus on a specific topic that will deepen teachers understanding of Amplify Science. An Amplify facilitator will align with the school or district’s leadership team in advance on the topic from a menu of options that will best meet teachers’ unique needs.

Available starting 6/2022.

Audience:Teachers, maximum 30 participants
Modality: Remote

For instructional leaders

Strengthening consultation session

60-minute session
Grade band: K–5 / 6–8
Grade level: K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Prerequisite: Administrators’ program overview

These 60 minute sessions will focus on a specific topic that will deepen instructional leaders’ understanding in Amplify Science and equip them in driving towards stronger student outcomes. An Amplify facilitator will align with the school or district’s leadership team in advance on the topic from a menu of options that will best meet instructional leaders’ unique needs.

Topic available for summer 2022: Amplify Science classroom look-fors (for K-8 leaders).

Available starting 6/2022.

Audience: Administrators, department chairs, coaches, maximum 30 participants
Modality: Remote

Strengthening consultation package

3 1-hour sessions
Grade band: K–5 / 6–8
Prerequisite: Administrators’ program overview

This package consists of three 60-minute sessions that can be delivered on the same day or on different days. Each session will focus on a specific topic that will deepen leaders’ understanding of Amplify Science. An Amplify facilitator will align with the school or district’s leadership team in advance on the topic from a menu of options that will best meet leaders’ unique needs.

Available starting 6/2022.

Audience: Administrators, department chairs, coaches, maximum 30 participants
Modality: Remote

Coach

For teachers

Job-Embedded Coaching (JEC) services: Teachers

1 day (6 hours)
Grade band: K–5 / 6–8
Grade level: K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Prerequisite: Initial training or program overview

Strengthen your implementation of Amplify Science with a coaching onsite visit for your teachers. An Amplify Science Professional Learning Specialist can visit classrooms for observation and debriefs with focused feedback and/or facilitate PLC or grade-level meetings to support teachers with planning decisions. The flexible coaching design allows for a collaborative and personalized approach to support effective program implementation.

Audience: Teachers, maximum 30 participants
Modality: Onsite/Remote

For instructional leaders

Job-Embedded Coaching (JEC): Administrators

1 day (6 hours)
Grade band: K–5 / 6–8
Prerequisite: Administrators’ program overview

In our Coaching sessions, instructional leaders engage in facilitated Professional Learning Walks (PLW)—non-evaluative classroom observations of Amplify Science classrooms that focus on building capacity to identify indicators of strong implementation of the program. Classroom look-fors focus on the use of instructional resources (material access/use and the Classroom Wall), instructional delivery (unpacking the unit phenomena and multimodal instruction), and monitoring of instruction (supporting all learners and use of the Assessment System). Leaders collaboratively analyze collected data in order to identify strengths and areas for growth specific to the implementation of Amplify Science for their teaching teams. Leaders leave with an action plan for supporting their teachers based on the analysis and reflection from the PLW.

Audience: Administrators, department chairs, coaches, maximum 30 participants
Modality: Onsite

Pricing

We offer the following pricing for training sessions and packages:

Session typePricing
2 consecutive full day onsite sessions$4,800
1-day onsite session$3,200
1-day remote session (2 half days)$1,500
1-day remote coaching session$1,200
Half-day onsite session$2,500
Half-day remote session$750
90-minute remote session$500
60-minute remote session$350
3 1-hour remote sessions$1,000
Customized Amplify Science onsite or remote packagesPrice will vary

Please note that the prices are general ranges and may be subject to change.

Contact

Amplify welcomes the opportunity to partner with schools and districts to design professional development plans and answer your questions.

If you would like to order any of our professional development services, please contact your local Amplify sales representative or call (800) 823-1969.

The curriculum effect

Research shows that students learn primarily through their interactions with teachers and content. Materials influence students directly, and they influence the way teachers teach. They are an essential part of the equation, with a proven and direct impact on outcomes. According to the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy report Hiding in Plain Sight, “Research suggests that, in the aggregate and for specific instructional programs, changing from ‘business-as-usual’ to a high-quality curriculum, or from a low-quality to a high-quality curriculum, can boost student achievement.” The report calls this overall impact “the curriculum effect.” 

Individual studies cited in Hiding in Plain Sight also show that: 

  • High-quality curricula increased student achievement in reading, math, and science from the 50th to the 60th percentile and higher: “a potentially transformative impact if aggregated across an entire class, grade, or school.” (Data from David M. Steiner et al., “StandardsWork: A Narrative Research Review,” Center for Research and Reform in Education; Institute for Education Policy, Johns Hopkins University, January 2017.)
  • Access to rigorous materials increased achievement for Black and Latino students (Card & Giuliano, 2016).
  • English Language Learners acquire knowledge and vocabulary faster when using grade-level content (with supports) (Zwiers, 2008; Walqui & Heritage, 2012).
  • Math textbook choice has a significant effect on test scores (Bhatt & Koedel, 2012 & 2013; Agodini et al, 2010).

A cost-effective approach

And high-quality materials don’t have to come with sticker shock. Early evidence suggests that switching to a high-quality curriculum is not only more effective, but also more cost-effective, than other familiar school-led approaches to boosting student success.

For example, a 2015 study from the Center for American Progress found that the average cost-effectiveness ratio of switching curriculum “was almost 40 times that of class-size reduction in a well-known randomized experiment” (Boser, Chingos, and Straus, 2015). 

High quality is not defined in a vacuum—it’s all about curriculum that supports teachers in the classroom. When teachers have high-quality instructional materials, they don’t have to spend their valuable time searching for resources and creating their own materials. They know they are using materials that have been developed and reviewed by researchers, academic experts, and teachers like them. They have curriculum that works harder so they can do what they do best: teach. 

10 ideas for summer math professional learning

How many servings of coleslaw do you need for the picnic? What, on average, is the coolest time of the day? Exactly how likely is a lightning strike?

Math doesn’t stop when summer starts. This season is ripe with opportunities for challenging and stretching your math brain. It’s also the perfect time for math teachers to dive into professional learning without the time constraints of the classroom. Our recommendation? Kickstart your summer learning and set yourself up for even greater success in the new school year with our free professional development opportunities for math educators!

Check out our curated list of on-demand professional development and resources. Whether you’re seeking ways to incorporate more problem-based learning methods, wanting to learn more about implementing an instructional approach, or simply looking for fresh activities to bring to the math classroom, you’ll find a variety of options here that will fit any agenda and schedule.

Best practices and inspiration for math fluency, student agency, and more

Addressing math anxiety

Collaboration in class

More math resources

Still more to explore (as you head into fall, too) 

Four images show children reading and doing educational activities with teachers in classroom settings, utilizing a variety of teaching and learning resources.

Welcome to the Resources Hub.

Dive into our array of resources on teaching and learning topics, including high-quality instructional materials, the latest conversations in STEM and literacy, and our library of recent webinars featuring thought leaders from across the country.

What is the Science of Reading?

The Science of Reading refers to the vast body of growing research that indicates how children learn to read, and the instruction that gets them there. Dive into frameworks for understanding reading fluency, read the latest research, and find strategies you can implement in your classroom. If you need a place to start, check out Science of Reading: The Podcast.

High-quality instructional materials in action

What are high-quality materials, and why do they matter? How can you support your district or school in adopting a high-quality program? We’ve gathered resources to help answer all those questions. Read our five fundamentals of HQIM in action, watch a video about high-quality curriculum coming to life, download our guide, and more.

Literacy resources

Reading is the foundation for learning—and we are here to help you build it. Dive into our multimedia library of literacy resources to learn how to engage middle schoolers in ELA and explore the Science of Reading through our popular podcast and our guide to implementing SOR-based programs in your school or district. 

Math resources

Learn to envision and build a social, collaborative math classroom, hang out with educators and experts in our Math Teacher Lounge podcast, try out interactive lessons on Desmos Classroom, and discover new ways to make math learning engaging for all.

Science resources

Get the resources you need to help your students to think, read, inquire, and explore like scientists. Read our science blog posts and our guide to literacy-rich science instruction, learn the elements and dimensions of the Next Generation Science Standards—including phenomenon-based learning—and tune into our Science Connections podcast to keep up with the latest. 

Research

Our education research hub includes our own case studies, impact and efficacy research, and documentation of the peer-reviewed research base that informs our programs. Learn about all the education intervention, science research, literacy research—and more—that make us who we are and can support your teaching every day.

Amplify Blog

Browse our expansive library of articles on teaching and learning in literacymath, and science. New posts are published each week. Stay up to date with the latest insights and information from Amplify!

Amplify webinar library

We host webinars on a range of topics featuring educators and thought leaders from across the country. You’ll find useful information about Amplify programs, professional development topics, and the latest industry insights on STEM, early literacy, high-quality instructional resources, and more.

Media

Browse Amplify’s many and recent contributions to K–12 education news. And if you’re with the media, please contact the Amplify media team (media@amplify.com).

Events

Our calendar is full of helpful webinars, podcasts, workshops, conferences, and more—all designed to support educators, share resources, and build community. Fill your calendar by visiting the Amplify Events page. 

Order forms and pricing summaries

Please refer to this page for pricing by program. An Amplify account executive will be happy to provide you with more information or give you a price quote.

Ready to learn more?

Fill out this form and we’ll be in touch with you shortly.

S3-04: Using AI and ChatGPT in the science classroom

A graphic with the text "Science Connections" and "Amplify" features colorful circles and curved lines on a dark gray background.

In the latest episode of the Science Connections podcast, we explore AI in education and its impact on students. Listen as I sit down with teachers Donnie Piercey and Jennifer Roberts to discuss ChatGPT and how we can use it to build science and literacy skills in K–12 classrooms while preparing students for the real world.

And don’t forget to grab your Science Connections study guide to track your learning and find additional resources!

We hope you enjoy this episode and explore more from Science Connections by visiting our main page!

DOWNLOAD TRANSCRIPT

Jennifer Roberts (00:00:00):

If a kid graduates from school without knowing that AI exists, they’re not gonna be prepared for what they face out in the world.

Eric Cross (00:00:07):

Welcome to Science Connections. I’m your host, Eric Cross.

Eric Cross (00:00:12):

This season of the podcast, we’re making the case for everyone’s favorite underdog, science. Recently we’ve been highlighting the magic that can come from integrating science and literacy. So if you haven’t checked out those recent episodes, definitely go back in your feed after you’re done with this one. This time around, we’re going to deep dive into what artificial intelligence means for literacy instruction, and how science can be a force for good, in responsibly exposing students to AI. To help me out, I’m joined by two extremely accomplished educators. Jen Roberts, a veteran high-school English teacher from San Diego, who among many things runs the website LitAndTech.com. And I’m also joined by fifth-grade teacher Donnie Piercey. In addition to being Kentucky’s 2021 Teacher of the Year, Donnie also has an upcoming book about bringing AI into the classroom. Whether you’ve never heard of ChatGPT or whether you’re already using it every day, I think you’ll find this a valuable discussion about the intersection of science, English, and technology. Here’s Jen and Donnie.

Eric Cross (00:01:17):

So first off, welcome to the show. It’s good to see you all. What I wanna do is kind of start off by introducing both of you. And so we’ll just go K–12. So <laugh>, Donnie.

Jennifer Roberts (00:01:30):

Donnie goes first.

Eric Cross (00:01:31):

Donnie’s gonna go first. Donnie out in Kentucky. Just a little background. What do you teach; how long you’ve been in the classroom; and what are you having fun with right now?

Donnie Piercey (00:01:38):

Yeah, so my name is Donnie Piercey. I’m a fifth-grade teacher from Kentucky. Live and teach right here in Lexington, Kentucky, right in the center of the state. I’m the 2021 Kentucky Teacher of the Year. But I’ve been teaching elementary school for the past … I think this is year 16 or 17. It’s long enough where I’ve lost count, and I can’t even count on fingers anymore. My friends like to joke that I’ve taught long enough where now I can count down. You know, it’s like, “All right, only so many more years left.” But yeah, teach all subjects. Science definitely is one of the subjects that I don’t just try to squeeze into my day, but make sure that … it’s not even a devoted subject, but one that I definitely try to — don’t just have that set time, but also try to do some cross-curricular stuff with it. So definitely the rise of AI in these past few months, which feels like years by this point, has definitely played quite the role, in not just changing the way that I’ve been teaching science, but really all my subjects. So, excited to chat with y’all about it.

Eric Cross (00:02:47):

Nice. I’m excited that you’re here. And Jen?

Jennifer Roberts (00:02:51):

Hi, I’m Jen Roberts. I teach ninth-grade English at Point Loma High School, and that’s where I usually stop when I introduce myself. But for your sake—

Eric Cross (00:03:00):

I will keep introducing you if you stop there. <laugh>

Jennifer Roberts (00:03:04):

I am nationally board-certified in English Language Arts for early adolescence. I am the co-author of a book called Power Up: Making the Shift to 1:1 Teaching and Learning, from Stenhouse, with my fabulous co-author Diana Neebe. Shout out to Diana. I blog at LitAndTech.com about teaching and technology and literacy and the intersection of those things. And I’m looking forward to talking about how AI is showing up in my classroom and the fun things I’m doing with it.

Donnie Piercey (00:03:31):

And one of us is actually secretly a robot, and you have to guess which one.

Jennifer Roberts (00:03:35):

Have to guess which one. Yes. <laugh>

Eric Cross (00:03:37):

That would be super-meta. And you were the CUE — Computer-Using Educator — outstanding teacher or educator? Whatever. Either one. Of the year.

Jennifer Roberts (00:03:45):

I was the CUE ’22 Outstanding Educator. Yes. And I’ve won a few other things as well.

Eric Cross (00:03:53):

The gaming backpack.

Jennifer Roberts (00:03:54):

I’ve won a gaming backpack recently! Yes. I once won an iPad in a Twitter chat.

Eric Cross (00:03:58):

What?

Donnie Piercey (00:03:58):

What’s a gaming backpack? Hold on. We need to talk about that.

Jennifer Roberts (00:04:01):

We will talk about that. <laugh> And then, I was once a finalist for county Teacher of the Year. That’s as close as I got to Donnie. Donnie was the Kentucky Teacher of the Year. He got to go to the White House and stuff. That was exciting.

Donnie Piercey (00:04:13):

<laugh> I mean, to be fair, there’s only three million people in Kentucky, and about what, 50 million people that live in California? <Laugh> So odds are definitely stacked in my favor, I think.

Jennifer Roberts (00:04:23):

So you’re saying we’re even there? Is that, is that what you’re going for?

Donnie Piercey (00:04:25):

Yeah, evens out. Evens out.

Eric Cross (00:04:27):

So I’ve been looking forward to talking to you both for a while now, and talking about artificial intelligence. It’s like the big thing. And both of you, at different ends of the spectrum and in my life, have contributed to this. Donnie, you’ve been sharing so much great information online about how you’re using AI in elementary. Jen, you are the reason I got into education technology years ago, right when I was becoming a teacher. And so being able to talk with you both about it excites me a lot. So first off, for the listeners who may not have any experience with it — and there’s still a lot of people out there who have not been exposed to it, haven’t got their feet wet with it yet — I’m hoping we could start off maybe with an explanation of … we could do AI, ChatGPT, I know that’s the big one. But simply explaining what it is, just for the new person. And whoever wants to start off can tell us about it. Or maybe we’ll start … we’ll, let’s actually, let’s do this: Let’s continue going like K–12? So Donnie, maybe you could … what’s your pitch to the new person of, “Hey, this is what it is”?

Donnie Piercey (00:05:31):

All right. So, AI, artificial intelligence, probably the way that most people are exposed to it, at least since November when it launched, is through ChatGPT. Where if you Google it, you know it’s made by a company called OpenAI. The best way to describe what it is … when you go there for the first time, make an account, it’s free. You have like a little search window, looks like a Google search bar. And instead of searching for information, you can ask it to create stuff for you. So for example, like on Google search, you might type in a question like, “Who was the 19th president of the United States?” Where on ChatGPT, instead of just searching for information, it creates stuff for you. So you could say, you could ask it to, “Hey, write a poem about the 19th president of the United States.” Or, “Write a short little essay comparing, I don’t know, Frederick Douglass to Martin Luther King Jr.” And it would do that for you. You know, that’s most people’s first exposure to AI, at least in these past few months. Instead of … you know, it’s artificial intelligence, but it’s not just chatbots. There’s lots of other AI that exist out there.

Jennifer Roberts (00:06:47):

And I think that’s the thing: that people don’t realize how much AI is already in their lives.

Donnie Piercey (00:06:51):

For sure. Yeah.

Jennifer Roberts (00:06:52):

You know, they just haven’t seen … the term that I see being used a lot now is “generative AI.” AI that can produce something. It can produce writing, it can produce art, it can produce a script, it can produce a character. But the AI that has been helping you pick what to watch next on Netflix and the AI that’s helping Google help you get where you wanna go on Google Maps faster, those are forms of artificial intelligence as well.

Donnie Piercey (00:07:21):

Yeah. I mean, even those, when you get that that message in Gmail, and instead of having to type out that response that says, “Yeah, that sounds great,” you can just click the little button that says, “Yeah, that sounds great.” I mean, that’s been in Gmail for years, but that’s artificial intelligence too.

Eric Cross (00:07:39):

Absolutely. So why is it important, do you think, for educators to, to be familiar with it? Like, why are we all so excited about it?

Jennifer Roberts (00:07:47):

So, educators need to know what kids are into, and kids are obviously into ChatGPT. And anyone who’s an educator right now has probably already had something cross their desk — or more likely their computer screen — that was written by AI and passed off as a student’s own work. And that is, of course, the great fear among teachers everywhere, that this is what kids are just gonna do these days and they won’t be able to catch it and children won’t be doing their own work and this and this. But I think the big reason teachers need to know what’s going on is because teachers need to be futurists. Our clientele will live in the future. We teach kids, kids will become adults, adults will live in the world. And so if we’re not thinking about and trying to predict on some level what’s gonna happen 5, 10, 15 years from now … we might be wrong, but what if we’re right?

Jennifer Roberts (00:08:38):

And if we’re not at least trying to think about what is their future world gonna look like, then we’re not serving our students well. I did a whole night talk on that. So I think ChatGPT is part of that. I teach seniors. I had this moment of realization I felt a few months ago. I’m like, “This is gonna be the world they graduate into. They need to know what this is before they leave me.” If I don’t teach them how to use this well, and not the way they’re using it — which is to copy and paste the teacher’s assignment and drop it into ChatGPT and take whatever it spits out and turning that in without even looking at it — if I don’t teach ’em how to use it critically, if I don’t teach them how to write effective prompts, if I don’t teach them how to use the AI as a tool, as a collaborator, then they’re gonna graduate into a world where they lose out to people who do know how to do that. And I think the advantage goes to kids who have access and knowledge of what’s in front of them and what’s available, and can use all of the tools at their disposal. Because when you’re writing in school and you write with a collaborator, that could be considered cheating. But when you do that out in the adult world, that’s considered doing a good job. <Laugh> Being a team player. <Laugh> You know, adults don’t work alone for the most part. And adults are expected to churn out beautiful, perfect content no matter how they got there. So if I’m not teaching my kids how to use this, they’re not being ready. They’re not gonna be ready to be the adults that I want them to be.

Donnie Piercey (00:10:07):

A hundred percent agree. And I also believe … as you know, I teach elementary school. I also don’t think anybody is saying that on the first day of kindergarten, you hand a kid a Chromebook and load up an AI chatbot or ChatGPT and say, Hey, this thing’s gonna do all your work for you for the next 12 years; just coast through life. You don’t have to think creatively. You don’t have to learn how to develop a paragraph or learn how to write a speech or develop an idea. Like, I don’t think anybody’s saying that, because as an elementary school teacher, there’s many days when I’m like, “Y’all, we’re just putting the Chromebooks away today and we’re just gonna go old-school. We’re just gonna maybe just jot down five quick ideas and stand up and present those ideas to the class.”

Donnie Piercey (00:10:54):

Because while AI definitely will, like you were saying, Jen, play a significant role in the lives of our students who are, not just graduating, but the 10- and 11-year-olds in my classroom this year. A significant role in their lives. It’s also really important to recognize that we’re not saying that this means that “Hey, kids don’t have to work anymore.” They still have to put forth that effort. There’s still — one of the ways that you become a good writer is by trial and error. And sometimes that trial and error comes through talking to a teacher or talking like you were saying to a peer or collaborating with a peer and saying to them, “Well, this sentence here, this paragraph here, really doesn’t make sense.” And I do believe one of the ways — especially as AI starts to become more fine-tuned and starts to be embedded more and more in tools like Google Docs and Microsoft Word — is it’s almost going to be a tutor to students.

Donnie Piercey (00:11:56):

Mm-hmm. <affirmative> Where I could very easily see in a few years, or maybe a few months, who knows what Google or any of these other big companies has rolling out, where a student could highlight a paragraph that they wrote simply, and then say, “Hey, proofread this for me,” or “Check for coherence.” Or even just ask a simple question: “Does this paragraph make sense?” Because you can already do that. You can copy a paragraph over into a chatbot and say, “Hey, does this make sense?” You know, “Rate my idea from one to 10,” and it’ll do that for ’em.

Jennifer Roberts (00:12:26):

We did that last week <laugh>.

Donnie Piercey (00:12:28):

Yeah. Right. I mean, that’s the thing. That technology exists now. It’s just not totally embedded yet. But based on what I’ve read and what I’ve seen, that’s gonna happen sooner rather than later. And it’s really, really important that we teach our students that, “No, you’re not just gonna use this, this tool to cheat, but you can use this tool to help you become a more creative student.”

Jennifer Roberts (00:12:50):

This is the use case in my classroom. Can I talk about that? You ready for that?

Eric Cross (00:12:53):

Please.

Jennifer Roberts (00:12:54):

OK.

Eric Cross (00:12:54):

Please.

Jennifer Roberts (00:12:55):

So my ninth graders are writing a comparative analysis essay, where I took them to the student art gallery and I made them pick two pieces of completely unknown student art and take notes on it, so they could go back and write this essay. And as soon as we got back to class, I said, can ChatGPT write this for you? And they all kind of froze ’cause I didn’t tell them what ChatGPT was. And they weren’t sure if they were allowed to know or not. And finally one of them kind of bravely raised his hand and said, “No.” And I said, “Why not?” And he said, “Well, the AI hasn’t seen the art. How can it write an essay about art when the art is completely original that we just went and looked at?” I said, “It’s almost like I planned it that way, isn’t it?” And they laughed nervously. And then I said, “Does that mean it can’t help us with this assignment?” And they said, “Well, no — of course it can’t help us, because it has not seen the art.” And I said, “Well. …” And I open ChatGPT, and I typed in what they were trying to do: “I need to write a comparative analysis essay comparing two pieces of student art on these reasons. And I need to choose which one did it better, basically. Can you help me with an outline?” and ChatGPT produced a lovely outline. And I looked at that with my students and we looked at it together and I said, “This is what it gave us. Would this be helpful to you?” And they’re like, “Yeah, that would be helpful to us.” So we — to be clear here, I was the only one using ChatGPT in the room. They were not actually using it. We were using it together. I copied and pasted the outline that it gave us and put it in their learning management system where they could access it so they could use the outline that the robot provided, and then they could use that to make their own writing better. So then I let them write for a little while, and, after they’d written for a little while, I said, “Does anybody wanna let me share your first paragraph with ChatGPT and see what it thinks of how you’re doing?” And a brave student raised his hand and we took his paragraph and we put it in ChatGPT, and it spit back advice. We said, “This is what I have so far for my first paragraph. Do you have any advice for me?” And we gave it the writing, and the first piece of advice it gave back was very generic, you know, “Add a hook,” you know, like kind of thing. But after that, it started to get more specific about things he was actually doing in his writing. And it started to give him some feedback. And we looked at that together as a class. And I said, “Does any of that feedback help you?” And he said, “Oh yeah, absolutely. I’m gonna go add some revisions to my paragraph.” And other students did too. They looked at the feedback he got and used that to improve their writing. And so everybody went and revised. And I said, “Look, if you take what the robot gives you and you copy and paste it, and you turn it in as your own work, it’s gonna get flagged for plagiarism. And that’s not gonna go well. But if it gives you writing advice the same way I would give you writing advice, and you decide that advice is good, and you take that advice and you incorporate it into your own writing yourself, then the robot’s making you better, but you’re still the one doing your own writing.” And the writing they turned in from that assignment was, was better. It wasn’t written by ChatGPT; it was still about the student art that they found in the gallery. But I showed them a path. Like, it can help you with an outline, it can help you with feedback. Right? These are fair ways to use it that’s gonna make you better. And they really liked that. They really liked — no one had shown them that before. The idea that you don’t just take the teacher’s prompt and give it to it … like, these are new uses to students and worked well.

Eric Cross (00:16:17):

So right now, you both just laid out these ways that you’re using it. And I do this with people that I’m trying to introduce to ChatGPT or AI. ‘Cause I get excited. Anyone could write a 500-word persuasive essay on the use of color in The Great Gatsby or The Outsiders, and they can get something back within seconds. But for a lot of educators, it might feel like the sky is falling.

Donnie Piercey (00:16:43):

Oh, understandably! Understandably. I mean, that totally makes sense.

Eric Cross (00:16:49):

What would you say to them? Donnie, go ahead.

Donnie Piercey (00:16:51):

Yeah. Well, I feel like every teacher kind of goes through the same experience when they see like a generative chatbot. I mean, all these major companies are gonna start incorporating AI, the generative AI piece. And a lot of times, when they see it for the first time, two things. First they’ll say “Oh, but I’ll know that that’s not my students’ writing.” Which, frankly, I think is a good thing, because that tells me that the teachers know their students’ writing. They’ve seen them write in person. They’ve conferenced with them one-on-one. And if a student were to turn something in to me, who I know might be a struggling writer, maybe it’s not their strength, and all of a sudden they’re turning in this10-page dissertation-worthy thesis written at a PhD level, I’m like, “All right, man, you’re nine. Can we talk about where this came from?” <laugh> But I also don’t think that at like the heart, I don’t feel like kids want to cheat. I really don’t. I feel like sometimes like kids are in a situation where they’re like, “OK, I’ve got nothing left. I gotta get this assignment done.” And when those kind of things happen, that’s when we as teachers, we have those one-on-one conversations. Even when I showed my students ChatGPT and even some of the AI image-generating stuff for the first time, and I talked to them about, “What do y’all think about this?” Because, you know, they’re under 13. In my district, ChatGPT is blocked for students. Staff, we have access to it. And that’s just because one, it’s so new, and at the same time, we need to figure out, “What’s the best way they can go about using this tool?” But when we were talking about it as a class, you know, I didn’t want to ignore the elephant in the room. So I asked them, I said, “Hey, do you feel like this is something that you all would use to. …” I mean, I used the word. I said “cheat.” And to be honest, the majority of the students in my class, they were taken aback. They’re like, “What? You think we just would cheat all the time?” Right? <Laugh> And I’m like, “Oh, well good. I’m glad to know that integrity is still alive and well.” But yeah, that’s definitely my thoughts on it, as far as not only the student integrity piece — I think that that’s the big thing that you need to just bring up with your students. Because again, I like to think that I’ve seen my students write enough that if they were going to turn something in that wasn’t their voice, or it didn’t sound like them, like I could have that conversation. And don’t be surprised, too, if in the next … I don’t know, one month to a year, there’s lots of AI detectors that exist. A lot of them are these like third-party things. You can go ahead, but I would not be surprised if in the next year or so, like you start to see those AI detectors be built into Google Docs, into Microsoft Word, into even Canva. And honestly, it’s almost like a fail-safe button for teachers, that we could say “All right, this is telling me that this is 99% probably written by AI.” So you can have that conversation with a student that way.

Jennifer Roberts (00:20:03):

I mean, if you’re worried about it, Formative, right now, will even tell you if something is copy-and-pasted into the boxes that they give you for students to write in. I find that kids who cheat are desperate, you know. Especially at the high school level. They’re panic mode. And, and usually their panic comes from, “I have no idea how to even start this assignment.” And so part of what I wanna use ChatGPT for is to lower that barrier for them. Like, you’ve got an assignment, you don’t know where to start. Tell the robot, tell ChatGPT, about the assignment and ask it for a list of steps. You know, ask it for an outline. Ask it for a time management plan. I see so much tremendous potential for this to help many of my students with IEPs who have executive functioning issues.

Donnie Piercey (00:20:49):

Oh, a hundred percent, right?

Jennifer Roberts (00:20:51):

Yes, a hundred percent. This can be their personal assistant who, you know, instead of me sitting with them one-on-one and saying, you know, “This is the task you need to do, let’s break it down into these six discrete chunks,” the artificial intelligence can do that for them. And it can do that for teachers too. <laugh>

Donnie Piercey (00:21:09):

Jen, I was just thinking about, how long until we see like the phrase artificial intelligence written onto a student’s IEP? I could see that happening very, very soon.

Jennifer Roberts (00:21:20):

Right? They should be able to use that. And then, also, of course, all of its amazing beneficials for teachers. I had to completely rewrite a unit of my curriculum. I knew what I wanted to do. I had some ideas of things I wanted to put in there. And I resorted to, I went to EducationCopilot.com and typed in my stuff that I had: You know, what standards I wanted to cover, what outcomes I was hoping for mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And it generated an eight-week unit for me. And I actually told it then to go back and do it as a 12-week unit so that I’d have more stuff in there to go and cherry-pick to decide what I really wanted to do. But it gave me ideas. It gave me places to start. It saved me an hour of just brainstorming. And I don’t think that was cheating. I still got to go in and decide which ideas were valid. And I still got to … you know, I mean, I’m a teacher. Can I get accused of cheating? I don’t think that’s a thing. It’s—

Eric Cross (00:22:18):

That’s collaborating! It’s collaborating!

Donnie Piercey (00:22:20):

Collaborating! It’s a feature! It’s a feature.

Jennifer Roberts (00:22:22):

It’s Tony Stark talking to Jarvis. You know, they’re figuring it out together.

Donnie Piercey (00:22:26):

Oh, when you use the AI, Jennifer, do you call yours Jarvis? In my class we call him Jeeves. ‘Cause remember Ask Jeeves?

Jennifer Roberts (00:22:33):

I think Eric calls it Jarvis.

Eric Cross (00:22:35):

Yeah. Jarvis is gonna be the AI’s name when, when I can get that fully functioning. There are some things that you had said, I just wanna circle back on. Donnie, Jen — so what I heard was like, best intentions. The part you said about integrity and students wanting to cheat … even the mindset that we go in assuming our students, what they would want to do and assuming best intentions, really kind of frames how you look at this kind of technology. And then Jen, you kind of brought up why students cheat, and realizing that either they don’t feel equipped, or maybe it’s time management, or something else. But most people — and I believe this as an educator — most students want to learn, and they want to be able to perform and achieve. And when they cheat, it’s because they didn’t feel like they could, for whatever reason. Whether it’s it’s outside factors, whether it’s something internal, motivation, whatever it is.

Jennifer Roberts (00:23:24):

Or they were very disconnected and just didn’t care.

Eric Cross (00:23:27):

Sure.

Jennifer Roberts (00:23:27):

This is just busy work the teacher’s giving me, so I’m gonna give it very little of my time and energy. But I think, yeah, it can be that. But if the kid cares about it, if they wanna learn, they wanna learn, you know?

Eric Cross (00:23:40):

Right.

Jennifer Roberts (00:23:40):

This is the day of the internet. Any kid can learn anything they really want to learn. And we see that all the time in our classes. The kid who has zero interest in what I’m teaching in English, but he is an expert coder, and that’s what he wants to spend his time learning. He’s like, “Can I read this C++ book as my independent reading book?” And I’m like, “You know, actually, you can. Go ahead.” <Laugh>

Eric Cross (00:24:01):

Yeah. And for both of you, saying that this makes content more accessible … and I think Donnie, or Jen, you said something about IEPs. I actually put in having it write an IEP to see what would happen. I gave it a prompt for a student’s ability level and I asked it to create a plan. And then I asked it to create a rationale. And it did! And it was good! I went through and vetted it. And right now … you know, a lot of it is funny, ’cause the conversation I’m having with different teachers is kind of like the Wikipedia one. Remember when Wikipedia first got out and everyone was like trying to discourage everybody from using it, because, well, it could be changed by anybody? And now everyone’s like, “Oh, check Wikipedia, and then steal the sources, ’cause they’re already done for you.” Like, the mindset has shifted since then. And I was talking to someone and they said, “Well. …” And I said, “We can use AI, it could be a tutor, these other things. …” And they said, “Yeah, but what happens?” And then insert apocalyptic scenario. Like, what happens if you don’t have access to wifi? And it reminded me of, for some reason, cooking classes. So in the 1700s you probably had to be able to farm to be able to generate your food. Right? Like, you had to get it from somewhere. But if you take a culinary class now, you just go to the grocery store. And someone might say, “Well, but you should know how to farm, ’cause what if there was this worldwide apocalypse and nobody could go to the grocery stores?” <Laugh> And you’re like, “Well, balance of probability though.” You know, it’s like we’ve been really been living in these iterations of life, and I think this next step for some folks … like, we don’t even realize, even like something like bank statements, right? So many folks are paperless. And there’s always a what-if scenario. What if you need it and the internet goes down. But we get so used to to to technology advancing and making our lives different. This kind of seems like that next iteration. And I wanna ask you this question: Are we looking at like the next calculator? The next internet, with this tech? Or do you think it’s too early to say?

Donnie Piercey (00:26:01):

Well, I’ve seen a lot of people compare ChatGPT to a calculator. I’ve seen that pop up on social media. There’s, “Oh well, no, this is like when the calculator was invented. Everyone was up in arms about how ‘that’s not what math students should do.’ Math should be pencil and paper, math should be this.’” However, you can give a kid a calculator and you can give ’em a word problem and they can punch in all the numbers, but they could do the wrong operation or they could put the decimal point in the wrong place, ’cause the student is still the one who’s controlling what’s on the calculator. Where with AI, all you gotta do is just copy it and then paste it into the bot and it’ll spit out whatever the question asked it for. Whether it was, you know, a 500-word rationale or proof for something in geometry, or if it’s analyzing data on a chart, it’ll do all that.

Jennifer Roberts (00:27:00):

Yes. But it’s not that magical. It’s back to what Eric did with the IEP. He put in a prompt and then he knew enough to ask for a rationale and then he knew enough about IEPs to critically read the results he got and make sure they actually worked for what he needed. He had to know all that. He was an expert using it to do an expert thing. My husband’s a computer scientist; he got ChatGPT to help him write an app, and it was a new programming language to him, and he could put in the data and he could ask for things that I would’ve never thought to ask for. But because he knows the language of computer science, he knew what to ask for. And when it gave him results that were bad, he could see that, and he could say, “Yes, but do it again, but without this,” or “make this part more efficient.” He, again, knew what to ask for. So I think the generative AI is, as a partner with humans, a powerful thing. But if the human doesn’t know what they’re doing, yeah. You’re still not gonna get great results.

Donnie Piercey (00:28:03):

<laugh> And I think that’s why I’m coming at this from the elementary school perspective, right? Because in K–5 students are still learning, like, “Hey, where does the decimal point go?” They’re still learning, you know, if you’re dividing by a two-digit number, where does the first digit go, if you go in the old long-division algorithm? And so they’re still acquiring that base-level knowledge that … I don’t know, maybe this is similar to in Jurassic Park when Jeff Goldblum says, “It didn’t take any knowledge to attain,” you know, “they stood on the shoulders of geniuses,” that whole thing. Like they had to acquire the knowledge for themselves, was his whole point. And so that’s why I don’t think it’s exactly the same as the calculator. It is definitely going to change things, in a similar way that the calculator did. But to me it’s just a whole new animal. And I don’t know if it’s going to be like the next internet, Eric — if you’re gonna get little devices that have AI built into it, like a Star Wars kind of thing, like a droid or something that follows you around — all that would be kind of cool, not gonna lie. But whether it’s something that you’ll access through the internet, something that’s built into your TV, that part I don’t know. But I do know that there’s a reason why all of these apps and all these companies are investing so much — not just energy, but time and money into it. Because they’re recognizing. “OK, this really has the potential to change things.” But if used well, and used safely, to change people’s lives for the better.

Eric Cross (00:29:41):

So I definitely hear that you both agree with the statement that if AI ChatGPT was used in the classroom, it could be a force for good. And literacy development. And I wanna shift gears a bit and then come back to the AI. So with that said — and we’re gonna get into some best practices in a minute — in Science Connections right now in this season, we’re making the case for how science can do more in classrooms and in schools. And so I’m I’m curious about what both of you think about the role in science fostering a better future when it comes to AI and education. And this season we’re really talking a lot about literacy. You know, in schools, so often it’s taught in a siloed way. And Donnie, you’re doing multi-subject. Jen, you’re single-subject: English. And we’ve really been trying to make this case for how science can actually support literacy, and these skills that students are trying to develop. So we’re going a little old-school, kind of diving into your content specialty, but maybe even pre-AI, or maybe AI has a component in this. But Don, maybe we’ll start with you. How has science been a way that has been helpful for your own literacy instruction? I know you do a lot of science, because I see your Google Earth stuff and the thing you did with the solar systems back in the day. And I think —.

Donnie Piercey (00:30:54):

Oh my gosh! You remember my <laugh> … wow.

Eric Cross (00:30:58):

That was amazing!

Donnie Piercey (00:31:00):

We haven’t done that since the pandemic. But I had my students go out, and using Google Earth, we built a scale model. Each of the students partnered up and they planned out on Google Earth a scale model of the solar system. They picked an object from around their house and we talked about like, “Don’t pick something bigger than a beach ball, or else, you know, your Neptune’s gonna end up like 10 miles away.” But you know, they just picked like a small ball, like a basketball, soccer ball, something like that. Or football, for international friends. And then we calculated the size of every other planet. And then on Google Earth, using their front lawn as where the sun was, then we went and we calculated where other planets would be, and then we actually drove to those locations and like held up the objects that would represent Neptune, Jupiter, Saturn, and all that. But it was a lot of fun.

Eric Cross (00:31:59):

And is that still accessible? ‘Cause I know you have some websites that you put resources out there.

Donnie Piercey (00:32:03):

Yeah. Yeah, I can … I wanna say on my Resources page — Resources.MrPiercey.com — I’ve got a link on there to a couple of student examples that I can share. And if not, when we get off this call, I’m gonna go on and put them on there <laugh> so people can find it. I’ll even throw on there just the assignment itself. So if you wanted to copy that and do that with your students, you could.

Eric Cross (00:32:27):

Donnie, the reason why I brought that up is because I saw that you had posted that or shared it a long time ago, and I just thought it was the coolest thing that you could totally do with middle-school students or high-school students. Jen, when I became a teacher, you said, “We’re all teachers of literacy.”

Jennifer Roberts (00:32:43):

<laugh> Yeah. I think we forgot to tell them that I was one of your professors.

Eric Cross (00:32:47):

Yes. <Jennifer laughs> One of the people who’ve definitely influenced and shaped my teaching. And that statement has never left my mind: that we’re all teachers of literacy. And I want to ask you, at the high-school level, how can science educators, or how can science — how have you seen it, or how does it, support literacy, when it’s done right?

Jennifer Roberts (00:33:09):

Like I said, I think we’re all teachers of literacy, but I think literacy is bigger than just reading and writing. I don’t think someone is literate if they can’t talk somewhat knowledgeably about what’s happening with climate change. I don’t think someone’s literate if they don’t know what’s going on in the world. And I think so much of what’s going on in the world has to do with science. We’re doing that all the time. If I could teach English just by giving kids articles about science, things to read, that would make my day. Right? We would never read another piece of fiction again. It would all be, you know, what’s happening to the ice sheet in Greenland. My students thrive on reading non-fiction. And then whenever that non-fiction touches on science is even more interesting. And whenever I can get them writing about data, particularly their own data that they collected, I think that’s building those science literacy skills as well. So I think science and English blend together very, very well. I think the literacy aspects of that are fantastic. There are more subject-specific vocabulary words, advanced vocabulary words, in science than any other discipline. And I don’t see why those shouldn’t come up in English as well. You know, my seniors will do a unit at the end of the year on the new space race. Unless I replace it with a unit about generative AI, which I’m seriously considering doing, ’cause I think they really need to learn about bias in AI algorithms and things like that. And I would like to have them read a whole bunch about that stuff. And I wanna give them the open letter that all those CEOs signed that said that AI research should slow down, and make them part of that live conversation about what’s happening in that field. So science comes into that. You know, when we read Into the Wild, we start talking about a whole bunch of scientific concepts. And when it rains in Southern California, we pull up weather maps and look at radar and talk about that and how that works.

Donnie Piercey (00:34:59):

That’s like once every 10 years, Jen? <Laugh>

Jennifer Roberts (00:35:02):

Well, actually, this year it rained a lot. It rained a lot in San Diego. Which is actually very high-interest for them. ‘Cause they wanna know, is it gonna be raining at lunchtime?

Eric Cross (00:35:12):

Jen, you said something … you have your students writing about data?

Jennifer Roberts (00:35:16):

Oh yeah.

Eric Cross (00:35:17):

Can you tell me more about that?

Jennifer Roberts (00:35:19):

So, this is something we’ve done with the ninth grade team for a long time now, is writing about their own data. So it started with a unit about stereotypes and stereotype threat. And they would collect data individually and then they would enter that data into a Google form and then we would give them the spreadsheet of the aggregate data from the whole ninth grade. And then we morphed that unit into one about academic honesty, and they filled out a survey at the beginning of the unit about their feelings about academic honesty and about experiences with academic honesty and cheating and homework and things like that. And then we would do the unit. We’d do all the readings in the unit. And they’d have these “aha” moments about things that were happening at other schools. And then at the end of the unit, we would give them back their own aggregate data and ask them to write about whether or not academic honesty was an issue at our school. And then to support that answer with evidence from their own dataset. So they had that spreadsheet to comb through and figure out, you know, where am I gonna stand on this? We give them the multiple-choice questions we gave them as the graphs, in Google Slides, so that they could write about them and talk about them, too. So yeah, getting kids to write about data. And the the sentence frames we gave them were sentence frames out of, They Say, I Say, from the chapter on writing about science. And <laugh> as they write this stuff, they’re like, “I feel so smart writing this way.” And I’m like, “I know, ’cause you’re writing about big important topics!” Right? And writing about their own data come to think of it is another great way to make an assignment both very personal to them, but also make it ChatGPT-proof, you know, if you’re looking for something that kids can’t just hand to the robot, the robot doesn’t have that data set.

Eric Cross (00:37:08):

Absolutely. And Donnie, at the elementary level, do you, do you make connections between science and literacy? In your class? You talked about with math, definitely with the solar system, but now, I’m curious, what are your newer projects? What have you been working on lately?

Jennifer Roberts (00:37:23):

What’s up now, Donnie?

Eric Cross (00:37:24):

Yeah, what are you doing?

Donnie Piercey (00:37:25):

Oh, man. Well, let me think. I’m just trying to think of some fun projects that we’ve done this year. Science that we can tie in Literacy and also some student creation. Just recently we had a … so I’ve wanted to expose my students to famous scientists that weren’t just white dudes from Europe. So for this year, what I did — and I actually used AI for this — I went into ChatGPT and I asked for 64 famous scientists and it listed them all off. And then I asked it, like, how many of these were white? And I think it said like 61 of them. You know, it had like Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and a couple of other … I didn’t know who they were. So I’m like, “All right, so we need to make this more diverse and make this more equitable.” ‘Cause you know, with the student population in my classroom, try to find equal representation to make sure they can see themselves in some of these scientists. So, eventually got it narrowed down to where I had about 64 scientists. Half are women, half are men from all continents except Antarctica. I assigned these scientists to my students. Some got two; some got three. And their assignment was to go and one, do some individual research on this person, find out what they were famous for, what they were most well-known for, turn it actually into a persuasive piece, where I said, “Hey, you’re gonna have one slide.” And I’ll tell you why I gave him one slide in a minute. On that one slide, you’ve gotta convince the person who sees it that this scientist is the most important scientist since the dawn of creation. I said, “You could use images, text — I don’t care if they were famous for something that you didn’t even understand what it was. It’s a persuasive piece. You’re 10. Go all out. Add gifs, do that whole thing.

Eric Cross (00:39:21):

This is awesome.

Jennifer Roberts (00:39:21):

I wanna do this project.

Donnie Piercey (00:39:23):

And if you picked up on the number 64, and I did this in March, so what we did was throughout the weeks of March Madness of the women’s and men’s NCAA tournament, whenever a game was going on, we had another round of voting. I just paired ’em up. I was gonna like seed them, like 1 to 64 — that’s just way too much work for me <laugh>. So I just kind of did random kind of thing. But all the students had to do — they just saw the slides side-by-side, and the only question they had was, “Based on what you see here, who is the most important scientist? This person or this person?” And it eventually came down to Carl Sagan going up against Marie Curie.

Eric Cross (00:40:04):

OK, that’s a good matchup.

Donnie Piercey (00:40:06):

Yeah, well, the Marie Curie slide, they just liked the radium piece. So they added like some green glowing gifs. And I said, “Guys, it doesn’t always grow glow green.” But whatever. Anyway, eventually Carl Sagan, in case you wanted to know, according to the 10-year-olds in my classroom, is the most important scientist in the history of the world. So I don’t know if I agree with that per se — I think maybe Newton or somebody else might have had something else to say about it — but fun assignment. It was a unique way to expose my students to a bunch of ideas. I remember the student that I assigned Newton, the only thing that that she knew about Isaac Newton was “Didn’t he get hit in the head with an apple?” And I said, “Well, not exactly, I think you might have read or maybe seen too many like old-school cartoons or whatever.” But she ended up doing some research. She’s like, “Oh, I’ve heard of that before! That equal and opposite reaction thing.” Didn’t know what it meant. I had another student that just got really … you know, if you’ve ever been on one of those YouTube kicks where it’s just, you go like nine levels deep onto like, “What does this theorem mean?” Student sits in back of my classroom, I walked by one day and he’s just watching something on like the fifth dimension and what it might be. And I said, “Oh, your scientist got you started on that.” So definitely was a lot of fun. Unique way to combine reading, writing, but also expose my students to some ideas. And we’re definitely gonna do it again. I’ve actually done this assignment before. I picked 64 random elements on the periodic table. But their only slide that they have to make is “What’s your element? What is it used for? And then, why is this the most important element since the dawn of creation?” <Laugh> And, you know, there’s always that student that gets hydrogen. They’re just like “Sweet!” Right? They get excited about that one. <laugh>

Eric Cross (00:41:59):

Explosions.

Donnie Piercey (00:42:00):

Yeah. But then, for that kid who likes a challenge, or that student with the “gifted” label, you give them, like, einsteinium or palladium. Some of the more challenging ones. And they go all out with this. I didn’t use AI for that one, but it was kind of fun, and I figured it’d be neat to share an idea that another teacher could try.

Eric Cross (00:42:20):

Well you probably have at least two teachers right now that are gonna go and try that. And we’re both looking at you. So.

Donnie Piercey (00:42:24):

Go for it.

Eric Cross (00:42:25):

Thanks for that idea. I’m imagining my students coming in with jerseys with “neon.”

Donnie Piercey (00:42:29):

Oh yeah. <laugh>

Eric Cross (00:42:30):

“Neon” on it. Just all ’80s out.

Donnie Piercey (00:42:33):

The game behind it, too, is you tell kids — again, this is just so the 10-year-olds in my class don’t get their feelings hurt — but I say, “Hey, and if your element gets knocked out, you just have to start cheering for whoever beats you in the tournament.” So by the end, you kind of got half the class cheering for one and half the class cheering for whatever.

Jennifer Roberts (00:42:53):

So the only thing I got outta that whole story that I’ve got for you is, as a child I met Carl Sagan. That’s all I got.

Donnie Piercey (00:43:02):

For real?

Jennifer Roberts (00:43:02):

For real.

Donnie Piercey (00:43:03):

So did he talk with that cadence and tone?

Jennifer Roberts (00:43:06):

Yes.

Donnie Piercey (00:43:06):

Like in real life? Wow.

Jennifer Roberts (00:43:07):

Yes. My father was one of the cinematographers on the original Cosmos. And I got to go to the set a few times.

Donnie Piercey (00:43:14):

That’s incredible!

Jennifer Roberts (00:43:15):

I did not appreciate what I was seeing as a child. But as an adult, I’m like, “That was cool. I was there.”

Donnie Piercey (00:43:20):

“You can see my shadow off in the distance.”

Jennifer Roberts (00:43:23):

I mean, maybe that’s part of why I’ve always had an interest in science. I’ve always had fantastic science teachers. Every science teacher I ever had was amazing.

Donnie Piercey (00:43:31):

I credit mine to Mr. Wizard. I don’t know if you ever watched Mr. Wizard and Beakman’s World?

Eric Cross (00:43:35):

I remember Mr. Wizard. Yep. Yep. I definitely remember Mr. Wizard, Beakman’s World, all those. That was on Nickelodeon back in the day. I had to get up early to watch that one. But there’s a YouTube video—

Donnie Piercey (00:43:44):

Six am!

Eric Cross (00:43:44):

<laugh> It was! It was super-early! But there was one, Don, I don’t know if you’ve seen this on YouTube, but it said “Mr. Wizard Is Mean,” and it’s just clips of when he’s—

Donnie Piercey (00:43:56):

Yelling at kids!

Eric Cross (00:43:56):

Chastising. Or being really direct. It’s just one after another.

Donnie Piercey (00:44:02):

He always asked ’em a question and if the kid, you know, didn’t answer it right, he’d be like, “Well, you’re not right, but you’re wrong.” You know, whatever. <Laugh>

Eric Cross (00:44:14):

I have to make sure I’m not subconsciously saying Mr. Wizard quotes when I’m talking in the classroom, when things are happening. But yeah, that video’s hilarious. So I just want to bring us back to AI, and ask this question: Do you think science has a special role to play when it comes to teaching kids about AI responsibly? Does science have a special role in that?

Jennifer Roberts (00:44:36):

I think the responsible piece of AI I wanna teach my students about is the part about the bias in the algorithms and the bias in the training. And I want them to understand how it works, well enough to make informed decisions about how it impacts their lives.

Donnie Piercey (00:44:56):

Hmm.

Jennifer Roberts (00:44:57):

Because I do have concerns about a tool that was trained on the internet. And the answers it gives you is the average of the internet. And do we trust the internet? And the answer from kids is always, “Well sorta, no.” <Laugh> So I want them to understand the social science behind that.

Donnie Piercey (00:45:18):

Yeah. And just along that same point, having the students recognize that just because, you know, you copy-and-paste a question in, the answer it spits out might not always be correct. So, teaching them that just like you would with a source that you find about a topic that you’re researching, you’ve gotta fact-check.

Jennifer Roberts (00:45:44):

It’s just like being a good scientist. A good scientist wouldn’t always accept a single result or the first result. You know, you would look at multiple angles. You would try things different ways. Last week I took the article my seniors were reading about victim compensation after 9-11, and in front of them, I gave ChatGPT, I said, “Are you familiar with this article by Amanda Ripley? And ChatGPT came back and said, “Oh yes, this was written in the Atlantic in 2020 and it’s about these things, blah, blah blah.” And my students looked at that and went, “That’s not the article we read.” And I said, “I know. It got it wrong. That’s amazing!” Yeah. And I was so happy that it got it wrong! ‘Cause I wanted them to see that happen.

Donnie Piercey (00:46:21):

And I guess one of the big science questions there, or one of the big science components there, is that idea of inquiry. Right? It’s almost like you have to teach students how to ask those deep questions about what AI spits out.

Eric Cross (00:46:35):

All of those tips are great. And it leads me to this last question I want to ask. New teachers that are out there — it actually doesn’t even matter; new teachers, experienced teachers, all of us are kind of new at different levels of this race. We’re all kind of starting it together. I mean, it hit mainstream. We’re all getting exposed to it. You all really dive into it. When tech comes out, I know you two really like, “OK, how can we use this to transform education and do awesome things for kids?”

Donnie Piercey (00:47:04):

Usually, when new tech comes out, “How can this make my life easier?” is usually the question. Yeah.

Jennifer Roberts (00:47:09):

“How can I save myself time with this?” Yes.

Donnie Piercey (00:47:11):

“How can this result in me watching more TV and you know, less grading,” sometimes.

Eric Cross (00:47:16):

And I start there like you, but then I end up more time that I fill with another project. And I need to learn how to stop doing that. I’m like, “Oh! I got more free time! … to go take on this other task.”

Jennifer Roberts (00:47:28):

Oh, all of my tech adoption is driven by “how can I work less?”

Eric Cross (00:47:32):

So you’re you’re talking to a new teacher, teacher’s getting exposed to this, they’re starting the school year or they’re just getting their feet wet with it. What advice would you give them about AI, incorporated into content or even just best practices? Where you’re at right now in your own journey, and someone’s asking you about it —what would you share with ’em? And Jen, I want to start with you.

Jennifer Roberts (00:47:53):

So, the first thing I did is I was in the middle of grading, you know, 62 essays from my seniors about Into the Wild, when ChatGPT became a thing last November. And I wanted to see what would happen. So the first thing I did was take the prompt that I had given my students and gave it to ChatGPT, ’cause I had just graded a whole bunch of those essays and my brain was very attuned to what my rubric was doing and what I was expecting as the outcome. So I could take what ChatGPT gave me as that quote unquote “essay” and evaluate it critically. And I was ready to do that. So my first advice is take something you’re already asking students to do and ask ChatGPT to do the same thing. So that as you look at the student results, you can compare that to what ChatGPTgives you. If what you’re finding is that ChatGPT can generate something that would earn a decent grade from you, you might need to change that assignment. And it doesn’t need to be a big change, but it might need a tweak or something, so that it, it does rely on the student voice, the students to do something more personal. I’m finding very helpful in my classroom is having my kids do projects where they are recording themselves on — I like Flip. So they’re writing a scene together and they’re having to record the scene together. And I’m emphasizing more of the speaking roles than the writing roles necessarily. So yes, first, take something you’re already doing, paste in to ChatGPT, see what the results are, see how that fits with what your students are doing, and then do that for every assignment you give and just sort of see what comes out of that, and see which assignments are failing and which assignments are working. ‘Cause that’s gonna give you a sense, when you do see one of those results from your students, you’ll be able to recognize it. But it’ll also help you tweak your assignments and decide, “How can I make this a little more original or a little bit more authentic for my students?” And if the robot, if the AI, can’t generate a response, what could the AI do that would be helpful to your students? Would be my next question. So can you use the AI to help them generate an outline? Can you use the AI to help them generate a list of steps to help them get started? And when you’re comfortable enough doing that by yourself, then don’t be afraid to open it in front of your class. If it’s not blocked at your school site, which I hope it’s not. Because I think the advantage goes to kids who have access to this in the long run, or at least see what it is and know what it is. Right? Because if a kid graduates from school without knowing that AI exists, they’re not gonna be prepared for what they face out in the world. So give them a chance to see you using it. Model effectively using it. I have a blog post about that. I just wrote it. LitAndTech.com. You can check that out. “Introducing 9th graders to ChatGPT.” How it went, right? There’s a chart there you can have. It’s my very first draft of this, but it seems to be very popular. So, you know, show students how it can be used as their mentor. If I can’t come read your paragraph because I have 36 kids in my classroom and I cannot stop and read everybody’s first paragraph, can you, if you want to, give your first paragraph to ChatGPT and ask for advice? And will that advice be helpful to you? So showing students how it can be used responsibly is, I think, something every teacher should be doing right now. And don’t hold back just because you’re afraid you’re gonna be teaching them what this is. They know what this is. Right?

Donnie Piercey (00:51:13):

They know what it is.

Jennifer Roberts (00:51:13):

Especially if you teach high school. They know what it is. I’ve had parents thank me for showing them how to use it responsibly. You know, this can actually be a really useful tool, but if you’re trying to make it do your work for you, it will probably fail you. If you’re trying to use it to help you do your work, it will probably be helpful. Sort of the way I’m breaking it down for them at this point. You want the great metaphor? The great metaphor is if you build a robot and send it to the top of a mountain, did you climb that mountain? No. If you build a robot and ask it to help you get to the top of the mountain, and you and the robot go together, did you climb that mountain? Yes.

Eric Cross (00:51:53):

I like that. I’m thinking through this. I’m processing that now.

Donnie Piercey (00:51:57):

Me too.

Eric Cross (00:51:59):

Yeah. I just imagine a robot holding my hand climbing Mount Everest and I’m like, “Yeah, I did it.”

Donnie Piercey (00:52:04):

If I got a robot though, like I would have to dress it like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 2. Like I would just have to.

Eric Cross (00:52:10):

Of course.

Donnie Piercey (00:52:10):

Of course.

Eric Cross (00:52:13):

Donnie, same question. Advice. Teachers getting immersed into it. Tips. What would you say?

Donnie Piercey (00:52:20):

So, I would definitely agree with everything that Jen said. Just, if anything else, to familiarize yourself with it. Almost like pretend like it’s a student in your classroom and it’s answering questions, just so that way you can see what it can do. And you’re kind of training yourself, like, “Oh, well, if I ever need examples, exemplars.” If you’re in a writing piece and you don’t wanna sit there and write out four different types of student responses — you know, advanced writer, beginning writer, whatever — great way to to do that is you just—

Jennifer Roberts (00:52:48):

Oh yeah. We did that.

Donnie Piercey (00:52:48):

—copy the prompt in and give a beautifully written piece that a fifth grader would be impressed with. Boom. It’ll do it for you. In my classroom, the way that I approach it is I kinda look at AI as almost like this butler that I don’t have to pay. That if I need it to do something for me, it’s just bookmarked. I can click it. And I mean, sometimes I just talk to it like it’s a person. And it’s almost like, in the chat window, I’m just rambling at it, what I’m trying to do. And it’s almost like I’m talking to a coworker, and I’m trying to hedge out some ideas for a lesson. Simple example: For a science lesson, if you’re trying to come up with … let’s say you’re a fifth-grade — or, sorry, I teach fifth grade. Say you’re a seventh-grade science teacher. And you’re trying to teach the students in your class about Newton’s third law of motion. You know, every action [has an ] equal and opposite reaction. Look around your room. See what you have. Maybe look around and you’re like, “All right, I got a whiteboard, microscope, I’ve got magnets, a cylinder. …” And you just copy all this stuff into ChatGPT. Say, like, “Hey, I have all of these items. Cotton balls, peanut butter, whatever.” And say, “I’m trying to teach students Newton’s third law of motion. Give me some ideas of some ways I could teach it using some of these materials.” And it’ll do it! It’ll give you like five to 10 ideas!

Jennifer Roberts (00:54:15):

And then tell it what your students are into. Like, my students are really into basketball. Can you work that into this lesson?

Donnie Piercey (00:54:21):

Yeah! They’re into the Avengers! Hey, find some way to tie Spider-Man into this. You know, that was a pun that didn’t go so well. But, you know <laugh> figure out some way that you could incorporate this and it’ll do it. And Eric, like you said, it won’t be perfect. Right? But if anything else, if you’re a starting teacher and you’re trying to brainstorm ideas — try it.

Eric Cross (00:54:44):

And Donnie, as you were saying that, I was thinking — first, I imagined Spider-Man shooting cotton balls with peanut butter all over them — and then my mind went to having students have these items, like you were saying. And then they create labs, working alongside AI. To do inquiry. To create a lab about something, and then going and performing and collecting data. OK, that’s — now I wanna go do that tomorrow!

Donnie Piercey (00:55:10):

Listen, it is so easy to do. If you have an extra computer in your classroom. … We were talking about Jarvis and Iron Man and Tony Stark earlier. Make a new chat in ChatGPT. Tell it, “I want you to pretend that you are Tony Stark. Only answer questions as if you are Tony Stark.” Or “Pretend you’re Jarvis.” Whatever. “Stay in character the whole time. I’m going to have sixth grade students come up to you and ask you questions about science or forces of nature, and only answer questions like you’re Iron Man.” And guess what? You keep that station in your classroom. Students are working on a project — you know, in elementary school, a lot of times we’ll have that, “ask three before me” — you’re supposed to ask three friends before you go and bug the teacher. Well, maybe one of those “three before me” can be that little computer station, where they go up and ask Tony Stark a question, and then it answers them as Jarvis or Iron Man. I mean, we’re really just scratching the surface with all this AI stuff. And as more and more companies and more and more creatives are gonna start to realize everything that it can do, we’re gonna start to see it more and more. And hopefully we as teachers can really figure out how to use this tool to, of course, help students, but also help them be creative and explore and learn on their own.

Eric Cross (00:56:35):

That’s amazing. And just both of you are just dropping gems right now. And I wanna wrap up by saying — and I’ve said this before on earlier podcasts I’ve done — but at this phase in my life, the people that I’m the biggest fans of are teachers. And it’s true. I don’t mean that in a cliche way. When I watch celebrities and things like that, when I watch professional sports, that doesn’t fill me the way it used to when I was a kid. At this point, as a professional, I get inspired by other educators who are just doing awesome things. And when I think about educators who are doing that, you two are on that list of people that make me better. And when I get better, I can do better things for my kids. And so, one, I want to thank you for staying in the classroom and continue to support students. They’re so lucky to have you both. The second thing I wanted to say is, Jen, I wanna start with you. Where can people — and I know we said at the beginning — but where can people find the stuff that you put out? You got blogs, your social, your book.

Jennifer Roberts (00:57:28):

I got lots of social. Twitter, I’m JenRoberts1 on Twitter. And then my blog is LitAndTech.com. And then I’m on lots of the new social too, the Mastodons, the Spoutables, the Posts — those kinds of things — as just Jen Roberts, because I got in early and I got my real name without a 1. And there was some other one I’m on recently that I’ve forgotten about. But there’s lots of ’em. They’re fun. And I’m Jen Roberts. You can find me there.

Donnie Piercey (00:57:56):

And I’m SergeantPepperD on AOL, if anyone’s interested.

Eric Cross (00:58:00):

If you wanna hit Donnie up on AIM. <Laugh>

Donnie Piercey (00:58:03):

SergeantPepperD.

Jennifer Roberts (00:58:04):

You know, speaking of rock stars and people who do amazing things, I did write a blog post about using ChatGPT in the classroom, but I hear Donnie wrote a whole book.

Eric Cross (00:58:13):

Oh yeah. So, Donnie! Donnie, that’s a great segue. Thanks Jen. Donnie, how do people find out more? And can you tell us about this book you wrote, that’s coming out in the summer?

Donnie Piercey (00:58:22):

Yeah, so the book I wrote is called 50 Strategies for Integrating AI Into the Classroom. It’s published by Teacher Created Materials. They reached out to me. They had seen some of the stuff that I was doing, not just with ChatGPT, but also some image-generating AI stuff. You know, I got featured on Good Morning America, which was kind of cool. And they saw that and they said, ‘Hey, that looks really neat.” Reached out to me and asked me to write a book. And the idea behind the book, that launches this summer, it’s just 50 ideas, 50 prompts, different things that, as a classroom teacher, that you can do. So, you know, I think there’s so many AI books that are out there now. A lot of them are big ideas, which I think are important. Definitely important discussions that need to be, have around, the ethics of AI. What’s the role that AI should play in the classroom. But I just wanted to write a book, kind of like the discussion that, that Jen and I were just having, which is like, “Can we just share a whole bunch of ideas, different things that we could try with our students?” So definitely check it out. And I appreciate you giving me a shout-out too. That was cool, Eric. Thank you.

Eric Cross (00:59:35):

Of course. Definitely. And Donnie, your Twitter is again. …

Donnie Piercey (00:59:39):

Oh, @MrPiercey, M R P I E R C E Y.

Eric Cross (00:59:44):

Follow Donnie. Follow Jen. Tons of stuff on there. Both of you, thank you so much. For your time, for talking about students and how we can take care of them, science, literacy, AI. I hope we can talk about this again. I feel like even if in just six months, we might be saying different things. In a year, the landscape might completely change. And that makes it really fun. But thank you both for being on the show.

Jennifer Roberts (01:00:04):

Thank you for having us, Eric.

Donnie Piercey (01:00:05):

Thank you so much, Eric. We appreciate it, bud.

Eric Cross (01:00:10):

Thanks so much for listening to my conversation with Jen Roberts and Donnie Piercey. Jen Roberts is a veteran English teacher at San Diego’s Point Loma High School and author of the book Power Up: Making the Shift to 1:1 Teaching and Learning. You can keep up with her at LitAndTech.com. And Donnie Piercey is a fifth-grade teacher from Lexington, Kentucky. He hosts the podcast Teachers Passing Notes. Stay up-to-date with him at Resources.MrPiercey.com. And let us know what you think of this episode in our Facebook discussion group, Science Connections: The Community. Make sure you don’t miss any new episodes of Science Connections by subscribing to the show, wherever you get podcasts. And as always, we’d really appreciate it if you can leave us a review. It’ll help more people and AI robots find the show. You can find more information on all of Amplify’s shows on our podcast hub, Amplify.com/hub. Thanks again for listening.

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What Jennifer Roberts says about science

“If I’m not teaching my students how to use this, then they’re not going to turn into the adults we need them to be… If we’re not at least trying to think about what our future world is going to look like, then we’re not serving our students well.”

– Jennifer Roberts

High School English Teacher

Meet the guests

Jen Roberts is a Nationally Board Certified high school English teacher with 25+ years of experience teaching Social Science and English Language Arts in grades 7-12. She has had 1:1 laptops for her students since 2008 and is the co-author of Power Up: Making the Shift to 1:1 Teaching and Learning. A Google for Education Certified Innovator since 2011, Jen was named the CUE Outstanding Educator in 2022. Her interests include literacy instruction, standards based grading, and leveraging Google tools to make her teaching more efficient and effective.

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Donnie Piercey, the 2021 Kentucky Teacher of the Year, is a fifth-grade teacher in Lexington, Kentucky.  With a passion for utilizing technology to promote student inquiry, learning, and engagement, he has been teaching since 2007. In addition to being in the classroom, he runs a podcast, Teachers Passing Notes that is produced by the Peabody Award winning GZMShows, and holds several recognitions, including a National Geographic Fellowship to Antarctica in 2018. His most recent work in Artificial Intelligence has not gone unnoticed, earning him multiple appearances on Good Morning America, the Associated Press, and PBS. His upcoming book, “50 Strategies for Integrating AI in the Classroom” published by Teacher Created Materials, is written for educators looking for practical classroom approaches to using AI. All told, Donnie has been invited to keynote and present at schools in thirty-three states and on five continents.

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About Science Connections

Welcome to Science Connections! Science is changing before our eyes, now more than ever. So…how do we help kids figure that out? We will bring on educators, scientists, and more to discuss the importance of high-quality science instruction. In this episode, hear from our host Eric Cross about his work engaging students as a K-8 science teacher. 

S3-02: How science strengthens literacy and language development

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In our second episode of the season, we continue finding ways that science is overlooked and how it can be better utilized in schools—and as an ally to other subjects!

We sat down with Susan Gomez Zwiep, former middle school science teacher and senior science educator and staff advocate at BSCS Science Learning. She shared past experiences and research that shows the benefits of integrating science and literacy, as well as strategies for applying these ideas in the classroom.

We hope you enjoy this episode and explore more from Science Connections by visiting our main page!

DOWNLOAD TRANSCRIPT

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (00:00):
We started to see this trend of students communicating more in English because they were excited about the science that they had been learning.

Eric Cross (00:10):
Welcome to Science Connections. I’m your host Eric Cross. In this third season, we’re exploring the theme of science as the underdog. And last time around, we delved into the data showing that compared to other subjects, science is often put on the back burner. Now it’s time to explore why it’s so important to change that and how to do it effectively. So over the course of these coming episodes, we’re gonna make the case for science and equip you with data and strategies for advancing science in your own home, school, or community. To kick things off, we’re going to spend a few episodes going in depth on the integration of science and English instruction. We know we need to dramatically improve literacy rates in this country, and as we’ll show in the coming episodes, science can be a key ally in that goal. We’ll also show how language development and literacy instruction can support science. Yes, it can be a win-win, folks. To start out, I’m joined by someone who has been studying science and language development for more than a decade. Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep is a senior science educator and staff advocate for BSCS Science Learning. On this episode, she talks about her own experience as a middle school science teacher and share some key insights and strategies from the research on integrating science and English language development. Please enjoy this conversation with Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep.

Eric Cross (01:36):
Welcome to the podcast. Thank you for being here and having this really important conversation. So I’m so glad you can make it, Susan.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (01:43):
Yeah, I’m excited to be here.

Eric Cross (01:44):
We’re gonna talk all about language development and science. But first I was hoping that you can just kind of set the stage and tell the listeners about yourself and how you came about to studying this specific subject.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (01:57):
Sure. So I am a California native. I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley and that’s where I started teaching. I have an undergraduate degree in integrated biology from UC Berkeley. And I thought I was gonna go be a field scientist. And while I was waiting for grad school applications to run their course, I took a substitute job in Montebello to kind of bide my time. And because I had a science degree, they asked if I would take a permanent placement, well, a temporary permanent placement. And I said sure. And found myself teaching seventh and eighth grade general science to a population that at the time was about 68% English language learners, in a school that you would consider urban, under-resourced with a community that was large percentage immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America. And I never looked back. I kept that job.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (03:04):
I loved it. I love the middle school classroom. I love teaching science to my middle school students and truly, truly just found a really good home for my love of science, but also my love for talking about science and helping other people understand science. So at some point I was entertained with the idea of going to graduate school. So while I was still teaching, I actually did a Ph.D. At the University of Southern California in the science education field. And once there, realized that I actually had a unique experience in higher ed, that experience of teaching with populations that are learning English or have home languages other than English, was actually not common in higher ed circles. And being from that community was also not common. And so I pretty quickly leveraged that experience to combat what I think is universally agreed as an equity issue that in my school where I taught, the district had advocated for ELs to get an extra hour of language development in order to promote their English language proficiency.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (04:28):
And, our principal wisely said, there are not enough English-only students in this school to do that without losing all of our science teachers because there’s not enough kids left to actually fill a day, a teacher’s day. And she said, these kids learn more language in their science courses than they do anywhere else, so I don’t wanna remove that. But the reality is, is that at that time–this was in the late nineties, early two thousands–if you were not proficient in English, you went to more time with language development. And that makes a lot of sense in some ways. But when you look at the big picture, you realize, well, that means those kids aren’t going to science and they’re not having opportunities to have consistent quality science learning opportunities simply because they spoke a language other than English at home. And so that’s really how I fell into this work.

Eric Cross (05:28):
And that has a downstream effect. I mean, once you start pulling students from a course, that automatically sets the trajectory for later outcomes, which we ultimately see in STEM fields where we, we don’t see the population of our students represented in the STEM fields. Now, I know this goes back a few years, but you were doing research for your Ph.D. What did you start to follow?

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (05:50):
Yeah, so I eventually took a position at Cal State Long Beach, which was not by chance, it’s a Hispanic-serving institution, and that’s where I wanted to do my academic work. And once I was there, sought funding with a district to support elementary science learning. So it had a teacher professional learning component that was both summer and in-class, sort of like PD in the classroom component. And the district came back and said, the only way you are gonna get time to even talk about science in elementary school is if it’s attached to language development. And so that’s what we did. It was a three-year grant, there was a sister grant that followed–so all told, it was about a five-year program where we basically said, what if instead of following the traditional ELD, English Language Development curriculum, we modified and put science as the context for language development in the K2 bands.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (07:01):
Teachers at the district traditionally had not been excited about their language development curriculum until we said, we’re gonna take that and we’re gonna do some science instead. And then they were like, no, no, no! We love our ELD curriculum. But they hung in there with us. The project was successful enough that it actually became a K4 and then a K5 project. The district ended up having to put in a ton of money into this because the grant only paid for so much. But their schools actually wanted “in” ’cause what they heard is when we put science as a context for language development, kids were talking more. Kids were speaking in English more. Kids were writing more. Kids were engaged. And the ultimate, kids were developing English quickly and in a community where you could actually operate within the community without speaking English. These are Spanish-speaking communities and the schools operated in Spanish outside the classroom. So if you walked into the school’s office, the principal secretary, the person who manned the door, spoke Spanish. The field supervisors that the lunch supervisors spoke Spanish.

Eric Cross (08:17):
The non-teaching staff that are supporting the rest of the students outside of the classroom.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (08:23):
Yeah. Everybody spoke Spanish and they spoke Spanish at school. And even the principals came back and said, from being in this project, that the kids were coming into the office and had transitioned to communicating in English, especially when they wanted to talk about science, and they really wanted to talk about science ’cause they were super excited about the stuff that they were learning. So we started to see this trend of students communicating more in English because they were excited about the science that they had been learning. And yeah, that sold itself and we had schools jumping in.

Eric Cross (09:01):
So you started off in a situation where you were told that you had to, if you wanna get science and you had to merge it into English, basically. And is it fair to say that that’s because of testing requirements that schools have on them? Like this is what gets analyzed or what was the purpose behind that?

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (09:15):
It was district policy and it was site policy and those policies were put into place for very good intentions. Students don’t get reclassified into English only, and reclassification is how you traditionally got access to all this other programming, electives, AP college prep, all those other things. And the best way to get them reclassified was to learn English, and to learn it sooner rather than later. So it was in an attempt to get kids reclassified from English learner to English proficient.

Eric Cross (09:55):
And then during that process it was able to be expanded to K4. And then with these open-minded teachers, you gave them the content, they used science as the context for learning. And then your students who were mostly emerging bilinguals and multilingual students, you found that they started speaking English more frequently. What did you make of that result? Like what did you come to after seeing all that happen?

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (10:20):
So I do wanna say that there’s a couple of reasons why we think this works so well. But I have to really acknowledge that there were linguistics, second language acquisition experts that were part of this team. And we wouldn’t have been able to make any of this work if it was purely science educators leading this cause. There’s a lot we didn’t understand about language development, and they really helped us. But one of the things that we think is unique about science, there’s a few really important aspects–one is that we all have experiences in the natural world, since we can process outside information, right? We all have observations, things we’ve observed with our eyes, we’ve heard, we’ve felt, and all of those experiences build some pretty good science ideas before we enter formal schooling. You know, kids already have ideas about this.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (11:20):
We don’t have to give them language for it. They already have these concepts and experiences. The other thing is that we are inherently interested in the natural world we occupy. And so we’re curious, science is often considered cool, there are science channels and science fiction movies and science fiction books and magazines–and this is just … it’s just cool. And that tended to be the trigger, you know, when we gave kids something interesting to observe. A Ziploc bag with water that we added an Alka-Seltzer to, and strange things starts happening in the baggie. That curiosity, that excitement allowed kids to leap over any concerns they had about the language they were supposed to use in the classroom. One of the most difficult things about learning a language is using a language that is imperfect. So saying things and communicating in a language that you are not a hundred percent confident about, that you’re not sure you’re using the right words or the right tenses. But when kids were excited about this thing in a Ziploc bag, they didn’t care. They communicated however they could, sometimes in their primary language or their home language, sometimes in imperfect English, but by and large they just communicated. They did it in oral language, like listening and speaking, but they also did it in writing. And that was easy. Like we didn’t have to do anything other than provide interesting science experiences. And that’s, that’s pretty common.

Eric Cross (13:06):
Yeah. I feel like, to co-sign on the science is cool, it is objectively, if a matter of fact, even just looking at the Oscars, like we have multiverse, you know, we have sci-fi you know, the costume designer of Wakanda Forever. We have all of these different movies that are all founded in some kind of these scientific principles. And so the idea that science is cool and organic, naturally engaging is something I think we, we all can connect to and it resonates with all of us. So I feel like is sort of your origin story too.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (13:33):
That’s the origin story.

Eric Cross (13:34):
That’s the origin story right there, to continue with this like movie theme. Now if we fast forward to today, based on all the research that you’ve seen since then, and your experience, why would you advocate merging English language development and science?

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (13:49):
Well, for one, the research that we conducted actually provided some really nice evidence that showed, even though we had essentially stole minutes from language development time and inserted science. And on state mandated tests and on their students’ language proficiency measures, the kids in the program with the blended, did significantly better than students who were getting ELD instruction alone. Traditional ELD instruction. And that kind of blew our mind. We would’ve been happy if they had done just fine. Like we could put science into a student’s day and do no harm. They could get their language development; they could get science. But in fact, what we found was that they did better. That they actually gained English more quickly and it showed up in multiple measures, including the state English language arts assessment, which again, kind of blew our mind.

Eric Cross (14:55):
So just to be clear about the study that you did, you looked at two groups and one was the blended science and English language development, and then the other one was a control group. And the blended group ended up showing more improvement.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (15:09):
Yes. So there’s quite a bit of research now, this research was done in the early two thousands, and the research has built around it to really suggest that this does seem to be a more efficient way to promote language development while still maintaining students’ access to a core content area. But in recent years, the standards have shifted and that has been just a remarkable, wonderful change. And both standards have shifted. So when we did our research, we did it under the old California Science standards that were fairly heavy in technical terms. They were heavy in science concepts rather than kids doing things. And they were a much narrower focus.

Eric Cross (16:04):
And these are the standards that most of us grew up on, right? Those of us who are pretty much teachers in the classroom today pretty much grew up on what you’re talking about. Is that fair to say?

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (16:12):
That’s fair to say, yes. So the new standards that we have now, the California NGSS Standards emphasize not just ideas, but they also emphasize students doing things in science. And we didn’t have to build-in language portions to the standards. They now exist. The NGSS is a very, very rich linguistic opportunity for students. And at the same time, the way we’ve thought about language development has also shifted. We used to talk about language and science… we used to think about science as a lot of words, and you had to know the words, you had to have this technical language. And we’ve sort of shifted that to really thinking about, language is no longer a prerequisite for science learning. Language is now developed through the science learning or the content learning experiences.

Eric Cross (17:11):
So now there’s more chances to integrate English into science. Have you seen success stories or have you seen examples of this? Maybe just anecdotes of teachers kind of doing this since you’ve been doing this research and kind of watching. If so, would you mind sharing one or two?

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (17:30):
Yeah. And I will just give a nod to Dr. Dr. Okie Lee who’s now at NYU who has really led sort of this reconception of language and science. And one of the ways she talks about it is this notion that I enter this learning experience, I enter this observation of this phenomena with fairly naive, simple scientific ideas. And my language about it is equally simple. But as I develop more and more ideas, as my understanding of the phenomenon, what I figured out becomes more sophisticated, I need more sophisticated language. And so what we’re starting to see are these spaces where teachers are building science ideas and science and understanding along with the language. And in order to do that, you really need to know what’s the storyline arc of my science lesson? What do they figure out in lesson one? What do they figure out in lesson two?

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (18:35):
What do they figure out in lesson three? How are the science ideas building over time? So that I can then look at the language that they’re using and what language supports do I need in order to allow students to not only engage and figure things out, but communicate their ideas about it. And so we’re seeing teachers blow up what we call language, what we call text. It’s not just words. It’s not just sentences written on a paper, but it’s models, it’s pictorial representations, it’s gestures, it’s this wide range. We pretty much said, let’s blow language up. Let’s like use all of the linguistic registers that we have in order to make meaning of what we’re seeing it in together in this classroom. So that’s one thing that we’re starting to see. The other thing is that teachers are really allowing students opportunities to use what we call social language, non-standard dialects.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (19:40):
The language I use at home and with my friends. Because earlier I had said, we have all these experiences and those experiences in the world are tied up in my social register. They’re tied up in my home language ’cause that’s where I experience them. And to let students have access to using that language in the classroom, especially initially in a unit, means we’re giving ’em access to those experiences that they have that are related to the phenomena under study. So I totally understand the benefit of promoting academic language and promoting language frames and forms that we use in more academic settings. But it’s a sticky wicket. You have to be careful how you tell students about the way you want them to communicate. Because when we tell them that language that you use at home with your friends and family is not welcome here, we can send a message that they’re not welcome here. And that those experiences that they have outside of classroom about how things fall, the way sunlight heats up different surfaces, where you’ll find plants and what plants you will find based on conditions. All of those experiences, we’re sending a message that those are not welcome in the classroom. And so this expansion of language, including non-standard dialects and even home language, is really important for letting students bring their whole selves into the classroom.

Eric Cross (21:23):
I love what you just said. It legitimizes the funds of knowledge, the language, the cultures that our students are bringing to the table. I remember when I first learned the word code-switching in college and you know, I’m biracial, I grew up in my home community and my school community were two different communities and I ethnically, culturally belonged to both. And I had to code-switch in order to kind of survive and be accepted into different communities. And not until I was in college did I actually understand what I was doing. Now there were all kinds of teasing and jokes that went on to how I would talk if I code-switched improperly. And in my classroom, I would see students who would explain concepts in a way that was maybe like a casual register. They just were explaining it the best way they could.

Eric Cross (22:10):
And the way they were speaking was kind of denigrated or it was seen as negative even though they were communicating their concept. And when I became a middle school teacher, one of my, I don’t know, it’s like sometimes when you teach, you get to, you change how you were taught or what you experience and legitimizing my students’ language, and they would tell these beautiful stories and in their most common like, casual language, but they’re explaining the concept brilliantly. And it was phenomenal to see this barrier be removed of saying, you have to talk like this in order to be a scientist or you have to say these right words. And, and that’s what I feel like I’m hearing that in how you’re describing kind of how science has been done and what language can do to certain groups of students.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (22:58):
Yeah, very much so. And you know, back to the origin story, you know, I grew up in a multi-generational household. My mom, my aunt, my grandmother, Spanish was their first language, but they lost it because my mom was raised in Riverside and she, you know, went to school in the, the fifties and sixties and back then you weren’t allowed to speak Spanish at school. And so they lost the language.

Eric Cross (23:27):
They weren’t allowed to speak it at all.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (23:29):
At all. I didn’t directly observe it, but that is the story that my family tells, that there was no English spoken anywhere on school grounds. And that was a different issue. Right? That was very much for people unfamiliar with some of the history in Southern California. Their segregated schools, severe racism, linguistic racism, racial racism against Mexicans was a real thing. But yet I grew up in this household where the sort of way of speaking, like I think many Mexican households, the context is everything. So you can’t get to the facts until you’ve told the whole context of everything happening around it. So we used to joke that we couldn’t send my grandmother to the doctor by herself ’cause he had 15 minutes, and she was gonna take 20 just to tell him how she got there before she got to why she was there. But this telling of the context, the telling of the story around the idea is part of the linguistic, this sort of linguistic way of my household. When I got to school, I had to learn to drop it because teachers found me off topic. You know, I still have to be careful how I express things and sometimes I’m not a fast storyteller <laugh>, and I monitor that for myself. So I can only imagine what it’s like to be a kid in a classroom.

Eric Cross (24:59):
Right. And there are so many constraints in the school day, you know, especially if you’re multi-subject and you’re elementary and you’re teaching multiple subjects and someone’s trying to tell a story and you’re just like, land the plane! And they’ve, you know, gotta tell ’em the story, but realizing that when you look at it through a lens of like, culturally, this is how we communicate, then it reframes what the student is trying to do. They’re communicating to you based on how they’ve learned to communicate and they’re including essential parts of the story. And so how do you both honor that while also, you know, certain things like brevity and being concise and things like that that they’ll have to learn. But also honoring that and making sure that there’s space for that in your classroom. Even me, I’m thinking about this where I had students record this video and it was one minute to two-and-a-half minutes explaining three concepts. And I had students coming up to me afterwards saying, Mr. Cross, I need to record two videos because two-and-a-half minutes is not long enough. And I was like, how? I even extended it. But I’m realizing and listening to you and going, they’re probably not just getting to the point. They’re probably including more context into this because that’s how they story tell and that was actually part of the lesson.

Eric Cross (26:12):
So now I need to go back and extend their time that I’ve given them for <laugh> that project. I wanna come back to kind of, since we’re on this topic about why this is also an equity issue. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So we were talking about language, you touched on this a bit, and we were talking about integrating into science, but can we go a little bit further into how this integrated approach maybe can benefit English language learners in particular? And maybe anything else that’s related to equity that comes to mind.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (26:40):
So there’s a couple of layers of the equity issue. The most tangible and clear is student access. If we wait until students develop English proficiency to allow them access to quality science learning, we lose a tremendous number of students that could not only could they benefit from science, we could benefit from their entering this science conversation. And I was at a university and I was in a college of natural sciences and we were dedicated to increasing the diversity of the faculty. And it was a struggle ’cause the number of Ph.D. science ed or biology or chemistry academics that come from marginalized populations is very, very small. And it’s not by accident. You know, the number of students that make it into the next level, that make it into college prep courses, that make it into STEM majors, that complete STEM majors and go on to either careers or advanced degrees narrows at every possible step.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (28:01):
And so the equity issue is really one of access. And as basic as that is, it’s the easiest to solve. So that’s the first layer of equity. But the second issue around equity is how we engage these students once they’re in this space. Do we make it possible for them to see themselves as a scientist or an engineer? Are we creating learning experiences that not only allow them to use all the sense-making resources that they have, but do we make them feel like they’re valuable and useful in that space? Because there’s a lot of people that will say, I could be successful as a scientist, but I’m not willing to give up who I am in order to do that. And that’s a real thing. There’s a lot of research about like, why are they leaving? Like why, you know, is it because they’re not able?

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (29:05):
Is it because they don’t see themselves as being capable? And now I think we’re looking at this as a different issue. It’s not that students don’t see themselves as capable and not that they’re not achieving. They see the cost that it will take to enter these fields and essentially not be able to be their full selves. So that’s the second equity issue. And in both cases we lose. As a society, we lose. We lose access to the full range of human resources that we have, and we lose access to their unique perspectives that they would bring to real problems facing us. It’s like all hands-on deck. We need to stop making it too difficult to participate in the conversation and we need to be more inclusive about how we invite these other perspectives and how we respect and utilize their ways of sense-making. That may not be Western science ways that we have in our books now, but hopefully those science materials are gonna change and we’re gonna start to see other ways of sense-making and other people involved in the stories that we tell around science concepts.

Eric Cross (30:29):
And just to be clear, this practice in integration, while it lifts up equity for marginalized or underrepresented groups or students who are emerging bilinguals or students who typically we don’t see representation of, this approach also benefits native speakers as well. Correct?

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (30:47):
Yeah. And there’s actually a group of native speakers that come from text poor homes. It’s typical in underserved communities. Poor people living in poverty that may be native English speakers. They may not be marginalized populations. But they don’t have access to like text. And so that’s another group altogether that needs linguistic support. And then once you have all voices in the room contributing, everybody benefits because now the conversation, the building understanding conversation we’re having or the sense-making conversation that we’re having has everybody involved. And we all benefit from that.

Eric Cross (31:33):
And we see, I think one of the benefits about a country like the U.S., is we have such a heterogeneous group of people. And when we’re moving in the same direction, we’re all coming to the same problem, but from different perspectives and we’re able to come up with more innovative and novel solutions to them. And that’s kind of what I’m hearing is like as we generate scientists that are all coming from different backgrounds, we’re gonna be able to solve future problems, current problems a lot more effectively because nobody has a monopoly on perspective. Nobody has a monopoly on knowledge or the fastest way to do something or the best way to do something.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (32:11):
Right. Right. And traditionally we really have privileged particular experiences, particular ways of sense-making particular linguistic registers. And if we could just kind of put that privileged ways aside and open up space for everybody to feel like they have a voice, I think the next generation could change the world. I think they could solve some real problems. I’m truly hopeful that they would see themselves not just as capable, but as necessary in these pursuits.

Eric Cross (32:50):
So what does it actually look like today to do this work in instruction well? So to integrate the science, to integrate literacy, to take the benefits of the things that we’ve been talking about. What are some practical things that educators could do to get started, whether it’s in early, you know, K5 or middle school or even high school.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (33:13):
So I will say, I’m gonna kind of separate ’cause in the elementary space, students are primarily developing literacy in multiple languages. The language of the classroom, typically English, home language, languages, they may be multilingual. In the secondary setting where students tend to have developed social language in some language, it’s a little different. So I’m gonna kind of separate those two. So for elementary spaces where teachers tend to teach multiple things, I recommend that you get a partner. Don’t do this work alone. You cannot do this work alone. I mean you can, but it’s very frustrating and not nearly as much fun. So you really wanna take a look at what is the science that kids are going to be engaged in. Because when we look at science first and build language development around it, the experience tends to be more authentic and organic.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (34:18):
And what we used to do is we used to, like when we were talking about the science, we’d monitor the language we were using and then use that to say these are the registers. This is the language that we use when we were thinking about this. So if students are gonna use this, these are the scaffolds they’re gonna need. ‘Cause to do it, well, to do it efficiently, the scaffolds need to be specific to the science learning. So if we’re doing cause and effect, those are specific linguistic scaffolds that are different than if, say we’re doing model and systems and systems models, those are a whole other slew of scaffolds. And so you wanna be really tending to, what is the science being discussed and what is the language that kids are going to use and build scaffolds around it.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (35:10):
And then you also wanna think about what is the social language? What are the experience that kids will have either in words or pictures that I can leverage in this space. And then you wanna do that for the arc of the unit and slowly increase sophistication around those linguistic supports, as well as the science learning. But if kids have social language and they’re now in, there’s a group we call long-term English learners who have not been reclassified way beyond what the typical reclassification is. And that actually is important to think about because if you think about the kinder group, the group of kindergartners that enter a school when they’re five or six, those kids are going to go from grade to grade to grade. And as students develop proficiency, will get reclassified and they move out of this group that we’re still calling English learners.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (36:10):
So by the time you get to like seventh, eighth, ninth grade, if they’re still students in that category, they have very different needs on average than the group we started with. Often when we talk about secondary or these long-term English learners, we can leverage social language a lot more, but have to build the scaffolds more carefully around, for lack of a better word, the more academic content transferring that those social nonverbal language into more sophisticated forms. I think in any setting, you wanna utilize your resources. If I’m in a secondary space and I have a language development teacher and I’m not talking to her or him or they, that’s a problem. You need to go talk to the other people that have these same kids and talk to them about, how are you engaging in language, what are you doing?

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (37:07):
Because you know, you could actually have a lesson, maybe this is a lesson about energy and you’re using a model and the kids are creating an initial model. And over in ELD land, they’re doing some linguistic supports. They’re working on some forms and functions of language. You could talk about the catapult, you could talk about the solar heater. You could use the context of the science conversation, which has a whole bunch of tangible experiences. You know, there’s the solar heater in front of you. I don’t need to keep it all in my head ’cause it’s in front of me and we can point to things and talk about things by manipulating the materials. And then I can take all of that and my ELD partner can use that as context when available. But it takes collaboration, but it’s collaboration well spent. And it’s more challenging in the initial phases of the collaboration. Once you kind of the get into the groove, it becomes a lot easier.

Eric Cross (38:16):
The meta of this, as we talk about integrating science and literacy is, and this is great advice, but it’s basically integrate your science teachers with your English teachers and co-plan and do this work together. It’s a force multiplier. One, you’re both, you’re getting two specialists together. It also, I’m just listening to just the parallels. It also resembles what you actually do in the STEM fields of collaboration working together to problem-solve, and you’re modeling for your students what you want to happen. And if I was an administrator listening to this, someone who had control, like master schedules and things like that, there also needs to be space created for these teachers to talk to each other and plan and do all these other things to kind of maybe come up with like interdisciplinary units or even just meet and begin the conversation. It just seems like such great advice.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (39:07):
Yeah. We’re professionals. We have academic degrees and credentials and experience in the classroom and yet more often than not, we leave it to the students in the seats to make the connections between my class and the class they go to next. And that’s not fair. We need to be talking to each other. So if we’re talking about argumentation, argumentation in science and argumentation in ELA and argumentation in math–we’re not even talking about the same thing. I mean, cognitively we’re talking about taking some evidence and creating a claim and supporting it, but what we mean by evidence is very different in the different disciplines. What counts as more convincing evidence changes. And yet we assume that because we say evidence in one class, the kids know what we’re talking about. And the kids are sitting there going, which one is this? Which evidence are you talking about? Because last period it was something else. And so I think we also need to really consider who’s in the best position to clarify the connections and the integration because we leave it to kids more often than not right now.

Eric Cross (40:19):
I agree. Just having those conversations and defining your terms and agreeing on them just to make it easier for students. ‘Cause you’re right, they are left to make those connections or bridge the gaps. And when you have an education system for many schools, I think most of us, it’s still pretty siloed. You’re still kind of like, especially when you’re in secondary, it’s we’re doing this or even elementary, different times of the day you do different subjects, versus the way that we experience life itself or even our professions. We’re actually integrating science and math and reading and writing throughout the day, and ebbs and flows going back and forth. And without making those explicit connections, we’re leaving a lot of things to chance, hoping that the learning’s there in such a valuable moment. Before we go, I’m wondering if you have a parting message for listeners about the topic of integrating science and literacy. You’ve already said so many amazing things, but you have the platform speaking to educators and folks out there. What would you wanna say to them?

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (41:18):
This is not an easy endeavor. The system that we operate in does not make this effort easy, but it is worth it. It is worth it to the kids in our classrooms. It is worth it to the building of a scientific community and a scientifically literate populace. It’s important to solving problems in the future. It’s important to have kids feel like regardless of how they say things, that they belong in a classroom. If we can relax the sort of linguistic demands on kids and let them enter science learning in a way that allows them to use all their resources and they’re curious, they can really leverage both areas in a way that they don’t do individually. It’s really hard to think about what it is I’m trying to say if I’m worried about how I have to say it. And so we really need to think about, when are those times that we’re gonna let kids just tell us what it is that they’re excited about and when is it that we’re going to help them craft a more formalized language around those ideas. Right now we do a really good job at that second half. We need to do better at the first.

Eric Cross (42:46):
Susan, thank you so much for joining us today and for sharing your expertise and your wisdom and your passion for serving the students and for bringing everybody to the table through language and through science. We really appreciate it and the listeners will too.

Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep (43:03):
Thank you so much. This is my favorite topic.

Eric Cross (43:06):
Thanks so much for listening to my conversation with Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep, senior science educator and staff advocate at BSCS Science Learning. And please remember to subscribe to Science Connections so that you don’t miss any of the episodes in this exciting third season. And while you’re there, we’d really appreciate it if you can leave us a review. It’ll help more listeners find the show. Next time on the show, we’re going to continue exploring the how and why of integrating science and literacy instruction.

Speaker 3 (43:35):
When we interview scientists, they spend a lot of their time reading the work of other scientists and writing their findings, writing grant proposals, presenting at conferences. A huge part of the work of a scientist is not just at a bench conducting experiments, but even if you’re conducting experiments, you’re using your literacy processes to think about what you’re seeing in your experiment.

Eric Cross (43:57):
That’s next time on Science Connections. Thanks so much for listening.

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What Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep says about science

“When we used science as a context for language development, kids were talking more, kids were writing more, kids were engaged.”

– Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep

Senior Science Educator, BSCS Science Learning

Meet the guests

Susan Gomez Zwiep began her career in science education as a middle school science teacher in Los Angeles where she spent over 12 years working in urban schools. Prior to joining BSCS, Susan worked at California State University, Long Beach as a Professor of Science Education.

Susan has also worked as a Regional Director for the K-12 Alliance, providing high-quality professional development in science and mathematics for K12 educators, including the CA NGSS Early Implementer Initiative. Susan consistently works toward establishing equitable access for all students to rigorous, inquiry-based science instruction and supporting teachers in their journey to become advocates for students, science education, and their own professional development.

A person with short dark hair smiles at the camera outdoors, with trees and hills in the background. The photo is framed by a circular graphic with a star and an accent mark.
A laptop screen displays the “Science Connections: The Community” private group page, with science-themed icons decorating the background and edges.

About Science Connections

Welcome to Science Connections! Science is changing before our eyes, now more than ever. So…how do we help kids figure that out? We will bring on educators, scientists, and more to discuss the importance of high-quality science instruction. In this episode, hear from our host Eric Cross about his work engaging students as a K-8 science teacher. 

S2-05: Moving students forward with project-based learning

A promotional image for the podcast "Science Connections" featuring guest Janis Lodge and the topic "Moving students forward with project-based learning." Season 2, Episode 5.

In this episode, Eric Cross sits with K–5 educator Janis Lodge to chat about building on her own science curriculum to create meaningful project-based learning experiences. Janis shares her work teaching Gifted and Talented Education (GATE), and how to use those practices to help accelerate the learning of all students. Eric and Janis also talk about making time for science within K–5 classrooms. Explore more from Science Connections by visiting our main page.

DOWNLOAD TRANSCRIPT

Janis Lodge (00:00):
To me, the reward of having those kids feel like they accomplished something and the way that they can take ownership of it and go in so many different directions, I cannot take that away from them. That’s such an opportunity that if I have the means to do it, I have to just take it and run with it.

Eric Cross (00:18):
Welcome to Science Connections. I’m your host, Eric Cross. My guest today is Janis Lodge. Janis is a third-grade teacher in Orange County, California, with a specialization in gifted and talented education. Recently, Janis was awarded the Orange County Council for the Gifted and Talented Education Classroom grant. This grant funds a project that provides an extension to her third-grade science unit about environments and survival. Through this project, students will think like a biomimicry engineer as they design a robot that is inspired by an innovation found in nature. In this episode, we discuss how she uses interdisciplinary teaching practices to make time for science learning; why gifted and talented education strategies can benefit all students; and her process for creating a problem-based lesson that ultimately earned her a grant for her classroom. And now, please enjoy my conversation with Janis Lodge. One, welcome! Thanks for being here.

Janis Lodge (01:14):
Of course, I am happy to do it. I’m excited for the opportunity.

Eric Cross (01:17):
Of course! Yeah. Elementary school teachers in science, I feel like there’s so many things to have conversations about. And some of the things that you’ve really focused on, I think, are, really, really important. But I wanna start off with your journey of you becoming a teacher in the classroom. And so, would you kind of give your background, your origin story? How did you end up as a third-grade teacher?

Janis Lodge (01:37):
Well, my story is definitely not a traditional story. Before I was a teacher, I was actually living in Maui, Hawaii. I moved there right after college. I went to Chico State in Northern California. And I got a degree in graphic design. And after I graduated, well, I should give a little bit of a backstory. My last summer before graduating, I spent the whole summer in Maui and I just fell in love with it. So when I graduated, I decided instead of applying for jobs in Northern California, I’m just gonna put some resumes out in Maui and see if I can get a job. And I did. I ended up getting a job doing graphic design and marketing for a kite surf company out there. And I ended up just staying for seven years on the island. And after about seven years, I kind of got a little bit of island fever and decided I wanted to come back to California. I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do, but I just had this calling that I need to do something a little more fulfilling with my life. And I started thinking about different ideas and dreams I had. And I actually started thinking about when I was younger, right? I had this dream. If you were to ask me when I was 10 years old what I wanted to be when I grow up, it would be elementary school teacher.

Eric Cross (02:48):
Really?

Janis Lodge (02:48):
Believe it or not. When I was younger, I transformed my bedroom into a classroom. My stuffed animals were my students. I just thought I’m gonna be the next best teacher ever. And you know, as I went through life and kind of went in different directions, I kind of lost sight of that dream a little bit. But for some reason, when I decided to change careers, I just remembered that. And so I just decided to go get my teaching credential and see if it worked out. And it was probably the best decision I made. I feel like everything just fell perfectly into place. I ended up getting a job at an amazing school, and now, five years later, I’m a third grade teacher.

Eric Cross (03:28):
So one of the questions I have to ask, and talking to elementary school teachers, this comes up a lot: How do you make time for science as an elementary school teacher who’s teaching everything? And let me kind of premise this with, at least for those of us in California, and I’m sure the rest of the states too, but we know this; There’s kind of this pressure with pacing and then even, depending on what school you’re at, math and English tend to get the bulk of things. And maybe there’s this perception also of like, well, I gotta teach math and English, and sometimes science gets put to the back burner for different reasons.

Janis Lodge (03:57):
Well, you’re exactly right. The beginning of the year, we were provided with a pacing from the district. And you know, they try to keep us on track, saying, “You should be starting Unit 2 at this time.” But other than that, there’s really no specific guidelines of how many days we’re supposed to be teaching or for how long. But one kind of secret that I’ve discovered is that I can weave science into the other subjects, specifically with language arts. So quite often what I do is I take a look at the language arts standard, and if it’s identifying the key details and the main idea, well I can do that with the science books used from the curriculum. So I’ll just pull those readers and we’ll do the exact same skill, start with the same standard, but we’ll use the content from science. By doing that, we call that kind of like interdisciplinary study. And the students really enjoy that more, too, because they’re using the same skills but they’re diving deeper into the content.

Eric Cross (04:54):
Right.

Janis Lodge (04:55):
And so also that helps build the background knowledge. So then when it comes to time where, if I want to do a science lab or a science investigation, now they already have that background knowledge ’cause we already dove deep into the reading and they can apply that pretty quickly right away into their lab or whatever activity they’re doing.

Eric Cross (05:12):
Can you give an example maybe of how you might pull out something that might be a skill that you’re trying to develop, maybe in an English content, but you would pull that out in a science lesson, maybe? What would you do?

Janis Lodge (05:25):
We’re actually doing that right now. So we’re in our second unit of science and they’re studying inheritance and traits and they’re looking at different organisms to see how they have adaptations to help them survive in their environment. So coincidentally part of the literacy skills is to look at multiple sources, do research, and summarize and make analysis of what they’re reading. And so we have different varied resources. I have websites; I have books, ebooks, videos, and pictures. And they’re choosing which four sources they want to use. And then, then they’re coming up with a summary at the end and then putting together a Google Slides presentation based on whatever organism that they chose.

Eric Cross (06:05):
Did you have a science background before becoming an elementary school teacher?

Janis Lodge (06:11):
Um, none. Besides what I, you know, took in high school and college.

Eric Cross (06:16):
Did you find it easy to kind of lean into the science, or was it something you just kind of jumped into and said, “All right, I’m gonna get after it”?

Janis Lodge (06:23):
What’s interesting is if, you know, throughout my education, my favorite subjects were English and reading and writing and art. And quite honestly, science wasn’t my favorite subject. But I think because of that, that inspires me to come up with creative ways of presenting the information to them and making it exciting and engaging for them, because I don’t want them to feel that way. I want them to be excited about all subjects. And I think that’s the beauty of combining the different subjects like I mentioned before. Like I say, you know, “What would a scholar do? Think like a wildlife biologist. And like with my project, think like a biomimicry engineer.” And so it kind of shifts their thinking. Like, it’s not just, “Oh, we have to study science.” It’s like, “No, you are the scientist; you are a meteorologist; or you are an author. How would an author write about this? How would an illustrator capture this in a photo or a comic strip?” And so, when you really combine those disciplines, you can take it to another level. So even if science isn’t their favorite subject, like maybe it wasn’t for me growing up, they can still take something they’re passionate about and apply the science content to it and they really resonate with them.

Eric Cross (07:37):
You leaned into your strengths. Which are more like, coming into it, you had all these kind of creative strengths. You have that background as a graphics designer. You were into the arts. But then with those strengths, did that kinda give you more confidence to dive into the science work, because you approached it from your assets that you were already coming to the table with?

Janis Lodge (07:55):
Yeah.You said it perfectly. If you look at it from a different lens, there’s all these different ways you can approach science.

Eric Cross (07:59):
I find it in my own science class, too. We’re all teaching the same standards. But how I approach it is through Eric Cross’s kind of personality and understanding and my angle, and another teacher might do it a different way. But we’re all leading to the same destination.

Janis Lodge (08:14):
Exactly.

Eric Cross (08:15):
That kind of leads me to my next question, and this is having to do with the project that you just alluded to. The biomimicry project. So you did a biomimicry project. Would you consider that like a project based-learning assignment?

Janis Lodge (08:26):
Well, this will be the third year that I’ve taught this unit. And when I wrapped it up last year, it’s through the Amplify Science program, and they do a wonderful job of having a lot of investigations and really thinking like a biomimicry engineer. But the final part of the unit was to design a robot inspired by a giraffe, to eliminate invasive plants in a particular environment. And the project part of it at the end was to create a model using Popsicle sticks and pipe cleaners. And then the other part of it was a digital simulation where they would put in different shape structures of teeth, and kind of reconfigure the shape of the mouth. And then they’d put in what they think is effective, and then the computer would say, oh, you’re 98% successful or 70% successful. And I remember at the end of it the students were like, “OK, well when do we make the robots?” And I thought, “Well, we’re just doing the simulation, or we’re just doing this model out of Popsicle sticks; we’re not actually gonna make a robot.” And they just seemed so disappointed. And that’s kind of how the wheels started turning my head like, “Well, what if they actually could make a robot? The only thing stopping me is I don’t have the materials to do it.” So, shortly after that unit wrapped up, coincidentally I saw the email about this grant opportunity that was being offered through the Orange County Council for Gifted Education. And they said, If you have a project that you wanna get funded that would promote GATE strategies within the classroom, then you can submit this proposal. So that’s how the ball got rolling for that proposal. And I researched different robotics kits and different companies and I found one that was really user-friendly for third graders, and not so difficult for me to learn as well.

Eric Cross (10:10):
You’re a risk taker. Like, I’m already seeing this as I’m talking to you. Is that just who you are or do you have a network? Like what keeps you taking these risks?

Janis Lodge (10:18):
I don’t really consider it a risk, because it’s exciting for me. Like I said, I don’t know that much about robotics, but the idea of learning more and then teaching that to my students is exciting. And you know, there was a little bit of risk ’cause I’m deviating a little bit from the curriculum, from the standard lesson, but to me, the reward of having those kids feel like they accomplished something, and the way that they can take ownership of it and go in so many different directions, and on top of that, develop coding skills and computer science skills and robotic skills, to me it was just like I cannot take that away from them. That’s such an opportunity that if I have the means to do it, I have to just take it and run with it. So I think just being inspired by the potential outcomes of what could happen is what made me take that risk.

Eric Cross (11:05):
Did you just kind of create this from scratch? Did you work with a team of people? How did you come to the point where you were ready to present this for the grant?

Janis Lodge (11:12):
Pretty much from scratch. Like I said, the Amplify unit, it does teach them about robotics that were inspired by nature. So some of the materials that they read, and there’s some videos that show really great examples. There’s like a robotic arm that was inspired by an elephant trunk. There’s a book that shows what this field is, biomimicry engineer, they actually show like what they do in that field. And I thought this is a perfect way to apply it because the curriculum’s already pretty much set it up for me; now I just have to add this one final component to it. And essentially it becomes project-based learning at that point, because they’re taking their knowledge and their skills that they’ve learned up to that point. Even the unit that we’re doing doing right now is building up to it. So it’s kind of that final—instead of giving them a test at the end and saying, “OK, tell me what you learned about inheritance and traits and environments,” they can actually take that knowledge and apply it to an innovation or creation that comes out of their own mind, which is so much more powerful.

Eric Cross (12:11):
Do they connect to any other learning goals as they’re doing these projects?

Janis Lodge (12:15):
Well, I think first and foremost, the 21st century skills that from day one I tell them, the four Cs: collaboration, creativity, communication, and critical thinking. All of those are woven in through this lesson. From the beginning, we talked about the whole engineering design process. So from the beginning, they start with a question and oftentimes that actually can be the hardest for them to think about, “What’s a scientific question or a problem that I wanna solve?” If they’re passionate about, maybe, a sport or the environment or something within their school, I go, “There it is. OK, that’s the problem. How can you design something inspired by nature to solve that problem?” And then, from there they go into the planning and the designing and the testing and then the improving. So going through that engineering design process, I think, is what really makes them feel like they are the engineer going through this. And they can make mistakes. They can take risks. A lot of my students I’ve found are afraid to take risks. They wanna make sure they succeed. And they need that challenge to know that if they do fail, that’s OK. We can just revisit this. We can test it. We can look at it in a different way.

Eric Cross (13:27):
You maybe wonder about, how do you assess something like this?

Janis Lodge (13:30):
I think that’s where all those stages along the way are important. Because I wanna make sure that they have a plan and that it’s based on the knowledge that they’ve gained in the unit. I think one of the other things about project-based learning is the final product of how they demonstrate their mastery. And in my classroom I oftentimes give them a choice of how they’re gonna present that to me. So maybe they’re going to write it out like an essay. Maybe they’re gonna create a Google slide. Maybe they’re gonna make a video. Maybe they’re going to—obviously in this part they will have the model, but they’ll have to have some way to explain it to me. And I think giving them that choice gives them the opportunity to show it in the way that’s meaningful to them.

Eric Cross (14:14):
And are you using like a rubric when you’re grading these assignments? Or, how do you actually grade it?

Janis Lodge (14:20):
Yes. So we have a rubric that’s provided to us for the written component that all the students will do at the end. But I can take that same rubric and see if they’ve applied that to the project. So even the verbiage wouldn’t really need to change. I think it’s still important that the students are able to demonstrate this in written form and so all of them will still complete that written component, but to also give them the opportunity to show that in the modality of their choice. I think is really important too.

Eric Cross (14:48):
Right. And you have some students that feel much more comfortable being able to present orally versus—

Janis Lodge (14:53):
Exactly.

Eric Cross (14:53):
—versus writing versus maybe doing a video. I mean, we see that in middle school and in high school too. Students show their knowledge or their understanding of a topic depending on the medium in different ways, and some better than others. Some may find that they can communicate it a lot better orally, but when pen goes to paper or fingers go to keyboard, you might grade it completely different, ’cause they’re not able to transfer what’s in their mind into writing. And the way you’re doing it, and giving that student choice, they probably have so much more buy-in, I’d imagine, because they get to pick what they get to do.

Janis Lodge (15:21):
Right.

Eric Cross (15:22):
You said something earlier and I wanna come back to it. So you mentioned GATE, and GATE is not something that I hear a lot in my world, but it was something I heard a lot when I was in school. There were kind of all of these perceptions and ideas about GATE. You’re a GATE teacher, correct?

Janis Lodge (15:38):
Right.

Eric Cross (15:39):
What is GATE, and what is it like being a GATE teacher? What are the misconceptions, if any, that you might have heard or come across?

Janis Lodge (15:46):
Well, so GATE stands for Gifted and Talented Education. And first and foremost, I think a misconception is that we’re just kind of doing whatever we want; we come up with our own lessons and teach a totally different curriculum. Which is definitely a myth. Because we start with the exact same standards as any other third grade class that you’d walk into. That’s definitely where we start. But I think in addition to the standards, we also implement what are called GATE standards: So they’re Depth, Complexity, Acceleration, and Novelty. And there’s a lot of tools that we use in the classroom, different strategies. You’ll see things like the prompts of Depth and Complexity. We’ll use things like “think like a disciplinarian”; I’m doing “think like a biomimicry engineer.” But really, all they are are just thinking tools and strategies to elevate students thinking and kind of go below that surface level of the content to dive deeper. It also provides opportunities for acceleration. So for example, our last science unit, it was on magnetic force, and there was a handful of students that just grasped the concepts right away, and they’re ready for something else. They’re ready for more rigor. They need some challenge. And so at that point I can kind of pull that group aside and provide some differentiation for them. And I said, “OK, well, you understand the concept of magnetic force, balanced forces. So now what I want you to do is think about something that you’re really passionate about, and how could you use magnetic force somewhere in that field—again to solve a problem, problem-based learning—and present it to me?” So they create this form, it’s like a “think like a disciplinarian” frame, and one of them was “think like a hockey player.” And he’s trying to think of a way that he can incorporate magnetic force. Anyway, I could go on and on. But basically it’s finding what these students’ passions are. And I do that with all my students. And I should probably preface this by saying that even though these are standards that I implement in my classroom because it’s a GATE classroom, these are practices and tools that can be applied to any learner, at any age. And they really just enrich the education for all students.

Eric Cross (18:02):
So your classroom is, is a mixed classroom. There’s GATE students and then general—

Janis Lodge (18:05):
Right.

Eric Cross (18:07):
—students, non-GATE students, in the same class. It’s interesting because I imagine GATE is kind of scaffolding up to a higher level, but then, you also said something that I’ve noticed when I’m creating scaffolds for my students to support them, who may not be at a grade level, maybe in reading or literacy or math, those same scaffolds can help all students.

Janis Lodge (18:27):
So yeah, I don’t just go, “OK, you’re my GATE students; I’m gonna use these practices on you.” I use it for the whole class. But I’m also surprised by having that mix of these different learning styles. A lot of times students are inspired by other students, or, you know, we have this big thing about one of the prompts is Multiple Perspectives. I try to do that as much as I can, because students are inspired by the ideas of their peers. And quite often, if they hear it from a peer, it could be exactly what I just said, but they heard their student say it in a different way and it just clicks and they’re like, “Wow, I get that.”

Eric Cross (19:00):
I think a lot of teachers struggle or, or maybe feel ill-equipped, to support higher-level students. Did you get trained to be a GATE teacher? First lemme ask that question: Did you get special training for this?

Janis Lodge (19:13):
Yes. I went through a course, I think it was like a six-week certification course, through my district.

Eric Cross (19:19):
OK, so you got a special training, which—I’ve been in the classroom for nine years; I teach at a university as an adjunct professor; but I’ve never been trained on teaching gifted or accelerated students. And I’m kind of wondering now, like, do you feel like it made you a better teacher?

Janis Lodge (19:33):
Absolutely.

Eric Cross (19:34):
And if so, how do I get to do this?

Janis Lodge (19:36):
Well, it’s through the county. I mean, anybody can get trained and certified how to teach this way. But, just like you said, I think coming out of that, my eyes were just open, and my biggest takeaway is that these practices, even though they are designed for gifted and talented, it really kind of reshaped my thinking about how I, number one, present material to the students, that I’m doing it in an engaging way, and I’m not just lecturing at them; there’s opportunities for them to collaborate and communicate and use multiple resources. So, you know, how I’m teaching has changed. And then also, how I’m providing opportunities for them to demonstrate their learning. And a lot of that is project-based learning, because once they have the knowledge and skills they need to do something with it. I mean, that’s really the true definition of innovation, is taking the skills or taking something that you’ve learned, and now go with it. Run with it.

Eric Cross (20:32):
How can we take what you’ve learned and then kind of spread it, so teachers have this in their toolkit, too? Like for me, I have multiple ways to be able to support reading and literacy and math and tools and sentence frames. And my students who have special learning plans, I have a have a lot of tool sets for that. I wanna build my tool sets for this other area for my students who want to continue, who wanna run, or go beyond, or even stretch themselves. I think we need to take some of the things that you’re doing and not make them kind of like this exclusive group, but also let’s share it with everyone, ’cause if everybody can access it—

Janis Lodge (21:03):
I agree.

Eric Cross (21:03):
—we might see a lot more potential or a lot more opportunities for students who might not otherwise have them.

Janis Lodge (21:08):
And one thing: My school, I’m really proud to say that my principal has seen that. You know, he’s like, “Well why are we just keeping this in the GATE classroom?” So he’s working on getting all of our teachers certified.

Eric Cross (21:19):
No, I love what you’re doing and your principal sounds, sounds awesome for doing that and recognizing that this can benefit more students than just the ones who, you know, pass the Raisin Test, I think it’s what it was called when I was taking it, or whatever it is back then.

Janis Lodge (21:31):
Exactly.

Eric Cross (21:32):
We’ve talked about project-based learning, the GATE classroom…I kind of wanna come back to you as we wrap up. Thinking about, like, the jobs that you and I do, and the people that listen to this podcast, we have one of the few jobs that people remember us for a lifetime. And I wanna ask you, who was someone that was maybe inspirational in your educational career, that inspired you, or is maybe one of the most memorable? You might have several…but who is someone that was memorable to you in your career, and why? Why were they memorable to you?

Janis Lodge (22:02):
Yeah. Well, obviously, when I was younger, I was definitely inspired by all my teachers. The fact that I turned my bedroom into a classroom…I just was just in awe of this profession. But I think one that really resonated with me was my junior year in high school. I was taking a newspaper class and the teacher was Mrs. Kavanaugh, and she really taught us everything from writing the articles to the editing, to putting the pages together. And I remember in that class I was working on this program called QuarkXPress. I don’t even know if it exists anymore. But I was just fascinated with putting all these pieces together that we’d worked on for so long and getting the articles, picking the pictures, the illustrations and the titles. And I remember her looking at me saying, “You really enjoy this, don’t you?” And I said, “Yeah.” And she said, “Well, I have a computer graphics elective class that you should take next year.” And I thought, “OK, I’d love to do this, this opportunity to expand my knowledge and my skills.” So because of that, I took the computer graphics class the next year and I just remember throughout the whole time, she was just constantly encouraging me and acknowledging my skills. And I find myself doing that as a teacher as well. ‘Cause that really resonated with me. And it’s funny, this summer I was going through some boxes of some old stuff from high school, and I found this handout that I had made, because I remember my senior year of high school, she said, “Janis, you know what? You’re doing such a great job; we have these new, incoming students coming into the newspaper class, and I’d love for you to actually teach them how to do this pagination on this QuarkXPress program. I want you to put something together and actually teach it to them.” I thought, “Wow, she believes in me that much that she’s gonna let me teach this to the incoming students.” But I think my takeaway from that was that she gave me the opportunity to take those skills and actually do something with them, to apply them right away.

Eric Cross (23:53):
Mrs. Kavanaugh. Miss Kavanaugh. Shout-out to Miss Kavanaugh. As you told that story, I heard you as a teacher because I’m hearing she’s applying these GATE strategies in that situation. That’s what that’s what I heard.

Janis Lodge (24:08):
Yeah, absolutely.

Eric Cross (24:09):
She personalized this learning. She created a specialized opportunity. You presented to a real audience that was authentic. It had this personalization in it and this rigor and this challenge and it made a huge impact. And it’s just amazing to listen to you and hear this come full-circle, and now you’re doing this with little ones. And I just wanna thank you for your time in doing the interview, sharing your story with how you became a teacher, your students, the projects that you do. And just like so many teachers, going the extra mile for your kids and bringing in these really important 21st century skills; they’re gonna be so much better off for it. And I know it makes my job easier when I get them in the classroom, so thank you.

Janis Lodge (24:49):
Yeah. Well, thank you for the opportunity.

Eric Cross (24:51):
My pleasure. Thanks so much for listening and we wanna hear more about you and the educators who inspire you. You can nominate them as a future guest on Science Connections by emailing STEM@amplify.com. That’s S -T-E-M at amplify dot com. And be sure to click subscribe, wherever you listen to podcasts, and join our Facebook group, Science Connections: The Community. Until next time.

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What Janis Lodge says about science

“The reward of having kids feel like they accomplished something and take ownership is such an opportunity [with project-based learning] that I have to run with it. Being inspired by the potential outcomes of what could happen is what made me take that risk.”

– Janice Lodge

3rd Grade Teacher, De Portola Elementary

Meet the guest

Janis Lodge is a third grade teacher in Orange County, California. Her career in education started six years ago when she decided to follow her passion of making a positive difference in the lives of young scholars. Prior to teaching, Janis lived in Maui, Hawaii for seven years, working in the field of graphic design, marketing, and hospitality. She has found that her interest in innovation, project-based learning, and inquiry-driven exploration has helped shape her into the educator she is today. STEAM is integrated regularly into her classroom, and her students continually develop 21st century skills through a variety of unique projects. ​​Janis is also a PAL (Peer Assistance Leadership) Advisor for her school, where she helps young leaders (4th-6th graders) cultivate their leadership skills and empowers them to make a positive difference in their school and community. Janis was recently awarded the Orange County Council for the Gifted & Talented Education Classroom Grant, which will provide an extension to the third grade Amplify Science Unit: Environments and Survival.

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About Science Connections

Welcome to Science Connections! Science is changing before our eyes, now more than ever. So…how do we help kids figure that out? We will bring on educators, scientists, and more to discuss the importance of high-quality science instruction. In this episode, hear from our host Eric Cross about his work engaging students as a K-8 science teacher. Listen here!

S3 – 05. Developing an asset orientation with Lani Horn

Math Teacher Lounge podcast featuring Lani Horn, a professor at Vanderbilt University, on developing an asset orientation.

In this episode, math education professor Lani Horn shares with us what it means to have an asset orientation towards students, contrasting it with a deficit orientation, and helping Bethany and Dan understand the many ways students experience one or the other. Their conversation hit both high notes and low notes and included a challenge that Bethany and Dan both found extremely valuable for helping a teacher develop an asset orientation towards their students.

Explore more from Math Teacher Lounge by visiting our main page

Download Transcript

Dan Meyer (00:03)

Welcome back to Math Teacher Lounge, folks. My name is Dan Meyer.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:07):

And I’m Bethany Lockhart Johnson.

Dan Meyer (00:09):

We’re so excited to be here with you folks and with our guest today, tackling big questions about mathematics. I wanna ask Bethany first though: Bethany, it’s been kind of a challenging couple of years for those of us in education, near education, just in life in general, of course. But I woke up this morning and the sun was out; the weather was perfect and crisp here in Oakland; and I found myself feeling optimistic, a sense of hopefulness. And I was wondering to myself, “What is Bethany feeling hopeful about in math education right now?” What’s got you juiced up a little bit?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:40):

I gotta say, that optimism, Dan, look at that! I can actually feel the sunshine just pouring through the microphone! So I thank you for asking. What am I feeling optimistic about in math education? Hmm. OK, this is gonna sound a little bit cop-out-y, but I have been so completely jazzed about not only our podcast, but the conversations that I’ve been seeing circulating in other math podcasts that are out there around curriculum, around new books coming out. It just feels like despite overwhelm, despite exhaustion, that most teachers really do love learning. And so there’s like that kernel. And so I just feel like there’s books on my shelf I wanna read; there’s podcasts in the queue I wanna listen to; and summertime is the best, best time to do it.

Dan Meyer (01:39):

People still feel hungry out there for learning. They know the importance of the craft and its impact on students. And, yeah, people are tired, but also it is so cool to see people still jazzed about learning more about how to teach students more effectively. Me, I’m excited right now, I have a very specific excitement right now, which is that today we announced that Desmos, where I work, and Amplify, our sponsor, are no longer gonna be two separate things. That we are joining together. That I, and all these people who have done so much work over the last 10 years developing digital math technology, we’re gonna go and work inside of Amplify as a division called Desmos Classroom. And we’re so excited that…what we cracked, I think, at Desmos, is a way of thinking about how teachers and their tools—computers, for instance—interact with students in math. And I love what we did there. But we never really cracked the question of, “How do you support entire school systems in taking up these ideas and tools?” And Amplify has really done that. So I’m super-excited to partner up there. That’s what I’m optimistic about and happy about.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (02:40):

Congratulations! That’s a huge transition, and I’m just so excited about the amazing work that both Amplify and Desmos do. But then, the idea of Desmos being in more classrooms? Those tools being available for more students? With the reach? I mean, I’m just excited! It’s a big day, Dan.

Dan Meyer (03:00):

Thank you. Yes, exciting day. And I’m excited about also about our guest we’re bringing on today. How’s that for a segue? I’ll be excited to hear what our guest is excited about in math education. I just wanna say that what our guest, Lani Horn, Professor Lani Horn, has exposed us to is this idea of an asset orientation and its importance. And I do think I’m not over-exaggerating or overstating to say that the idea of an asset orientation towards students and their thinking has been possibly the most transformative idea for me in the last five years of being an educator. And adopting it has led to my favorite lessons, my favorite teaching experiences, my favorite relationships with students. I say all that—you know, I don’t wanna gas things up too much; is that too high of a bar here to have expectations? But it really has been tremendous! And Lani Horn gave a talk several years ago called “An Asset Orientation Is Everything,” which really changed the game up for me. And Bethany watched it as well. So that’s why I’m so excited to have on the person who gave that talk. And who’s done so much research around what an asset orientation offers students and teachers. So we’re bringing on today Lani Horn, who is a professor of mathematics education at Vanderbilt University, Peabody College, who centers her research on ways to make authentic mathematics, ambitious math teaching, accessible to students and teachers, particularly those who have been historically marginalized by our educational system. I think Lani has just a beating heart for students, yes, but also really respects the work of teaching in ways I think are so needed and sometimes uncommon in the world of math-education research. So Lani, thank you so much for coming on and joining us in the Lounge.

Lani Horn (04:41):

Thanks for having me.

Dan Meyer (04:44):

We would love to know what you are excited about and optimistic about right now in the world of mathematics education. What’s got you a little bit gassed up?

Lani Horn (04:52):

Up, gassed up? Hmm. Let me reframe it, ’cause I don’t know if I’m gassed up, but I’m cautiously hopeful that maybe that in the wake of the interrupted learning that’s been sort of widespread during the pandemic that maybe we’ll get some traction around more strategies for teaching in heterogeneous classrooms. Which I think every classroom is, to varying extents: a heterogeneous classroom. And I was talking with a colleague the other day about this idea of hmm, maybe modeling would be a really cool thing to focus teachers on. Doing some more mathematical modeling across the grade levels. Because it just seems like there’s a lot of opportunities for kids to kind of catch up on ideas and understandings that they may not have fully grasped because of interrupted learning, interrupted schooling. But also with room to engage in a lot of ideas. So we were playing with that and I was like, “Gosh, that’d be pretty cool if people took that on more broadly.” ‘Cause I don’t think that there’s been enough conversations about meaningful differentiation in that kind of way, like at the level of curriculum. So I would love to see an upsurge in interest in that kind of stuff, ’cause that’s a big place where I have a lot of passion, so I’m ready! I’m ready for people to ask questions about that. And actually it’s really very, very, very closely related to the topic today of having an asset orientation towards students.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (06:34):

First of all, I’m so excited to have you on Math Teacher Lounge, have you in the Lounge, and get to talk to you, because when Dan sent me this talk, my first thing was, “Oh, I think I know what asset orientation is and looks like.” You know, you kind of hypothesize about what you think it’s going to be. And then you started talking and I’m like, “Wait, wait, why am I just hearing this now?” So I thought I knew what it was, but really I felt like there was so much to unpack. And I would just love for you to share with our listeners, in case they are like, “Oh, asset orientation, I know what that is. I’ve got it. My students have got it.” What is it? And why does it matter so much to our teachers?

Lani Horn (07:19):

The most obvious point is that asset is the opposite of deficit, right? And we know that deficit thinking is very harmful to students. That there’s a real teacher-expectation bias that that kids pick up on, that we communicate indirectly to students and that impacts their learning and their ability to meet our academic expectations and, other expectations in classrooms. So an asset orientation is looking for students’ strengths and trying to work from those strengths as a basis for your teaching.

Dan Meyer (07:54):

So that’s a really fantastic starting spot there. And I think what’s initially surprising to me about the research you cited in your talk, that is built around an asset orientation, is how…I think if you come at learning from a—I guess in research, they call a cognitivist frame, where learning happens when teachers say the right things that make a transfer from the teacher’s brain to the student’s brain. A lot of what you’re describing is very counterintuitive, I think. The asset orientation describes a teacher’s kind of subtle disposition. It’s not what, like what they’re saying exactly. It’s what they communicate in the subtext and the body language, that all emanates from some perspective on students and the idea that that filters down somehow and students pick up on that—like a smell in the air—and that determines a lot of their learning, I think is one part of your talk and the research that I thought was really surprising. How close is that to like how this actually works? And can you add to that description or pivot it a little bit?

Lani Horn (08:54):

Expansion of the sort of cognitive framing of teacher and student interaction…part of what’s really hard about developing and maintaining an asset orientation is that schools are organized in ways that rank and sort children. And so when we are just using the everyday language of schooling, sometimes we’re injecting these preconceived deficit notions of students into our talk and into how we’re thinking about, interpreting, looking at students. So not only is this interruption a sort of a cognitive lens on teacher-student interaction, but it’s really looking at how the social environment is setting teacher-student interaction to take on certain kinds of framings.

Dan Meyer (09:44):

This is what I mean about Lani having such a generous frame towards teachers and the work of teaching. I wonder, though, if you could help us make concrete how an asset and deficit orientation might play out in a hypothetical classroom interaction.

Lani Horn (10:00):

Sure. A really commonplace example is a teacher has a group of students. It’s October or November. So there’s already been a few assessments. And that gives the teacher an idea who the strong students are and who the struggling students are. And they’re having a classroom conversation. And someone who hasn’t performed well, a kid who hasn’t performed well on those assessments—the teacher poses a question. A kid who hasn’t performed well on the assessments is called on. And they sort of hesitate in formulating their response. And the teacher with that lens of “this is a struggling student” then may have to make a decision: “Do I persist? Do I support this kid? Do I help them formulate an answer? Do I try to draw out their thinking anyway? Or do I move on to a kid who is academically performed better in my class?” And I would say that a lot of teachers in that situation would very understandably say, “OK, I get it. You’re not a strong math student. You’re not confident in my class. I’m gonna move on because I need to get through this lesson to somebody who I know is gonna provide me with a correct answer.” And they do it also out of, sometimes, a sense of care, of not wanting to put that student on the spot. However, part of what is another unintended result of making that choice is instead of trying out that student’s thinking, listen to their sort of, maybe, hesitant answer, and trying to find the kernel in it that maybe could be supported and amplified, that kid then loses an opportunity to have their idea be a part of the whole class’s mathematical conversation. Completely common, completely understandable kind of interaction that I see all the time.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (11:52):

That feels so huge. And that I can actually picture that happening.

Lani Horn (11:56):

Of course. We’ve all seen it. We’ve all done it.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (11:58):

We’ve all seen it and done it. And I think it’s so key that you mention often it’s from a place of care. Of “I want that student to—look, I called on you; you’re a part of the conversation; you’re a part of our community.” But with it, I brought all of that other information that I think I have about that kiddo. Right? And how I think they’re struggling or navigating the question. And “Here, I’ll help by…” You know? But what I immediately thought of is how much the other students also pick up on that, right?

Lani Horn (12:36):

Of course.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (12:36):

I remember this time, this student in my class, a student who had struggled on some of the work we were doing, she came up and she shared her work. And then another student kind of like, it was almost like a strange little pat on the back, like, “Look at that! You did it!” And like really said it in a tone of…like, you’re 5, where did that come from?? How had I set up that student to be—I really had to step back and say, “What role have I played in making this student seem like she wasn’t capable of what she had just solved?” It was such a learning moment for me. Because I don’t think teachers do it maliciously, you know, or even consciously.

Lani Horn (13:33):

Absolutely.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (13:34):

And it was so huge.

Lani Horn (13:36):

Thanks for sharing that, Bethany, wow.

Dan Meyer (13:38):

Even in your description, Lani, you mentioned how the need to keep the class moving to fit, again, a policy that teachers didn’t impose, that we have 45 minutes and way too many standards to cover in that many days…I wanna ask you about growth mindset. It feels like every last teacher on earth has finally got the memo about growth mindset. We all know it’s the good mindset and that the bad one is fixed mindset. And we have the posters. The posters have been distributed. <laugh> A nationwide mobilization.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (14:07):

I automatically pictured the posters.

Lani Horn (14:09):

<laugh> Of course.

Dan Meyer (14:11):

We’ve got the posters up, people! So we’re good! And now here comes asset orientation, which has some of the similar kinds of happy feelings, good vibes, about teaching and students and learning. So I was just wondering if you could help us kind of differentiate those two kinds of concepts.

Lani Horn (14:28):

I think that an asset orientation is something you’re never done cultivating. I think it’s an ongoing stance that you have to constantly reset and reexamine. And it is recognizing the links to the social categories that students inhabit, the identities that they bring with them, the bodies that they live in, the different abilities and disabilities. And it’s actually a place where, when you really engage this work in a meaningful way, I think it has the potential to make you kind of a better human being. Because you have to constantly say, “Gosh, why did I do that? What is it that my expectation was? Why am I having such a hard time with this particular student, finding something that they’re smart at, something that they’re really good at?” ‘Cause that’s the question. That’s the asset orientation question. You look at your students and you say, “What is it that they are smart about? How are they smart? I understand that school values this; I understand that my assessments value this; but what are they smart at? And how could I bring that into the meaningful work of my classroom?” Which is a very hard question sometimes.

Dan Meyer (16:03):

Yeah. Oh, so many thoughts here. Like one, I just feel like it’s such a value for teachers, for anyone, to have a big, clear, unanswerable-in-your-lifetime question to motivate your work in teaching. If you don’t have that, then the job is too small, basically. So I love that it’s a question that offers ways to dig in every single day. Every interaction is an opportunity, and it will never be answered. That’s wonderful. I love how I just feel like there’s…sometimes we have conversations with Lounge guests, Bethany, where it really gets out of the realm of the school. And it starts to creep on in to the personal life. It starts to creep on in to the spiritual life. And I find, with this sort of idea—the value of a human being—I feel when I have an asset orientation towards my key relationship in my life—my best friends, my spouse, all these things—that that’s an indication to me of a really big and valuable idea. And the question of the difference between growth mindset and asset orientation, I wonder if it’s relevant here that a growth mindset is a concept that was studied and originated by an education psychologist, Carol Dweck, and you are someone who operates with a social-cultural frame that considers more than the student’s mind in the unit of a student, but like what is going on and what are Bethany’s students perceiving in that moment you described, Bethany, that was you and a student, but everyone kind of feels what’s going on. I wonder if that’s a useful differentiator here. Do you have any thoughts about that?

Lani Horn (17:30):

Yes. I do think that the anthropological perspective that I take—where I really look at the cultural sources of these perspectives and these expectations and narratives, I would say, about who can learn math—are really, really important. And they’re part of what sometimes becomes invisible in the classroom. Though those are a really, really important part of the ongoing work of developing an asset orientation. And of course, I come to it from my own personal experience. I was an undergraduate math major. And sometimes by the time I got to my senior seminars, I was the only woman in the room. And you know, I felt that. I felt the stigma of low expectations. I felt the missed opportunities to dig deeper because people were trying to protect me from being wrong and embarrassing myself. And so on. So it’s personal. And of course we see this applying to other social categories as well. We know that the bias is not just against women in math, but people of color, against people with different kinds of abilities, and so on. So I think that that’s why it’s sort of this ongoing personal work. And I think, too, that we will inevitably in the course of committing ourselves to this find students who challenge us, especially in our society right now, the way things are so fractured. You know, what if you have a student in your classroom who holds political views that you find really odious? How do you find a way to engage that student in a way that respects what they do have to offer to your class, while also making sure that the class is a safe place for everybody? I mean, those are really, really complex dynamics to manage. And, you know, I can talk a lot about that too.

Dan Meyer (19:30):

What a job; what a job. Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (19:33):

I was really struck, too, because I feel, like Dan said, we’ve gotten the posters. And not to undermine the power of growth mindset—I think it has impacted many, many students and communities—but it sometimes stops there. The conversation stops there. Well, you know, we have a chant we do every day. We have the poster on the wall. My students have a growth mindset. And I think what I really appreciated in your talk, and as I’ve learned about your work, is the invitation to teachers to be vulnerable and to really look at… I do feel like even sharing that story, you put a certain amount of vulnerability of, like, have I failed in some way? But I care about my students. I’m committed to cultivating a safe space. So I guess something I’m really curious about is: what do you think needs to happen or needs to be possible for teachers to further cultivate an asset orientation? Because even the ability to pause and to be reflective, sometimes it doesn’t seem possible. So I think it’s beyond just the teacher, but in the school, the district…what are some things you feel?

Lani Horn (20:49):

Are you letting me be the queen of designing schools? ‘Cause that’s a job I’ve always wanted! <laugh> OK. So if I were the queen of designing schools, teachers would have fewer student contacts.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (21:04):

Say more.

Lani Horn (21:05):

When I taught high school, I had sometimes…I think the most I got was 180 student contacts a day.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (21:12):

Wow.

Lani Horn (21:13):

So when you’re looking at 180 kids a day, that is just sort of a capacity issue. How am I supposed to really look meaningfully at each of those individual people and find what’s valuable and strong and smart about each of them? I think that in the U.S., teachers have more instructional time than any other developed country. We need more planning time. Because that’s an opportunity to consult with colleagues. Sometimes when we encounter students where we do have that personal struggle of, “Oh, gosh, I am really having a hard time connecting with you and seeing your strengths,” wouldn’t it be great to be able to go to their last year’s teacher or their English teacher or some other teacher and say, “Can you tell me about your experiences with this student? Because I’m really wanting to connect and I’m having trouble.” And wouldn’t that be wonderful if we had resources to do that? The other thing I would do is I would get rid of a lot of the meaningless accountability, which I have found has only amplified sort of the sorting, and sort of put a technocratic veneer over kids’ deficit thinking about their own selves. Kids get a printout saying that they’re “below basic” and you say, “Hey, that was a really good idea!” And they don’t believe you ’cause they have this printout that puts them in a different category, so there’s no way they could be good at math. So I think we’ve really done a lot of harm in the annual testing of kids in that way. Especially with the individual reporting. And often the metrics we’re using to do that are not designed to be disaggregated to the individual level. So we have a lot of measurement problems. I’m kind of going back to your question before, Dan, about what’s the difference between growth mindset and an asset orientation. I think that sometimes—I don’t think this is the way Carol Dweck intended it, but I think sometimes—and I’ve seen her rebut the way it’s been used in schools—but I think sometimes the way that growth mindset has been used in schools kind of brings it back to an individual problem: “We don’t have unequal funding in our school system! We don’t have systemic racism! We don’t have childhood poverty and malnourishment! It’s just about having the right mindset!” And we know that all of those other things have a huge impact on who engages in school and who’s able to get access to schooling and the formal learning that goes on there. And so there’s a little bit of an erasure that happens in the way that growth mindset has been taken up, and putting the onus back on students and teachers as opposed to going, “Wow, we’re in this system where the cards are stacked a certain way, and I have to somehow navigate that as a teacher and figure out how to hold you up in a system that is trying to push you down.” Which is a really different kind of job than to put a poster on my wall and do a chant in the morning.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (24:39):

And I’m wondering, if you were looking at how you would hope that asset orientation gets brought into the classroom…it’s not another poster, right? What do you think would really help make some meaningful change around the way we think about that and teachers and systems take that on?

Lani Horn (24:59):

So I think that the important thing is helping teachers develop a vocabulary for recognizing students’ mathematical strengths in particular. Recognizing a strength is not, “Wow, you did really neat work!” or “You have really nice handwriting!” Those are not authentically mathematical strengths, right? So I try to think about—ah, for color theorem, “How cool! What a great way to be systematic!” You know, that being systematic, developing a good representation, asking a good question, asking the next “what if,” all of these are profoundly mathematical ways of thinking. And there’s more—I’m just giving you a few examples—that are not always recognized in classrooms that are built around quick and accurate calculation. Right? When that is the most valued form of smartness, kids who can do all these other great things, like, “Wow, that that is such a clear way of explaining the connection between that graph and that equation! I love it. That helps me see what’s happening every time that variable increases.” You know? I love when kids do that! That’s not quick and accurate calculation, right? One of the most heartbreaking things I’ve seen sometimes is teachers doing a really good job of pumping kids up and helping them feel mathematical and seeing their mathematical strengths in the everyday lessons…but then they get a standard assessment and are told they’re a C student. How do you support the messaging you’re doing in your teaching and in your interactions so that it aligns with assessment? And this is where the sorting mechanism of school kind of inhibits some of the ways that we really should be valuing kids in a way that would support their ongoing learning and their own particular flourishing.

Dan Meyer (26:59):

I love how you describe this whole process as a career-long trajectory, how one does not ever finish creating an asset orientation in oneself. I’m wondering if there is some way for teachers who are listening to start to experience, to enter into that kind of feedback loop, that experience, of what an asset orientation offers them and their students. Do you have some way for us to start digging in here? A challenge, if you will?

Lani Horn (27:24):

Yeah, sure. This is a process I learned from teachers I’ve worked with, so I did not make this up. It’s called a roster check. It’s where you take a roster of one of your classes, and you go through student by student and see if you can specifically name a way that that student is mathematically smart. And it’s a private exercise if you want it to be. And just sort of go through. And then for the students who you really struggle to name how they’re smart, step back and see if there’s some kind of a pattern. And when I’ve done this in PD, as an exercise, I’ve had teachers have some real light-bulb moments where they go, “Oh my gosh, I really don’t know the quiet girls in my classroom,” or “I really don’t know the multilingual learners in my classroom.” So they can sort of start to see a bias in who they’re interacting with and who’s been able to engage in ways that uncover what their unconscious bias might be. And sometimes it’s not unconscious bias. Sometimes it’s not necessarily a category like that. It’s just the kids who are more outspoken, the kids who are high achieving. It doesn’t have to necessarily be linked to an obvious social category. However, I do think that then what you can do with that list of kids who you don’t have a name for their strengths, is you can kind of take a couple of them a week and make that your project to really observe them a little more intentionally and a little more closely. Try mixing things up. Have a chat with them. Say, “Hey, so what do you like to do? What are the things that you like to do in the world? What are your hobbies?” So maybe you can start to get some insight that way. You can talk to other teachers. Most kids have something that they’re passionate about, something that animates them and wakes them up in the morning, and knowing that and finding ways to meaningfully tie that to their mathematical learning can be extremely powerful.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (29:35):

Lani. I love that idea, taking that time to reflect and allow yourself to be vulnerable as you take a look at your biases and how that’s impacting your classroom space. I have learned so much from our conversation. I know we’re just scratching the surface of the work that you do. So if folks want to learn more, want to continue engaging in these ideas, where can they find you, or where can they find more about your work?

Lani Horn (29:58):

I’m pretty active on Twitter. My handle is @ilana_horn. No “e” on that. And I’ve written a couple of books for teachers. One is called Motivated. Another is called Strength in Numbers. People can check those out.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (30:17):

I love it. For our listeners, we are thrilled to share this conversation with you, and we wanna hear how you take up this challenge: What do you uncover? What do you notice? What are you learning about an asset orientation? And you can share that by finding us on Twitter at @MTLshow, or you can also continue the conversation with us in our Facebook group, Math Teacher Lounge. We’re so excited to keep learning with you. And thanks for listening.

Lani Horn (30:42):

Bye! Thanks for having me.

Dan Meyer (30:44):

Bye, folks. Thank you.

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What Lani Horn says about math

“An asset orientation is looking for students’ strengths and trying to work from those strengths as a basis for your teaching. ”

– Lani Horn

Professor of Mathematics Education, Vanderbilt University Peabody College

Meet the guest

Lani Horn centers her research on ways to make authentic mathematics accessible to students, particularly those who have been historically marginalized by our educational system. Professor Horn focuses primarily on mathematics teaching in two ways. First, Professor Horn looks at classroom practices that engage the most students in high-quality mathematics. Second, Professor Horn views teaching as a contextually-embedded practice –  how school environments, communities, colleagues, and policies shape what is instructionally possible. All of this is unified through a pursuit to understand teacher learning as a situative phenomenon. Follow Professor Horn on Twitter.

A graphic with the text "Math Teacher Lounge with Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer" on colored overlapping circles.

About Math Teacher Lounge: The podcast

Math Teacher Lounge is a biweekly podcast created specifically for K–12 math educators. In each episode co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson (@lockhartedu) and Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) chat with guests, taking a deep dive into the math and educational topics you care about.

Join the Math Teacher Lounge Facebook group to continue the conversation, view exclusive content, interact with fellow educators, participate in giveaways, and more!

Creating lasting change in K–5 math and literacy instruction

Two women seated at a table engage in a lively conversation. One is using a laptop, likely discussing innovative teaching practices. Bookshelves filled with resources for empowering students are visible in the background, perhaps hinting at their dedication to star awards in education.

Transforming math and literacy education takes more than just tips and tricks—it requires vision, commitment, and the right support. Whether you’re rethinking early literacy skills instruction, refining math core curriculum, or fostering a culture of collaboration, you need strong leadership and proven strategies for real change to occur.

“Sustained, meaningful change doesn’t happen overnight,” said Kymyona Burk, Ed.D., a senior policy fellow at ExcelinEd and the keynote speaker at our recent Leading With Vision symposium. “It requires commitment, collaboration, and a clear vision for supporting both educators and students.”

At the symposium—which included keynotes, panels, and math and literacy tracks—education experts from across the country shared experiences navigating instructional shifts, leading curriculum implementation, and setting schools up for success. From building buy-in to making data-driven decisions, their actionable insights can empower you with the knowledge and tools to create lasting change in your district.

Read on for a recap of the core presentations. You can also watch or listen along—and, for extra credit, download the workbook to deepen your learning.

Opening keynote: Key Factors for Successful Transformation in Literacy and Math

Kymyona Burk, Ed.D.
Senior Policy Fellow, ExcelinEd

In her session, Kymona Burk made the case that real student learning progress in literacy and math doesn’t come from policy alone—it requires systemic, research-based change in classrooms. Too often, schools focus on interventions for struggling students instead of strengthening core instruction to prevent gaps in the first place. She pointed to Mississippi’s success in narrowing achievement gaps as proof that evidence-based teaching, teacher support, and family engagement drive meaningful, lasting improvement.

A key factor in that success, she argued, was a firm commitment to the Science of Reading. “We have decades of research on how children learn to read, and we can’t afford to ignore it,” she said.

Burk also stressed math’s similarities to literacy when it comes to effective teaching methods. Just as students need structured, research-backed reading instruction, they also need math teaching and instructional materials that build deep understanding rather than rely on rote memorization. Achieving this, she said, requires strong materials, better teacher training, and a commitment to using data to refine strategies. The path to better outcomes isn’t a mystery—what’s needed is leadership and persistence.

Key takeaways:

  • Tier 1 instruction is the foundation. Schools must prioritize high-quality core instruction to prevent learning gaps.
  • Literacy and math both need urgent attention. Math reform has lagged behind literacy efforts, but both require evidence-based teaching and structured support.
  • Teachers need more than just training. Professional development must be paired with coaching, collaboration, and access to the right materials.
  • Sustained effort leads to results. Mississippi’s success proves that achievement gaps can be closed with consistent investment in people, resources, and accountability.

Leadership Lessons Learned in Baltimore City Schools That Impact Change Everywhere

Janise Lane
VP of Customer Transformation, Amplify; former Executive Director of Teaching and Learning, Baltimore City Schools

Janise Lane’s talk centered on Baltimore City Schools’ multi-year effort to implement a more effective literacy curriculum, highlighting the importance of managing both the logistical and emotional aspects of change. While the district had strong, committed educators, student performance remained stagnant, prompting a curriculum audit and a shift toward evidence-based instruction.

Lane described how to build buy-in and sustainability by ensuring that change is not dictated solely by district leadership. “We had to shift from a system where decisions were made at the top, to one where teachers, families, and community members were true decision-makers,” Lane said.

She also emphasized the need to recognize and address resistance. “Everybody approaches change differently, and it’s our job as leaders to attend to all of those emotions,” Lane said. The key to success, she noted, is creating structured pathways for implementation while remaining adaptable and open to feedback and real classroom experiences.

Key takeaways:

  • Balance structure with flexibility. A clear plan is necessary, but it must adapt based on feedback, data, and the realities of implementation.
  • Small wins build momentum. Celebrating early progress helps shift mindsets from skepticism to belief in the change.
  • Trust and transparency matter. Educators need to see that leadership is engaged, responsive, and committed to making change work for everyone.

Making Math People: Key Shifts in How We Think of Math Assessment

Patrick Callahan, Ph.D.
Educator; Founder, Math ANEX

During his talk, Patrick Callahan emphasized the ways that asset-based assessments measure not just what students don’t know, but the depths of their mathematical thinking. Instead of relying on traditional multiple-choice tests, his approach encourages open-ended responses, allowing teachers to analyze how students arrive at their answers.

Callahan noted that by looking beyond correctness to understand reasoning, teachers can better target instruction. “If all I see is that 37% of my students got an area problem right, I might think I need to reteach area,” Callahan explained. “But if I analyze responses, I see that some kids are correctly multiplying but misunderstanding overlapping rectangles, while others are actually calculating perimeter instead. That tells me exactly where to focus my instruction.”

His research also shows a correlation between students who demonstrated conceptual understanding (such as interpreting remainders in division problems) and higher performance on standardized tests—evidence that fostering deep thinking supports both engagement and achievement.

Key takeaways:

  • Assessments should focus on thinking, not just accuracy. Open-ended questions provide deeper learning opportunities.
  • Targeted teaching saves time. Knowing why students struggle prevents unnecessary reteaching.
  • Classroom discussions boost comprehension. Encouraging students to explain their thinking deepens understanding.

Creating a Supportive Environment for Educators During Times of Instructional Change

Ricky Robertson
Educator; author; consultant

“The number one influence on team effectiveness is psychological safety,” Ricky Robertson said during his symposium session. “Not how talented the individuals are, but how they interact with one another.” His talk focused on how the knowledge that one can speak up without fear of punishment or humiliation affects school culture, educator well-being, and student success, citing research such as Google’s Project Aristotle that demonstrates how high-performing teams thrive not on individual expertise but the quality of interactions among team members.

He also noted that toxic workplace dynamics—such as fear-based leadership, cliques, and bullying—contribute to burnout, disengagement, and resistance to change. Stressing that “strategies don’t transform schools, systems do,” he shared case studies of schools that changed their culture by fostering open communication, restructuring leadership teams, and implementing clear decision-making processes. Creating a safe environment isn’t just about being nice, Robertson said. Robertson noted that creating a safe environment isn’t just about being nice, but about building systems that allow educators to collaborate, support one another, and better serve their students.

Key takeaways:

  • Psychological safety boosts performance. Schools that report a high sense of psychological safety see increased collaboration, innovation, and teacher retention.
  • Structured collaboration matters. Schools with clear communication protocols and leadership structures create more productive teams.
  • Change starts with educators. Supporting teachers’ well-being and professional growth is the foundation for student success.

More to explore

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. A PURCHASE DOES NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. VOID WHERE RESTRICTED OR PROHIBITED BY LAW.

These Terms and Conditions (the “T&Cs”) apply to each sweepstakes offered by Amplify Education, Inc. (the “Sponsor”) on a webpage, email, or other document that links to these T&Cs (the “Entry Page”). For detailed rules for each sweepstakes, please review the sweepstakes rules on the Entry Page (such rules, the “Sweepstakes Rules”). These Terms and Conditions, together with the Sweepstakes Rules, will comprise the “Official Rules” for the sweepstakes.

To enter

Fill out the entry form on the Entry Page. Limit of one (1) entry per person using only one (1) email address for each drawing conducted during the sweepstakes period. Eligibility of individual entries will be at the sole discretion of the Sponsor, for any reason or for no reason, though specific reasons for disqualification may include use of inappropriate language. Entries generated by script, macro, mechanical or other automated means and entries by any means which subvert the entry process are void. Multiple entries received from any person in excess of the stated limitation will be void. Sponsor is not responsible for incomplete, lost, late, stolen, misdirected, damaged, illegible entries, for address changes of entrants, or for malfunctions of electronic or telephone equipment, computer hardware or software, failure of any entry to be received on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to any entrant’s or any other person’s computer or other property related to or resulting from participation in the sweepstakes, or for other problems related to electronic entries. All entries become the property of Sponsor and will not be returned.

Eligibility

In addition to any eligibility restrictions contained in the Sweepstakes Rules, each sweepstakes is open only to individual legal residents of the states of the United States or the District of Columbia, except for residents of Rhode Island, who are at least 13 years of age or older as of the time of entry.

  • Minors – Parents and Guardians: An eligible person under the age of majority in such person’s jurisdiction must have his/her parent’s or legal guardian’s consent to enter this sweepstakes. The parent(s) or legal guardian(s) of an entrant under the legal age of majority in his/her jurisdiction of residence (a) will ensure that the entrant in respect of whom they agree to the Official Rules will comply with the Official Rules; and (b) warrants that he/she agrees to the Official Rules and gives the consents contained herein, including permission for his/her child/ward to participate in this sweepstakes. The parents(s) or legal guardian(s) of each such entrant agrees to indemnify the Released Parties (as defined below) for and against: (i) any claims made by the entrant, his or her legal guardian(s), or any member of his or her family against the Released Parties in connection with this sweepstakes; and (ii) any losses (including any liability) caused by any conduct of the entrant that is inconsistent with the Official Rules.
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Drawing

Winners will be selected on the date(s) specified in the Sweepstakes Rules (the “Drawing Dates”). Each winner be selected in a random drawing, from all eligible entries received since the beginning of the sweepstakes period or the prior Drawing Date, as applicable. Winner does not need to be present to win. The drawing(s) will be conducted by Sponsor or its designee, the judge of the sweepstakes, whose decisions are final and binding on all matters relating to the sweepstakes. Winner will be required to sign and return an affidavit of eligibility/liability and publicity release, or the prize will be forfeited and an alternate winner selected.

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The Prizes and number to be awarded are specified in the Sweepstakes Rules. Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received. Prizes will be awarded. No prize substitutions, upgrades or cash equivalents, except at the sole discretion of the Sponsor if an advertised prize becomes unavailable. Prizes are non-transferable. All taxes, if any, associated with the prize are the winner’s sole responsibility.

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By entering, entrants agree to: (1) release the Sponsor, its agents, and any platforms used to conduct the sweepstakes, such as Facebook, Twitter, or others (each, a “Platform” and together with Sponsor and its agents, the “Released Parties”), from all liability, injuries, loss and/or damage of any kind arising from their participation in the sweepstakes and the acceptance, possession and use/misuse of any prize; (2) to be bound by the Official Rules and the decisions of the judge; and (3) to be contacted by Sponsor by mail, telephone and/or email regarding the sweepstakes. The sweepstakes is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, any Platforms used to promote it. By accepting a prize, winner consents to the use of his/her name and likeness for advertising and promotional purposes without additional compensation in all media worldwide (except where prohibited by law). The sweepstakes is subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations. If for any reason the sweepstakes is not capable of running as planned, including due to an infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or any other causes which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of this sweepstakes, Sponsor and its agents reserve the right, at their sole discretion, to modify, suspend or terminate the sweepstakes, and select the winner from all eligible entries received prior to the termination and/or to disqualify any individual who is responsible or who tampers with the entry process. This sweepstakes is governed by the laws of the State of New York, with venue in New York County, New York, and all claims must be resolved in the state or federal courts in New York County, New York.

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To have your name and address removed from Sponsor’s future mailings, please select the unsubscribe link in any email you receive from Sponsor. Sponsor will process your request within 60 days.

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For the name of the winner, email mail@amplify.com or send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to be postmarked within 15 days and received within 30 days of the relevant Drawing Date to: Amplify, Marketing Department, Winner’s Name, 55 Washington Street, Suite 800, Brooklyn, NY 11201.

Sponsor

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Season 2, Episode 4

Phone policies and the science of self-control, starring Angela Duckworth, Ph.D.

Angela Duckworth, Ph.D., the New York Times bestselling author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, joins Ana Torres to discuss school phone policies and what the science of self-control can tell us works. In this episode, Angela highlights the many complexities surrounding student cell phone use in schools and why there is a need to conduct research, such as her “Phones in Focus” study, to look at which phone policies are actually yielding the best outcomes. She also outlines the limitations of “growth mindset” and "simply trying hard," and instead suggests four ingredients that set young people up to reach their goals. Finally, Ana and Classroom Insider Eric Cross reflect on Angela’s insights, and Eric shares the strategies he plans to implement to provide mentors to his students.

Meet Our Guest(s):

A woman with long dark hair smiles at the camera, wearing a patterned top and a small necklace, against a light-colored, blurred background—she shares insights from the Science of Self Control on her teaching podcast.

Angela Duckworth, Ph.D.

Angela Duckworth is the Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, faculty co-director of the Penn-Wharton Behavior Change for Good Initiative, and faculty co-director of Wharton People Analytics. A 2013 MacArthur Fellow, Angela has advised the U.S. Department of Education, the World Bank, NBA and NFL teams, and Fortune 500 CEOs. Angela completed her undergraduate degree in neurobiology at Harvard, her Master of Science with Distinction in Neuroscience at Oxford University, and her Ph.D. in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Angela’s TED talk is among the most viewed of all time. Her book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance is a #1 New York Times bestseller.

Meet our host, Ana Torres.

Ana has been an educator for 30 years, working in both the K–8 and higher education sectors. She served as an administrator and instructor at various public and private colleges and universities and as a bilingual and dual language teacher, dual language math and reading interventionist, dual language instructional coach, assistant principal, and principal in K–8 schools. Ana is currently the Senior Biliteracy and Multilingual Product Specialist at Amplify, and delivers literacy and biliteracy presentations across the nation. Ana’s passion and advocacy for biliteracy and support for all students from all walks of life has led her to educate leaders, teachers, and parents about the positive impact of bilingualism and biliteracy in our world.

A woman with long dark hair and hoop earrings smiles at the camera while wearing a black blazer, standing outdoors—ready to discuss classroom challenges or share insights on her teacher podcast.
A man with short, closely-cropped hair and a trimmed beard smiles at the camera against a light gray background, ready to inspire diverse learners in the math classroom.

Meet our Classroom Insider, Eric Cross.

Eric Cross is a middle school science teacher who hopes to someday be a lifelong educator, like the guests on Beyond My Years! In each episode, Eric connects with host Ana Torres to discuss her guests’ best insights, gleaned from their long and rewarding careers in the classroom. Then, Eric talks about bringing some of their wisdom into his current classroom and busy life.

Quotes

“It is not just trying hard that makes you successful. You need to be set up in a situation that helps you like an ally, as opposed to fighting you like an enemy.”

—Angela Duckworth, Ph.D.

“If you put temptations very close to you…it's much more psychologically potent than if you put it away where you cannot see it or you cannot touch it, or both.”

—Angela Duckworth, Ph.D.

“The strategy for regulating yourself that is the most successful for people of any age tends to be situation modification. That is not relying on willpower, but deliberately placing things either farther or closer, depending on whether you want to do them more or do them less.”

—Angela Duckworth, Ph.D.

“Aside from parents, there's nobody more important than teachers in the life of a kid. They are looking to you as a role model.”

—Angela Duckworth, Ph.D.

“That science of self-control—we have to actually teach that to our students. That is not something they come out of the womb knowing how to do.”

—Ana Torres

“Culture is this living thing, and it can shift from classroom to classroom, and it shifts from year to year. And so, building that is just as much of an art as it is a science, but it's so critical.”

—Eric Cross

“I believe that all students can be successful in a classroom given the right support, but students have to believe that as well. So we have to be genuine and authentic when we show up in that way, because they know when you're not.”

—Ana Torres

Join our User Research Community!

Help shape Amplify products.

Educators and students are at the center of what we do. That’s why we test our products with real users, visit classrooms across the country, and gather ideas and feedback from educators like you! This is how we ensure that we’re developing new products that meet your needs, as well as continuously improving our existing products to better support your classrooms.

That’s where our User Research Community comes in. This is a group of valued educators we look to for their expertise! They regularly participate in research and feedback opportunities and share their insights with our Product teams.

We hope you’ll consider joining Amplify’s User Research Community. When we have a study that’s a good fit for you, our team will reach out with details and next steps.

A person is using a tablet, immersed in progress and analytics data graphics on a white and orange backdrop, reminiscent of tools often employed by school administrators.

Why participate in user research?

Make an impact

Help influence and improve Amplify products by sharing your feedback and ideas

Get sneak peeks

Learn about new products and features that Amplify teams are working on

Connect with us

Share your thoughts and feedback directly with Amplify product development teams

Enjoy thank-you gifts

Receive incentives as a thank you for your time

What to expect

When you sign up to join the Amplify User Research Community, we’ll ask you some questions that will help us match you with research studies. When an opportunity sounds like a good fit, we’ll send you an email and share the details up front, such as study topic, research format, time commitment, and compensation. Then, you can decide if you’d like to participate.

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Three people from the research community collaborate with digital devices, including a tablet and a laptop, fervently discussing their findings.

Frequently asked questions

We’re looking for all types of educators to join our User Research Community: new Amplify users, power users, and everyone in between. We’re also looking for people who don’t use our products. If you work in a school setting or support schools, we want to hear from you. Here are some of the people we’d love to connect with:

  • Classroom teachers (PreK–12)
  • Biliteracy teachers
  • Special education teachers
  • Interventionists
  • Coaches
  • Curriculum directors
  • School administrators
  • District administrations
  • Parents and caregivers

We have a separate research program for K–12 students. Learn more about our Playtesting program below.

Amplify runs a variety of research studies, and we’ll include the details of the study in our email. When you participate in one of our studies, you might be invited to:

  • Talk to a researcher in a video call: Share your experiences with a specific product.
  • Share your screen: Show us how you use Amplify’s products, try out a prototype, or test new features.
  • Complete a survey: Answer questions about your current practices and/or preferences.
  • Host a school visit: Have a few Amplify employees visit your classroom to observe our programs in action.
  • Participate in a long-form study: These studies may involve a small commitment for several days or over a few weeks. You may be asked to review new materials or designs or to try something out in your classroom. Our researchers may ask you to respond to questions or take notes based on your experience using a product.

The information you provide will only be used to match you with suitable research studies and won’t be shared or sold to external parties. All data is stored on a secure server. See our Privacy Policy for more detail.

Amplify’s goal is to design welcoming product experiences. To do this well, it’s important for us to get feedback from everyone. We collect demographic information to help ensure that study participants represent the educators, students, and school environments we serve. All questions are optional and your information is kept confidential in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

You can opt out at any time by clicking unsubscribe in any of our research emails.

We typically offer e-gift cards as a way of saying thank you to those who participate in our research studies. We’ll include the exact details of the thank-you gift in the email invitation for the session. If your session is eligible for a thank-you gift card, you should receive it within five business days after completing your session. Please note that not all study participants will receive a thank-you gift.

Amplify Playtesting Program

A fun and empowering experience for kids

Students in our Playtesting Program provide feedback on new Amplify games and features as they’re being developed. Our researchers work one-on-one with students for 30 minutes at a time, inviting them to interact with new games and designs and gathering their feedback. We then integrate that feedback directly into our product development. It’s a chance for students to share their thoughts and ideas and have a real impact on the programs we’re building.

A girl wearing headphones smiles while using a laptop, surrounded by illustrations of a building and a house. A colorful creature dances nearby, reminiscent of the creative tools K-12 teachers use to inspire young minds.

Who can participate?
Any students in kindergarten through grade 12 this school year can be part of our playtesting program, with parental permission.

What are the perks?
Aside from a fun time and a sneak peek at what’s in development, all students receive a $20 Amazon gift card for participating in a playtesting session.

When, where, and how do kids participate?
When playtesting needs arise, our User Research team will reach out to parents/caregivers to schedule a Google Meet session at a time that’s convenient for you and your child.

How can I sign my child up?
To enroll your student, please fill out this consent form. Your child will then be added to our playtesting program database. When a playtesting opportunity arises that we think would be a good fit, we’ll reach out!

Amplify’s Subprocessors

This page provides the current list of third party service providers that Amplify engages to help us provide our services and may have access to Personal Information of our customers (“Subprocessors”) as outlined in Amplify’s Customer Privacy Policy.

How to get notified of changes

Please use the “Subscribe to Updates” functionality at the top of the page to receive emails from Amplify regarding updates to the list of Subprocessors and/or changes to the information provided on this page. Should you choose not to use this functionality to receive email notifications, it is our expectation that you check the link regularly for any updates.

Our commitments regarding Service Providers

All of the Subprocessors listed below have a legitimate need to access Personal Information in order to provide their service to Amplify as a part of Amplify’s provision of the services to our customers. With regard to Subprocessors, Amplify commits to:

  • Conduct due diligence on the data privacy and security measures of new Subprocessors before providing access to Personal Information and monitor on an annual basis thereafter. As part of this process, Amplify reviews the Subprocessor’s security documentation, practices, and posture to ensure alignment with Amplify’s information security program and standards;
  • Enter into a written agreement which requires at least the same level of protection for Personal Information and individuals as set out in Amplify’s Customer Privacy Policy and our agreements with customers, as applicable, before providing access to Personal Information;
  • Restrict the Subprocessor’s access to Personal Information to only what is necessary to fulfill our contractual obligations or as otherwise permitted under the agreements with our customers or under applicable data privacy laws; and
  • Remain liable for any processing of Personal Information carried out by Subprocessors to the same extent we would be liable if performing the services ourselves.

Subprocessors

Amplify’s Subprocessors of Personal Information are:

Subprocessor Purpose Location Student Data Educator Data
Amazon Web Services Cloud hosting services United States A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Anthology (formerly Blackboard) Video conferencing and attendee tracking for tutoring services United States A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Boomi, Inc. Data integration United States   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Datadog Performance and security monitoring United States A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
dbt Labs, Inc. Run database queries United States A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Egnyte, Inc. Secure file exchange United States A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Fivetran, Inc. Database loading United States A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Gainsight, Inc. Customer support United States   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Google, LLC Cloud hosting services United States A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Google, LLC (Looker) Data warehouse analytics United States A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
HubSpot Email delivery United States   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
MongoDB, Inc. Database hosting United States A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Salesforce Customer relationship management United States   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
SchoolDay (formerly GG4L) Secure rostering United States A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Snowflake, Inc. Database hosting United States A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Talkdesk, Inc. Customer support United States   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Twilio, Inc. (Sendgrid) Email delivery United States A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.

Updates

Date of Change Change Notes
October 10, 2025 Changed Blackboard to Anthology and GG4L to SchoolDay. Update MongoDB purpose. Added Datadog to the Students Subprocessor List. Created Educators Subprocessor List. Anthology and SchoolDay updated their corporate branding. Added list of Educator Data Subprocessors to clarify which partners process educator data.
June 14, 2024
Removed Desmos Studio, PBC, Qualfon Data Services Group, LLC, and Zendesk, Inc. These partners and services are no longer used for customer support.
July 27, 2023
Added Fivetran
September 15, 2022
Corrected name of Desmos Studio, PBC.
July 21, 2022 Added Desmos Collective LLC, Google, MongoDB, Twilio, and Zendesk These services support Mathigon.org and Desmos Classroom
July 20, 2022 Added Qualfon Data Services Group, LLC
October 4, 2021 Added Blackboard, Inc.
July 26, 2021 Fishtown Analytics, Inc. renamed to dbt Labs, Inc.
June 17, 2021 Updated with data warehousing and roster services providers
May 28, 2021 Initial public posting.

K–12 education podcasts

Amplify is proud to showcase cutting-edge research and insights in K–12 education. Explore our popular podcasts in literacy, math, and science; learn from top thought leaders and educators; and discover cross-disciplinary insights to support your instruction.

A podcast cover with the text "Science of Reading Podcast" and "Amplify" on a yellow background, featuring an open book and simple graphic elements. Find it on the Amplify Podcast Hub for more science connections podcasts.

Science of Reading: The Podcast

Science of Reading delivers the latest insights from researchers and practitioners in early reading. In each Science of Reading episode, host Susan Lambert, Ed.D., Amplify’s chief academic officer of elementary humanities, explores the increasing body of scientific research around how reading is best taught.

Beyond My Years

Host and educator Ana Torres knows firsthand how hard it is to be a teacher. That’s why, in our podcast Beyond My Years, she seeks out educational insights from people who’ve thrived for decades in the classroom: seasoned educators. Sharing their biggest victories and a few lessons they wish they’d learned sooner, these longtime educators prepare listeners for their own teaching journeys. Hear stories that make you cry, make you laugh—and may even change the way you think.

Square graphic with a child’s silhouette outlined in rainbow colors, icons like a star, apple, and hand, plus “Beyond My Years” and “Amplify” on blue—perfect for fans of the Amplify Podcast Hub or the Science of Reading Podcast.
Blue graphic with "Math Teacher Lounge" in colorful letters, geometric mountain shapes, and "Amplify." at the bottom right—featuring content from the Math Teacher Lounge podcast on the Amplify Podcast Hub.

Math Teacher Lounge

Math Teacher Lounge is a podcast created specifically for K–12 math educators. In each episode co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson (@lockhartedu) and Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) chat with guests, taking a deep dive into the math and educational topics you care about.

Join Math Teacher Lounge: The Community on Facebook to continue the conversation, view exclusive content, interact with fellow educators, participate in giveaways, and more!

Science Connections

Join our host Eric Cross as he sits down with educators, scientists, and knowledge experts on ways to best support students in science classrooms. Hear how to inspire kids across the country to love learning science, and how you can bring that magic into your classroom for your students.

Square graphic with the words "Science Connections" and "Amplify" on a dark background, featuring colorful connected circles and abstract lines—perfect for listeners of the Amplify Podcast Hub or Science of Reading Podcast.

Read about our all-green programs on EdReports.

See what the evaluators at EdReports have to say about Amplify’s high-quality curriculum.

Ready to learn more? Check out our extensive collection of resources.

Explore our resources

Webinar: Desmos classroom: Desmos Dashboard Deep Dive

S5-05. Math technology & hacks for math anxiety: research-based tips for caregivers

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We’ve been very lucky to have so many prolific and brilliant researchers on this season of Math Teacher Lounge, and our next guest is no exception.

Listen as we sit down with Dr. Marjorie Schaeffer to discuss what causes math anxiety, math hacks, and how the right math technology can make an incredible impact in children and caregivers coping with math anxiety.

Listen today and don’t forget to grab your MTL study guide to track your learning and make the most of this episode!

Download Transcript

Marjorie Schaeffer (00:00):

I think the most important thing we know from literature right now is that high math-anxious parents, when they interact with their children, their children learn less math over the course of the school year.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:12):

Welcome back to Math Teacher Lounge. I’m Bethany Lockhart Johnson.

Dan Meyer (00:15):

And I’m Dan Meyer.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:16):

We’re onto Episode 5, Dan, of our series on math anxiety. And I wanna say it feels so lovely to imagine all of these people out there doing work to help combat math anxiety. I dunno, it just makes me feel excited about the possibilities. This work is out there; it’s happening! Kids and teachers and caregivers are being impacted by these conversations. Not just — I mean, I don’t just mean the conversations we’re having on Math Teacher Lounge, but I mean, that these researchers are doing. Like, yes, we can change this!

Dan Meyer (00:53):

This is great. Yeah. We have people who are extremely smart, who have dedicated their professional lives to studying math anxiety and resolving it. And each of them that we’ve chatted with — they share lots of ideas in common, but I’ve loved how they each have their own different flavor or take or area of emphasis on a problem that hits everybody everywhere. It’s in your home, with kids and caregivers. It’s in schools. It’s in our places of teacher preparation and professional learning. Every place is a place where we can focus on resolving issues of math anxiety. It’s exciting.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:26):

Yeah, I feel like … if there could be a course in — we all know that our teacher prep programs, in MOST teacher prep programs, there’s not nearly enough math methods or time to cover <laugh> — it’s like ready, set, go! And depending on who your mentor teacher is or what your math methods course … I mean, it can totally shape the way that you are prepared or really not prepared for going out there to teach math! And so I love that we’re having these conversations.

Dan Meyer (01:55):

What I love about today’s conversation is, one, it’s got a little bit of a technology flavor, so there’s that. But I also love, it’s got one of my favorite features about change, which is that it focuses on change to action, change to routine, rather than change to belief. Rather than saying like, “OK, everybody! Everybody stop thinking bad beliefs about math and transmitting them to your kids!” Instead, it says, “What we’ll do is just, hey, we’ll set that aside for a second and we’re gonna do a certain thing every day and watch as those actions make your beliefs change.” That to me is extremely cool. And I think it has a higher likelihood of success than just, like, me telling parents, “Hey, stop thinking these thoughts!”

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (02:37):

“Ready, set, stop being anxious!”

Dan Meyer (02:39):

Exactly. Exactly. So it’s an exciting conversation we’re gonna have here.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (02:43):

Right. So it’s not a, you know, “wave the wand and all of a sudden, you’re not anxious about math anymore.” But these incremental changes, these incremental conversations, this validation, can really, really impact change. I’m with you on it, Dan. I hear what you’re saying.

Dan Meyer (03:01):

To help us talk through all of these ideas and more, we’re joined by Dr. Marjorie Schaeffer, Assistant Professor of Psychology at St. Mary’s College in Indiana.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (03:10):

Enjoy. <Jaunty music> So, yes, Dan, we are so excited to welcome Marjorie Schaeffer. She’s Assistant Professor of Psychology at St. Mary’s College. Dr. Schaeffer, we’re so excited you’re here. Hello!

Marjorie Schaeffer (03:28):

Thank you so much for inviting me.

Dan Meyer (03:29):

Yeah. We are super-lucky to have had so many prolific and brilliant researchers about math anxiety on our show. You’ll be no exception. And every time, we love to find out about how you came to study math anxiety, which winds up being a really interesting glimpse into your backstory bio. So tell us, what is the route by which you came toward studying math anxiety?

Marjorie Schaeffer (03:51):

Oh, I love that question. I’m really interested in how the attitudes and beliefs of parents and teachers influence children, especially around math. And I actually became interested in this idea in college, when no Child Left Behind was actually first starting to be implemented in schools with high-stakes standardized testing. So much so that I actually did my thesis on this thinking about, “Do children understand the importance of high-stakes testing? Do they have anxiety around that idea?” And so that was really my first foray into the anxiety literature. And that was kind of the entry point into math anxiety for me.

Dan Meyer (04:28):

So you started by studying a very high-stakes assessment, like our students connecting with this. And the assessment is once per year. And classroom instruction is every day. So how did you move from the assessments to the everyday instruction?

Marjorie Schaeffer (04:44):

That’s a great question. So, after college, I actually taught kindergarten. And so from that, I saw the day-to-day impact of instruction and the day-to-day impact of children’s individual attitudes and beliefs. And so I really became interested in thinking about, “How do we understand why some children are really successful from the instruction happening in classrooms and why other children need a little bit more support?” And so math anxiety was one way for me to really think about the individual differences I saw in my kindergarten classroom.

Dan Meyer (05:18):

It feels like you headed … you went farther upstream, is what it feels like. Where assessment … there’s like some kind of anxiety around assessment, let’s say. And then you ventured farther up the stream to classroom instruction and then still farther into kids’ homes. It seems like your research invokes a lot of curiosity about the sources of a kind of amorphous, flowing phenomenon called math anxiety. And I’d love to hear a bit about what you know about how caregivers transfer, transmit — whatever the word is — math anxiety to their kids.

Marjorie Schaeffer (05:55):

For parents … we think that the attitudes and beliefs of parents matter. And we see that for lots of areas, not just math anxiety. But I think math anxiety, we see that really clearly. And so, we can think about it both in terms of what kind of input parents provide. So, how do families talk about math with their children? What kind of support do they provide around homework? And those are ones that I think are a little obvious. But we can also think about the offhanded comments that parents say to children when they’re talking about math generally. Right? So, we see lots of memes going around, talking about how hard math homework is. And so, I think when parents say offhanded comments like, “I’m not a math person,” or “We’re just bad at math,” that communicates values to children. I think the most important thing we know from literature right now is that high math-anxious parents, when they interact with their children, their children learn less math over the course of the school year. And this specific mechanism by which that happens is still an area for a lot of research. And so some people think it’s about input. So maybe if I’m math anxious, I’m avoiding math. And so, when I have an option to read a picture book that has math content, I focus on the colors instead. And so, my child is actually getting less math than other children. We can also think it’s about these messages that are provided. So, when I talk about math, I send the message to my child, it’s not for them, and therefore the child wants to engage in it less. And some of my work looks at things like expectations and values. So, thinking about, “Do math-anxious families actually value math less than other families unintentionally?” And so, we have some support for this idea that they expect less of their children. And so maybe when they struggle, they respond in different ways than a family who’s lower in math anxiety.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (07:53):

This is so fascinating to me. I also was a kindergarten teacher. And I remember a mom who just … she had such like palpable math anxiety. And during one of our conversations, she was talking about these homework sessions with her daughter. And I may have mentioned this on the podcast before. But she was talking about how every night they would sit together and they would do all this math. They’d do, like, extra math together. And it always ended in tears. And despite her math anxiety, she didn’t want her daughter to experience the math anxiety that she did. So she was trying to pile it on, so her daughter was more proficient and comfortable. And instead, it was perpetuating this anxiety about it. And so, it’s a phenomenon then, right? Even if a parent is saying, like you said, maybe completely unwilling, this mother was actually trying to do the opposite. She was trying to help, you know, imbue the love and comfort with math. Right?

Marjorie Schaeffer (09:01):

Absolutely. This is why I think in my research, it’s really important that we find low-stakes, low-stress ways for high math-anxious families to do math. They absolutely can support their children in doing math. But they need a little support. We want it to be a fun, low-stakes environment, right? So maybe that’s the connection back to high-stakes testing, that I want children to have fun math experiences.

Dan Meyer (09:28):

Yeah. This is challenging, because it feels like the more caregivers know about math anxiety, and its pernicious effects on students, and how easily transmitted it is, one could become quite anxious about math anxiety. And, you know, no one makes great decisions when they’re anxious. So if I’m recalling our various episodes we’ve done, we’ve heard from people say, “Well, you need to validate students’ math anxiety. This is not something to just ignore or brush past. But also, not validate it in a way that says, you know, ‘This is OK and generational and inevitable.’” Which presents parents with a very thin path to follow, it seems like. So I love what you’re saying about how we gotta just de-stress the whole process.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (10:11):

You’re avoiding the whole, “I wasn’t a math person either” kind of thing. <laugh>

Dan Meyer (10:15):

Right, right, right. Yeah. So I’d love to know more. We’re excited about the technology that you have studied and helped develop, presumably, called Bedtime Math, anapp for caregivers. And I’d love to know more about what that is and what it offers parents who know enough about math to know that they don’t want to transmit math anxiety to their children, but also want to support. So what does that offer them?

Marjorie Schaeffer (10:39):

So Bedtime Math is an app. It’s freely available on iTunes or the Apple Store or Google Play. And what it’s designed to do is to provide a nightly topical passage. So one of my favorites is the one about Groundhogs Day. And so it talks a little bit about the history of Groundhogs Day, and then it asks math-related follow-up questions. So starting at a preschool level, going through late fifth grade. And it’s really meant for parents to pick the one that meets their children where they are. And so the preschool-level question asks children to pretend to be a groundhog and walk to the left and walk to the right. So a skill that families might not think about as being math, but we actually think that IS part of understanding math. Understanding left and right directionality. And then the next question can ask questions like, “If it took the groundhog three seconds to climb out of the hole, and then two more seconds to see its shadow, how much time did it take all together?” So a simple addition problem, but it’s phrased in a fun way. And so the hope is that for high math-anxious families, these interactions are fun and playful. They don’t look like fights over homework. They’re just conversations that families can have around topics that are naturally interesting to children. And our hope is that when families have lots of these positive low-stakes interactions, they actually can see that we can talk about math in unstressful ways. In lots of ways, right? We can also do this at the grocery store. We can also do this while we’re cooking in the kitchen. It doesn’t just have to be fights over homework.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (12:14):

And I actually have the Bedtime Math — one of the Bedtime Math books. And I was so excited to find out that there’s an app. And I think one of the things that I loved about the book is that these are invitations, right? They’re exactly that. Low pressure <laugh>, and they’re invitations to have a conversation. And if we were just to tell parents, “Oh, just count!” or, “Hey, just count wherever you go!” You know? No. It’s, in a way, I think, like you said, it’s retraining the parents on what math could look like. Like, “Oh, I didn’t even think we could just kind of have this conversation and we’re actually doing math together.”

Marjorie Schaeffer (12:55):

Yes, absolutely. I absolutely agree. We want it to be fun and playful and not stressful. And we want it to also be things that are meaningful to children’s lives. So these are topics children are interested in. It’s not that we are using flashcards or making children practice math facts over and over again. These are things children should wanna do that can naturally fit into a child’s routine. So almost all families read books before bed, and what we hope is that math can also be a part of the nighttime routine.

Dan Meyer (13:27):

There’s something really subtle here going on that I just wanna name and ask a question about. First of all, it’s cool that you started with studying high-stakes stuff and now you are developing low-stakes stuff. And I’m really curious what makes a thing low-stakes? Like, a few things I’m hearing from you is that there’s, like … I have a small child that I read literature to on a nightly basis. And I feel very anxiety-free doing that. And it’s almost as though, because each of the — tasks is the wrong word for this, but experiences — involve some reading, it puts me, the parent, in a mode that is comfortable and familiar to me. I’m curious: Are there other, as you design, what, one per day for a year? All these different experiences. What are some of the principles that you lean on that help make a thing low-stakes for kids and for parents?

Marjorie Schaeffer (14:17):

Yeah, that’s a great question. So one thing we wanted to be really intentional about is that our app doesn’t look like a lot of traditional apps. There isn’t noises that go off. You don’t enter an answer. And so one of the things that we thought made it low-stakes is that while there is a right or wrong answer — there is a correct answer — we aren’t giving children upsetting feedback. Instead, what we wanna encourage families to do is, if you struggle to remember how many seconds it took the groundhog to come out of the hole, you can work through that with a parent. So it doesn’t feel like you’re getting negative feedback; you’re being told you’re bad at math; you did it wrong. Instead, you’re just getting natural support moving forward. And so that’s one thing we wanted to be really intentional about, was that it wasn’t going to be a negative experience for children. And we are trying to build on all of the positive interactions families are having around nightly book reading. So many ways this can look very similar. You get to read another story that’s topical and hopefully interesting. And then do these little questions together. And so for a lot of families, their children don’t actually really look at the question. It almost feels like the parent is just asking them on their own. Like, they just came up with it. They just wanted to know what would happen to the groundhog. If there were three more groundhogs? How many groundhogs would we have all together? Not like it’s gonna be like homework or other parts.

Dan Meyer (15:38):

So my understanding is that there isn’t a blank into which people type a number in, press “submit” for evaluation, receive the red X, the green check. That’s a key part of the design here.

Marjorie Schaeffer (15:50):

Yes, absolutely. And for research purposes, we would’ve loved to know what families were saying. But we think it’s really important that it’s fun, interactive, that families are working together to get to the right answer, that it’s not a test for children.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (16:03):

In your research, when you were — maybe you could walk us through the study a little bit. But I’m also curious if you heard from parents that it was carrying over beyond the bedtime routine. Because I would imagine, if I am building these skills and reading these questions and learning that I could talk to my kid like this about math in a fun way, that’s gonna happen then, like you said, when I’m in the grocery store. Or when I’m waiting in line for at the bank. Or whatever, you know? People go into banks now still, right?

Marjorie Schaeffer (16:35):

Yeah, absolutely. So in our study, we recruited almost 600 families and we randomly assigned them. So they had an equal chance of getting both our math app and what we call our control app. And that’s really just a math app without the math. We think of it as a reading control app. And that’s because we wanna make sure that families are having a similar experience, that it’s not just that having high-quality, fun interactions with your child is actually impacting children’s math achievement. And so what we then did is followed those children over the course of early elementary school. And so we worked with them in schools in the fall and spring of first, second, and third grade, really to look at their math learning. And so what we find is that children of high math-anxious adults, when they have the reading app, so what we think of as what’s happening in the real world, we see that really classic gap between children of high math-anxious adults and children of low math-anxious adults. So if you have a high math-anxious parent, you’re learning about three months less math over the course of first grade. But for children who receive this math app, we see this gap as closed. Those children look no different than a low math-anxious parent. And so that’s leading us to think that we’ve helped families talk about math in fundamentally different ways. We did a little bit of just talking to families to see a little bit about what might be going on. And a lot of families do report exactly what you’re describing, where they say this did help them talk about math in different ways they were doing it other times.

Dan Meyer (18:10):

That’s a really extraordinary study design. I don’t know … I love that you folks gave the control group not nothing. Like it’s possible that just parents and kids bonding over a thing regularly would be enough to provoke some kind of academic gain. But you gave the control group a thing that had them interacting socially, bonding, and still this large common gap between high-anxious and low-anxious parents, their kids shrunk together. Is that what I’m gathering here?

Marjorie Schaeffer (18:41):

Yeah, absolutely. So we’re basically seeing we can no longer, when we look at children’s data, say that parents’ math anxiety explains individual differences. So these children look really similar. They’re learning more than children who has a high math-anxious parent and just got our reading control app.

Dan Meyer (19:01):

just diving into the study a little bit more here, what is the time commitment? Or, did you guide parents to say, “All right, we’re gonna do this do this delightful story about a badger for an hour”? Or did people do it for five minutes? And what was the time commitment, roughly, for people?

Marjorie Schaeffer (19:17):

So we tell families to do it however they see fit. Because it is an app, we are able to get some sense of how long, and we are talking about three to six minutes for many families. For a lot of families, they’re reading a paragraph, the paragraph and a half, and then answering one or two questions. They’re not going through every possible question. They’re just doing a little bit, really meeting their kids where they are.

Dan Meyer (19:39):

Roughly how many times per week was that?

Marjorie Schaeffer (19:41):

So we asked families to do it as much as it fit. But we’re seeing about two and a half on average in the first year. And so families are fitting it in a couple of nights a week. It’s not every night.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (19:52):

So what it sounds like you’re saying is what really was powerful about this app is that it was the space and time and prompts between the caregiver and the child, that chance to really sit down and have some of these meaningful and positive math interactions. How did it shift those relationships?

Marjorie Schaeffer (20:12):

So one of the things I think that makes the app effective is the changing of expectations. After a year, families are really using the app a lot less. And I think that’s OK, that they have found other ways to incorporate math into their lives. And we find that we don’t see an impact on their math anxiety, that they aren’t becoming less math anxious from this experience. Which I think makes sense, because they have had a lifetime of math anxiety. But we do see a change in parents’ expectations and value of math. So they expect their children will be better at math, and they also report that math is more important in their children’s lives. And so I think that’s an important part of it, which is, we can change these values for families, even if we aren’t able to change the math anxiety of the adults in children’s lives.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (21:01):

I want to for a second before — because I’m loving this idea of the app, and I’m excited to find out more ways to cultivate these conversations in my home and also share this with other folks. Because even folks who don’t even maybe realize they have math anxiety … like you said, so often it’s unconscious. So often we’re putting these little snippets into our everyday conversation, like, “Oh yeah, I’m not a math person.” And we don’t even realize how much is impacting our kiddos and ourselves, right? So I am really curious: What do you think … in your research, what were some other takeaways that you feel like are really strategies that we can think about for combating math anxiety in general?

Marjorie Schaeffer (21:47):

So I’m particularly interested in thinking about how math-anxious adults can help tone down their anxiety so that they can have high-quality interactions with their children, that they interact with. And so one of the big takeaways for my research, I think, is that math-anxious families can help their children with math. They just need support. And so I think there are lots of ways for that support to look like. One, I think it can be an app, but I also think reading a little bit about math can be really helpful. So it’s not new. So the first time you aren’t thinking about some of these ideas is as your child has their homework open in front of you. And so you can process your own feelings separately before you have to do it with a child. I also think reminding parents that math is everywhere and that math is actually lots of things that we all love to do. Math isn’t just calculus. Not that calculus isn’t wonderful. But that math is measuring, math is counting ducks at the park. Math is talking about how many times did I go down this slide. And talking about math in this way, I think reminds families that they are great at that. That even if maybe they’ve had bad math experiences before, they can do math. Especially the way their preschool or early childhood, early elementary school student needs them to. And I think that can then set the foundation for being really successful later.

Dan Meyer (23:13):

So is your research then, your subsequent studies, your line of inquiry, is moving more towards how to support parents, then? Is that what I’m hearing?

Marjorie Schaeffer (23:22):

Yeah. So I’m really interested in both understanding how the math anxiety of parents and teachers influences children. And so math anxiety is really common and we know that it’s particularly common in early elementary school teachers. And so it’s very likely that children are interacting with a highly math-anxious adult. And so I’m really interested in thinking about how we can support those individuals in doing it. And so both, I think, things like Bedtime Math, which provide fun, unscripted ways to do that, but I’m also interested in the teacher equivalent. So, thinking about whether having things like a math coach can help teachers have more positive experiences with math. So if you see someone else play math games with your students, can that help you do it as well?

Dan Meyer (24:09):

It makes me wonder a lot about an app for teachers or an app for parents, one that’s not designed to be co-consumed with kids and their parents. But what that would look like … yeah, that’s really interesting.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (24:21):

If we have a parent who, let’s say they have a third grader, fourth grader, fifth grader, or a middle schooler, right? Outside of early education. And they say, “OK, but what do I do? I’m with my kiddo; I don’t remember this math.” And they’re realizing that their anxiety may be influencing their kiddos’ disposition of mathematics, Or maybe they’re just in the midst of the battle <laugh>. What would you say to those folks, especially if it’s math that maybe they’re not comfortable with?

Marjorie Schaeffer (24:56):

One, I think we should like tone down the stress, right? Remind ourselves that it’s homework and homework feels really high-stakes, but these other outcomes are really high-stakes too, right? And so I’m really interested in the idea that can we help parents feel more comfortable about math by watching their own children teach it to them. So what’s a concept that the fourth grader actually feels really good about? And can they remind their parent how to do it? Can, together, they problem-solve the math homework? And so it’s not just on the parent to give the child the right answer. We know that’s a recipe for communicating some negative things about math. But instead, help the parent-child pair figure it out together. So what are some resources we can do? Can we look it up on the internet together? Can we write an email to the teacher together? Can we think about what are other problems that maybe we know how to do, and therefore we can use that same model here? So I want parents to feel like they are not solely responsible for it. That they can help figure it out with their child together. And so it’s a fun interaction.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (26:02):

I love that. I love that.

Dan Meyer (26:03):

Yeah. Yeah. That’s wonderful. Yeah. A conviction that I have, and I think it’s true, is that any math that we’re learning at middle school, the attraction can be dialed down to a degree that a very small child, or a parent who has a very small child’s understanding of math, can appreciate. So instead of calculation, estimation. Instead of proof, just make a claim about something. And it makes me wonder about a companion to the work that’s happening in schools that parents feel inadequate to support, that students might not want to teach their parents. But which they could both, on a daily basis, say, “Here’s a way we can engage in this at a level that is comfortable to both of us.” Just dreaming out loud here. No question asked. No response needed. I just love your work. And made me wonder about that. Can you let me know your thoughts about technology? It is very rare that we have someone on the call who is an academic and very well-versed in research, but who also is published not just in in papers and textbooks, but also in digital media. It’s consumed by lots of people. So I am trusting that you have opinions about how math looks in technology. And I wonder if you’d offer some thoughts about how it goes, right? How it goes wrong from your own eyes.

Marjorie Schaeffer (27:14):

OK. That’s a great question. I think that we need more research. I first wanna say that I think that technology has really exploded in the last few years. How children have access to technology and screen times has really changed. And what we need is high-quality research happening. That said, I think that all of the things we know from child-development research still apply to technology. And so we know that children learn best when they are engaging in interactions with their parents. And so when families can use technology together, or at least can talk about what’s happening, it can be really effective. I also think technology, especially math apps, are best at teaching concrete skills with very clear answers. So I think practicing math facts is a great use of technology. So I love that Sushi math app where you solve multiplication problems and then get to quickly pull the sushi off the cart, right? But for higher-level questions, where we’re thinking about word problems or where what we’re helping to teach students is complex thinking, apps have a harder time doing that. Because students can often figure out the answer without engaging in the thinking that we are hoping that they’ll learn. And so I think technology absolutely has a piece. I think technology is helpful for parents. I think the logistics of helping parents live their lives is a good reason to use technology. But I think we need to be conscious of what it’s replacing. And so I think a world in which we think fourth graders can learn math only from apps is not realistic. But absolutely apps can be a great supplement to what’s already happening in the classroom.

Dan Meyer (28:56):

Yeah, that’s super-helpful. We have done a lot of work in digital curriculum here at Amplify, and often face the question on a daily basis, “Should this math be digital or on paper? Should we have the students stand up and talk or type something?” And those decisions are way too crucial and way more sensitive than a lot of the app-based education gives credit to. So appreciate your perspective there.

Marjorie Schaeffer (29:22):

OK. And I don’t think there’s one answer, or one answer for all classrooms. I think it’s like always a balancing act. I do think that one of the reasons our work is successful is because the parent-child interaction. And we want parents to learn from these experiences. And I think the same thing is true for for teachers.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (29:41):

Dr. Schaeffer, thank you so much for being with us today and for sharing about your research, and again, for inviting us to reconsider ways that we can develop a more positive relationship with math. And that parent or caregiver or teacher relationship with a child, we’re seeing just how incredibly impactful that is. And I really appreciate your work and your voice on this. Thank you so much for your time.

Dan Meyer (30:07):

Thank you.

Marjorie Schaeffer (30:08):

Thank you for having me.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (30:12):

Thank you again, Dr. Schaeffer, and thank you all for listening to our conversation. You can check out the show notes for more on Dr. Schaeffer’s work and to see a link to the app that we shared about Bedtime Math.

Dan Meyer (30:25):

Please keep in touch with us on Facebook at Math Teacher Lounge Community, and on Twitter at MTLShow.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (30:32):

We would love to hear … you’ve been listening to this series; we’re dipping our toe into all these aspects of math anxiety. Is there something that you’re still wondering about? Something you wanna share about your own story with math anxiety?

Dan Meyer (30:43):

And if you haven’t already, if this is your first exposure to the Math Teacher Lounge podcast, please subscribe to Math Teacher Lounge, wherever you get your fine podcast products. And if you like what you’re hearing, please rate us! Leave us a review. You’ll help more listeners find the show.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (31:01):

And let a friend know. But you know, it’s, it’s nice and cozy here in the Lounge, right? There’s no pressure. We’re hanging out. It’s all about learning. We’re learning together. We’re glad you’re here and we want others in your community to join us in the Lounge as well. You can find more information on all of Amplify’s shows at our podcast hub. Go to amplifycom.wpengine.com/hub. Next time on Math Teacher Lounge, we’re gonna be chatting about where we are today that we weren’t a few months ago in this topic.

Dan Meyer (31:31):

We’ll be chatting about this last series about math anxiety, and trading our favorite insights and observations from the run of the season.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (31:41):

I just love this series, Dan. And thanks, all, for listening. We really appreciate having you in the Lounge.

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What Marjorie Schaeffer says about math

“We want it to be a fun, low-stakes environment, especially in high-stakes scenarios like testing. We want children to have fun math experiences.”

– Marjorie Schaeffer

Assistant Professor of Psychology at Saint Mary’s College

Meet the guest

Marjorie Schaeffer is an assistant professor of psychological sciences at Saint Mary’s College. She received her Ph.D in developmental psychology from the University of Chicago. Marjorie is interested in the role parents and teachers play in the development of children’s math attitudes and performance. She is specifically interested in the impact of expectations and anxiety and on children’s academic performance. Her work has been published in outlets including ScienceJournal of Experimental Psychology: General, and Developmental Science.

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About Math Teacher Lounge

Math Teacher Lounge is a biweekly podcast created specifically for K–12 math educators. In each episode co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson (@lockhartedu) and Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) chat with guests, taking a deep dive into the math and educational topics you care about.

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S5-04. Coaching tips for managing math anxiety in teachers

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So far this season, we’ve investigated math anxiety in students and its causes with passionate researchers and curriculum experts, including one from Sesame Workshop! Now we hear from Dr. Heidi Sabnani, consultant, coach, and co-host of Math 4 All, as she gives us research-based tips for teachers who are facing math anxiety themselves! Listen as we discuss Heidi’s own math anxiety and journey through math, the effects teacher math anxiety can have on instruction, and practices educators can implement right away for overcoming math anxiety.

Listen today and don’t forget to grab your MTL study guide to track your learning and make the most of this episode!

Download Transcript

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (00:00):

Coaching is the opportunity to provide that just-in-time kind of professional development for teachers, if we go at it in a slightly different way.

Dan Meyer (00:10):

Hey folks, welcome back to Math Teacher Lounge. I’m your host, Dan Meyer.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:14):

And I’m Bethany Lockhart Johnson.

Dan Meyer (00:16):

Bethany, how are you doing, and how are you feeling about our current trajectory through this exploration of math anxiety?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:24):

Dan, I gotta tell you — let me make it about me for a second. <laugh>.

Dan Meyer (00:29):

Go. Do it.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:30):

If only I had known that so many other people experienced math anxiety, and I wasn’t the only one. I mean, I’ve said it before, but you know, I hope that this series so far is helping to reframe math anxiety for folks who maybe have a narrow definition of it … and I guess expand, reframe. And also, for those folks who are working with students who have math anxiety, or who they themselves have experienced math anxiety, I hope they’ve found some tools, some resources. Right? Like, “Yes!”

Dan Meyer (01:04):

Yes! Same.

New Speaker (01:06):

And what about you? How are you feeling?

Dan Meyer (01:08):

Yeah, I hope this has been cathartic for all of our listeners who have experienced math anxiety, and not re-traumatizing, that there are lots of people who feel this way about math in particular. And that it’s so well-experienced, so broadly experienced, that people have decided to study it a whole bunch. Which is great. And now we’re moving into our kind of solutioning. You know, in my relationships, I’m sometimes told that I rush too quickly to solutions before trying to understand what’s going on. So I’ve loved our episodes that have been about what is going on. And now, with Dr. Truglio last episode and our guest today, we’re moving more into some solutions, which I’m excited about.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:49):

I don’t know, Dan, I think next time I see you I’m gonna bring a list of some concerns or worries I have, and I would love if you just get right to the solution. I’m actually OK with that.

Dan Meyer (02:01):

All right. Good to know. Good to know. I’ll say I am coming off of a day where I was feeling some teacher anxiety today, because I taught really real students. So just to let you know where I’m coming from here. I taught some seventh grade students at Montera Middle, here in Oakland Unified School District. Taught ’em a lesson outta the Desmos curriculum. And it was one of those lessons where some thorny stuff comes up. I’m talking students who are wrong for smart reasons, who are right for the wrong reasons, and their minds are working so hard trying to figure out inequalities. And I’m like trying to just step into that process as an educator with some curriculum and help shape those ideas. But it’s just … I don’t know, you want it to be as easy as like, “let me just show you how it’s done a few times, and now you got it.” But whew, some of these ideas, they take a long time to form up and they’re really easily reshaped by lots of stuff going on. So that’s where I’m at, anxiety-wise, right now. The teacher anxiety stuff.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (03:04):

I think there’s probably plenty of teachers who do kind of just say, this is how you do it. And so, from what I have seen of your teaching and what I know of the Desmos curriculum, it is such an opportunity to think hard about the things that we are assuming about our students, assuming about what we know about the math itself. And yeah, that requires some thought.

Dan Meyer (03:30):

Yeah, for sure. I came in ready, like, “When you multiply both sides of an inequality by a negative, this sign flips around.” And I could just say that to kids and say, “Hey, remember that! Write that down!” And a lot of them would do it really well, you know, provided the assessment problems looked like ones we’ve gone over in class. And they’re also learning — in addition to that math, they’re learning that math is a giant sack of tricks they gotta memorize, right? So there’s just these pros and cons. And at the end of the one period I’m gonna teach this week, I was like, “Well, your teacher’s gonna go over that tomorrow, when they’re with you instead of me.” So it felt a bit like I copped out on that one. And I’m just in in my feelings about that right now. And I’m gonna try to come on down here and be present in the math-anxiety world.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (04:25):

I appreciate you sharing that, Dan. And I think … I have a feeling that you could write a pretty catchy rhyme to allow the students to flip and <starting to rap> “multiply by negative. and dit-dit-dit-dit.” Can you feel it? You picking up that beat?

Dan Meyer (04:40):

Ooh, yeah. A nice little beat. Uh-huh. Yup.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (04:41):

Yeah. You know, you could come up with something pretty clever, and yet you did not lean on your wordsmithing skills. You said, “No, let us dive in.” So what are you gonna do with this lesson, by the way? What happens now? You popped in for one period, and then what happens?

Dan Meyer (05:03):

Yeah. So this is gonna be a blast. I hope you folks tune in. We’re gonna actually release the footage of me teaching this lesson live. You know, it’ll be replayed live. And on top of that, a couple of my favorite teacher coaches and just smart people about teaching are going to be giving commentary. They are gonna be giving the director’s commentary, the sports announcers’ commentary on what they’re seeing. I beg for their generosity in their commentary. But I think it’ll be a lot of fun. I’ve never seen anything like this before, a commentary track on top of a teaching lesson, in this way. So I’m just gonna gonna be excited to see what they noticed that I didn’t, what they might have done, the thoughts they might have. Maybe I’ll do a post-game interview, you know.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (05:50):

Ooh, yes!

Dan Meyer (05:50):

With my towel around my neck, <laugh> looking all sweaty.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (05:54):

Ready, set, grow!

Dan Meyer (05:55):

Like, “Yup, we gave it all out there, you know, just a real team effort.” You know, that kind of thing. We’ll see how that goes.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (06:02):

I actually love that idea. I love that it’s not just this one random lesson that just kind of floats out there, and it’s about, you walk away with whatever feelings you have, and the students obviously walk away, but that this is gonna help other educators.

Dan Meyer (06:17):

Yeah. Yeah. We’ll multiply my anxiety and make it more people’s anxiety. We’ll see how that goes. So stay tuned on the Math Teacher Lounge feed for that. All right?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (06:25):

All right! And speaking of anxiety, Dan Meyer, we gotta get to today’s show. You know, last time we had some amazing strategies for helping students from Dr. Truglio from Sesame Workshop. I gotta tell you, I sent that episode to so many of my friends, like, “Listen to these ideas!” and have had some interesting follow-up conversations. And we would love to hear what you think about this season so far, at MTLShow on Twitter or in our Facebook group, Math Teacher Lounge. So today, we’re gonna focus on strategies for supporting teachers.

Dan Meyer (07:00):

Yes. Which is why we’re so excited to bring to you folks Heidi Sabnani, who — we’ve had researchers. We’ve had Sesame Workshoppers. And Heidi Sabnani has been a classroom teacher; she’s teacher-consultant; newly minted doctoral degree holder. We’re so pumped to bring to you folks: Heidi Sabnani.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (07:25):

Dr. Sabnani, thank you for being here. Can we call you Dr. Heidi? What would you. …

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (07:31):

You can just call me Heidi. Yeah. Heidi is good.

Dan Meyer (07:36):

Right on.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (07:36):

  1. Heidi, thank you for joining us in the Lounge. We’re so excited to talk with you.

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (07:41):

I am super-honored to be here. It’s really exciting and I just really appreciate the opportunity.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (07:47):

I will say I don’t have a PhD, although the two people I’m talking with right now, both do, and you’re both like holding up your degrees as we speak and saying, “Wah-wah.” But I imagine that if I did, I’d wanna throw that doctor in more frequently, so.

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (08:02):

Well—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (08:03):

If I sneak in a “Doctor,” Heidi, it’s only out of respect.

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (08:05):

  1. I appreciate it.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (08:07):

Dan makes me call him Dr. Meyer all the time.

Dan Meyer (08:10):

You don’t call me Dr. Dan or Dr. Meyer, ever. So—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (08:13):

I will now!

Dan Meyer (08:14):

—this respect only goes towards Dr. Heidi, it seems. But yeah, we’ll take that off the air.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (08:19):

Well, we are going to delve into your research on math anxiety soon, because I actually — speaking of becoming a doctor, a new doctor, I have some questions. We have questions about your research, but on a personal level, I really appreciated the way that you share that you yourself experienced math anxiety as a student. So I’m wondering if you could tell us a bit about your own math anxiety, your <laugh> journey through math.

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (08:50):

Yeah, so much like the people in the research that I did, and with the research that I read by others, many of us can tie the beginnings — or like the evil villain origin story of math anxiety — to a particular event, or series of events. And my series of events started, the big blow-up, I guess, in fourth grade. And I had had some struggles in school — I have mild dyslexia and dyscalculia. And so I had always been in the special group of kids who got some extra attention <laugh> from the teacher, or from an aide, or whoever happened to be in the room. But in fourth grade — at that time, they taught multiplication and division facts in fourth grade. Many, many moons ago. And I struggled greatly with just understanding what was happening and why we were moving so quickly. And, my teacher was probably not the best person to be entrusted with my learning at the time. Like, her style may have been OK for others, but it was obvious that she felt like kind of wasting her time with some people in the classroom. And I happened to be one of those people.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (10:26):

Mmm. You said that really diplomatically, though. <Laugh>

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (10:30):

Well, you know, you look back at things from the perspective of many years. And having made lots of mistakes myself in the classroom as a teacher, I try to give some grace to things that happened, and how you remember them. Yeah, that’s my story, but maybe she had a different one, right?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (10:55):

Yeah. But fourth grade Heidi was still, you know, still experiencing that. Yeah.

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (11:01):

Yeah. Fourth-grade Heidi didn’t like being in the “dumb group” and didn’t like being told that she would probably not graduate from high school. So that was kind of the general environment. And I got further and further behind in math. The dyslexia was less and less of an issue the older I got, because I had great comprehension. And so I could figure out the fluency thing just by the pattern of language, because mine is mild in comparison to so many who struggle with that. But math was not working in that same way. And I got more and more behind and to the point where I was having to stay in every day at recess. And I had had it after like a month. Like, I’m not staying in at recess anymore to do this math that I don’t understand, by myself. Like, not doing it. So I—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (11:53):

Which, by the way, if there’s one way to make you hate it, <laugh> like, to engender, to endear you to a subject, could it be, “Let’s have you stay in at recess”?

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (12:07):

Right. And so one day I just stormed out of the classroom, I was like, “I’m not coming. I’m not staying, I’m not doing this anymore. I’m done.” And I can remember her standing up at the top of the hill screaming at me to come back, and I was like, “No way. Not doing it. Done with this.” I went to a parochial school, though, and my dad is a pastor. So that whole little incident blew up in the greater community in a way that I didn’t really anticipate as a fourth grader. And my parents had no idea that this was going on. And so they were shocked and dismayed that their — up until that point — oldest child, rule-follower, had done this. But then even more upset when they found out what was happening with my math understanding, or lack thereof. And they did what they knew best at the time. So my mom was a great memorizer. She has a brain like an elephant. And my dad grew up in the British system in India and Singapore, and it was at that time very much based on memorization. And so they were like, “We are gonna just work really hard. We’re gonna buckle down and do this thing <laugh>.” And so that’s what we did, and that’s where all of it began. It was not — it was just about “We’re gonna learn the facts. We’re not gonna ask questions; we’re not gonna think about it, because it’s just the rules. And if you can figure out the rules or the system or what the teacher wants, and mimic what the teacher is doing, then you’ll be successful.” And it was really successful for me, once I figured that out all the way through. My whole goal in high school when I took high school math was to take enough math courses with a high-enough GPA that when I got my BA in college, that I would never have to take math again. And I succeeded in that and got an English degree and a Master’s in world lit. And I was in no way doing math ever again.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (14:31):

But little did you know that Future You was going to be researching math anxiety. How did you wind up researching it then? How did you wind up researching math anxiety?

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (14:43):

So I took a job in school improvement when I was working in Ohio, after a number of years teaching high school English in Southern California and Guatemala and Michigan, all over the place. And I took a job in school improvement with a co-consultant who was gonna be doing the math end, and I was gonna be doing the literacy end, and we were just gonna go in, and I was gonna make kids love reading, and she was gonna make kids love math, and it was gonna be so fun. And then she decided she didn’t like working with adults and they couldn’t find anyone else. And my boss said, “So you’re just gonna do both for the rest of the year.” After that year, I got requested to go back and, and do this again. I said, “Well, if I’m gonna do this, I’m going to go back and reteach myself the math in ways that I wish that fourth-grade Heidi had learned it, and fourth-grade-and-up Heidi had learned it.” And so that was like the, the beginning of the switch. And so now equal amounts of time in my career have been spent in both. But when I started, when I continued working, when I left the classroom to continue working with teachers, and when I transitioned more into an elementary setting, I began to notice the same behaviors that I had in high school of avoiding math, and avoiding teaching math, were happening in the classrooms that I was supporting. And so I would have teachers come and say, “Oh, can we talk about this literacy thing?” And even if it was like a math meeting, or we were supposed to split the time evenly, and ohhh, for some reason the literacy time talk would just like move over <laugh>. And then there was no time to talk about math at the end. And “Oh, that’s just too bad.” Like, we’re just gonna move on to this next thing. Funny how that happens, right?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (16:32):

Yeah. <laugh>.

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (16:34):

And noticing teachers’ behaviors around going to and or avoiding math professional development that I was giving. Or getting sick. Or like having to leave the room for a long period of time. And so I began to notice these behaviors. And initially I thought I wanted to look at math anxiety in children, which is one branch of the research that I started with. But as I got into things more, the people that I have the most influence in are adults right now.

Dan Meyer (17:09):

Right.

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (17:09):

And so as I started looking at the research that had already been done, I feel like we do a really nice job of admiring the problem of math anxiety, and we do less in the “what to do about” phase. And so I was like, “Well, if I’m going to continue to be in this career and in this profession, then I need to be doing something in the space of ‘what are we gonna do about it?’” And so that’s how I switched to looking at “what do we do to help teachers?” Particularly elementary school teachers, because that’s the area of greatest need, based on previous research that we could at least do something to help.

Dan Meyer (17:51):

Yeah. A previous guest mentioned that a lot of research is better understood as me-search, especially in this kind of arena, where we’re going back in to try to understand what it was that happened for us and how to prevent it for future generations. And I have nothing but respect for that motivation right there. And your point is well-put, that it is very possible to spend a ton of time examining math anxiety from every angle, every facet, you know, put it up there on a mounted board and admire it … and there’s a lot of value there, but I appreciate that you’re moving into, “So, now what?”

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (18:27):

Yep.

Dan Meyer (18:28):

And so I’d love if you’d share with us and our listeners the broad details of your study, and what you ultimately found. Like, if there are any large takeaways here, what were they?

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (18:40):

Yeah. So a couple of things to kind of just lay a little bit of the groundwork. One out of four teachers say that they have math anxiety. Those numbers increase rapidly, the younger of the grades that the teachers teach. So if we think about preK to two, it’s about 88%, based on other people’s research. So I was like, “Well that’s a lot of people <laugh>!” And so, that’s the scope of the problem. And so I was thinking, “OK, what do we do in these moments?” Because other researchers had said they’re spending — when they don’t like it, they’re spending less time teaching math and avoiding it, or relying on methods that were done to us. Just out of fear of trying something different, at many times. And so one thing that has become more prominent in math education since I transitioned 16 years ago into this has been the role of coaches in school systems. And so one of the questions I wanted to think about was, “What can coaches or math specialists who work with adults as well do to help the teachers that they work with?” So that was kind of the lens that I was looking at. Like, let’s think about the systems that we currently have in place. Is there something that we could be doing that would help teachers, that wouldn’t be so huge or so monumental that with little shifts in our own behavior as coaches or professional development providers that we could make that would make a difference? So that being said, this was a qualitative study, so a small group of people in very intense settings. So I kind of always wanna preface that, because in academic world, you know, there’s <laugh> all sorts of thoughts about that. So I had asked teachers from districts that I work with who self-identified as having math anxiety if they would be interested in the study. So, this is what we’re thinking of, this is what it would look like, and the scope of the support they would have.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (20:50):

So basically you’re tracking these four teachers who self-identified as math anxious. And were you serving as their coach and kind of seeing what was working?

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (21:00):

I was serving as their coach. Yeah. I was serving as their coach during that time period. And some fairly recent research that had been done was in the idea of “Can we do some reflective conversations or reflective writing around where your math anxiety started, and how that makes you feel both as a teacher of mathematics now, because you are teaching math, and how that affects your identity as a mathematician?” And so that was the first starting point. And that was a really critical moment that I’m glad that I had stumbled across the research on, because it turned out that having someone hear and acknowledge that what happened to them was both wrong and inappropriate, in many cases, and in a couple instances, was traumatic and also abusive — that that mattered. That it was OK to feel anger and hurt and frustration based on what happened to you in the past. And then have that moment to reflect on, “OK, so what do you want the classroom environment that you’re building as a teacher to feel like for your students?” So it was turning that moment of how they felt to thinking about, then, what kind of environment do we wanna make within the math classroom? And what steps can we take to ensure that happens? So that was like, Step One is just thinking about what that looks like. What kind of math identities then do you want to create for your students? Because all of the teachers were very concerned with not continuing the cyclical nature that often happens with math anxiety, from teacher to student and back again.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (22:54):

Well, and even that validation, right? Like, how many of them hadn’t even had, like you said, had that? We had another, when in our first episode, Dr. Gerardo Ramirez talked about that validation and how key.

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (23:09):

Yeah. That was the first thing. The next step of it, which very different from what I often do — I don’t generally go in and model for teachers — just me, taking over your classroom. I really like to co-plan with teachers and co-teach with teachers and have it not feel like they’re losing control over what’s happening in that moment. And that’s generally the way that I go in when I’m doing professional development in a classroom, right? Like, I’m working with the teacher and we’re a team; we’re doing this together. But in these four cases, these teachers were very, very resistant <laughs> to co-teaching. And so I said, “OK, well, let’s throw everything out. Let’s try whatever it happens to be.” So the modeling aspect turned out to be really important, in part when three out of the four cases, because they were like, “Oh, I can do that.” <laugh> like, Well, yeah, I know you can! Like, it was that having a moment to sit back and see someone else doing it — which is harder to do when you’re co-teaching, right? It’s harder to be reflective in the moment when you’re still thinking about the teaching choices you’re making, because you’re both co-teaching.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (24:24):

Right. Or sometimes you see, like in co-teaching, it falls into “one teach, one manage,” you know, or something like that.

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (24:31):

Yes.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (24:31):

I have definitely fallen into that. But you, by modeling … it was almost, I don’t know, it feels like you’re kind of holding their hand. Like, “I’ll show you!” And not that it has to exactly look like that, right? But you found if a coach is coming in and the teacher gets to sit back and basically watch their students learn, they’re probably gettinga ton of information about their students, and they’re really learning some teaching strategies for mathematics that they can then like dip their toe in. I think? <Laugh> Am I kind of thinking of this? I’m trying to picture this and it feels rich and rife with possibilities <laugh>.

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (25:16):

Well, and it, it turned it from … I think sometimes, when I go into a classroom, I learn so much from watching teachers and being able to sit and listen to students, that you don’t always have the luxury of when you’re the teacher. <Laugh> Right? It’s so much harder to be like, “OK, I’m gonna be watching what a kid does, because I’m hoping someone uses this strategy, so I can connect it to this other person’s strategy, so that we can take that apart and look at it and really have immediate discussion around it.” Those are all so many things that are happening in the moment as a teacher. You don’t get to sit back and look at it from a researcher kind of lens. Or look, you know, from the up-above lens. And when I had these conversations with teachers, I was like, “That’s what I want you to do. I want you to be able to sit back and look at all the things that are happening.” Because then you begin to notice not only the moves that the teacher — in this case, me — who was modeling for them was doing, but also the student conversations. And it was almost like having a case study within that moment, where they got to sit back and just experience, versus thinking about all the decisions that they would make at the moment. So that was something that was really surprising to me.

Dan Meyer (26:33):

Yeah. And I love the idea that they’re seeing the pedagogical moves, but they’re also experiencing perhaps a sense of math that’s de-stressed. You know, they are allowing themselves to sit next to students and feel as though they are a student, in ways that if you’re co-teaching, you are still like enmeshed in the gears of the whole lesson. I wonder if that’s a part of this too. So I’m hearing from you that we’re taking these teachers who have all admitted to some math anxiety, and that one of the interventions, or one of the findings, was that modeling worked really well for, again, this set of teachers. But you modeling lessons that highlighted mathematics, that was less anxious, that helped the teachers see that students were engaging in really productive un-anxious ways, brave ways. Were there other kinds of takeaways that you experienced there?

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (27:24):

Yeah. So in addition to that, we had to think about and start at Step One. One of the teachers that I worked with had done her student teaching with a teacher who had math anxiety, and who never taught math. And so she entered her teaching career, never having taught math before or seen it taught. And so in her situation, she had had one course in her teacher preparation program, that was on fractions.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (27:54):

That’s often the case, right? One math methods course! Help, we have to get it all in in this semester! <Laugh>

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (28:01):

<Laugh> Yes. And so she came in and said, “I feel like I have to start at the beginning.” And so there was no question that was inappropriate, or that we weren’t going to explore or think about. And so that was, I think, the starting place with that particular teacher. And then one other, who was kind of in her same age range, where we had to start thinking about, “OK, how did you learn as a learner? What ways are you seeing your students learn as learners? And then let’s focus on those first as the areas that you wanna explore in your teaching.” And so a lot of that ended up being much more visual and hands-on ways of exploring. And so those were some of the changes in, I think, pedagogy that were the most significant. In a couple of cases, these are early elementary teachers who had had one experience with manipulatives in their whole teaching career up until that point. And so one teacher brought me a bucket of Cuisenaire rods and said, “These are in my room. I don’t know what they are. <Laugh> Are we building things with them? Are they blocks that are just small? <Laugh> Like what are they for?”

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (29:20):

Yes!

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (29:21):

And so, <laugh> it was that idea of, “OK, let’s, let’s explore all the different ways that we can use these, and that we can think about how your students might learn best with this particular tool that you have in your room.”

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (29:34):

So hearing you talk about this research — which by the way, I know, you’re like, for our listeners, it’s all, “Quick, boil down your years and hours of research and synthesize it for us.”

Dan Meyer (29:50):

Your life’s work.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (29:50):

In a little tiny neat package. But really though, even though I know there’s so many layers to your research, and your work with these teachers, I wanna flag for our listeners that even the things that you’ve identified for us, you were giving teachers space — as coach, giving teachers space, and validating their experience as a mathematician, as you know, as a young student, right? Making space for that experience and validating “Yeah, that was really lousy and your math anxiety is real.” Like, Step One is already powerful. And then you’re creating space where they get to be in their classroom as a learner, right? And have a lesson modeled. And then you’re creating more <laugh> space for them to learn and ask questions. And I have absolutely seen teachers like, “I don’t know what to do with these,” and kind of shove aside the district-provided tools or the curriculum-provided tools. And so even those things, Heidi — Dr. Heidi <laugh> — you know, even if … I don’t know, for me, I am listening to you and just holding those points in mind and feeling like that, alone, if a coach did even just that … I know there’s so much more to it, but what a powerful opportunity for reclaiming math as an educator, right? That’s what I’m feeling.

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (31:25):

Well, and I was hoping that there wouldn’t be … I mean, OK, it’s a double-sided hope. If there was something like so novel and so fantastic that was so different from the things that we have already at our disposal, that would’ve made a much better book or dissertation. <Laugh> But the reality is, there are things that we already know work. And we don’t often take the time or, or are given the time to be able to explore those things. Right? So even as coaches, you have district initiatives or things like, “this is what we’re working on this year,” and that’s fantastic, right? We keep those things moving forward. But if we’re thinking about coaching teachers with math anxiety, no teacher with math anxiety is going to be coming to NCTM.

Dan Meyer (32:16):

Right. Right. Or the training.

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (32:19):

Or the training. They’re like, “Oh, PD day? Literacy! Yes, please! Bye!” You know, it’s that piece of it. So when we have these moments, the coaching is the opportunity to provide that just-in-time kind of professional development for teachers, if we go at it in a slightly different way. It does not have to be huge. It can be things like, they feel that they’re stronger in literacy. Well, then, let’s explore some of the ideas around math, anxiety and math identity and examples of people who’ve overcome either those things or other barriers in their life. And how can those things help form not only your students’ math identity, but your math identity. And it gives entry points in ways that you have access to if you’re a person’s coach.

Dan Meyer (33:18):

So in that sense, I’d love to know from you, if someone came to you at a coach’s meeting at NCSM and asked you, “What is something I can do right now to support the teachers at my site and my district, who are commonly experiencing math anxiety?” What is something that you would offer them in that brief moment you had with that coach?

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (33:40):

So it is hearing their story first. That’s the big one. And then, can you, in your coaching, provide opportunities to slow down? We all have these pacing guides in some form or another, that drive the things that are coming. Is there a way that you can set up meetings a month or more in advance of the content that those teachers are going to teach? Can we explore a month in advance, that content? And ways to teach it and understand it? There’s the ways to teach it, but there’s also like, “What is this math and how do kids experience this math?” What kind of experiences do we want to have ourselves as learners and then have as kids? If we can create cycles like that, that then don’t feel so rushed. It’s so hard when we’re like, “Oh, we have a planning meeting and we’re meeting with our coach!” And you’re teaching this lesson tomorrow. “Learn all this stuff about adding and subtracting on a number line. Go!” It’s so fast. And so if we had those opportunities to build in cycles, where we could slow down that process, it would make a huge difference in the lives of so many teachers. And it’s finding that time and the willingness. If you listen to teachers, they will work with you. If you validate what happens to them, and acknowledge that sometimes that still happens to us. I mean, I still have experiences like that. Sometimes I’ll walk into a classroom and I’m like, “Oh, I forgot how to do that!” You know, like, “I’ve not reached that far in my remaking of my own education!”

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (35:24):

Yehhhh, heh heh heh.

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (35:25):

<laugh>. And you think, “I don’t wanna look like an idiot. I’m the math consultant who’s here to duh duh duh.” All of those things still come up. Yeah. And stopping and saying like, “OK, everybody, this is what’s happening to me right now.” <laugh> The vulnerability you have, you have to think about that. Even if you don’t have experiences of math anxiety in your own life. Let’s say you always rocked out in math, and you’re now a math specialist and you love it. You think it’s the most spectacular thing. There’s some other element in your life where you face some anxiety. All of us do. So it’s about thinking about, “OK, this is where I experience anxiety. Can I find that in the teachers that I work with? And then, can my teachers find that in the students they work with?” You know, the teachers, as they begin to reflect on their own experiences, began noticing which students always went to the nurse during math time, always asked to go to the bathroom during math time, always couldn’t find a pencil, or whatever it happened to be. And they began to be more aware of their students’ behaviors as well, and could then say, “Hey, let’s sit and talk about how you feel in math class. Like, I’ve been noticing that when it’s time for math, like your stomach hurts. Can we talk about like why that might be?” Because those teachers with math are more attuned, often, to those students. And so it just … the time factor, I guess is, is the bottom line.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (36:59):

I just wanna say, it’s so great to have you in the Lounge. Because I think you’re really bringing this perspective that we haven’t talked about, which … we are not expecting coaches to walk in and know it all. That’s actually the exact opposite. You are allowed to be vulnerable. We are not saying, “Come,” quote-unquote, “Fix this.” It’s like, “Hey, how can you facilitate and make space?” And I feel like you have given us just a taste of like how that might be possible. And you know, I think even if it’s just a chance for teachers to reflect on their own experience in math, even that would probably be kind of revolutionary for — and I don’t say that word lightly — for some PD spaces, especially if they have another peer in their team that is like quote-unquote, “a whiz,” or like, “Oh, I don’t feel like I can be vulnerable in my math anxiety because this teacher seems to know it all.” But you’re creating space where it’s like, “Hey, we all have strengths. We all have areas where we could support each other.” And I love that invitation for coaches. I love that invitation for teachers. And … yeah. I’m just, I’m so glad we get a snapshot of your research. Again, I know, I respect that this is not the whole thing!

Dan Meyer (38:22):

Can we find … is there a link to your dissertation in the show notes, for those of us who peruse dissertations? Can we add something here? Think about —

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (38:29):

Oh, I have no idea!

Dan Meyer (38:30):

Just think about it. Just think about it. But —

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (38:34):

It’s somewhere on ProQuest. It did get some. …

Dan Meyer (38:36):

Right on.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (38:36):

Is that a thing, Dan? Could I go, like, Google your dissertation?

Dan Meyer (38:39):

You definitely could. Yeah, for sure. It’s around. Yeah, same way. Well, that’s awesome. And I think it’s so helpful for those who write those enormous unwieldy essays to, you know, distill it in different ways. I hope it’s been … we’ve enjoyed so much, hearing you carve up a huge project into pieces that were really helpful for us to think about here in the Lounge. Thank you so much for coming on and hanging out with us. Dr. Sabnani, it’s been a pleasure.

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (39:06):

Hey, I’m happy to do it any time. Always the biggest joy in the work that I do is little changes in a positive direction.

Dan Meyer (39:18):

Right on.

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (39:19):

That’s all that this is about. Right? Whether it’s kids, whether it’s teachers, whether it’s administration. The work that we all do is so valuable, and it is more and more difficult over time. And just giving ourselves a little bit of space to think about and acknowledge that, I think, is really important. So I appreciate you all making space as well. And thinking about this idea. Because <laugh> we’re math people! And we don’t have math anxiety! Right?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (39:51):

<laugh>

Dan Meyer (39:51):

So people would assume

Dr. Heidi Sabnani (39:54):

<laugh>. Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (39:54):

Thank you so much. You’re welcome back in the Lounge anytime. <laugh> Thanks so much for listening to our conversation with Dr. Heidi Sabnani, consultant and co-host of the show “Math for All.” I can’t get enough about talking about math anxiety!

Dan Meyer (40:13):

Especially from people who are working with teachers so closely.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (40:18):

Yes, totally. I loved that lens of, “Hey, look at what happens if we actually focus on the teacher’s experience and help them kind of reclaim this comfort, this sense of identity, relationship with math that’s positive. How does that impact their teaching?” I loved talking about it, and I’m really interested in how that work continues to evolve. So thank you so much Dr. Sabnani, for your time. And you know, listeners, please keep in touch with us on our Facebook, in our discussion group, Math Teacher Lounge Community, or you can find us on Twitter at MTL show.

Dan Meyer (40:58):

If you haven’t already, please subscribe to Math Teacher Lounge, wherever you get podcasts. Also, if you like what you’re hearing, please rate us and leave us a review. It will help more listeners find the show. And it just makes me and Bethany feel good about ourselves, too. You can find more information on all of Amplify’s shows at our new podcast hub. Go to Amplify.com/hub.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (41:20):

You know, Dan, I also always like to say, I find most of my podcasts through recommendations from other listeners, friends, folks. So if you like what you’re hearing, share it in your teacher lounge. Just, like, on break, turn it up and start vibing and having the conversation right there.

Dan Meyer (41:40):

Yep. Yep. I got a better idea. Take the link to this podcast and then copy it and find the longest — the thread in your inbox with the most people on it. One of those ones that’s like, someone accidentally cc’d like 500 people, everyone at your school. Press “reply.” This is crucial. Not “reply,” but “reply all.” Paste that link in. Press “send.” Watch what happens.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (42:04):

Nothing but good —

Dan Meyer (42:04):

Good fortune will be yours.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (42:06):

Nothing but good things can happen when you send this to 500 people in the next 10 minutes. Next time on Math Teacher Lounge, we’re gonna be joined by Dr. Marjorie Schaeffer of St. Mary’s College for a conversation about math anxiety, and specifically Dan, how parents and caregivers, how their disposition influences the way their kiddos feel about math.

Dr. Marjorie Schaeffer (42:29):

I think the most important thing we know from literature right now is that high-math-anxious parents, when they interact with their children, their children learn less math over the course of the school year.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (42:40):

And get this, she’s gonna talk to us about an app that just might be something worth, you know, heading over to the app store for.

Dan Meyer (42:49):

I’ve used some apps, I have opinions, and I can’t wait. We just share recommendations on apps with Dr. Schaeffer.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (42:56):

That’s next time on Math Teacher Lounge. Thanks so much for listening.

Stay connected!

Join our community and get new episodes every other Tuesday!

We’ll also share new and exciting free resources for your classroom every month.

What Dr. Heidi Sabnani says about math

“Much like the people in my research, many of us can tie the beginnings or the ‘evil villain origin story’ of our own math anxiety to an event or series of events.”

– Dr. Heidi Sabnani

Consultant and Co-host of Math 4 All

Meet the guest

Heidi Sabnani is always surprised that she works in math education. She developed math anxiety as a young student and spent much of her school life and early career avoiding math. After teaching English in the United States and Guatemala, and earning her MA in World Literature, she found herself in the uncomfortable position of working in math classrooms as a school improvement consultant. Once she realized that her life was going to involve math, Heidi decided to relearn math in the ways she wished she had learned the first time around. 18 years later she is still learning with and from the students and teachers she has the privilege to serve.

Heidi’s doctoral research at Northeastern University focused on interventions for math anxiety in elementary teachers. She currently works as a consultant, speaker, and author.

Portrait of a woman with long dark hair, wearing a light gray sweater, smiling in front of a blurred outdoor background, with graphic elements framing the photo—perfect for math teacher resources or a welcoming math teacher lounge.
A laptop displaying a Facebook group page for "Math Teacher Lounge Community," featuring profile photos, a group banner, and geometric shapes in the image background.

About Math Teacher Lounge

Math Teacher Lounge is a biweekly podcast created specifically for K–12 math educators. In each episode co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson (@lockhartedu) and Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) chat with guests, taking a deep dive into the math and educational topics you care about.

Join the Math Teacher Lounge Facebook group to continue the conversation, view exclusive content, interact with fellow educators, participate in giveaways, and more!

Webinar: Desmos classroom: Desmos Dashboard Deep Dive

Webinar: Desmos classroom: Desmos Dashboard Deep Dive (Intermediate)

Webinar: Desmos classroom: Desmos Dashboard Deep Dive (Intermediate)

Welcome, Idaho SMART educators and schools!

In alignment with the Idaho Department of Education’s K–3 Idaho SMART Project, mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition has been selected to support the initiative’s goals. This selection reinforces Idaho’s commitment to ensuring every child reads proficiently by the end of third grade using evidence-based practices grounded in the Science of Reading.

Log in to access your mCLASS program and hundreds of resources at learning.amplify.com.

What’s new?

Want advice and answers from the Amplify team?

A teacher sits at a table with three young students, holding a tablet. Colorful cards above them display phonetic symbols: /e/, /d/, and /r/.

About mCLASS in Idaho

mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition will enable the early identification of students requiring additional reading support, providing the data and insights needed to build the strong literacy foundations envisioned in Idaho’s SMART Project through its collaborative work with leadership, district/building coaches, and educators.

mCLASS in Idaho is committed to providing literacy instruction for all by:

  • Aligning core curriculum, instruction, and assessments with the Science of Reading.
  • Providing appropriate literacy interventions to address the varying needs and challenges of reading development.
  • Implementing practices based on the Science of Reading in every classroom, every day.
  • Providing aligned resources to parents, guardians, and family members.

mCLASS is built on decades of research from the Center on Teaching and Learning at the University of Oregon, a national center for early childhood assessment and instruction. The measures are already in use in many districts in Idaho. The additional mCLASS suite includes reporting, grouping, lessons, and caregiver support.

Interested in more information? Watch the recording of the Idaho Department of Education’s overview of what is being offered to educators.

Transform your assessment and instructional skills with mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition training.

Ready to master one of education’s most powerful assessment tools? Join our comprehensive mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition training sessions and unlock the full potential of data-driven instruction!

You’ll gain:

  • Complete mastery of mCLASS essentials, from administration to scoring.
  • Confidence in using standardized assessment guidelines.
  • Expertise in leveraging powerful mCLASS reports and lessons.
  • Proven strategies to accelerate student outcomes through data-driven decisions.

Perfect for: Teachers, reading specialists, interventionists, and administrators who want to maximize student growth through precise assessment and targeted instruction.

Walk away ready to: Immediately implement what you’ve learned and start making a measurable impact on student reading achievement in your classroom or school.

Explore the abundant learning opportunities available for Idaho teachers and leaders below, including session recordings, training resources, and more. Don’t miss this opportunity to elevate your assessment expertise and drive real results for your students!

Interest Survey

Interested in hearing more and determining your school or district’s eligibility? Complete the interest survey below.

What to expect next: 

  • An email from Amplify will be sent to schedule professional development based on your survey responses
  • Idaho SMART Project will verify school eligibility
  • Once approved, an Amplify representative will reach out to your technical contact and yourself and provide information on completing the Digital Onboarding
  • Schools or districts will then share roster data with Amplify 

Register now—limited spots available!

Support your implementation with our half-day virtual mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition training sessions offered throughout the 2025–26 school year. Various session topics will be offered at strategic times to support teachers at critical times. Sessions will be conducted via Zoom, providing a convenient online format for districts seeking flexible professional development without full-site commitments.

mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition initial training (3 hrs)

Participants will dive into the essentials of mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition and leave ready to administer and score the assessment to collect data using standardized guidelines.

Register now!


mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition: Creating a data-driven culture for teachers (3 hrs)

What’s next? Dive deep into mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition reports and instructional recommendations to drive stronger student outcomes in your classroom. You will leave ready to leverage mCLASS progress monitoring and grouping tools to support a robust MTSS program.

Sessions coming soon.

mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition: Administration and reporting training for leaders (3 hrs)

Prepare to implement mCLASS with your school or district. Determine systems-level actions that will ensure assessment fidelity and leave ready to leverage key admin reports to support data-informed decision making.

Sessions coming soon.


mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition: Creating a data-driven culture for leaders (3 hrs)

Cultivate a school-wide culture of data-driven practices. Use mCLASS reports to drill into key school-level data and leave with a systems-level action plan to drive stronger student and teacher outcomes.

Sessions coming soon.

Looking for additional training? No problem. Reach out to your local Account Executive to explore our flexible training alternatives that work with your district’s unique schedule.

Coming soon!

Training resources

A teacher reads with two children while another teacher converses with a student; icons of an ear and a speech bubble are shown.

Explore the complete professional development library and the Amplify webinar library.

View the mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition Benchmark Scoring in action:

Learn about additional assessment measures (RAN, Spelling, Vocabulary, Oral Language).

Explore more programs.

Flowchart showing five steps: mCLASS Assessment, Amplify CKLA, Boost Reading, mCLASS Intervention, and Science of Reading professional development in a circular progression.

Amplify’s proven suite of assessment, instruction, and intervention is the gold standard in early literacy. Our programs are designed to enable students to build robust foundational skills and grow at all reading levels. Unlock the full suite and learn more about our related programs today!

Contact us!

Yvonne Rhode
Senior Account Executive
yrohde@amplify.com

Skyler Dario
Account Executive
sdario@amplify.com

Let’s dig into your K–2 Experience Kit!

If you’re here, you either have your Amplify CKLA Experience Kit in hand or it’s on its way. Welcome! This site pairs with your boxed kit to help you understand the unit you received; see how it fits into the full K–5 program; and access exclusive tools, pacing support, and bonus resources you won’t find in the box.

Getting started

Here you’ll find a quick tour of your Experience Kit and see how it connects to the full Amplify CKLA program.

About your boxed kit

Your kit includes all of the print materials needed for you and your students to experience a complete Knowledge Strand unit of rich, content-based lessons that build vocabulary, comprehension, and curiosity. 

About the full program

Amplify CKLA is a comprehensive K–5 literacy program grounded in the Science of Reading, with three distinct strands:

  • K–2 Knowledge Strand: Builds background knowledge and vocabulary through daily read-alouds, guided discussion, and writing in context. (The unit in your kit comes from this strand!)
  • K–2 Skills Strand: Develops decoding, fluency, and transcription skills through explicit, systematic instruction with hands-on, multimodal practice.
  • 3–5 Integrated Strand: Strengthens reading, writing, speaking, and listening as knowledge and skills come together with complex texts, close reading, and a focus on morphology.

For a deeper dive, explore the Amplify CKLA Program Guide.

Experience the Skills Strand

While your kit spotlights the Knowledge Strand, you can also explore the Skills Strand here—including lesson recommendations by grade and time (beginning, middle, or end) of year.

Kindergarten

About this unit

Identify continents, oceans, and places around the world, then create postcards to share new discoveries.

What’s in your kit

Here’s what you’ll find inside—take a quick peek to make sure everything’s there!

A spiral-bound teacher guide titled "All Around the World: Geography" features images of a globe, landscapes, and children, with a classroom background.

1 Teacher Guide

Book cover titled "All Around the World: Geography" features a classroom globe on a desk, with a blurred landscape of grass and flowers in the background.

1 Student Activity Book

A book cover titled "All Around the World: Geography" features a globe, children, and photos of various landscapes.

Image Cards

*Each student receives their own Student Activity Book in a full implementation.

Additional resources

As you prepare to teach this unit, explore the:

  • Curriculum map: Includes a unit summary, writing focus, overall learning outcomes, and standards taught and assessed.
  • Caregiver Letter: Shares an overview of the unit, plus conversation starters to keep the learning going at home.
  • Pacing options: The full unit takes 16 days—if time is tight, you can also try our 5- and 10-day plans.
  • Skills Strand: Try sample Skills lessons alongside your Knowledge unit for practice in phonics, decoding, fluency, and writing.

Grade 1

About this unit

Learn about maps, compare landforms, and connect global geography to local neighborhoods.

What’s in your kit

Here’s what you’ll find inside—take a quick peek to make sure everything’s there!

A spiral-bound teacher guide titled "Charting the World: Geography" features a hand-drawn world map and school supplies on the cover.

1 Teacher Guide

Book cover titled "Charting the World: Geography Activity Book" with an illustrated world map, magnifying glass, and compass on a dark blue, space-themed background.

1 Student Activity Book

A children's geography book cover showing hand-drawn world maps, a compass, colored pencils, and the title "Charting the World: Geography.

Image Cards

*Each student receives their own Student Activity Book in a full implementation.

Additional resources

As you prepare to teach this unit, explore the:

  • Curriculum map: Includes a unit summary, writing focus, overall learning outcomes, and standards taught and assessed.
  • Caregiver Letter: Shares an overview of the unit, plus conversation starters to keep the learning going at home.
  • Pacing options: The full unit takes 16 days—if time is tight, you can also try our 5- and 10-day plans.
  • Skills Strand: Try sample Skills lessons alongside your Knowledge unit for practice in phonics, decoding, fluency, and writing.

Grade 2

About this unit

Explore rhyme, rhythm, and meaning in many kinds of poems—from silly to serious—and write original stanzas with style.

What’s in your kit

Here’s what you’ll find inside—take a quick peek to make sure everything’s there!

A spiral-bound book titled "Sounds and Stanzas: Poetry" shows a hand holding an open book with illustrated animals and vines emerging from its pages.

1 Teacher Guide

Cover of an activity book titled “Sounds and Stanzas: Poetry” for grade 2, featuring a painting palette, paint brushes, and an outdoor scene with clouds and mountains.

1 Student Activity Book

A person sits reading a book outdoors with illustrated animals and musical notes floating above, on the cover of a book titled "Sounds and Stanzas: Poetry.

Image Cards

*Each student receives their own Student Activity Book in a full implementation.

Additional resources

As you prepare to teach this unit, explore the:

  • Curriculum map: Includes a unit summary, writing focus, overall learning outcomes, and standards taught and assessed.
  • Caregiver Letter: Shares an overview of the unit, plus conversation starters to keep the learning going at home.
  • Pacing options: The full unit takes 16 days—if time is tight, you can also try our 5- and 10-day plans.
  • Skills Strand: Try sample Skills lessons alongside your Knowledge unit for practice in phonics, decoding, fluency, and writing.

Digital platform

Your Experience Kit pairs with an Amplify CKLA demo account in Amplify Classroom, our digital platform. Explore your unit with digital materials and interactive tools including ready-to-use, customizable lesson screens and digital assessments. 

Haven’t received your login info? No problem—check with your admin team or complete our support site form

Pacing options

Short on time? We’ve got you covered. We recommend teaching the full 16-day unit as outlined in the Teacher Guide to fully experience the power of Amplify CKLA instruction. That said, we know your time is limited—and valuable! 

That’s why we’ve created pacing options to help you explore the unit on your schedule: 

5-day experience10-day experience
(slower pace)
10-day experience
(extended)
Teach Lessons 1–5 (1 lesson per day) for a focused snapshot of the unit.Teach Lessons 1–5 (spreading each lesson over 2 days)—ideal for shorter blocks or a more relaxed pace.Teach Lessons 1–10 (1 lesson per day) for a deeper dive into the unit.

💡 Tip: Many educators new to Amplify CKLA prefer the 10-day, slower-paced option. It offers room to slow down without losing the flow of instruction for you and your students.

Pacing like a pro

  • Start with the Unit Introduction in the Teacher Guide—it provides key background information and teaching tips.
  • Pausing Point and assessment days aren’t included here, but feel free to use them if time allows.
  • Teaching in shorter blocks? No problem. Just continue where you left off the next day! (Skipping ahead isn’t recommended, as each lesson builds on the last.)

Skills Strand

Your kit features a Knowledge Strand unit, but you can also explore the Skills Strand here! In K–2, the Skills Strand delivers explicit, systematic instruction in phonics, decoding, fluency, and writing, giving students the strong foundational skills they need to become confident, capable readers alongside their knowledge-building lessons.

See it in action. Visit our Amplify CKLA Skills in action page to watch real teachers and students during a lesson.

Try it yourself. Access Skills Strand lessons in your Amplify Classroom demo account! Use our Try it guide for recommendations tailored to your grade and time of year.

Welcome to Amplify Desmos Math California!

California educators, welcome to math that motivates. Introducing Amplify Desmos Math California, a curiosity-driven TK–12 program that builds lifelong math proficiency. Each lesson poses problems that invite a variety of approaches before guiding students to synthesize their understanding of the learning goals. Students encounter math problems they’re eager to solve, while teachers spend more time where it’s most impactful—creating a collaborative classroom of learners.

Keep reading to learn more about the program and explore sample materials.

About the program

Amplify Desmos Math California is a TK–12 core math program designed to meet the CA Math Framework and the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. Amplify Desmos Math California thoughtfully combines conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and application through a structured approach to problem-based learning. Through engaging activities, Amplify Desmos Math California invites curiosity and math discourse into the classroom to create lifelong math proficiency.

Continue reading to learn more about the K–8, Algebra 1, and Math 1 programs and to explore sample materials. (Spanish, TK and high school materials are in development and will be available in the 2026–27 school year. Geometry and Algebra 2 beta pilots will be available in the 2025–26 school year.)

A powerful math suite

Amplify Desmos Math California combines the best of assessment, problem-based core lessons, personalized practice, and intervention into a coherent and engaging experience for both students and teachers.

Laptop displaying a math problem interface with student assessment reports in the background.

Screening and progress monitoring

mCLASS Math benchmark assessments, along with the embedded program assessments, measure not just what students know, but how they think. The asset-based assessment system provides teachers with targeted, actionable insights, linked to core instruction and intervention resources. Unit- and lesson-level core assessments give teachers data at their fingertips to guide and differentiate instruction. In grades 3–8, core assessments and performance tasks are designed to prepare students for success on the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) testing.

Core instruction

Amplify Desmos Math California core lessons pair problems students are eager to solve with clear instructional moves for teachers. Each lesson is designed to tell a story by posing problems that invite a variety of approaches before guiding students to synthesize their understanding of the learning goals. With built-in differentiation and multilingual/English learner support, Amplify Desmos Math California enables every student to find success in the math classroom.

A digital math activity asks users to choose a block that makes 10 with a given number; a worksheet shows a similar "make 10" math exercise with blank spaces to fill in.
A digital educational screen showing a math problem about converting meters to centimeters. It involves a diving toy sinking 5 meters into a pool. Text prompts users to input the conversion.

Personalized Learning

Boost Personalized Learning activities help students access grade-level math through engaging, independent digital practice. Responsive Feedback adjusts to students’ work, providing item-level adaptivity to further support their learning.

Differentiation and intervention

Amplify Desmos Math views differentiation as an ongoing process where teachers are both reactive and proactive to student needs, ensuring that all students have clear pathways to proficiency. Through rich data and teacher support, Amplify Desmos Math uses flexible categories of intervention and enrichment that adjust daily according to student thinking.

In-the-moment differentiation supports are available for every lesson, both digitally and in the print Teacher Edition.

Two pages of a math worksheet and teacher’s guide about determining coordinates after a rotation, featuring diagrams, tables, and step-by-step problem-solving instructions.

An approach that supports teachers

Clear, step-by-step instructional moves help teachers plan and teach student-centered lessons that use
student thinking to differentiate instruction and guide to grade-level understanding. They include:

  • Guidance on what to listen for and how
    to respond.
  • Clear learning objectives to keep learning on
    track for each activity and lesson.
  • Daily reinforcement activities to provide direct
    instruction when needed.
A woman writes on a whiteboard using math teaching resources while a man sits at a desk, smiling. There are books and papers on the desk.
Network diagram with interconnected nodes labeled: Measure and Compare Objects, Represent Data, Dollars and Cents, Problem Solving with Measure, Skip Counting to 100, Number Strategies, Squares in an Array, Seeing Fraction in Shapes.

Big Ideas

The CA Mathematics Framework encourages a shift from power standards to thinking about math as a series of connected Big Ideas. Each Amplify Desmos Math California lesson supports one or more Big Ideas and the connections between them. The grade-level diagram changes through the course based on the math concepts addressed within.

Please refer to the following Keeping the Big Ideas at the Center documents to review specific lesson designs and alignments with the Big Ideas for each grade level.

Click here to see how the Big Ideas are represented within the K–8 core lessons.

Focus, coherence, and rigor

Amplify Desmos Math California incorporates the Drivers of Investigation (DIs) and Content Connection (CCs) throughout the program. Throughout the year, students engage with open and authentic tasks of varying durations—from lesson activities to unit-level Explore lessons and longer course-level Investigations. Every lesson and investigation opportunity is grounded in the why, how, and what of the learning experience, and helps teachers bring mathematical concepts to life.

An educational slide on addition story problems, detailing goals for solving problems, language goals, and strategies using equal expressions, tens and ones, and number sense.

Please refer to the following Amplify Desmos Math California alignments to the Standards for Mathematical Practice, provided by grade level.

A screen titled "Match the Score" with a 2D target graph showing various scores. Instructions request four ordered pairs to total 400. Four pairs are listed: (4, 2), (7, 4), (7, 6), (10, 6). A "Try again" button is shown.

Built-in authentic tasks

Mathematics is not learning in isolation. Students are connected to each other’s thinking and can use math to understand the world. With accessible invitations to authentic tasks, all students can experience mathematical success. Amplify Desmos Math California provides these authentic invitations in a variety of ways:

Each unit begins with an “Explore” lesson, which allows students to engage with authentic exploration in low-floor, high-ceiling tasks. These tasks are designed to promote an inclusive and differentiated learning environment—allowing all students to access basic mathematical concepts, while offering advanced exploration and problem-solving for those ready for more complex work.

Our innovative course-level investigations are designed to facilitate multi-part exploration. Students grapple with Big Ideas, diving deep into key concepts that encourage comprehensive understanding. Data science is infused into the approach, giving students a solid foundation from which to interpret and apply data-driven solutions. They’re also encouraged to understand and appreciate the interrelatedness of Earth’s environmental systems via our lesson’s focus on the Environmental Principles and Concepts (EP&Cs).

Explicit support for multilingual/English learners

Three overlapping educational worksheets for first grade math, including a cover page, a list of learning goals, and a lesson plan with bilingual English and Spanish text.

Amplify partnered with the English Learner Success Forum (ELSF), a national nonprofit organization that advocates for high-quality instructional materials that are inclusive of multilingual/English learners (ML/ELs). ELSF reviewed Amplify Desmos Math California, and provided directional guidance and feedback to ensure that the program reflects their research-based instructional strategies for multilingual/English learners.

Amplify Desmos Math California recognizes the diverse language needs of our students and is designed to be inclusive. Each lesson in the program features a parallel language activity, designed to be available to all students, in the form of teacher guidance and student activities. The activities in the Math Language Development Resources have level ELD differentiation to support all levels of ML/ELs. This approach ensures that all students, regardless of their language skills, can participate fully, grasp the material, and excel in their mathematical journey.

Our Multilingual Glossary includes, in addition to Spanish, nine languages: Simplified Mandarin, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Arabic, European French, Russian, Brazilian-Portuguese, Haitian-Creole, and Urdu.

Amplify Desmos Math California will include Spanish student-facing materials beginning in the 2026–27 school year.

Assessments

By starting with what students already know, Amplify Desmos Math helps build a strong foundation for success to guide and support future learning. Teachers are empowered to transform every classroom into an engaged math community that invites, values, and develops student thinking. With explicit guidance on what to look for and how to respond, teachers can effectively support students as they develop their understanding.

Open math workbook showing an End-of-Unit Assessment with multiple-choice and written response questions on fractions and equivalent values.

Program assessments

A variety of performance data in Amplify Desmos Math provides evidence of student learning while helping students bolster their skills and understanding.

Unit-Level Assessments

Our embedded unit assessments offer key insights into students’ conceptual understanding of math. These assessments provide regular, actionable information about how students are thinking about and processing math, with both auto-scoring and in-depth rubrics that help teachers anticipate and respond to students’ learning needs.

Lesson-Level Assessments

Amplify Desmos Math lessons are centered around sense-making and in-the-moment feedback. Daily moments of assessment provide valuable evidence of learning for both the teacher and student.

Data and reporting

Amplify Desmos Math provides teachers and administrators with unified reporting and insights so that educators have visibility into what students know about grade-level math—and can plan instruction accordingly for the whole class, small groups, and individual students.

A table displays students' performance levels across various items, with a detailed score distribution for a specific assessment shown in a separate overlay. Geometric design elements accented the background, providing an engaging visual touch ideal for any math classroom using Amplify Desmos Math.

Assessment reports

Reporting functionality integrates unit assessments, lesson assessments, personalized learning, Benchmark assessments, and Progress Monitoring for a comprehensive look at student learning.

Our reports show proficiency and growth by domain, cluster, standard, and priority concept using performance data from unit assessments. Then our reports highlight areas of potential student need to allow teachers to modify their instruction and target differentiated support.

At-a-glance views of unit-level assessment results inform your instructional planning, and you can also drill down to item-level analysis.

Standards reports

Our standards report allows you to monitor proficiency at the class and individual student levels. Proficiency and growth are shown by domain, cluster, standard, and priority concepts. Areas of potential student need are highlighted to allow teachers to modify their instruction and target differentiated support.

Administrator reports

Amplify Desmos Math provides a complete picture of student, class, and district performance, allowing administrators to implement instructional and intervention plans.

  • Track student, class, and district performance with usage, completion, and assessment data.
  • Accurately group students and classes with the Benchmark and Progress Monitoring data of mCLASS Assessments and allow teachers to reliably implement and track the progress of Tier 2 and Tier 3 intervention.
  • Provide one data-driven solution that educators can rely on for high-quality math instruction.

Elementary review resources

To learn about the elementary program, please start by watching the Amplify Desmos Math California Elementary Program Overview video.

For additional program information and helpful navigation tips, download the Amplify Desmos Math California Elementary Program Guide.

View the Elementary Program Components Guide here. 

View the Hands-on manipulatives brochure here.

Middle School review resources

To learn about the middle school program, please start by watching the Amplify Desmos Math California Middle School Program Overview video.

For additional program information and helpful navigation tips, download the Amplify Desmos Math California Middle School Program Guide.

View the Middle School Program Components Guide here.

View the middle school manipulative kit components here.

The digital experience

In Amplify Desmos Math, embedded interactions and animations allow students to test predictions, get feedback, share ideas, and connect representations.

The digital interactions included in lesson activities are designed to elicit student thinking in a way that feels fun and inviting. As students play and explore math concepts, teachers can highlight the ideas that students share, connect those ideas to other students’ ideas, and build on their thinking through productive class discussion.

Watch the video to preview the digital experience and for helpful platform navigation tips.

A laptop displays a math activity about platform heights and tube length, while a worksheet titled "Hamster Homes" is visible in the background.

Explore grade level samples

All lessons in Amplify Desmos Math California include print materials and rich digital experiences. Every lesson is supported with Student Edition pages, teacher presentation screens, and interactive digital resources for practice and differentiation. Some lessons also enable students to use devices to interact with lesson content.

You’ll find sample materials by grade level in the following drop-downs. Please refer to your physical samples and the digital platform (accessed through the demo account provided by your account executive) for a comprehensive program review.

Scope and Sequence

Math 2–3 is currently being developed and will be available in the 2026–27 school year.

Cover of "Amplify Desmos Math California Teacher Edition GEO Volume 1" featuring abstract geometric illustrations and people engaged in mathematical activities.
Scope and Sequence (National Edition)

The Amplify Desmos Math Geometry Beta National Edition is available for piloting in the 2025–26 school year. Amplify Desmos Math California Geometry will be available in the 2026–27 school year.

Cover of "Amplify Desmos Math California Geo Volume 1 Student Edition" featuring geometric shapes and small illustrated people interacting with mathematical elements.
Geometry sampler

This sampler includes Teacher Edition front matter for program overview information, plus Teacher Edition and Student Edition pages for Units 1–2.

Cover of "Amplify Desmos Math California A2 Teacher Edition," featuring a Ferris wheel, math graphs, and students interacting with mathematical concepts.
Scope and sequence (National Edition)

The Amplify Desmos Math Algebra 2 Beta National Edition is available for piloting in the 2025–26 school year. Amplify Desmos Math California Algebra 2 will be available in the 2026–27 school year.

Cover of "Amplify Desmos Math California Student Edition A2 Volume 1" featuring mathematical graphs, a Ferris wheel, and students interacting with math concepts.
Algebra 2 sampler

This sampler includes Teacher Edition front matter for program overview information, plus Teacher Edition and Student Edition pages for Units 1–2.

Contact us

For questions, samples, or more information, please contact your local Amplify account executive:

Erin King
Sales Director, CA
(512) 736-3162
eking@amplify.com

Northern CA
Wendy Garcia
Senior Account Executive
(510) 368-7666
wgarcia@amplify.com

Bay Area
Lance Burbank
Account Executive
(415) 830-5348
lburbank@amplify.com

Central Valley and Central Coast
Demitri Gonos
Senior Account Executive
(559) 355-3244
dgonos@amplify.com

Ventura and L.A. County
Jeff Sorenson
Associate Account Executive
(310) 902-1407
jsorenson@amplify.com

Orange and L.A. County
Lauren Sherman
Senior Account Executive
(949) 397-5766
lsherman@amplify.com

San Bernardino and L.A. County
Michael Gruber
Senior Account Executive
(951) 520-6542
migruber@amplify.com

Riverside and L.A. County
Brian Roy
Senior Account Executive
(818) 967-1674
broy@amplify.com

San Diego County
Kirk Van Wagoner
Senior Account Executive
(760) 696-0709
kvanwagoner@amplify.com

Under 2300 students in Bay Area, Sacramento Valley, and Northern Counties
Kevin Mauser
Lead Account Executive
(815) 534-0148
kmauser@amplify.com

Under 2300 students in Southern CA, Central Coast, and Southern Central Valley Counties
Charissa Snyder
Account Executive
(720) 936-6802
chsnyder@amplify.com

Power up your Science of Reading knowledge: 2024 podcast recap

Amplify’s Science of Reading: The Podcast won both Silver and the Listeners’ Choice Award in the education category at the 2024 Signal Awards! If you haven’t already, we hope you’ll join those who have helped catapult the podcast to more than six million downloads.

You’re welcome to binge-listen all 29 podcast episodes released in 2024, but here, we’ve selected a few to highlight for you.

The power of the Science of Reading

Some context: As you probably know, the Science of Reading is a much-researched area alongside the science of learning. Applying cognitive, neuroscience, and educational principles, it helps us understand and improve how students acquire and develop reading skills. This knowledge is essential because, while humans typically learn to speak naturally, reading (and writing) require formal instruction. According to the Simple View of Reading, reading comprehension is the product of both decoding and linguistic comprehension. So kids must be taught the relationships between sounds and letters, and how to decode words. Systematic instruction presents these skills in a logical order, explicit instruction goes beyond just “exposing” kids to words and texts, and cumulative instruction builds on skills learned before.

The episodes below are a great start to exploring the fundamentals of evidence-based instruction beginning in early literacy. You’ll hear about the importance of knowledge building, the symbiosis between reading and writing, and the power of multilingual learning, just to name a few topics.

The power of knowledge

Season 8 focuses on why knowledge is so critical for literacy development and how educators can empower students to build it.

Many of us (as students and educators) were taught or trained with comprehension framed as a skill. But award-winning researcher and author Sharon Vaughn, Ph.D., says (spoiler!) that comprehension is not a skill to be taught in a vacuum, but rather an outcome—of strong decoding, vocabulary, and background knowledge. “If students can’t read words or don’t know what they mean, emphasizing comprehension is just the wrong priority,” she says. Vaughn stresses the importance of systematically building background knowledge through coherent, high-level informational texts and relevant content lessons, enabling students to connect ideas and deepen understanding. By focusing on these foundational elements, educators can support comprehension and meaningful learning.

Episode 11: Cognitive load theory: Four items at a time, with Greg Ashman, Ph.D.

Drawing from his book A Little Guide for Teachers: Cognitive Load Theory, deputy principal and professor Greg Ashman argues that students need to build a strong foundation of knowledge in order to think and learn effectively. He challenges the idea of leaving students to “figure things out” on their own. “Kids are not little scientists,” he says, and advocates instead for structured instruction to build the schemas necessary for deeper learning.

Ashman also recommends reducing extra cognitive load—distractions that overwhelm working memory—and cautions against overrelying on approaches like “productive failure,” which can frustrate students who happen to lack relevant foundational knowledge. His advice: Use evidence-based methods and prioritize clear, incremental instruction.

The power of evidence-based literacy instruction

Season 9 dives deep into the key principles of and latest developments in the Science of Reading.

Episode 3: Know the non-negotiables in a program aligned to the Science of Reading, with Kari Kurto

Kari Kurto, national Science of Reading project director with the Reading League, discusses the organization’s curriculum evaluation tool designed to assess research-based practices in reading programs. Drawing from her experience teaching students with dyslexia, Kurto emphasizes the necessity of explicit, systematic instruction in phonics and (like Ashman) the importance of reducing extraneous cognitive load.

She says one must-have for any effective, evidence-based curriculum is explicit instruction in phonics through a clear scope and sequence, which ensures that students build foundational skills, such as phonemic awareness, in a systematic way. “No program is perfect, but understanding both its strengths and areas for improvement allows schools to maximize its impact,” she says.

Episode 4: Comprehension is not a skill, with Hugh Catts, Ph.D.

Hugh Catts, like Vaughn, continues to challenge us to rethink reading comprehension. “Comprehension isn’t the purpose of reading,” says Catts, a professor at Florida State University. “The purpose of reading is whatever you’re reading for.” Whether scanning for a fact, grasping the gist, or diving deep into a complex topic, comprehension varies based on the reader’s intent and context. He also urges educators to do what the evidence asserts: Move beyond isolated skill drills to content-rich instruction that builds knowledge and engages students meaningfully. Catts notes that comprehension grows over time, as students develop mental models and apply critical thinking in a variety of reading contexts.

The power of multilingualism

In this special miniseries, our podcast focuses on how the Science of Reading serves multilingual/English learners (ML/ELs).

Episode 1: Language is always an asset, with Kajal Patel Below

Kajal Patel Below, Amplify’s vice president of biliteracy, highlights why language is such a powerful asset, and how multilingualism is not a barrier, but a gift. “Literacy in a new language builds from literacy in the home language,” she says.

But that’s not—yet—the prevailing view. Multilingual and English learners often face challenges like being left out of research or misidentified in assessments. Below also notes schools focus too much on phonics and foundational skills, sometimes overlooking the equally important elements of language comprehension, vocabulary, and speaking skills.

With the number of multilingual learners growing fast in the U.S., Below calls for schools and educators to embrace bilingual education, create stronger resources, and celebrate the unique strengths these students bring to the classroom.

More to explore

Introducing mCLASS Math: A Deep Dive Into the Assessment System

Tuesday, 7pm EST

Join us on Tuesday, September 30, October 22, or November 20 at 7:00 p.m. ET (4:00 p.m. PT) as one of our experts takes you through mCLASS® Math. In this 30-minute live webinar, you’ll see how the K–8 assessment system goes beyond scores, providing both proficiency data and insights into student thinking to guide instructional next steps.

Amplify Trust Center

The Trust Center provides information about Amplify’s high standards for privacy, security, artificial intelligence use, technology integration partners, and how we build our programs.

Two women in an office smile while looking at a computer monitor, discussing early literacy strategies. Stacks of papers and decorations are visible in the background.

A trusted partner

A pioneer in K–12 education since 2000, Amplify is a trusted partner to schools and districts. Read more about the policies, principles, and best practices that help us support millions of teachers and students.

The principles and policy that govern what personal information Amplify collects and maintains on behalf of school customers:

Read more

The comprehensive physical, technical, and administrative safeguards Amplify implements to protect student data:

Read more

Amplify’s commitment to using artificial intelligence (AI) transparently, safely, responsibly, and ethically:

Read more

Interoperable data standards that help our products integrate with the systems schools and districts use:

Read more

Editorial and accessibility experts who help build Amplify’s high-quality programs:

Read more

See our customer data subprocessors:

Read more

Winter Wrap-Up 03: Ideas to build math fluency

Promotional graphic for "Math Teacher Lounge" episode featuring Valerie Henry, Ed.D., on ideas to build math fluency, with a photo of Valerie Henry in the bottom right corner.

Join us for the third episode in our Winter Wrap-Up! In this episode from season 3 of Math Teacher Lounge: The Podcast, we sit down with Dr. Valerie Henry to talk about math fluency and what that means for students. Listen as we dig into the research, hear Val’s three-part definition of fluency, and explore her five principles for developing it.

Explore more from Math Teacher Lounge by visiting our main page

Download Transcript

Dan Meyer (00:03)

Hey folks. Welcome back. This is Math Teacher Lounge, and I am one of your hosts, Dan Meyer.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:07):

And I’m your other host, Bethany Lockhart Johnson. Hi, Dan.

Dan Meyer (00:11):

Hey, great to see you. We have a big one this week to chat about and some fantastic guests. We are chatting about fluency, which is the sort of word and concept that I feel like people have very, very non-neutral associations with it. A lot of them are very negative, for a lot of people.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:26):

I saw you frown a little. What’s up with that, Dan? You kind of, like, shrank.

Dan Meyer (00:30):

I have strong feelings about it. You know, there’s lots of ways that people go about helping people become fluent in mathematics. And a lot of them are harmful for students, and ineffective. And it got me thinking about fluency as it exists outside of the world of mathematics, where we have a lot of very clear images of it. We’re getting fluent in things all the time. Like, as humans. Human development is the story of fluency. And I just was wondering….Bethany, would you describe yourself as fluent at something outside of the world of mathematics? What is that? How’d you get fluent at it? What was the process?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:05):

Hmm, I think I’m a pretty fluent reader. I read all the time. I’m a happier person if I’ve read that day. I once saw this poster in a classroom; it said “10 Ways to Become a Better Reader: Read, Read, Read, Read, Read…you know, 10 times. Get it? Reading? You get better at reading by reading! So I would say reading. And it’s been kind of cool—I have a one-year-old who, it’s been really exciting slash overwhelmingly anxiety-producing to see him get very fluent with walking slash running, ’cause he’s getting faster every day. And it’s kind of fun. When I think of what’s something somebody’s trying to get fluent with…walking! He’s trying to be more fluid. He’s practicing transitions. He doesn’t wanna hold my hand while he traverses rocky terrain. He’s getting better at it. He’s practicing. What about you? What’s something…?

Dan Meyer (02:08):

I think about driving a lot. I’m a very fluent driver and I think a lot about when I was first a driver, you know? And how l have my hands on 10 and 2, vice grip, and do not talk to me; do not ask me anything; don’t ask me my NAME. I need to focus so hard. And then a year later, you know, I’m driving with one hand, smash the turn signal, take a sip off of whatever, change the CD. And then it’s no big deal.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (02:38):

Wait, did you pass the first time? Your test?

Dan Meyer (02:40):

Yeah, I don’t like to brag about it. <laugh> But I do all the time. <laugh> But I got a hundred on my driving test. I don’t care who knows it. And I hope it’s everybody. But I guess all of this is just to say there are areas of life where fluency feels natural, with the case of walking. There’s areas of life where fluency feels motivating, with like driving—I wanna be able to switch the CD out or whatever. And there’s areas where fluency feels terrifying and hard to come by, like mathematics, sometimes. So we have a set of guests here. Our first guest will help us figure out what do we mean by fluency? And what’s the research say about what fluency is and how students develop it in mathematics? And then our other guests will help us think about what it looks like in practice in the classroom. What are some novel, new ways to work on fluency? So first up we have Val Henry, Dr. Val Henry.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (03:32):

So we knew we needed help with the fluency definition, because when we think about it, it’s kind of big, right? And we wanted to look at what research about fluency really says. So we called on Valerie Henry. Val is a nationally board-certified teacher, taught middle school for 17 years, and since 2002 has worked with undergraduates graduates, credential candidates as a lecturer at the University of California, Irvine, one of my alma maters. So after doing her dissertation on addition and subtraction fluency in first grade, Val created a project to study ways to build addition and subtraction and multiplication and division fluency while also developing number sense in algebraic thinking. And the pilot grew and grew over the last 18 years into a powerful daily mini-lesson approach to facts fluency called FactsWise. And when we thought of fluency, the first person I thought of was Val. Welcome, Val Henry, to the Lounge! I’m so excited to have you here. Welcome.

Valerie Henry (04:36):

Thanks, Bethany. And thanks to you, Dan. It’s great to be here today.

Dan Meyer (04:41):

Great to have you; help yourself to whatever you find in the fridge. The names that people write down on those things in the bags are just recommendations. It’s potluck-style here. I’m curious, Val, if you’re, like, on an airplane, someone asks you what you do, and you say you study fluency…what is the layperson’s definition of what does it mean to be fluent in mathematics? And if you can give a brief tour through what the research says about what works and what doesn’t that would really help us orient our conversation here.

Valerie Henry (05:12):

The first thing I have to do when I talk to somebody on a plane is define the idea of fluency. And I often use an example of tying your shoelaces. Because that works with first graders as well as adults. This idea that when we first start trying to put our shoes on and get those shoelaces tied, somebody tries to, first of all, just do it for us. But then of course maybe tries to teach us the bunny-ears approach. And we struggle and struggle as little kids and eventually either the bunny-ears approach or something else starts to work for us. But we still have to pay attention to it. We have to think hard and it’s not easy. And then over time we get to the point where we basically don’t even think about it. When I tie my shoes in the morning. I’m not thinking about right-over-left and left-over-right and all of those things. I just do it. And so that’s a good, easy example of becoming fluent with something. I think what we’re talking about today though, is the basics, the adding and subtracting that we hope kids are going to have mastered maybe by second grade, and the multiplication and division facts that we wanna maybe have mastered by third, maybe fourth grade. So now what does that mean to become fluent with those basics? I have a three-part definition that seems to match up really nicely with the common core approach to fluency. Which is, first of all, we want the answers to be correct. And then second, we want the answers to be easy to know. And so what does that mean? Well, to me, it means without needing to count,

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (07:12):

You mean without having to kind of muscle through it? Or say more about you mean.

Valerie Henry (07:16):

Well, I guess what I mean is that when you watch a young child try and solve something even as simple as two plus three, they might put up two fingers and then go 3, 4, 5 with three more fingers winding up on their hand, one or the other of their hands. While they’re doing that, they don’t really have a sense of whether even their answer is right or not, quite often. Especially when you get to the larger adding and subtracting problems, you can see a lot of errors happening as they’re trying to count. And it’s taking up cognitive energy to do that counting process, especially as you get to the larger quantities. So my definition of fluency now is “getting it right without needing to do that hard work like counting.” Now, some people might say, well, we just want them to have ’em memorized. But in my research, I’ve learned that a lot of very fluid adults don’t always have every fact memorized. In fact, if you ask a room full of adults, what’s seven plus nine, you might learn that they can all get it correct quickly, quickly…but they don’t all have it memorized. And so when you ask them, “How did you get that?” Many of them will say, “Well, I just gave one from the 7 to the 9 and I know that 10 plus 6 is 16.”

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (08:53):

That’s such an important distinction. My brain literally just did that actually!

Valerie Henry (08:58):

<laugh> Right? <laugh> But you’re fluid with it, because it doesn’t take you much cognitive energy at all.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (09:05):

Right.

Valerie Henry (09:07):

So now we have “correct without needing to put that cognitive energy,” which usually means that you’re counting. And then the third thing is “relatively quickly,” so that you’re not spending 15 seconds trying to figure it out. Even that part-whole strategy approach can be done really quickly, almost instantaneously. Or it can take a long time. So if a student can get the answer correct within, you know, three or four seconds— is I’m pretty generous—I figure that they’re pretty darn fluent with that fact. So that’s my three-part definition of these basics, fluency.

Dan Meyer (09:55):

I love the distinction between getting it correct and getting it quick. It’s possible to be quick with wrong answers. It’s possible to be like, “Those are separate components there.” And I echo Bethany’s appreciation for this third option in between knowing it instantaneously through memorization and muscling through it. But there’s like a continuum there of how much energy it took you to come up with it that all feels extremely helpful.

Valerie Henry (10:21):

And you know, one of the things that I’ve noticed is that when kids are pressured to come up with those instantaneous answers, they often default to guessing and get it wrong.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (10:30):

Mm, yeah.

Valerie Henry (10:30):

So that’s one of the things that I’ve learned is that as we’re trying to help students develop fluency, it’s important to start with building their conceptual understanding of what it means to do, you know, 3 times 9 and what the correct answer is, maybe using manipulatives or representations of some sort. Not skip-counting! I really have found that skip-counting just perpetuates itself in many students’ minds and that they never stop skip-counting, which means they’re putting in not very much mental energy if it’s 2 times 3 but a ton of mental energy if it’s 7 times 8. Because frankly, it’s really hard to skip count by sevens. And by eights.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (11:18):

I can get to 14 and then I’m like, wait, wait, what was next? Right? No, no, no…21! What do you feel are some misconceptions that maybe teachers, maybe parents have about fluency in math?

Valerie Henry (11:30):

I think maybe one of the first ones is that if students count or skip-count, their answers repetitively over and over and over and over, that they’re bound to memorize them. And the study that I did back in 2004, I actually had a school that had decided that they were going to do time tests with their students every day, all year. And that undoubtedly by the end of the year, those students would be fluent.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (12:06):

And to clarify by time test, you mean like, sit down, pencil, paper, ready, go, worksheet kind of thing.

Valerie Henry (12:15):

Yes.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (12:16):

Some of us might remember quite vividly.

Valerie Henry (12:18):

<laugh> Very vividly. And you know, you have to get it done within a certain amount of time. So they made it fun for the students. Apparently the students enjoyed it. I was a little leery about that, but in the end, when I went and checked on the students and I did one-on-one assessments with half of the students in every class that were randomly selected so that I could get a sense of where they were with their fluency—and these were first graders—they basically had nothing memorized. They were simply counting as fast as they possibly could. And, you know, mostly getting the right answers. But they had not memorized. So that’s one of the myths, I think, is that repetitive practice of counting gets you to memorization.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (13:10):

If I put it in front of you enough times, you’ll become fluent.

Valerie Henry (13:14):

Right, right. Now these students didn’t really get any instruction, any help learning these. They just simply tested over and over and over. So that’s another thing that I think is a misconception. It’s that if we test students, but don’t really teach them fluency, then they’re going to become fluent. If we just test them every Friday or that kind of thing. And that they’ll learn them at home. But really what that means is a few lucky kids who have parents who have the time and the energy and the background to know how to help will take that job on at home. Not that many students are really that fortunate.

Dan Meyer (14:01):

It’s almost like the traditional approach, or the approach you’re describing, confuses process and product. It says, “Well, the product is that eventually fluent students will be able to do something like this, see these problems and answer them, answer them quickly,” and says, “Well, that must be the process then as well; let’s give them that products a whole lot.” But as I hear you describe fluency with bunny ears on shoelaces, there’s these images and approaches and techniques that require a very active teacher presence to support the development of it. That’s just kind of interesting to me.

Valerie Henry (14:35):

My initial project, the pilot project that I tried, was to simply ask teachers to follow five key principles. And the first one was to do something in the classroom every day for—I told them, even if you’ve only got five or 10 minutes, work on fluency for five or 10 minutes a day, and let’s see what happens. So that was one key element was just to teach it and to give students opportunities to get what the research calls for when you’re trying to memorize, which is actually immediate feedback. When I talk about immediate feedback with my student teachers, I say, “I’m talking about within one or two seconds of trying a problem, and then sort of immediately knowing, getting feedback of whether you got the answer right or not so that your brain can kind of gain that confidence. ‘Oh, not only did I come up with an answer, but somebody’s telling me it’s the correct answer.’”

Dan Meyer (15:38):

There’s a lot of apps now in the digital world that offer students questions about arithmetic or other kinds of mathematical concepts and give immediate feedback of a sort: the feedback of “You’re right; you’re wrong” sort. Is that effective fluency development, in your view?

Valerie Henry (15:57):

I haven’t heard and I haven’t seen them being super-effective. The ways I think about this are “Immediate feedback isn’t the only thing we need.” Probably one of the biggest things that we need is for students to develop strategies. And this is one of the other things I’ve learned from international research, from countries that do have students who become very fluent very early, is that they don’t shoot straight for memorization, but they go through this process of taking students from doing some counting and then quickly moving them to trying to use logic. So, “Hey, you really are confident that 2 + 2 is 4; so now let’s use that to think about 2 + 3.” Actually, as an algebra teacher, I would much rather have students that have a combination of memorization and these strategies, than students who’ve only memorized. Isn’t that interesting that my most successful algebra students were good strategy thinkers. Not just good memorizers.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (17:09):

So you mentioned there were five that kind of helped root this idea in like, “What can teachers do? What is the best thing that teachers can do to support with fact fluency?” So, everyday was key.

Valerie Henry (17:22):

Then the next principle that I really focus on is switching immediately to the connected subtractions so that students—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (17:33):

Not waiting until you’ve gotten all the way through addition. But making “Ooh!”

Valerie Henry (17:38):

Totally. And I didn’t do that the first year. And when we looked at the results of the assessments at the end of the year, we realized that our students were so much weaker in subtraction than addition. So the following pilot year, we tried this other approach of doing subtraction right after the students had developed some fluency with that small chunk of addition. And we got such better subtraction results.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (18:11):

What are the other principles?

Valerie Henry (18:13):

The biggest one is to use these strategies. So the strategies makes the third. And then the fourth I would say is to go from concrete to representational to abstract.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (18:27):

Don’t put away those manipulatives. Don’t put away those tools.

Valerie Henry (18:31):

Oh, so important to come back to them for multiplication and division. And my fifth principle is to wait on assessment. To use it as true assessment, but not race to start testing before students have had a chance to go through this three-phase process. Which is conceptual understanding with manipulatives; building strategies, usually with representations; and then working on building some speed until it’s just that natural fluency.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (19:07):

I wanna say thank you so much for offering your really learned perspective, because you have not only done the research, but seen it in action and seen how shifting our notions of fluency and what fluency can be and what a powerful foundation it can be for all mathematicians. Really, that shift is so powerful. And I appreciate you sharing it with our listeners and with us. So we’re so excited that we got to talk with you today, Val—

Dan Meyer (19:35):

Thank you, Dr. Henry.

Valerie Henry (19:37):

You’re welcome!

Dan Meyer (19:41):

With us now we have Graham Fletcher and Tracy Zager, a couple of people who understand fluency at a very deep and classroom level. I wanna introduce them and get their perspective on what we’re trying to solve here with fluency. So Graham Fletcher has served in education in a lot of different roles: as a classroom teacher, math coach, math specialist, and he’s continually seeking new and innovative ways to support students and teachers in their development of conceptual understanding in elementary math. He’s the author, along with Tracy, of Building Fact Fluency, a fluency kit we’ll talk about, and openly shares so much of his wisdom and resources at gfletchy.com. Tracy Johnson Zager is a district math coach who loves to get teachers hooked on listening to kids’ mathematical ideas. She is a co-author of this toolkit, Building Fact Fluency, and the author of Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You’d Had: Ideas and Strategies from Vibrant Classrooms. Tracy also edits professional books for teachers at Stenhouse Publishers, including, yours truly. Thank you for all that insight, Tracy, and support on the book.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (20:49):

Dan and I were talking at the beginning of the episode about things we feel like, “Hey, I’m fluent in that. I’m fluent in that.”

Dan Meyer (20:55):

Just very curious: What’s something you would like to get fluent in outside of the world of mathematics, let’s say?

Tracy Zager (21:00):

I’ll say understanding the teenage brain, as the parent of a 13-year-old and 15-year-old. That’s the main thing I’m working on becoming fluent in!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (21:10):

Ooh!

Dan Meyer (21:13):

A language fluency, perhaps. All right, Graham. How about you?

Graham Fletcher (21:16):

For me typing, it’s always been an Achilles heel of mine. So voice-to-text has been my friend. But it’s also been my nemesis in much of my texting here and working virtually over the last couple years. So yeah, typing.

Dan Meyer (21:33):

Do you folks have some way of helping us understand the difference in how fluency is handled by instructors and by learners?

Tracy Zager (21:40):

I would say that the lay meaning of fluency is definitely a little different than what we mean in the math education realm. When we’re talking about math fact fluency, which is just one type of fluency. So you gotta think about procedural fluency and computational fluency; there are lots of types of fluency in math. And Graham and I had the luxury of really focusing in specifically on math fact fluency. We’re looking at kind of a subset of the procedural fluency. So the words you hear in all the citations are accurate, efficient, and flexible. There’s this combination of kids get the right answer in a reasonable amount of time and with a reasonable amount of work and they can match their strategy or their approach to the situation. That’s where that flexibility comes in. And there’s like lots more I wanna say about that about sort of…I think one issue that comes up around fluency is that people are in a little bit of a rush. So they tend to think of the fluency as this automaticity or recall of known facts without having to think about it. And that is part of the end goal, but that’s not the journey to fluency. So this is one of the things that Graham and I thought about a lot was the path to fluency. The goal here it’s that student in middle school who’s learning something new doesn’t have to expend any effort to gather that fact. And they might do it because they’ve done it so many different ways that they’ve got it, and now they just know it, or they might be like my friend who’s a mathematician who still, if you say, “Six times 8,” she thinks in her head, “Twelve, 24, 48…” and she does this double-double-double associative property strategy. And it’s so efficient, you would never know. And that’s totally great. That’s fine. That’s not slowing her down. That’s not providing a drag in the middle of a more complex problem or new learning. So we’re really focused on having elementary school students be able to enter the middle and high school standards without having that pull out of the new thinking.

Graham Fletcher (23:53):

And as I think about that, I think about how so many students will memorize their facts, but then they haven’t memorized them with understanding. So that when they move into middle school and they move into high school, it’s almost like new knowledge and new understanding that’s applied from a stand-alone skill.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (24:10):

So something that felt really unique to me, Graham, as I was diving into the toolkit, is your use of images, Tracy, Graham, is the way that you use images to help students notice and wonder to start making sense of these quantities and the decomposition of numbers using images. Can you talk a little bit about how images played a part in the way that you think about this building a fact fluency?

Graham Fletcher (24:41):

What I realized is so many times when we approach math with just naked numbers with so many of our elementary students, the numbers aren’t visible. The quantities. They can’t see them; they can’t move them. They’re just those squiggly figures that we were talking about earlier on. So how is it that we make the quantities visible, to where students feel as if they can grab an apple and move it around? Because a lot of times we start with the naked numbers and then if kids don’t get the naked numbers, then we kind of backfill it. But what would happen if we start with the images? And then from there, these rich, flourishing mathematical conversations develop from the images. And I think that was the premise and the goal of the toolkit.

Tracy Zager (25:22):

When you look at how fact fluency has traditionally been taught, it’s all naked numbers. And sometimes we wrote ’em sideways. Like, that’s it. That was our variety of task type. Right? Sometimes it’s vertical; sometimes it’s horizontal. And that was it. And I’ve just known way too many kids who couldn’t find a hook to hang their hat on with that. It didn’t connect to anything. And so part of why I knew Graham was the perfect person for this project was his strength in multimedia photography, art, video. And so we started from this idea of contexts that for each lesson string in the toolkit, there’s some kind of context. An everyday object, arranged in some kind of a way that reveals mathematical structure and invites students to notice the properties. So we start with images of everyday objects: tennis balls, paint pots…um, help me out; here are a million of them. Crayons—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (26:18):

Crayons, markers.

Tracy Zager (26:18):

Shoes, right? Sushi, origami paper, all kinds of things in the different toolkits. So there’s a series of images or a three-act task or both around those everyday objects, and then story problems grounded in that context. And then there are images with mathematical tools that bring out different ideas, but relate in some way to the image talks. And we do all of that before we get to the naked number talk. Which we do, and by the time you get to the number talk, it’s pretty quick, ’cause they’ve been reasoning about cups of lemonade. And now when you give them the actual numerals, they’re all over it.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (27:03):

I have to say too, as somebody who—particularly in middle school—navigated math anxiety, we recently talked with Allison Hintz and Anthony Smith about their amazing book Mathematizing Children’s Literature.

Tracy Zager (27:14):

Yay!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (27:14):

And I was explaining, like, if I sat down at the beginning of a math class and my teacher opened a picture book and said, “We’re gonna start here,” I felt my whole body relax. And if we start with this image, if we start with just looking at an image and making sense of an image, I feel like that could be such a powerful touchstone for all the work you do from there.

Tracy Zager (27:41):

That’s core. That’s a core design principle, is that invitational access. There are no barriers to entry. There’s nothing to decode. There’s nothing formal. We’ve been learning from Dan for years about this, right? Of starting with the informal and then eventually layering in the formal. I was in a class in Maine where they were doing an image talk and it’s these boxes of pencils. It’s a stack of boxes of pencils and they’re open and you can see there are 10 pencils in each box. And so there are five boxes of pencils each with 10 pencils in it. And then the next image is 10 boxes of pencils and each box is half full. So now it’s 10 boxes each with five. And the kids are talking and talking and then the third image, I think there are seven boxes each with 10 pencils in it. And she said, “What do you think the next picture’s gonna be?” And this girl said, “You just never know with these people!” <laugh> I dunno!”

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (28:37):

That’s kinda true. Knowing you both, it’s kinda true.

Tracy Zager (28:42):

Like if it’s seven boxes with 10 in it, one kid said, I think it’s gonna be 14 boxes of five. And other kids are like, I think it’s gonna be 10 boxes with seven. And they start talking about which of those there are and the relationships between—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (28:58):

But they’re making sense of numbers!

Tracy Zager (28:59):

Totally. So all the kids felt invited. They can offer something up. They’re noticing and wondering about that image. They’re talking about it in whatever informal language or home language that they speak. And that was core to us. That was a huge priority, because honestly, one of the motivations to talk about fluency is that it’s always been this gatekeeper. It has served to keep kids out of meaningful math. Particularly kids from marginalized or historically excluded communities. So they’re back at the round table, doing Mad Minutes, while the more advantaged kids are getting to do rich problem solving. And so, we thought, what if we could teach fact fluency through rich problem solving that everybody could access? That was like square one for us.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (29:45):

That’s huge.

Dan Meyer (29:46):

That’s great to hear. What’s been helpful for me is to understand that students who are automatic, that’s just kind of what’s on the surface of things. And that below that might be some really robust kind of foundation or scaffolding that bleeds to a larger building being built, or it might be just really rickety and not offer a sturdy place to build farther up. It’s been really exciting to hear that. I wonder if you’d comment for a moment about, in the digital age and—I’m at Desmos and our sponsors are Amplify and we all work in the digital world quite a bit. There are a lot of what report to be solutions to the fluency issue, to developing fluency in the digital world. Just lots and lots of them. Some that are quite well used, others that are just like X, Y, or Z app on the market. You can find something. Do you have perspectives on these kinds of digital fluency building apps? Like, what about them works or doesn’t work? Let us know. Graham, how about you? And then Tracy, I’d love to hear your thoughts too.

Graham Fletcher (30:47):

Yeah, I think that’s a great question, ’cause there’s a lot of shiny bells and whistles out there right now that can really excite a lot of teachers. But I always come back to what works for me as a classroom teacher is probably gonna work in a digital world as well. So what are the things that I love and honor most about being in front of students, and how can I capture that in that virtual world? I think one of the things that really helps students make connections is coherence. I think coherence, especially when you leave students for—you don’t get to talk with them after the lesson is done—so I think about how we can purposefully sequence things through a day-to-day basis. I think coherence is something that gets really lost when we talk about fluency, especially with whether it be digital or whether it be print, because what ends up happening is we say, “OK, we have all these strategies we need to teach,” and it becomes a checklist. So how is it that we can just provide students the opportunity to play around in a space, whether it be digital or in person, but in a meaningful way that allows them the time and the space and that area to breathe and think, but be coherent. And connecting those lessons along the way. And I think coherence is one thing that a lot of the times it’s harder to—when we’re in the weeds, it’s so hard and difficult to zoom back out and say, “Do all these lessons connect? How do they intentionally connect? And how do they purposefully connect?” And without coherence, everything’s kind of broken down into that granular level. So when looking at—I think about Desmos and I think about the Toolkit and I think about how Tracy and I talked a lot about, “Well, this, does it connect with the context problem, does it connect with the image talk, or the lessons? Like, how does it all connect and how are we providing students an opportunity to make connections between the day-to-day instruction and lessons that we tackle?”

Tracy Zager (32:44):

I’m reminded of a conversation that Dan, you and I had a long time ago, in Portland, Maine, in a bar. I’ll just be honest. <laugh> And we were talking about how, in the earlier days of Desmos, you were stressed out by what you saw, which was kids one-on-one, on a device, in a silent room. And you were like, no, this is not it. This is not what technology is here to serve. We can do so many things better using technology appropriately, but we can’t lose talk and we can’t lose relationships and we can’t lose formative assessment and teachers listening to kids and kids listening to each other and helping each other understand their thinking. Right? So when I think about the tech that’s out there for fact fluency, most of it is gonna violate all rules I have around time testing. So that a whole bunch of it, I would just toss on that premise. They’re really no different than flashcards. It’s just flashcards set in junkyard heaps. Or, you know, underground caverns. Or with a volcano or whatever. It’s the same thing. There are some lovely visuals—I’m thinking of Berkeley Everett’s Math Flips. Those are really pretty. Mathigon has some really nice stuff that’s digital. And I think that those resources invite you to kind of ponder and notice things and talk about them. All the tools that we design in the toolkit are designed to get people talking to each other, and give teachers opportunities to pull alongside kids and listen in and understand where they are. For example, our games, we didn’t design the games to be played digitally, even though you could, and people did during COVID, because we want kids on the rug, next to each other, on their knees; I’ve seen kids like across tables. I was in a school recently where a kid was like, “I hope you believe in God, ’cause you’re going…!” You know what I mean? <laugh>. Like they’re all pumped up.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (34:41):

They’re invested!

Tracy Zager (34:45):

They’re psyching each other up and down and they’re interacting and it’s social and the teacher’s walking around and she’s listening to the games. And they don’t actually need any bells and whistles. They need dice and they need counters and they need this game that is actually a game. In all of our conversations, games have to actually be games. Games cannot be “roll and record.” Games have to involve strategy. They have to be fun. So in designing those games, we didn’t feel like it brought any advantage to make that a digital platform. But things that did bring advantages digitally, like the ability to project these beautiful images or to use short video in the classroom, that really was a value-add that enabled us to do something different in math class than we had done before, and to get kids talking in a different way than they ever had before. When I think about fluency, historically, if you say like, “OK, it’s time to practice our math facts,” you hear a lot of groans. And when I see a Building Fact Fluency classroom and I say, “OK, it’s BFF time!” There’s like a “YEAAAAHHH!” You know? And so that’s what we’re after.

Graham Fletcher (35:47):

It’s all about kids, really, for us. And I think at the heart of it, we made all the decisions with teachers and kids at the forefront of it.

Tracy Zager (35:55):

I know of high schoolers who are newcomers, who have experienced very little formal education, and speak in other languages, are using it as high schoolers, because it involves language and math and all the deep work in the properties and it’s accessible, but it’s also not at all condescending or patronizing. Like we designed it to be appropriate for older kids. So that’s just something that I think we’re both really proud of. One thing we thought a lot about, especially in the multiplication-division kit is how a classroom teacher could use it and a coordinating educator in EL, Title, special education, intervention could also use it because there’s so much in it, that students could get to be experts, if they got extra time in it, using something that’s related and would give them additional practice. So they could play a game a little bit earlier than the rest of the classes. And they could come in already knowing about that game, or they could do a related task. We have all these optional tasks that no classroom teacher would ever have time to teach it all. So the special educator could use it and have kids doing a Same and Different or a True/False, or some of the optional games. And then the work in both special education and general education could connect.

Dan Meyer (37:20):

I just wanna say that this is an area that for so many students, as you’ve said, Tracy, it presents a barrier. It’s a very emotionally fraught area of mathematics. And we really appreciate the wisdom you brought here. And just the care you’ve brought to the product itself. Your knowledge of teaching, knowledge of math, and yeah, especially a love for students feels like it’s really infused throughout Building Fact Fluency. If our listeners want to know more outside of this podcast, outside of the product itself, where can they find your words, your voice? Where you folks at these days? Tell ’em, Graham would you?

Graham Fletcher (37:57):

You can find us at Stenhouse, Building Fact Fluency. And then Tracy and I, currently playing around, sharing ideas a lot on Twitter, under the hashtag #BuildingFactFluency. That’s kind of where we can all come together and share ideas. And then also on the Facebook community, where there’s lots of teachers sharing ideas.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (38:19):

If you were to ask our listeners like, “Hey, if you wanna keep thinking about this, here’s something you could try or here’s something you could go do,” what could be a challenge that we could share that could help us continue this conversation?

Graham Fletcher (38:35):

Online you can actually download a full lesson string. And a lesson string is a series of activities and resources that are purposefully connected. You can pick one or two of those from the Stenhouse web site, Building Fact Fluency. You can try the game. You can try one of those strategy-based games. You can try an image talk and just see how it goes. And just share and reflect back, whether on Twitter or on Facebook. But it’s kind of there, if you wanna give it a whirl. And as Tracy was sharing, even if you’re a middle-school teacher or a high-school teacher, we really tried to think about those middle-school and high-school students keeping it grade level-agnostic. Just so every student has those opportunities for those mathematical conversations. So download a lesson string and give it a whirl, and we’d love to hear how it goes.

Dan Meyer (39:25):

Bethany and I will be working the same challenge with people in our life.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (39:29):

Yes.

Dan Meyer (39:29):

Enjoying some fact fluency with people in our homes, perhaps. We’ll see. And we’ll be sharing the results in the Math Teacher Lounge Facebook group. Graham and Tracy, thanks so much for being here. It was such a treat to chat with you both.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (39:42):

I love learning with you and just helping to shift this idea of fluency into something that can be accessible and powerful and positive.

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What Valerie Henry says about math

“A lot of very fluent adults don’t always have every fact memorized. ”

– Val Henry

Meet the guest

Valerie Henry has been a math educator since 1986. She taught middle school math for 17 years and has worked as a lecturer at University of California Irvine since 2002. After doing her 2004 dissertation research on addition/subtraction fluency in first grade, Valerie created FactsWise, a daily mini-lesson approach that simultaneously develops  fluency,  number sense, and algebraic thinking. Additionally, she has provided curriculum and math professional development for K-12 teachers throughout her career, working with individual schools, districts, county offices of education, Illustrative Mathematics, the SBAC Digital Library, and the UCI Math Project.

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Podcast cover for "Math Teacher Lounge" with Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer; bold text on orange and teal semicircle background.

About Math Teacher Lounge: The podcast

Math Teacher Lounge is a biweekly podcast created specifically for K–12 math educators. In each episode co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson (@lockhartedu) and Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) chat with guests, taking a deep dive into the math and educational topics you care about.

Join the Math Teacher Lounge Facebook group to continue the conversation, view exclusive content, interact with fellow educators, participate in giveaways, and more!

Free, high-quality lessons without the scavenger hunt.

Discover more than a thousand free lessons bursting with interactivity—across K–12 math, literacy, and science.

Math: Grades K–5
A cartoon purple frog sits on a green hill with a purple bug on the left and a yellow crown on the right, all on a bright green background.
Math: Grades 9–12
A quadratic equation, ax² + bx + c, appears above a blue and purple table with an arrow pointing from the equation to the table.
Science: Grades 4–8
Two low-poly, fictional creatures face off: a green, bird-like animal with spikes and a red, bear-like beast with sharp teeth and orange markings—perfect for sparking imagination using free teaching resources.
Literacy: Grades K–5
A card with the letter u0022yu0022 labeled as in u0022mythu0022 next to a speech bubble card showing the phonetic symbol /e/.
Math: Desmos classics Grades 6–8
Three raccoons balance on one side of a seesaw, while a 21 lb weight balances the other side on a grassy surface.
Polypad manipulatives:
A square divided into seven colorful geometric shapes: two triangles, two parallelograms, one square, and two smaller triangles in green, red, purple, orange, teal, and magenta.

More than 300,000 teachers turn to Amplify Classroom for captivating lessons and virtual manipulatives.

Grade 1 Math

Leaping Lily Pads

Grade 6 Science

Behaviors and Structures Support Survival

Kindergarten Literacy

The Boy and the Violin

Grades K–12

Polypad manipulatives

Algebra 1

Shelley the Snail

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What are people saying?

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Martin Joyce

@martinsean

Love this #AmplifyClassroom kindergarten activity! First the octopus checks sums of 8 then the sea urchin comes out. Great job. I’ve been wary about making my kids not hate math (no drill n kill) and they’re asking can we do math on the computer before bed. Yes! Cc @ddmeyer

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Hands down the best virtual manipulatives I’ve ever come across.

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Amplify Classroom FAQ

Amplify Classroom (formerly Desmos Classroom) is a free K–12 teaching platform that gives educators access to a library of high-quality, interactive lessons in math, literacy, and science. The platform is built with tools that promote student engagement and collaboration, while giving teachers real-time visibility into student thinking.

Amplify Classroom supports K–12 educators across math, science, and literacy. The platform offers more than 1,000 free interactive lessons, with content designed to build deeper understanding and student engagement at every grade level.

No. Teachers can create a free Amplify Classroom account and immediately access teaching tools and hundreds of lessons without a district license or subscription. Paid programs such as Amplify Desmos Math and Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) also run on Amplify Classroom, and you can access that content through the same platform if your school or district subscribes to these programs.

Some schools and districts require that specific URLs be added to their allowlist before teachers can access Amplify Classroom. A full list of permitted domains can be found at amplify.com/allowlist. Teachers should share this information with their school or district IT team.

Amplify Classroom offers built-in tools that promote real-time teacher visibility and student engagement. Key features include:

  • Real-time student insights: See student responses and thinking as they happen, all in one easy-to-use teacher dashboard.
  • Teacher pacing controls: Pause a lesson or advance all student screens simultaneously.
  • Select and sequence student work: Highlight student ideas live by selecting and sharing student work during a discussion.
  • Anonymous student sharing: Display student work to the class without showing students’ real names.
  • Lesson customization: Copy and edit pre-built K–12 lessons or build your own from scratch using our drag-and-drop lesson builder.
  • Class management tools: Create and manage multiple classes, add co-teachers, and organize rosters.

Yes. Teachers can customize our K–12 lessons or even create lessons from scratch to meet their students’ unique needs. This includes adding things like pre-made screens, images, multiple-choice questions, graphs, and more with our drag-and-drop lesson builder.

Yes. Many teachers use Amplify Classroom to supplement their existing curriculum. The platform can be integrated into any part of a teacher’s day, with a wide library of lessons and tools for core or supplemental instruction.

For schools seeking a full core curriculum, Amplify also offers paid programs including Amplify Desmos Math and Amplify CKLA, both fully integrated into the platform.

Yes. Amplify Classroom supports signing in with Google. Teachers can import class rosters directly from Google Classroom to streamline setup. For Amplify customers, Clever integration is available for school and district rostering. You can learn more about our integrations here.

Amplify Classroom is built to facilitate compliance with applicable student data privacy laws, including FERPA, COPPA and other applicable laws related to the collection and use of student data. To provide Amplify Classroom to students, Amplify receives Student Data as a “school official” in accordance with Section 99.31 of FERPA and COPPA guidance, and operates at the direction of the school. You can read more about this in our Acceptable Use Policy and Customer Privacy Policy.

Utah ELA Review for Grades PK–5

Thank you for taking the time to review Amplify’s core ELA program for PK–5. Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts® (CKLA) is a state-approved core ELA curriculum designated as a primary core program that fully meets the Science of Reading requirements outlined in SB 127.

Amplify CKLA, developed in partnership with the Core Knowledge Foundation, was designed to help teachers implement Science of Reading principles and evidence-based instructional practices. Scroll down to learn how CKLA is uniquely designed to help all your students make learning leaps in literacy.

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Step 1: Program Introduction

Welcome to Amplify CKLA! Before you dive into our materials, watch the video below to learn about the big picture behind Amplify CKLA’s pedagogy.

In this video, Susan Lambert (Chief Academic Officer and host of Science of Reading: The Podocast) shares why Amplify CKLA was created, how it is built on the Science of Reading, and the impact it’s making across the country.

Step 2: Program Overview

Amplify CKLA is different for a reason. Watch the overview video below to learn about these differences and why educators love them.

In this video, you’ll get an in-depth look at the program’s overall structure and organization, the design behind our proven lessons, and the materials included to support teaching and learning.

The Amplify CKLA Program Guide also provides an in-depth view of how Amplify CKLA works, how it’s structured, and why it’s uniquely capable of helping you bring reading instruction based on the Science of Reading to your classroom.

Evidence-based design

Amplify CKLA is rooted in Science of Reading research. Mirroring Scarborough’s Rope, Amplify CKLA delivers a combination of explicit foundational skills with meaningful knowledge-building.

  • In Grades PK–2, dedicated knowledge-building and explicit skills instruction are taught simultaneously through two distinct instructional strands.
  • In Grades 3–5, dedicated knowledge-building and explicit skills instruction are woven together and delivered through one integrated strand.
Scarborough's Rope

Grades K–2 Skills and Knowledge Strands
Every day students in Grades K–2 complete one full lesson that explicitly and systematically builds foundational reading skills in the Skills Strand, as well as one full lesson that builds robust background knowledge to access complex text in the Knowledge Strand. Through learning in each of these strands, students develop the early literacy skills necessary to help them become confident readers and build the context to understand what they’re reading.

Grades 3–5 Integrated Strand
In Grades 3–5, Knowledge and Skills are integrated in one set of instructional materials. Lessons begin to combine skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis. Students can then use their skills to go on their own independent reading adventures.

Key features

For each Amplify CKLA key feature below, click the drop down arrow to learn more.

Built out of the latest research in the Science of Reading, Amplify CKLA delivers explicit instruction in both foundational literacy skills (systematic phonics, decoding, and fluency) and background knowledge in grades PK–2 with an integrated approach to explicit instruction in grades 3–5.

Review this Science of Reading toolkit to learn more about the Science of Reading best practices integrated throughout CKLA.

Amplify CKLA aligns with the instructional principles recommended by Orton Gillingham and LETRS.

  • Structured–Concepts are taught through consistent routines
  • Sequential–Concepts are taught in a logical, well-planned sequence
  • Systematic–Phonemes are taught from simplest to most complex
  • Explicit–Decoding and encoding concepts are taught directly and explicitly
  • Multi-sensory–Instruction is delivered through visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile pathways
  • Cumulative–Concepts are applied in decodable, connected texts with constant review and reinforcement

Watch this video to learn more!

Additionally, great reading instruction starts with helping kids develop great decoding skills. Our instruction is supported by:

The Science of Reading reveals knowledge as an essential pillar of reading comprehension and lifelong literacy. Hear from author Natalie Wexler and CKLA customers on edWebinar about the importance of knowledge-building in reading instruction.

Students build grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves. Our instruction is supported by:

  • Knowledge builders that provide a quick overview of each domain with its key ideas.
  • Interactive Read-Alouds designed to build knowledge and vocabulary.
  • Content-rich anchor texts that support students as they tackle increasingly complex text and sharpen their analytical skills.
  • Social and emotional learning paired with lessons in civic responsibility.

Amplify CKLA not only received an all-green rating from the rigorous evaluators at EdReports, but it was also recently recognized by the Knowledge Matters Campaign as a high-quality literacy program that excels in building knowledge. Our shared message: background knowledge is essential to literacy and learning.

Student-led reading practice should be purposeful and connected to the core. That’s why Amplify createdBoost Reading. As an optional add-on to Amplify CKLA, students have the opportunity to practice skills directly tied to the skills they’ve been working on during core reading time. Boost Reading also adapts to each student to address their personal gaps and bolsters foundational skills at a pace that supports their individual development.

Boost Reading’s collection of 40+ adaptive games target foundational reading skills and develops them in alignment with Science of Reading principles. Unlike other adaptive games, we ensure students:

  • Practice the right skills at the right time. Our embedded placement tool ensures students receive the content and skill practice most appropriate for their current reading level. From there, students move through our curriculum along their own learning pathway where they encounter personalized content tailored to their evolving skill and grade levels.
  • Progress along a pathway that adapts on multiple dimensions, not just one. For example, a student can work on early first-grade decoding in one game while building more advanced vocabulary knowledge in another.
  • Practice skills in tandem. For example, a student is never forced to master one skill area before proceeding to the next. Instead, we offer students that opportunity to work on multiple skills concurrently.
  • Feel supported with scaffolding, instruction, and practice that adapts based on student performance.
  • Stay engaged by giving them immediate and clear feedback. These results are never punitive. Instead our always-positive feedback is delivered in the context of the game world and is designed to motivate students to keep trying.

Click the buttons below to learn more:

Step 3: Program Resources

Easy-to-use print materials

Amplify CKLA’s easy-to-use materials bring foundational skills and knowledge to life in the classroom.

Download the Amplify CKLA Components guide to see components by grade and watch the print materials walkthrough below.

Engaging CKLA digital experience

The top-rated content of Amplify CKLA is now live with the digital experience that enhances instruction and saves time.

Two digital dashboards are displayed: one for teachers showing recommendations and a program list, and one for students showing to-do items and a lesson named Mount Olympus, Part II.

With the digital experience, everything is in one place, making it easier and more engaging than ever to plan lessons, present digital content, and review student work. Click the arrows below to learn more.

With the digital experience, teachers have access to ready-to-use and customizable lesson presentation slides, complete with all the prompts from the print Teacher Guide embedded in the teacher view. As teachers deliver each lesson, students can engage with the content in one cohesive experience—through these CKLA resources: Activity Books, slides, digital components, videos, Student Readers, and more.

The innovative live review tool found in the digital experience enables you to keep an eye on all of your students as they work on drawing, recording audio, uploading and capturing images, and typing or writing in pre-placed textboxes in their Activity Pages. This dynamic tool provides countless classroom management benefits, enabling you to spot and correct common mistakes as they’re happening, praise your students for thoughtful work, and identify students who are not engaged in the task at hand. Simply put, it will give you those valuable “eyes in the back of your head” you’ve warned your students about!

The digital experience integrates with various LMSs, allowing you and your students to access Amplify CKLA with the software you’re already comfortable using.

In the Amplify CKLA student digital experience, your students have one intuitive access point to fully engage with classroom instruction. Through the Student Home, students can easily access digital lessons with slides, Activity Pages, ebooks, videos, and other interactives from one simple dashboard. Students can draw, record audio, upload and capture images, and type or write in pre-placed text boxes in their Activity Pages.

CKLA review resources

Step 4: State Review Resources

Step 5: Program Access

Explore as a teacher

Before logging in, watch this brief video on navigating the CKLA Teacher Platform.

Ready to explore as a teacher? Follow these instructions:

  • Click the Amplify CKLA Teacher Platform button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the teacher username: t1.utcklapk5@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter the teacher password: Amplify1-utcklapk5
  • Choose CKLA from the “Your Programs” menu on Educator Home.
  • Select a grade level from the drop-down menu at the top of the page.

Ready to explore as a Student? Follow these instructions:

  • Click the Amplify CKLA Teacher Platform button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the student username: s1.utahcklapk5@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter the student password: Amplify1-utahcklapk5

Inspiring the next generation of Massachusetts scientists, engineers, and curious citizens

Amplify Science is an engaging new core curriculum designed for three-dimensional, phenomena-based learning.

Collage of four images: a jungle illustration with a giraffe, students using computers, a boy studying with classmates, and an animated hillside with kites flying.

A powerful partnership

Amplify Science was developed by the science education experts at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science and the digital learning team at Amplify. This partnership extends to 2032, allowing us to continuously improve our program and provide our customers with the most up-to-date enhancements, free of charge. Get a glimpse at our latest back-to-school updates here.

Instructional model

The Amplify Science program is rooted in the proven, research-based pedagogy of Do, Talk, Read, Write, Visualize. Here’s how each element works:

Three blue panels describing educational activities: "hands-on science" with lab experiments, "discuss" with collaborative learning, and "read" with literacy in science articles.

Phenomena-based approach

In each Amplify Science unit, students take on the roles of scientists or engineers in order to investigate a real-world problem. Students work to define the problem and collect and make sense of evidence. Once the context is clear, students collect evidence from multiple sources and through a variety of modalities. At the end of the unit, students are presented with a brand new problem, giving them an opportunity to apply what they’ve learned over the course of the unit to a new context. This represents a shift from asking students to learn about science to supporting students in figuring out the science.

Flowchart of a learning unit divided into four chapters, showing stages of student engagement from introduction to application, with assessments indicated at various points.

Resources to support your review

Scope and Sequence

GRADE

Kindergarten

UNITS

  • Needs of Plants and Animals
  • Pushes and Pulls
  • Sunlight and Water

Grade 1

  • Needs of Plants and Animals
  • Pushes and Pulls
  • Sunlight and Water

Grade 2

  • Plant and Animal Relationships
  • Properties of Materials
  • Changing Landforms

Grade 3

  • Balancing Forces
  • Inheritance and Traits
  • Environments and Survival
  • Weather and Climate

Grade 4

  • Energy Conversions
  • Vision and Light
  • Earth’s Features
  • Waves, Energy, and Information

Grade 5

  • Patterns of Earth and Sky
  • Modeling Matter
  • The Earth System
  • Ecosystem Restoration

Flexible implementation

One of the key features of Amplify Science is the flexibility that it offers. We give students authentic opportunities to experience the full breadth of what it means to be a scientist or engineer. Just as scientists gather evidence from many types of sources, so do students in our program. Like scientists, students gather evidence not just from physical models, but also from digital models, texts, videos, photographs, maps, data sets, and even their peers!
Simply put, real scientists don’t just get messy—they read, write, analyze, hypothesize, model, test, and communicate with purpose, too.

Illustration of the indirect effects of overfishing on northern benguela jelly populations displayed on a laptop screen.

Student Books
Beginning and young readers have unique developmental needs, and science instruction should support these students in reading more independently as they progress through sections of content, the school year, and each grade. One way Amplify Science meets these needs is by strategically deploying different modes of reading throughout each unit: Read-Aloud, Shared Reading, and Partner Reading.

A collage of various educational book covers related to science and math, featuring illustrated themes like sports, nature, and energy.

Student Investigation Notebooks

Available for every unit, the Student Investigation Notebooks provide space for students to:

  • record data.
  • reflect on ideas from texts and investigations.
  • construct explanations and arguments.
Collection of educational books from 'amplify science' on topics including ocean atmosphere, matter and energy ecosystems, and insect interactions, displayed in various angles.

Digital student experience

Students access the digital simulations and Modeling Tools, as well as lesson activities and assessments, through the digital student experience. Students can interact with the digital student experience as they:

  • conduct hands-on investigations.
  • engage in Active Reading and writing activities.
  • participate in discussions.
  • record observations.
  • craft end-of-unit scientific arguments.

Dive into a quick example of our powerful simulations

Grades K–5 simulation

A digital illustration showcasing a laptop and a tablet displaying complex data analysis software interfaces with graphs and heatmaps.

Hands-on materials kits

Hands-on learning is at the heart of Amplify Science and is integrated
into every unit. Students actively take on the roles of scientists and engineers as they gather evidence, think critically, solve problems, and develop and defend claims about the world around them.

Check out this 2-minute video to see an Amplify Science hands-on investigation in action.

Each unit kit contains:

  • consumable and non-consumable hands-on materials.
  • print classroom display materials.
  • premium print materials for student use (sorting cards, maps, etc.).
A perforated rectangular board, three small containers with different powders, a black battery holder with red wires, and three colored alligator clips are arranged on a white background.

Teaching support

Available digitally and in print, the Teacher’s Guides contain all of the information teachers need to facilitate classroom instruction, including:

  • detailed lesson plans.
  • unit and chapter overview documentation.
  • differentiation strategies.
  • standards alignments.
  • in-context professional development.
A laptop displaying the Geology on Mars webpage sits beside a book titled "Geology on Mars," both featuring the same cover image of Mars and a spacecraft, perfect for enhancing three-dimensional learning in any science classroom.

Massachusetts Academic Standards in Science coverage

Amplify Science was designed from the ground up to meet the NGSS, a set of standards that closely align with the Massachusetts Learning Standards for Science coverage. Most grade levels’ respective set of Amplify Science units therefore address the necessary MASS (see correlation). 

For grades K, 1, 2, 3, and 5, teachers should plan to also use the resources provided in the sections below to achieve full coverage of the appropriate standards before their students move on to the next grade band. Organized by grade level, each section outlines:

  • companion lesson materials that were written to support 100% alignment to the Massachusetts Learning Standards for Science coverage when used with the core Amplify Science units for the grade level
  • the standard being addressed with each companion lesson; and
  • the recommended placement of each companion lesson within a specific Amplify Science unit

Standard: K-PS1-1(MA). Investigate and communicate the idea that different kinds of materials can be solid or liquid depending on temperature.

Recommended placement: Following Lesson 5.6 of Sunlight and Weather

Resources: After students finish reflecting on their unit-long exploration of energy and temperature, play and discuss this read-aloud video of the student book Can you Change it Back?, which is featured in the grade 2 unit Properties of Materials. You might also consider borrowing the physical books from a grade 2 colleague’s Properties of Materials kit and reading it as a class instead of or in addition to playing the video.

Using the book, you will introduce students to the idea that heating and cooling can cause changes to materials. In the book, students are presented with a variety of materials and asked to predict whether a certain change caused by heating or cooling is reversible or irreversible.

Companion lesson: “Seasonal Changes”

Standard: 1-ESS1-2– Analyze provided data to identify relationships among seasonal patterns of change, including relative sunrise and sunset time changes, seasonal temperature and rainfall or snowfall patterns, and seasonal changes to the environment.

Recommended placement: Following Lesson 5.1 of Spinning Earth

Resources: Season Changes Classroom Slides and Student Sheet

Companion lesson: “Properties and Weight”

Standard: 2-PS1-3– Analyze a variety of evidence to conclude that when a chunk of material is cut or broken into pieces, each piece is still the same material and, however small each piece is, has weight. Show that the material properties of a small set of pieces do not change when the pieces are used to build larger objects.

Recommended placement: Following Lesson 4.4 of Properties of Materials.

Resources: Weight and Properties Classroom SlidesResources, and Student Sheet

Companion lesson 1: Extinct Insects

Standard: 3-LS4-1: Use fossils to describe types of organisms and their environments that existed long ago and compare those to living organisms and their environments. Recognize that most kinds of plants and animals that once lived on Earth are no longer found anywhere.

Recommended placement: Following Lesson 2.3 of Environments and Survival

Resources: Extinct Insects Classroom Slides and Student Sheet

Companion lesson 2: Friction

Standard: 3-PS2-1: Provide evidence to explain the effect of multiple forces, including friction, on an object. Include balanced forces that do not change the motion of the object and unbalanced forces that do change the motion of the object.

Recommended placement: Following Lesson 1.1 of Balancing Forces

Resources: Friction Classroom SlidesResources, and Student Sheet

Companion lesson 1: Composters

Standard: 5-LS2-2(MA)– Compare at least two designs for a composter to determine which is most likely to encourage decomposition of materials.

Recommended placement: Following Lesson 3.7 of Ecosystem Restoration

Resources: Composters Classroom Slides and Student Sheet

Companion lesson 2: Properties of Materials

Standard: 5-PS1-3 (MA) – Make observations and measurements of substances to describe characteristic properties of each, including color, hardness, reflectivity, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, response to magnetic forces, and solubility.

Recommended placement: Following Lesson 1.3 of Modeling Matter

Resources: Properties of Materials Classroom SlidesResourcesArticlesCopymaster, and Student Sheet

Companion lesson 3: Water Filters

Standard: 5-ESS3-2(MA)– Test a simple system designed to filter particulates out of water and propose one change to the design to improve it.

Recommended placement: Following Lesson 5.6 of The Earth System

Resources: Water Filters Classroom Slides and Student Sheet

Benchmark Assessments

Amplify’s Benchmark Assessments are designed to help teachers measure student progress toward the three dimensions—Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs), Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs), and Crosscutting Concepts(CCCs)—and performance expectations (PEs) of the NGSS. The assessments provide important insight into how students are progressing toward mastery of different standards ahead of high-stakes, end-of-year assessments.

The Benchmark Assessments are built to be delivered after specific units in the recommended Amplify Science scope and sequence.* They are given three or four times per year, depending on the grade level. The benchmarks are intended to show progress at various points in time across a school year, and are therefore not summative in nature. Digital items and item clusters are also tagged to specific NGSS standards, allowing customization to align with other course sequences. The assessments are available via the following platforms:

Print
PDF files: For administering Benchmark Assessments on paper

Digital platforms

  • Illuminate
  • SchoolCity
  • Otus
  • QTI (“Question and Test Interoperability”) files
    Not sure whether QTI files are compatible with your assessment platform? Contact your school IT or assessment platform representative for more information.
    Please note that Amplify is able to provide access to the QTI files themselves, but is not able to support the integration process. Your assessment platform provider should be able to assist with QTI file integration.

Remote and hybrid learning support

A child sits at a desk using a laptop. Next to the desk is a bookshelf with books, a fishbowl, and a soccer ball.

See an example of our remote and hybrid learning support below:

Intended to make extended remote and hybrid learning easier, Amplify Science @Home includes two useful options for continuing instruction: @Home Videos and @Home Units.
Amplify Science @Home Videos are recordings of real Amplify Science teachers teaching the lessons. For those teachers who are unable to meet synchronously with their students, the recorded lessons are a great way to keep their students on track and engaged with Amplify Science while at home.

Amplify Science @Home Units are modified versions of Amplify Science units, strategically designed to highlight key activities from the program. The @Home Units take significantly less instructional time than the complete Amplify Science program and allow students to engage with science at home. Each @Home unit includes:

  • Teacher overviews explaining how to use the materials, including suggestions for enhancing the @Home Units if synchronous learning or in-class time with students is available
  • Overviews to send home to families

Student materials will be available in two formats:

  • @Home Slides (PDF/PPT) + Student Sheets (PDF) for students with access to technology at home
  • Downloadable @Home Packets (PDF) for students without access to technology at home

Download the remote and hybrid learning guide

Explore the digital Teacher’s Guide

To familiarize yourself with navigation of the digital Teacher’s Guide, watch our navigational guide videos:

Grades K–5:

Looking for help?

Powerful (and free!) pedagogical support

Amplify provides a unique kind of support you won’t find from other publishers. We’ve developed an educational support team of former teachers and administrators who provide pedagogical support for every Amplify curriculum, assessment, and intervention program. This service is completely free for all educators who are using our programs and includes:

  • Guidance for developing lesson plans and intervention plans.
  • Information on where to locate standards and other planning materials.
  • Recommendations and tips for day-to-day teaching with Amplify programs.
  • Support with administering and interpreting assessment data and more.

Timely technical and program support

Our technical and program support is included and available Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET, through a variety of channels, including a live chat program that enables teachers to get immediate help in the middle of the school day.

Ready to dive in?

Contact your Massachusetts representative:

Tracy Yefimenko
518-466-3497
tyefimenko@amplify.com

Inspiring the next generation of Massachusetts scientists, engineers, and curious citizens

To view this protected page, enter the password below:



A powerful partnership

Amplify Science was developed by the science education experts at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science and the digital learning team at Amplify. This partnership extends to 2032, allowing us to continuously improve our program and provide our customers with the most up-to-date enhancements, free of charge. Get a glimpse at our latest back-to-school updates here.

Instructional model

The Amplify Science program is rooted in the proven, research-based pedagogy of Do, Talk, Read, Write, Visualize. Here’s how each element works:

Three blue panels describing educational activities: "hands-on science" with lab experiments, "discuss" with collaborative learning, and "read" with literacy in science articles.

Phenomena-based approach

In each Amplify Science unit, students take on the roles of scientists or engineers in order to investigate a real-world problem. Students work to define the problem and collect and make sense of evidence. Once the context is clear, students collect evidence from multiple sources and through a variety of modalities. At the end of the unit, students are presented with a brand new problem, giving them an opportunity to apply what they’ve learned over the course of the unit to a new context. This represents a shift from asking students to learn about science to supporting students in figuring out the science.

Flowchart of a learning unit divided into four chapters, showing stages of student engagement from introduction to application, with assessments indicated at various points.

Resources to support your review

Remote and hybrid learning support

A child sits at a desk using a laptop. Next to the desk is a bookshelf with books, a fishbowl, and a soccer ball.

See an example of our remote and hybrid learning support below:

This fall, Amplify launched a new remote learning solution called Amplify Science@Home. Intended to make extended remote and hybrid learning easier, Amplify Science @Home includes two useful options for continuing instruction: @Home Videos and @Home Units.
Amplify Science @Home Videos are recordings of real Amplify Science teachers teaching the lessons. For those teachers who are unable to meet synchronously with their students, the recorded lessons are a great way to keep their students on track and engaged with Amplify Science while at home. These videos will be produced for all K–5 units, and for the first four units of each 6–8 grade level. Their release will be rolling, beginning in August.

Amplify Science @Home Units are modified versions of Amplify Science units, strategically designed to highlight key activities from the program. The @Home Units take significantly less instructional time than the complete Amplify Science program and allow students to engage with science at home. @Home Units will be developed for all Amplify Science K–8 units. Each @Home unit includes:

  • Teacher overviews explaining how to use the materials, including suggestions for enhancing the @Home Units if synchronous learning or in-class time with students is available
  • Overviews to send home to families

Student materials will be available in two formats:

  • @Home Slides (PDF/PPT) + Student Sheets (PDF) for students with access to technology at home
  • Downloadable @Home Packets (PDF) for students without access to technology at home

Download the remote and hybrid learning guide

Benchmark Assessments

Amplify’s Benchmark Assessments are designed to help teachers measure student progress toward the three dimensions—Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs), Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs), and Crosscutting Concepts(CCCs)—and performance expectations (PEs) of the NGSS. The assessments provide important insight into how students are progressing toward mastery of different standards ahead of high-stakes, end-of-year assessments.

The Benchmark Assessments are built to be delivered after specific units in the recommended Amplify Science scope and sequence.* They are given three or four times per year, depending on the grade level. The benchmarks are intended to show progress at various points in time across a school year, and are therefore not summative in nature. Digital items and item clusters are also tagged to specific NGSS standards, allowing customization to align with other course sequences. The assessments are available via the following platforms:

Print
PDF files: For administering Benchmark Assessments on paper

Digital platforms

  • Illuminate
  • SchoolCity
  • Otus
  • QTI (“Question and Test Interoperability”) files
    Not sure whether QTI files are compatible with your assessment platform? Contact your school IT or assessment platform representative for more information.
    Please note that Amplify is able to provide access to the QTI files themselves, but is not able to support the integration process. Your assessment platform provider should be able to assist with QTI file integration.

Flexible implementation

One of the key features of Amplify Science is the flexibility that it offers. We give students authentic opportunities to experience the full breadth of what it means to be a scientist or engineer. Just as scientists gather evidence from many types of sources, so do students in our program. Like scientists, students gather evidence not just from physical models, but also from digital models, texts, videos, photographs, maps, data sets, and even their peers!
Simply put, real scientists don’t just get messy—they read, write, analyze, hypothesize, model, test, and communicate with purpose, too.

Science articles

The middle school science articles serve as sources for evidence collection and were authored by science and literacy experts at the Lawrence Hall of Science.

Illustration of the indirect effects of overfishing on northern benguela jelly populations displayed on a laptop screen.

Student Books
Beginning and young readers have unique developmental needs, and science instruction should support these students in reading more independently as they progress through sections of content, the school year, and each grade. One way Amplify Science meets these needs is by strategically deploying different modes of reading throughout each unit: Read-Aloud, Shared Reading, and Partner Reading.

A collage of various educational book covers related to science and math, featuring illustrated themes like sports, nature, and energy.

Student Investigation Notebooks

Available for every unit, the Student Investigation Notebooks provide space for students to:

  • record data.
  • reflect on ideas from texts and investigations.
  • construct explanations and arguments.

Available with full-color article compilations for middle school units.

Collection of educational books from 'amplify science' on topics including ocean atmosphere, matter and energy ecosystems, and insect interactions, displayed in various angles.

Digital student experience

Students access the digital simulations and Modeling Tools, as well as lesson activities and assessments, through the digital student experience. Students can interact with the digital student experience as they:

  • conduct hands-on investigations.
  • engage in Active Reading and writing activities.
  • participate in discussions.
  • record observations.
  • craft end-of-unit scientific arguments.

Dive into a quick example of our powerful simulations

A digital illustration showcasing a laptop and a tablet displaying complex data analysis software interfaces with graphs and heatmaps.

Hands-on materials kits

Hands-on learning is at the heart of Amplify Science and is integrated
into every unit. Students actively take on the roles of scientists and engineers as they gather evidence, think critically, solve problems, and develop and defend claims about the world around them.

Check out these 2-minute videos to see an Amplify Science hands-on investigation in action.

Each unit kit contains:

  • consumable and non-consumable hands-on materials.
  • print classroom display materials.
  • premium print materials for student use (sorting cards, maps, etc.).
A perforated rectangular board, three small containers with different powders, a black battery holder with red wires, and three colored alligator clips are arranged on a white background.

Teacher’s Guides

Available digitally and in print, the Teacher’s Guides contain all of the information teachers need to facilitate classroom instruction, including:

  • detailed lesson plans.
  • unit and chapter overview documentation.
  • differentiation strategies.
  • standards alignments.
  • in-context professional development.
A laptop displaying the Geology on Mars webpage sits beside a book titled "Geology on Mars," both featuring the same cover image of Mars and a spacecraft, perfect for enhancing three-dimensional learning in any science classroom.

Scope and Sequence

GRADE UNITS
Kindergarten
  • Needs of Plants and Animals
  • Pushes and Pulls
  • Sunlight and Water
Grade 1
  • Animal and Plant Defenses
  • Light and Sound
  • Spinning Earth
Grade 2
  • Plant and Animal Relationships
  • Properties of Materials
  • Changing Landforms
Grade 3
  • Balancing Forces
  • Inheritance and Traits
  • Environments and Survival
  • Weather and Climate
Grade 4
  • Energy Conversions
  • Vision and Light
  • Earth’s Features
  • Waves, Energy, and Information
Grade 5
  • Patterns of Earth and Sky
  • Modeling Matter
  • The Earth System
  • Ecosystem Restoration
GRADE UNITS
Grade 6: Earth Science
  • Launch: Geology on Mars
  • Plate Motion
  • Plate Motion: Engineering Internship
  • Rock Transformations
  • Earth, Moon, and Sun
  • Ocean, Atmosphere, and Climate
  • Weather Patterns
  • Earth’s Changing Climate
  • Earth’s Changing Climate: Engineering Internship
Grade 7: Life Science
  • Launch: Microbiome
  • Metabolism
  • Metabolism: Engineering Internship
  • Traits and Reproduction
  • Populations and Resources
  • Matter and Energy in Ecosystems
  • Natural Selection
  • Natural Selection: Engineering Internship
  • Evolutionary History
Grade 8: Physical Science 
  • Launch: Harnessing Human Energy
  • Force and Motion
  • Force and Motion: Engineering Internship
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Thermal Energy
  • Phase Change
  • Phase Change: Engineering Internship
  • Chemical Reactions
  • Light Waves

Minnesota Academic Standards in Science coverage

Amplify Science was designed from the ground up to meet the NGSS, a set of standards that closely align with the K–8 Minnesota Academic Standards in Science (MASS). Therefore, most grade levels’ respective set of Amplify Science units address the necessary MASS (see K–5 reverse alignment and/or correlations for K–5 and 6–8). However, for grades 2–4, teachers should also use the resources provided in the sections below to achieve full coverage of the appropriate standards before their students move on to the next grade level. Organized by grade level, each section outlines:

  • companion lesson materials that were written to support 100% alignment to the Minnesota Academic Standards in Science when used with the core Amplify Science units for the grade level
  • the standard being addressed with each companion lesson; and
  • the recommended placement of each companion lesson within a specific Amplify Science unit 

Companion lesson: “Shelter”

Standard: 1P.4.2.2.1 Communicate solutions that use materials to provide shelter, food, or warmth needs for communities including Minnesota American Indian tribes and communities.* (P: 8, CC: 2, CI: PS1, ETS2)

Recommended placement: Following Lesson 5.1 of Spinning Earth

Materials: Shelter Classroom Slides and Student Sheet

Companion lesson: “Describing Climates”

Standard: 2E.4.2.1.2 Obtain and use information from multiple sources, including electronic sources, to describe climates in different regions of the world.** (P: 8, CC: 1, CI: ESS2)

Recommended placement: Following Lesson 4.5 of Changing Landforms

Materials: Describing Climates Classroom Slides and Student Sheet

Note: Students will further investigate the content in this standard, and revisit the book used in this companion lesson, in 3rd grade (Weather and Climate unit)

Companion lesson 1: Light and Vision

Standard: 3P.3.1.1.1 Develop a model to describe that light reflecting from objects and entering the eye allows objects to be seen. (P: 2, CC: 2, CI: PS4)

Recommended placement: Following Lesson 4.5 of Environments and Survival

Materials: Light and Vision Part 1 Classroom Slides and Student Sheet; Light and Vision Part 2 Classroom Slides and Student Sheet 

Note: Students will further investigate the content in this standard, and revisit the book used in this companion lesson, in 4th grade (Vision and Light unit)

Companion lesson 2: Studying Stars

Standard: 3E.4.2.2.1 Gather information and communicate how Minnesota American Indian Tribes and communities and other cultures use patterns in stars to make predictions and plans. (P 8, CC: 1, CI: ESS1) 

Recommended placement: Following Lesson 4.4 of Weather and Climate

Materials: Studying Stars Classroom Slides and Student Sheet

Note: Students will further investigate the content in this standard, and revisit the book used in this companion lesson, in 5th grade (Patterns of Earth and Sky unit)

Companion lesson 1: Salt Water and Freshwater

Standard: 4E.2.2.1.1 Interpret charts, maps and/or graphs of the amounts of salt water and fresh water in various reservoirs to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth.** (P: 5, CC: 4, CI: ESS2) 

Recommended placement: Following Lesson 2.6 of Earth’s’ Features

Materials: Salt Water and Freshwater Classroom Slides and Student Sheet

Note: Students will further investigate the content in this standard, and revisit the book used in this companion lesson, in 5th grade (The Earth System unit)

Companion lesson 2: How Raindrops Form

Standard: 4E.1.1.1.2 Ask questions about how water moves through the Earth system and identify the type of question. (P: 1, CC: 5, CI: ESS2) 

Recommended placement: Following Lesson 4.5 of Earth’s’ Features

Materials: How Raindrops Form Classroom Slides and Student Sheet

Note: Students will further investigate the content in this standard, and revisit the book used in this companion lesson, in 5th grade (The Earth System unit)

Explore the digital Teacher’s Guide

To familiarize yourself with navigation of the digital Teacher’s Guide, watch our navigational guide videos:

Grades K–5:

Grades 6–8:

Looking for help?

Powerful (and free!) pedagogical support

Amplify provides a unique kind of support you won’t find from other publishers. We’ve developed an educational support team of former teachers and administrators who provide pedagogical support for every Amplify curriculum, assessment, and intervention program. This service is completely free for all educators who are using our programs and includes:

  • Guidance for developing lesson plans and intervention plans.
  • Information on where to locate standards and other planning materials.
  • Recommendations and tips for day-to-day teaching with Amplify programs.
  • Support with administering and interpreting assessment data and more.

Timely technical and program support

Our technical and program support is included and available Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET, through a variety of channels, including a live chat program that enables teachers to get immediate help in the middle of the school day.

Ready to dive in?

Contact your Minnesota representative:
Kristi Stengel
Account Executive
kstengel@amplify.com
(612) 306-3941

Tammy Sigwarth
Account Executive
tsigwarth@amplify.com
(563) 663-0056

What is a professional learning specialist (PLS)?

About this role

Amplify professional learning specialists deliver professional development for educators that drives change, leading to increased and effective use of our Amplify programs and positive impacts on students’ learning. New professional learning specialists:

  • Are selected and supported by Amplify.
  • Receive onboarding and become certified with an Amplify program, with opportunities to extend product certifications throughout the year.
  • Deliver virtual and on-site sessions for schools and districts throughout the country.

Dive deeper into the responsibilities, requirements, and compensation of the professional learning specialist role within the professional learning specialist overview flipbook!

Why join?

The PLS advantage

Professional development for educators is one of the most powerful levers to shift learning, action, and beliefs. 

As a professional learning specialist, you’ll be able to impact educators—and, ultimately, students—nationwide and see how schools across the country are driving success. Over time, you’ll also deepen your facilitation and leadership skills and build relationships with fellow professional learning specialists who are current or former educators.

Uncover additional advantages of being in the professional learning specialist network (pages 714).

Is this right for me?

Becoming a PLS is ideal for:

Current educators*Former educatorsRetired educators
who want to gain a new perspective and develop leadership and adult facilitation skills.who are seeking part-time, contract work and a more flexible schedule.who want to stay connected to a network of education leaders and continue to make an impact.

Availability requirements:

  • 15-20 hours per week of paid remote onboarding in May or June, with one mandatory in person training at the end of week 4 of onboarding.
  • Available to deliver in person PD a minimum of 18 business days (average of 3 days per week) from July 13th – August 21st.

More information:

Further evaluate if this is the right role for you (pages 25–29).

This year, nearly 30% of our professional learning specialists were current educators and 70% were former or retired educators. While our professional learning specialists are in different places within their classroom or educational leadership careers, they all have several key qualities in common. These include:

  • A deep knowledge of high-quality instruction and adult learning principles.
  • The drive to be a strong colleague and team player.
  • Proven excellence in delivering in-person and online professional development.
  • Exceptional customer service skills.
  • High comfort with navigating ambiguity and responding confidently to in-the-moment challenges.

Access more detailed requirements of the role (pages 16–29).

Amplify Classroom and Polypad free and commercial use guidelines

If you’d like to use Amplify’s tools or content in your work, please review these guidelines to determine if your specific use is allowed and whether you need to submit a request for approval.

Overview

Amplify Classroom offers free prebuilt interactive and print-based lessons, interactive lesson-building tools, and Polypad virtual manipulatives. See amplify.com/classroom and polypad.amplify.com for more information.

Amplify Classroom features:

  • Activity Builder (labeled “Custom Activities” in the platform): This content-creating and publishing tool enables educators to create their own interactive lessons and edit existing lessons.
  • Polypad virtual manipulatives: These virtual manipulatives allow teachers and students to explore concepts, express their creativity, and visualize their thinking. Polypad virtual manipulatives can be embedded directly into lessons via Activity Builder or used as a stand-alone, dynamic workspace.
  • Computation Layer: This feature enables educators to further customize lessons created with Activity Builder. Computation Layer is the code that allows components within the lessons to “talk” to one another, enabling users to connect representations; customize content; and provide dynamic, interpretive feedback. Computation Layer is accessible through Activity Builder.

Amplify Classroom includes activities and lessons across many subjects, created by the thousands of educators on our platform. Content created by Amplify is tagged “By Amplify,” “By Amplify Classroom,” or “By Desmos Classroom.”

Amplify also publishes paid core curriculum programs, including Amplify Desmos MathAmplify ScienceAmplify CKLAAmplify Caminos, and Amplify ELA. These products can be reviewed and purchased by schools or districts interested in comprehensive resources aligned to standards and designed to motivate students. Some of the lessons that are free to use on Amplify Classroom (labeled Try It! lessons) are also part of these paid products. Learn more about our products and request a sample.

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This section provides guidelines for embedding Amplify Classroom tools into your platform.

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There are two integration options for using Polypad within your own applications, including:

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Developers can customize the features and behavior through numerous options and event listeners, and interact with the canvas programmatically to build custom functionality.

Visit the Polypad API page to learn more about Polypad API license terms and to generate API Key.

General guidelines

Copyright fair use

Your use of our content may be acceptable under principles of fair use (or other similar concepts in other countries). Under the fair use doctrine of the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, it is permissible to use limited portions of a work for purposes such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, research, and scholarly reports.

Whether a particular use qualifies as fair use depends on a number of factors. For more information see resources from the U.S. Copyright Office, Circular 21Reproductions of Copyrighted Works by Educators and Librarians, and Fair Use Index. Amplify can’t tell you if your use of this content would be fair use, so you may wish to obtain your own legal advice.

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Please contact Desmos Studio for Desmos Studio branding guidelines and licensing.

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Amplify Classroom and Polypad usage inquiry form for uses labeled “Permitted”

Thank you for your interest in using Amplify Classroom and/or Polypad. If your intended use falls under the “Permitted” categories outlined in our use guidelines, please let us know by filling out the form below. This helps us understand how our tools are being used.

Note: If your intended use falls under one of the “CONTACT US” categories outlined in our use guidelines, please fill out this form.

Amplify Classroom and Polypad Permitted Use Form

Grade 6

Module 1: Ratios and Unit Rates

Eureka MathDesmos Math 6–A1
Topic A Representing and Reasoning About Ratios 
Lesson 1: Ratios
Lesson 2: Ratios
Unit 2
Lesson 1: Pizza Maker [Free lesson]
Lesson 2: Ratio Rounds (Print available)
Lesson 3: Equivalent Ratios
Lesson 4: Equivalent Ratios
Unit 2
Lesson 3: Rice Ratios
Lesson 4: Fruit Lab [Free lesson]
Lesson 5: Balancing Act
Lesson 7: Mixing Paint, Part 1
Lesson 8 World Records (Print available)
Lesson 11 Community Life (Print available)
Practice Day 1 (Print available)
Lesson 5: Solving Problems by Finding Equivalent Ratios
Lesson 6: Solving Problems by Finding Equivalent Ratios
Unit 2
Lesson 5 Balancing Act
 
Lesson 7: Associated Ratios and the Value of a Ratio
Lesson 8: Equivalent Ratios Defined Through the Value of a Ratio
Unit 2
Lesson 6: Product Prices (Print available)
Lesson 7: Mixing Paint, Part 1
Topic B Collections of Equivalent Ratios 
Lesson 9: Tables of Equivalent RatiosUnit 2
Lesson 6: Product Prices (Print available)
Lesson 7: Mixing Paint, Part 1
Lesson 10: The Structure of Ratio Tables-Additive and MultiplicativeUnit 2
Lesson 10: Balloons
Lesson 11: Community Life (Print available)
Lesson 11: Comparing Ratios Using Ratio TablesUnit 2
Lesson 10: Balloons
Lesson 12: From Ratio Tables to Double Number Line DiagramsUnit 2
Lesson 6: Product Prices (Print available)
Lesson 8: World Records (Print available)
Lesson 12: Mixing Paint, Part 2
Lesson 14: Lunch Waste (Print available)
Practice Day 2 (Print available)
Lesson 13: From Ratio Tables to Equations Using the Value of a Ratio 
Lesson 14: From Ratio Tables, Equations, and Double Number Line Diagrams to Plots on the Coordinate Plane 
Lesson 15: A Synthesis of Representations of Equivalent Ratio Collections 
Topic C Unit Rates 
Lesson 16: From Ratio to RatesUnit 2
Lesson 8: World Records (Print available)
 
Unit 3
Lesson 4: Model Trains
Lesson 5: Soft Serve [Free lesson]
Lesson 6: Welcome to the Robot Factory
Lesson 17: From Rates to Ratios 
Lesson 18: Finding a Rate by Dividing Two QuantitiesUnit 3
Lesson 4: Model Trains
Lesson 5: Soft Serve [Free lesson]
Lesson 6: Welcome to the Robot Factory
Lesson 7: More Soft Serve
Lesson 19: Comparison Shopping-Unit Price and Related Measurement Conversions
Lesson 20: Comparison Shopping-Unit Price and Related Measurement Conversions
Lesson 21: Getting the Job Done—Speed, Work, and Measurement Units
Lesson 22: Getting the Job Done—Speed, Work, and Measurement Units
Unit 3
Lesson 2: Counting Classrooms
Lesson 3: Pen Pals
Lesson 23: Problem-Solving Using Rates, Unit Rates, and Conversions.Unit 3
Lesson 13: A Country as a Village
Topic D Percent 
Lesson 24: Percent and Rates per 100Unit 3
Lesson 8: Lucky Duckies [Free lesson]
Lesson 9: Bicycle Goals
Lesson 25: A Fraction as a Percent 
Lesson 26: Percent of a Quantity.Unit 3
Lesson 10: What´s Missing? (Print available)
Lesson 11: Cost Breakdown
Lesson 27: Solving Percent Problems
Lesson 28: Solving Percent Problems
Lesson 29: Solving Percent Problems
Unit 3
Lesson 10: What´s Missing? (Print available)
Lesson 11: Cost Breakdown
Lesson 12: More Bicycle Goals
Lesson 13: A Country as a Village
Practice Day 2 (Print available)

Module 2: Arithmetic Operations Including Division of Fractions

Lesson 1: Interpreting Division of a Fraction by a Whole Number—Visual Models.Unit 4
Lesson 2: Making Connections (Print available)
Lesson 2: Interpreting Division of a Whole Number by a Fraction —Visual Models.Unit 4
Lesson 1: Cookie Cutter
Lesson 3: Flour Planner [Free lesson]
Lesson 4: Flower Planters
Lesson 5: Garden Bricks (Print available)
Lesson 3: Interpreting and Computing Division of a Fraction by a Fraction—More Models
Lesson 4: Interpreting and Computing Division of a Fraction by a Fraction—More Models
Unit 4
Lesson 5: Garden Bricks
Lesson 6: Fill the Gap [Free lesson]
Lesson 7: Break It Down
Lesson 8: Potting Soil
Lesson 9: Division Challenges
Lesson 10: Swap Meet (Print available)
Practice Day
Lesson 5: Creating Division Stories. 
Lesson 6: More Division Stories. 
Lesson 7: The Relationship Between Visual Fraction Models and Equations 
Lesson 8: Dividing Fractions and Mixed NumbersUnit 4
Lesson 5: Garden Bricks (Print available)
Lesson 6: Fill the Gap [Free lesson]
Topic B Multi-Digit Decimal Operations—Adding, Subtracting, and Multiplying
Lesson 9: Sums and Differences of DecimalsUnit 5
Lesson 2: Decimal Diagrams [Free lesson]
Lesson 3: Fruit by the Pound
Lesson 4: Missing Digits
Lesson 10: The Distributive Property and the Products of DecimalsUnit 5
Lesson 5: Decimal Multiplication
Lesson 6: Multiplying with Areas
Lesson 7: Multiplication Methods (Print available)
Lesson 11: Fraction Multiplication and the Products of DecimalsUnit 5
Lesson 7: Multiplication Methods (Print available)
Topic C Dividing Whole Numbers and Decimals
Lesson 12: Estimating Digits in a Quotient 
Lesson 13: Dividing Multi-Digit Numbers Using the AlgorithmUnit 5
Lesson 9: Long Division Launch
Practice Day 1 (Print available)
Practice Day 2 (Print available)
Lesson 14: The Division Algorithm—Converting Decimal Division into Whole Number Division Using Fractions. 
Lesson 15: The Division Algorithm—Converting Decimal Division into Whole Number Division Using Mental Math 
Topic D Number Theory—Thinking Logically About Multiplicative Arithmetic 
Lesson 16: Even and Odd Numbers 
Lesson 17: Divisibility Tests for 3 and 9 
Lesson 18: Least Common Multiple and Greatest Common FactorUnit 5
Lesson 14: Common Multiples
Lesson 15: Common Factors
Practice Day 2 (Print available)
Lesson 19: The Euclidean Algorithm as an Application of the Long Division Algorithm 

Module 3: Rational Numbers

Lesson 1: Positive and Negative Numbers on the Number Line—Opposite Direction and ValueUnit 7Lesson 2: Digging Deeper
Lesson 2: Real-World Positive and Negative Numbers and Zero.
Lesson 3: Real-World Positive and Negative Numbers and Zero.
Unit 7 Lesson 4: Sub-Zero
Lesson 4: The Opposite of a Number
Lesson 5: The Opposite of a Number’s Opposite
Lesson 6: Rational Numbers on the Number Line
Unit 7Lesson 2: Digging Deeper
Topic B Order and Absolute Value
Lesson 7: Ordering Integers and Other Rational Numbers
Lesson 8: Ordering Integers and Other Rational Numbers
Lesson 9: Comparing Integers and Other Rational Numbers
Unit 7Lesson 3: Order in the Class (Print available) [Free lesson]
Lesson 10: Writing and Interpreting Inequality Statements Involving Rational Numbers 
Lesson 11: Absolute Value—Magnitude and Distance
Lesson 12: The Relationship Between Absolute Value and Order
Unit 7Lesson 5: Distance on the Number Line
Lesson 13: Statements of Order in the Real World. 
Topic C Rational Numbers and the Coordinate Plane 
Lesson 14: Ordered Pairs
Lesson 15: Locating Ordered Pairs on the Coordinate Plane
Unit 7Lesson 9: Sand Dollar SearchLesson 10: The A-maze-ing Coordinate PlaneLesson 11: Polygon Maker
Lesson 16: Symmetry in the Coordinate Plane. 
Lesson 17: Drawing the Coordinate Plane and Points on the PlaneLesson 10: The A-maze-ing Coordinate Plane
Lesson 18: Distance on the Coordinate PlaneUnit 7Lesson 11: Polygon Maker
Lesson 19: Problem Solving and the Coordinate PlaneUnit 7Lesson 12: Graph Telephone (Print available)Practice Day 2 (Print available)

Module 4: Expressions and Equations

Topic A Relationships of the Operations 
Lesson 1: The Relationship of Addition and Subtraction 
Lesson 2: The Relationship of Multiplication and Division 
Lesson 3: The Relationship of Multiplication and Addition. 
Lesson 4: The Relationship of Division and Subtraction 
Topic B Special Notations of Operations 
Lesson 5: ExponentsUnit 6Lesson 10: PowersLesson 11: Exponent Expressions (Print available)Practice Day 2 (Print available)
Lesson 6: The Order of Operations 
Topic C Replacing Letters and Numbers 
Lesson 7: Replacing Letters with Numbers
Lesson 8: Replacing Numbers with Letters
Unit 6Lesson 7: Border TilesLesson 12: Squares and Cubes
Topic D Expanding, Factoring, and Distributing Expressions 
Lesson 9: Writing Addition and Subtraction ExpressionsUnit 6Lesson 6: Vari-applesLesson 8: Products and Sums [Free lesson]Lesson 9: Products, Sums, and Differences
Lesson 10: Writing and Expanding Multiplication Expressions
Lesson 11: Factoring Expressions
Lesson 12: Distributing Expressions
Unit 6Lesson 8: Products and Sums [Free lesson]Lesson 9: Products, Sums, and Differences
Lesson 13: Writing Division Expressions 
Lesson 14: Writing Division Expressions 
Topic E Expressing Operations in Algebraic Form 
Lesson 15: Read Expressions in Which Letters Stand for Numbers
Lesson 16: Write Expressions in Which Letters Stand for Numbers
Lesson 17: Write Expressions in Which Letters Stand for Numbers
Unit 6Lesson 6: Vari-applesLesson 7: Border Tiles
Topic F Writing and Evaluating Expressions and Formulas 
Lesson 18: Writing and Evaluating Expressions—Addition and Subtraction
Lesson 19: Substituting to Evaluate Addition and Subtraction Expressions
Lesson 20: Writing and Evaluating Expressions—Multiplication and Division
Lesson 21: Writing and Evaluating Expressions—Multiplication and Addition
Unit 6Lesson 7: Border TilesLesson 8: Products and Sums [Free lesson]Lesson 9: Products, Sums, and DifferencesLesson 12: Squares and Cubes
Lesson 22: Writing and Evaluating Expressions—ExponentsUnit 6Lesson 10: PowersLesson 11: Exponent Expressions (Print available)Lesson 12: Squares and CubesPractice Day 2 (Print available)
Topic G Solving Equations 
Lesson 23: True and False Number Sentences
Lesson 24: True and False Number Sentences
Unit 6Lesson 1: Weight for It [Free lesson]
Lesson 25: Finding Solutions to Make Equations TrueUnit 6Lesson 1: Weight for It [Free lesson]Lesson 2: Five Equations
Lesson 26: One-Step Equations—Addition and SubtractionUnit 6Lesson 1: Weight for It [Free lesson]Lesson 2: Five EquationsLesson 3: Hanging Around
Lesson 27: One-Step Equations—Multiplication and Division
Lesson 28: Two-Step Problems—All Operations
Lesson 29: Multi-Step Problems—All Operations
Unit 6Lesson 3: Hanging AroundLesson 4: Hanging It UpLesson 5: Swap and Solve
Topic H Applications of Equations 
Lesson 30: One-Step Problems in the Real World
Lesson 31: Problems in Mathematical TermsLesson Lesson 32: Multi-Step Problems in the Real World
Unit 6Lesson 3: Hanging AroundLesson 4: Hanging It UpLesson 5: Swap and SolvePractice Day 1 (Print available)
Lesson 33: From Equations to Inequalities
Lesson 34: Writing and Graphing Inequalities in Real-World Problems
Unit 7Lesson 6: Tunnel Travel [Free lesson]Lesson 7: Comparing WeightsLesson 8: Shira´s Solutions

Module 5: Area, Surface Area, and Volume Problems

Topic A: Area of Triangles, Quadrilaterals, and Polygons
Lesson 1: The Area of Parallelograms Through Rectangle FactsUnit 1Lesson 3: Exploring Parallelograms (Print available) [Free lesson]Lesson 4: Off the Grid
Lesson 2: The Area of Right Triangles
Lesson 3: The Area of Acute Triangles Using Height and Base
Unit 1Lesson 5: Exploring Triangles (Print available)Lesson 6: Triangles and ParallelogramsLesson 7: Off the Grid, Part 2
Lesson 4: The Area of All Triangles Using Height and BaseUnit 1Lesson 6: Triangles and ParallelogramsLesson 7: Off the Grid, Part 2
Lesson 5: The Area of Polygons Through Composition and DecompositionUnit 1Lesson 2: LettersLesson 8: Pile of PolygonsPractice Day 1 (Print available)
Lesson 6: Area in the Real World 
Topic B Polygons on the Coordinate Plane 
Lesson 7: Distance on the Coordinate PlaneUnit 1Lesson 8: Pile of Polygons
Lesson 8: Drawing Polygons in the Coordinate PlaneUnit 7Lesson 11: Polygon Maker
Lesson 9: Determining Perimeter and Area of Polygons on the Coordinate PlaneUnit 1Lesson 8: Pile of Polygons
Lesson 10: Distance, Perimeter, and Area in the Real World 
Topic C Volume of Right Rectangular Prisms 
Lesson 11: Volume with Fractional Edge Lengths and Unit CubesUnit 4Lesson 11: Classroom ComparisonsLesson 12: Puzzling Areas (Print available) [Free lesson]Lesson 13: Volume ChallengesLesson 14: Planter Planner (Print available)
Lesson 12: From Unit Cubes to the Formulas for Volume  
Lesson 13: The Formulas for Volume 
Lesson 14: Volume in the Real WorldUnit 4Lesson 14: Planter Planner (Print available)
Topic D Nets and Surface Area 
Lesson 15: Representing Three-Dimensional Figures Using Nets
Lesson 16: Constructing Nets
Lesson 17: From Nets to Surface Area
Unit 1Lesson 10: Plenty of PolyhedraLesson 11: Nothing But Nets (Print available)Lesson 13: Take It To Go (Print available)
Lesson 18: Determining Surface Area of Three-Dimensional FiguresUnit 1Lesson 9: Renata´s Stickers [Free lesson]Lesson 10: Plenty of PolyhedraLesson 11: Nothing But Nets (Print available)Lesson 13: Take It To Go (Print available)Practice Day 2 (Print available)
Lesson 19: Surface Area and Volume in the Real World 
Lesson 19a: Addendum Lesson for Modeling―Applying Surface Area and Volume to Aquariums 
Lesson 3: The Area of Acute Triangles Using Height and BaseUnit 1Lesson 5 Exploring TrianglesLesson 6 Triangles and ParallelogramsLesson 7 Off the Grid, Part 2

Module 6: Statistics

Topic A Understanding Distributions 
Lesson 1: Posing Statistical QuestionsUnit 8 Lesson 1: Screen TimeLesson 2: Dot Plots
Lesson 2: Displaying a Data Distribution
Lesson 3: Creating a Dot Plot
Unit 8 Lesson 2: Dot PlotsLesson 3: Minimum Wage (Print available) [Free lesson]Lesson 4: Lots More Dots
Lesson 4: Creating a Histogram
Lesson 5: Describing a Distribution Displayed in a Histogram
Unit 8Lesson 5: The Plot Thickens [Free lesson]Lesson 6: DIY Histograms (Print available)
Topic B Summarizing a Distribution That Is Approximately Symmetric Using the Mean and Mean Absolute Deviation 
Lesson 6: Describing the Center of a Distribution Using the Mean
Lesson 7: The Mean as a Balance Point
Unit 8Lesson 7: Snack Time
Lesson 8: Variability in a Data DistributionUnit 8Lesson 8: Pop It!
Topic 9: The Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD).Unit 8Lesson 9: Hoops
Lesson 10: Describing Distributions Using the Mean and MAD
Lesson 11: Describing Distributions Using the Mean and MAD
Unit 8Lesson 10 Hollywood Part 1Practice Day 1 (Print available)
Topic C Summarizing a Distribution That Is Skewed Using the Median and the Interquartile Range 
Lesson 12: Describing the Center of a Distribution Using the MedianUnit 8Lesson 11: Toy Cars [Free lesson]Lesson 12: In the News
Lesson 13: Describing Variability Using the Interquartile Range (IQR)Unit 8Lesson 13: Pumpkin Patch
Lesson 14: Summarizing a Distribution Using a Box Plot
Lesson 15: More Practice with Box Plots
Unit 8Lesson 14: Car, Plane, Bus, or Train? (Print available)
Lesson 16: Understanding Box PlotsUnit 8Lesson 14: Car, Plane, Bus, or Train? (Print available)Lesson 15: Hollywood Part 2Lesson 16: Hollywood Part 3 (Print available)Practice Day 2 (Print available)
Topic D Summarizing and Describing Distributions 
Lesson 17: Developing a Statistical Project 
Lesson 18: Connecting Graphical Representations and Numerical SummariesUnit 8Lesson 5: The Plot Thickens [Free lesson]
Lesson 19: Comparing Data DistributionsUnit 8Lesson 15: Hollywood Part 2
Lesson 20: Describing Center, Variability, and Shape of a Data Distribution from a Graphical Representation
Lesson 21: Summarizing a Data Distribution by Describing Center, Variability, and Shape
Unit 8Lesson 16: Hollywood Part 3 (Print available)
Lesson 22: Presenting a Summary of a Statistical Project 
Lesson 3: Creating a Dot PlotUnit 8Lesson 2 Dot PlotsLesson 3 Minimum Wage [Free lesson]Lesson 4 Lots More Dots

Grade 7

Module 1: Ratios and Proportional Relationships

Eureka MathDesmos Math 6–A1
Topic A Proportional Relationships 
Lesson 1: An Experience in Relationships as Measuring RateUnit 2
Lesson 1: Paint [Free lesson]
Lesson 2: Balloon Float
 
Unit 4
Lesson 1: Mosaics [Free lesson]
Lesson 2: Peach Cobbler (Print available)
Lesson 2: Proportional RelationshipsUnit 2  
Lesson 2: Balloon Float
Lesson 3: Sugary Drinks (Print available)
 
Unit 4
Lesson 3: Sticker Sizes
Lesson 3: Identifying Proportional and Non-Proportional Relationships in Tables
Lesson 4: Identifying Proportional and Non-Proportional Relationships in Tables
Unit 2
Lesson 2: Balloon Float
Lesson 3: Sugary Drinks (Print available)
Lesson 4: Robot Factory
Lesson 5: Identifying Proportional and Non-Proportional Relationships in Graphs
Lesson 6: Identifying Proportional and Non-Proportional Relationships in Graphs
Unit 2
Lesson 8: Dino Pops [Free lesson]
Lesson 9: Gallon Challenge
Lesson 10: Three Turtles
Lesson 11: Four Representations (Print available)
Lesson 12: Water Efficiency
Topic B Unit Rate and the Constant of Proportionality 
Lesson 7: Unit Rate as the Constant of ProportionalityUnit 2
Lesson 2: Balloon Float
Lesson 8: Representing Proportional Relationships with Equations
Lesson 9: Representing Proportional Relationships with Equations
Unit 2
Lesson 4: Robot Factory
Lesson 5: Snapshots
Lesson 6: Two and Two (Print available) [Free lesson]
Lesson 7: All Kinds of Equations
Lesson 10: Interpreting Graphs of Proportional RelationshipsUnit 2
Lesson 8: Dino Pops [Free lesson]
Lesson 9: Gallon Challenge
Lesson 10: Three Turtles
Lesson 11: Four Representations (Print available)
Lesson 12: Water Efficiency
Topic C Ratios and Rates Involving Fractions 
Lesson 11: Ratios of Fractions and Their Unit Rates
Lesson 12: Ratios of Fractions and Their Unit Rates
Unit 2
Lesson 3: Sugary Drinks (Print available)
Lesson 4: Robot Factory
Lesson 5: Snapshots
Lesson 6: Two and Two [Free lesson]
Lesson 13: Finding Equivalent Ratios Given the Total QuantityUnit 2  
Lesson 2: Balloon Float
Lesson 3: Sugary Drinks (Print available)
Lesson 14: Multi-Step Ratio Problems 
Lesson 15: Equations of Graphs of Proportional Relationships Involving FractionsUnit 2
Lesson 8: Dino Pops [Free lesson]
Lesson 9: Gallon Challenge
Lesson 10: Three Turtles
Lesson 11: Four Representations
Lesson 12: Water Efficiency
Topic D Ratios of Scale Drawings 
Lesson 16: Relating Scale Drawings to Ratios and RatesUnit 1
Lesson 1: Scaling Machines [Free lesson]
Lesson 17: The Unit Rate as the Scale FactorUnit 1
Lesson 2: Scaling Robots
Lesson 3: Make It Scale
Lesson 4: Scale Factor Challenges
Practice Day 1 (Print available)
Lesson 18: Computing Actual Lengths from a Scale DrawingUnit 1
Lesson 6: Introducing Scale
Lesson 7: Will It Fit? (Print available) [Free lesson]
Lesson 19: Computing Actual Areas from a Scale DrawingUnit 1
Lesson 5: Tiles
Lesson 6: Introducing Scale
Lesson 7: Will It Fit? (Print available) [Free lesson]
Lesson 8: Scaling States (Print available)
Lesson 20: An Exercise in Creating a Scale Drawing
Lesson 21: An Exercise in Changing Scales
Lesson 22: An Exercise in Changing Scales
Unit 1
Lesson 8: Scaling States (Print available)
Lesson 9: Scaling Buildings
Lesson 10: Room Redesign (Print available)
Practice Day 2 (Print available)

Module 2: Rational Numbers

Topic A Addition and Subtraction of Integers and Rational Numbers 
Lesson 1: Opposite Quantities Combine to Make ZeroUnit 5
Lesson 1: Floats and Anchors [Free lesson]
Lesson 2: Using the Number Line to Model the Addition of Integers
Lesson 3: Understanding Addition of Integers
Lesson 4: Efficiently Adding Integers and Other Rational Numbers
Lesson 5: Understanding Subtraction of Integers and Other Rational Numbers
Unit 5
Lesson 2: More Floats and Anchors
Lesson 4: Draw Your Own (Print available) [Free lesson]
Lesson 5: Number Puzzles
Lesson 10: Integer Puzzles [Free lesson]
Lesson 11: Changing Temperatures
Lesson 13: Solar Panels and More (Print available)
Lesson 6: The Distance Between Two Rational Numbers 
Lesson 7: Addition and Subtraction of Rational NumbersUnit 5
Lesson 3: Bumpers
Lesson 4: Draw Your Own (Print available) [Free lesson]
Lesson 5: Number Puzzles
Lesson 10; Integer Puzzles [Free lesson]
Lesson 11: Changing Temperatures
Lesson 13: Solar Panels and More (Print available)
Practice Day 1 (Print available)
Lesson 8: Applying the Properties of Operations to Add and Subtract Rational Numbers 
Lesson 9: Applying the Properties of Operations to Add and Subtract Rational Numbers 
Topic B Multiplication and Division of Integers and Rational Numbers 
Lesson 10: Understanding Multiplication of Integers
Lesson 11: Develop Rules for Multiplying Signed Numbers
Unit 5
Lesson 6: Floating in Groups
Lesson 7: Back in Time
Lesson 8: Speeding Turtles
Lesson 10: Integer Puzzles [Free lesson]
Practice Day 2 (Print available)
Lesson 12: Division of IntegersUnit 5
Lesson 8: Speeding Turtles
Lesson 13: Converting Between Fractions and Decimals Using Equivalent Fractions 
Lesson 14: Converting Rational Numbers to Decimals Using Long DivisionUnit 4
Lesson 13: Decimal Deep Dive (Print available)
Lesson 15: Multiplication and Division of Rational NumbersUnit 5
Lesson 8: Speeding Turtles
Lesson 10: Integer Puzzles [Free lesson]
Lesson 12: Arctic Sea Ice (Print available)
Lesson 13: Solar Panels and More (Print available)
Practice Day 2 (Print available)
Lesson 16: Applying the Properties of Operations to Multiply and Divide Rational Numbers 
Topic C Applying Operations with Rational Numbers to Expressions and Equations 
Lesson 17: Comparing Tape Diagram Solutions to Algebraic SolutionsUnit 6
Lesson 2: Smudged Receipts
Lesson 3: Equations
Lesson 4: Seeing Structure (Print available)
Lesson 18: Writing, Evaluating, and Finding Equivalent Expressions with Rational Numbers
Lesson 19: Writing, Evaluating, and Finding Equivalent Expressions with Rational Numbers
Unit 5
Lesson 9 Expressions
Lesson 20: Investments—Performing Operations with Rational Numbers
Lesson 21: If-Then Moves with Integer Number Cards
Lesson 22: Solving Equations Using Algebra
Lesson 23: Solving Equations Using Algebra
Unit 6
Lesson 3: Equations
Lesson 4: Seeing Structure (Print available)
Lesson 6: Balancing Equations
Lesson 7: Keeping It True (Print available)
Lesson 12: Community Day (Print available)
 
Unit 5
Lesson 3: Bumpers

Module 3: Expressions and Equations

Topic A Use Properties of Operations to Generate Equivalent Expressions 
Lesson 1: Generating Equivalent Expressions
Lesson 2: Generating Equivalent Expressions
Unit 5 Lesson 9: Expressions (Print available)Unit 6Lesson 9: Always-Equal MachinesLesson 11: Equation Roundtable (Print available)
Lesson 3: Writing Products as Sums and Sums as Products
Lesson 4: Writing Products as Sums and Sums as Products
Unit 6 Lesson 2: Smudged ReceiptsLesson 6: Balancing EquationsLesson 7: Keeping It True (Print available)Lesson 8: Factoring and ExpandingLesson 9: Always-Equal MachinesLesson 10: Collect the Squares [Free lesson]Lesson 11: Equation Roundtable (Print available)Lesson 12: Community Day (Print available)
Lesson 5: Using the Identity and Inverse to Write Equivalent Expressions 
Lesson 6: Collecting Rational Number Like Terms 
Topic B Solve Problems Using Expressions, Equations, and Inequalities 
Lesson 7: Understanding EquationsUnit 6Lesson 2: Smudged ReceiptsLesson 5: Balancing MovesLesson 6: Balancing Equations
Lesson 8: Using If-Then Moves in Solving Equations
Lesson 9: Using If-Then Moves in Solving Equations
Unit 6Lesson 2: Smudged ReceiptsLesson 6: Balancing EquationsLesson 7: Keeping It True (Print available)Lesson 8: Factoring and Expanding (Print available)Lesson 9: Always-Equal MachinesLesson 10: Collect the Squares [Free lesson]Lesson 11: Equation Roundtable (Print available)Lesson 12: Community Day (Print available)Practice Day 1 (Print available)
Lesson 10: Angle Problems and Solving EquationsUnit 7Lesson 2: Friendly Angles [Free lesson]Lesson 3: Angle DiagramsLesson 4: Missing Measures (Print available) [Free lesson]
Lesson 11: Angle Problems and Solving Equations 
Lesson 12: Properties of Inequalities
Lesson 13: Inequalities
Lesson 14: Solving Inequalities
Unit 6Lesson 14: Unbalanced HangersLesson 15: Budgeting (Print available)Lesson 16: Shira the Sheep [Free lesson]Lesson 17: Write Them and Solve Them (Print available)
Lesson 15: Graphing Solutions to InequalitiesUnit 6Lesson 13: I Saw the SignsPractice Day 2 (Print available)
Topic C Use Equations and Inequalities to Solve Geometry Problems 
Lesson 16: The Most Famous Ratio of AllUnit 3Lesson 2: Is It a Circle?Lesson 3: Measuring Around [Free lesson]
Lesson 17: The Area of a CircleUnit 3Lesson 5: Area StrategiesLesson 6: Radius Squares (Print available)Lesson 7: Why Pi? (Print available)Lesson 8: Area Challenges [Free lesson]Lesson 9: Circle vs. SquarePractice Day 2 (Print available)
Lesson 18: More Problems on Area and CircumferenceUnit 3Lesson 4: Perimeter ChallengesLesson 5: Area StrategiesLesson 6: Radius Squares (Print available)Lesson 7: Why Pi? (Print available)Lesson 8: Area Challenges [Free lesson]Lesson 9: Circle vs. Square
Lesson 19: Unknown Area Problems on the Coordinate Plane
Lesson 20: Composite Area Problems
Unit 3Lesson 4: Perimeter ChallengesPractice Day 2 (Print available)
Lesson 21: Surface Area
Lesson 22: Surface Area
Lesson 23: The Volume of a Right Prism
Lesson 24: The Volume of a Right Prism
Unit 7Lesson 10: Simple PrismsLesson 11: More Complicated Prisms Lesson 12: Surface Area Strategies (Print Available)Lesson 13: Popcorn PossibilitiesPractice Day 2 (Print available)
Lesson 25: Volume and Surface Area
Lesson 26: Volume and Surface Area
Unit 7Lesson 13: Popcorn PossibilitiesPractice Day 2

Module 4: Percent and Proportional Relationships

Topic A Finding the Whole 
Lesson 1: PercentUnit 4Lesson 1: Mosaics [Free lesson]Lesson 2: Peach Cobbler (Print available)Lesson 3: Sticker Sizes
Lesson 2: Part of a Whole as a PercentUnit 4Lesson 1: Mosaics [Free lesson]Lesson 2: Peach Cobbler (Print available)
Lesson 3: Comparing Quantities with PercentUnit 4Lesson 1: Mosaics [Free lesson]Lesson 2: Peach Cobbler (Print available)Lesson 3: Sticker Sizes
Lesson 4: Percent Increase and DecreaseUnit 4Lesson 4: More and LessLesson 5: All the EquationsLesson 6: 100% (Print available)Lesson 7: Percent machines [Free lesson]Lesson 8: Tax and TipLesson 9: Minimum Wage (Print available)Lesson 10: Cost of College (Print available)Lesson 11: Bookcase BuilderLesson 12: Posing Percent Problems [Free lesson]
Lesson 5: Finding One Hundred Percent Given Another Percent 
Lesson 6: Fluency with PercentsUnit 4Lesson 7: Percent machines [Free lesson]Lesson 8: Tax and TipLesson 9: Minimum Wage (Print available)Lesson 10: Cost of College (Print available)Lesson 11: Bookcase BuilderLesson 12: Posing Percent Problems [Free lesson]
Topic B Percent Problems Including More Than One Whole 
Lesson 7: Markup and Markdown ProblemsUnit 4Lesson 7: Percent machines [Free lesson]Lesson 8: Tax and TipLesson 9: Minimum Wage (Print available)Lesson 10: Cost of College (Print available)Lesson 11: Bookcase BuilderLesson 12: Posing Percent Problems [Free lesson]
Lesson 8: Percent Error Problems
Lesson 9: Problem Solving When the Percent Changes
Unit 4Lesson 4: More and LessLesson 5: All the EquationsLesson 6: 100% (Print available)Lesson 7: Percent machines [Free lesson]Lesson 8: Tax and TipLesson 9: Minimum Wage (Print available)Lesson 10: Cost of College (Print available)Lesson 11: Bookcase BuilderLesson 12: Posing Percent Problems [Free lesson]
Lesson 10: Simple Interest 
Lesson 11: Tax, Commissions, Fees, and Other Real-World Percent ApplicationsUnit 4Lesson 8: Tax and TipLesson 9: Minimum Wage (Print available)Lesson 10: Cost of College (Print available)Lesson 11: Bookcase BuilderLesson 12: Posing Percent Problems [Free lesson]Practice Day (Print available)
Topic C Scale Drawings 
Lesson 12: The Scale Factor as a Percent for a Scale Drawing 
Lesson 13: Changing ScalesUnit 1Lesson 1: Scaling Machines [Free lesson]Lesson 2: Scaling RobotsLesson 3: Make It ScaleLesson 4: Scale Factor ChallengesLesson 5: TilesLesson 6: Introducing ScaleLesson 7: Will It Fit? (Print available) [Free lesson]Lesson 8: Scaling States (Print available)Lesson 9: Scaling BuildingsLesson 10: Room Redesign (Print available)Practice Day 1 (Print available)Practice Day 2 (Print available) Unit 3Lesson 1 Toothpicks
Lesson 14: Computing Actual Lengths from a Scale DrawingUnit 1Lesson 6: Introducing ScaleLesson 7: Will It Fit? (Print available) [Free lesson]Lesson 8: Scaling States (Print available)Lesson 9: Scaling BuildingsLesson 10: Room Redesign (Print available) Unit 3Lesson 1: Toothpicks
Lesson 15: Solving Area Problems Using Scale DrawingsUnit 1Lesson 5: Tiles
Topic D Population, Mixture, and Counting Problems Involving Percents 
Lesson 16: Population ProblemsUnit 8Lesson 10: Crab Island [Free lesson]Lesson 11: Headlines
Lesson 17: Mixture Problems 
Lesson 18: Counting Problems 

Module 5: Statistics and Probability

Topic A Calculating and Interpreting Probabilities 
Lesson 1: Chance ExperimentsUnit 8Lesson 1: How Likely? (Print available) [Free lesson]Lesson 2: Prob-bear-bilities [Free lesson]Lesson 3: Mystery Bag
Lesson 2: Estimating Probabilities by Collecting Data
Lesson 3: Chance Experiments with Equally Likely Outcomes
Lesson 4: Calculating Probabilities for Chance Experiments with Equally Likely Outcomes
Unit 8Lesson 3: Mystery BagLesson 4: Spin ClassLesson 5: Is It Fair?Lesson 6: Fair Games
Lesson 5: Chance Experiments with Outcomes That Are Not Equally LikelyUnit 8Lesson 4: Spin ClassLesson 5: Is It Fair?Lesson 6: Fair GamesLesson 7: Weather or Not
Lesson 6: Using Tree Diagrams to Represent a Sample Space and to Calculate ProbabilitiesUnit 8Lesson 6: Fair GamesLesson 7: Weather or Not
Lesson 7: Calculating Probabilities of Compound EventsUnit 8Lesson 8: Simulate It! (Print available)Lesson 9: Car, Bike, or Train? (Print available)Practice Day 1 (Print available)
Topic B Estimating Probabilities 
Lesson 8: The Difference Between Theoretical Probabilities and Estimated Probabilities
Lesson 9: Comparing Estimated Probabilities to Probabilities Predicted by a Model
Unit 8Lesson 6: Fair GamesLesson 7: Weather or NotLesson 8: Simulate It! (Print available)Lesson 9: Car, Bike, or Train? (Print available)
Lesson 10: Conducting a Simulation to Estimate the Probability of an EventUnit 8Lesson 7: Weather or NotLesson 8: Simulate It! (Print available)Lesson 9: Car, Bike, or Train? (Print available)
Lesson 11: Conducting a Simulation to Estimate the Probability of an Event
Lesson 12: Applying Probability to Make Informed Decisions
Unit 8Lesson 7: Weather or NotLesson 8: Simulate It! (Print available)
Topic C Random Sampling and Estimating Population Characteristics 
Lesson 13: Populations, Samples, and Generalizing from a Sample to a PopulationUnit 8Lesson 9: Car, Bike, or Train? (Print available)Lesson 10: Crab Island [Free lesson]Lesson 11: HeadlinesLesson 12: Flower Power
Lesson 14: Selecting a Sample
Lesson 15: Random Sampling
Lesson 16: Methods for Selecting a Random Sample
Unit 8Lesson 10: Crab Island [Free lesson]Lesson 11: Headlines
Lesson 17: Sampling VariabilityUnit 8Lesson 9: Car, Bike, or Train? (Print available)Lesson 13: Plots and Samples
Lesson 18: Sampling Variability and the Effect of Sample Size
Lesson 19: Understanding Variability When Estimating a Population Proportion
Unit 8Lesson 9: Car, Bike, or Train? (Print available)Lesson 13: Plots and SamplesLesson 14: School Newspaper (Print available)
Lesson 20: Estimating a Population Proportion 
Topic D Comparing Populations 
Lesson 21: Why Worry About Sampling Variability?Unit 8Lesson 9: Car, Bike, or Train? (Print available)Lesson 13: Plots and SamplesLesson 14: School Newspaper (Print available)
Lesson 22: Using Sample Data to Compare the Means of Two or More Populations
Lesson 23: Using Sample Data to Compare the Means of Two or More Populations
Unit 8Lesson 9: Car, Bike, or Train? (Print available)Lesson 10: Crab Island [Free lesson]Lesson 13: Plots and SamplesLesson 14: School Newspaper (Print available)Lesson 15: Asthma Rates (Print available)

Module 6: Geometry

Topic A Unknown Angles 
Lesson 1: Complementary and Supplementary AnglesUnit 7Lesson 2: Friendly Angles [Free lesson]Lesson 3: Angle Diagrams
Lesson 2: Solving for Unknown Angles Using Equations
Lesson 3: Solving for Unknown Angles Using Equations
Lesson 4: Solving for Unknown Angles Using Equations
Unit 7Lesson 1: PinwheelsLesson 2: Friendly AnglesLesson 3: Angle DiagramsLesson 4: Missing Measures (Print available) [Free lesson]
Topic B Constructing Triangles 
Lesson 5: Identical TrianglesUnit 7Lesson 6: Is It Enough?Lesson 7: More Than One
Lesson 6: Drawing Geometric ShapesUnit 7Lesson 6: Is It Enough?Lesson 7: More Than OneLesson 8: Can You Draw It? (Print available)
Lesson 7: Drawing Parallelograms 
Lesson 8: Drawing TrianglesUnit 7Lesson 5: Can You Build It? [Free lesson]Lesson 6: Is It Enough?Lesson 7: More Than OneLesson 8: Can You Draw It? (Print available)Practice Day 1 (Print available)
Lesson 9: Conditions for a Unique Triangle―Three Sides and Two Sides and the Included
Lesson 10: Conditions for a Unique Triangle—Two Angles and a Given Side Angle
Unit 7Lesson 8: Can You Draw It? (Print available)
Lesson 11: Conditions on Measurements That Determine a TriangleUnit 7Lesson 5: Can You Build It? [Free lesson]Lesson 6: Is It Enough?Lesson 7: More Than OneLesson 8: Can You Draw It? (Print available)Practice Day 1 (Print available)
Lesson 12: Unique Triangles―Two Sides and a Non-Included Angle 
Lesson 13: Checking for Identical Triangles
Lesson 14: Checking for Identical Triangles
Unit 7Lesson 6: Is It Enough?Lesson 7: More Than OnePractice Day 1
Lesson 15: Using Unique Triangles to Solve Real-World and Mathematical Problems 
Topic C Slicing Solids 
Lesson 16: Slicing a Right Rectangular Prism with a Plane
Lesson 17: Slicing a Right Rectangular Pyramid with a Plane
Lesson 18: Slicing on an Angle
Unit 7Lesson 9: Slicing Solids
Lesson 19: Understanding Three-Dimensional Figures 
Topic D Problems Involving Area and Surface Area 
Lesson 20: Real-World Area ProblemsUnit 3Lesson 5: Area Strategies
Lesson 21: Mathematical Area ProblemsUnit 3Lesson 5: Area StrategiesLesson 6: Radius Squares (Print available)
Lesson 22: Area Problems with Circular RegionsUnit 3Lesson 5: Area StrategiesLesson 8: Area Challenges [Free lesson]
Lesson 23: Surface Area
Lesson 24: Surface Area
Unit 7Lesson 12: Surface Area Strategies (Print available)Lesson 13: Popcorn Possibilities
Topic E Problems Involving Volume 
Lesson 25: Volume of Right PrismsUnit 7Lesson 10: Simple PrismsLesson 11: More Complicated PrismsLesson 13: Popcorn Possibilities
Lesson 26: Volume of Composite Three-Dimensional ObjectsUnit 7Lesson 11: More Complicated Prisms
Lesson 27: Real-World Volume ProblemsUnit 7Lesson 13: Popcorn Possibilities

Grade 8

Module 1: Integer Exponents and Scientific Notation

Eureka MathDesmos Math 6–A1
Topic A Exponential Notation and Properties of Integer Exponents 
Lesson 1: Exponential NotationUnit 7 Lesson 1 Circles [Free lesson]Lesson 2 Combining Exponents
Lesson 2: Multiplication of Numbers in Exponential Form
Lesson 3: Numbers in Exponential Form Raised to a Power
Unit 7 Lesson 2 Combining ExponentsLesson 3 Power Pairs (Print available) [Free lesson]Lesson 4 Rewriting Powers
Lesson 4: Numbers Raised to the Zeroth Power
Lesson 5: Negative Exponents and the Laws of Exponents
Unit 7 Lesson 5 Zero and Negative ExponentsLesson 6 Write a Rule (Print available)Practice Day 1 (Print available)
Lesson 6: Proofs of Laws of Exponents 
Topic B Magnitude and Scientific Notation 
Lesson 7: MagnitudeUnit 7 Lesson 7 Scales and Weights
Lesson 8: Estimating QuantitiesUnit 7 Lesson 7: Scales and WeightsLesson 8: Point ZapperLesson 9: Use Your Powers
Lesson 9: Scientific Notation
Lesson 10: Operations with Numbers in Scientific Notation
Unit 7 Lesson 10: Solar System [Free lesson]Lesson 11: Balance the Scales [Free lesson]Lesson 13: Star Power
Lesson 11: Efficacy of Scientific NotationUnit 7 Lesson 13: Star Power
Lesson 12: Choice of Unit 
Lesson 13: Comparison of Numbers Written in Scientific Notation and Interpreting Scientific Notation Using TechnologyUnit 7  Lesson 13: Star Power Practice Day 2 (Print available)

Module 2: The Concept of Congruence

Topic A Definitions and Properties of the Basic Rigid Motions 
Lesson 1: Why Move Things Around?
Lesson 2: Definition of Translation and Three Basic Properties
Unit 1Lesson 1: Transformers [Free lesson]Lesson 2: Spinning, Flipping, Sliding [Free lesson]
Lesson 3: Translating LinesUnit 1Lesson 1: Transformers [Free lesson]Lesson 2: Spinning, Flipping, Sliding [Free lesson] Unit 3Lesson 6: Translations
Lesson 4: Definition of Reflection and Basic Properties
Lesson 5: Definition of Rotation and Basic Properties
Lesson 6: Rotations of 180 Degrees
Unit 1Lesson 1: Transformers [Free lesson]Lesson 2: Spinning, Flipping, Sliding [Free lesson]Lesson 4: Moving Day (Print available) [Free lesson]Lesson 5: Getting Coordinated
Topic B Sequencing the Basic Rigid Motions 
Lesson 7: Sequencing Translations
Lesson 8: Sequencing Reflections and Translations
Unit 1Lesson 3: Transformation GolfLesson 6: Connecting the Dots [Free lesson]
Lesson 9: Sequencing Rotations
Lesson 10: Sequences of Rigid Motions
Unit 1Lesson 3: Transformation GolfLesson 6: Connecting the Dots [Free lesson]Lesson 13: Tessellate [Free lesson]Practice Day
Topic C Congruence and Angle Relationships 
Lesson 11: Definition of Congruence and Some Basic PropertiesUnit 1 Lesson 7: Are They the Same?Lesson 8: No Bending, No StretchingLesson 9: Are They Congruent?Practice Day
Lesson 12: Angles Associated with Parallel LinesUnit 1 Lesson 10: Transforming Angles  
Lesson 13: Angle Sum of a TriangleUnit 1 Lesson 11: Tearing It Up (Print available)
Lesson 14: More on the Angles of a TriangleUnit 1 Lesson 11: Tearing It Up (Print available)Lesson 12: Puzzling It Out [Free lesson]
Topic D: The Pythagorean Theorem 
Lesson 15: Informal Proof of the Pythagorean TheoremUnit 8Lesson 7: Pictures to Prove It
Lesson 16: Applications of the Pythagorean TheoremUnit 8Lesson 10: Taco TruckPractice Day 2 (Print available)

Module 3: Similarity

Topic A Dilation 
Lesson 1: What Lies Behind “Same Shape”?Unit 2Lesson 1: Sketchy Dilations [Free lesson]Lesson 2: Dilation Mini Golf [Free lesson]
Lesson 2: Properties of Dilations
Lesson 3: Examples of Dilations
Unit 2Lesson 1: Sketchy Dilations [Free lesson]Lesson 2: Dilation Mini Golf [Free lesson]Lesson 3: Match My DilationLesson 4: Dilations on a Plane (Print available)
Lesson 4: Fundamental Theorem of Similarity
Lesson 5: First Consequences of FTS
Unit 2Lesson 5: Transformations Golf with DilationsLesson 6: Social Scavenger Hunt (Print available) [Free lesson]
Lesson 6: Dilations on the Coordinate PlaneUnit 8Lesson 4: Dilations on a Plane (Print available)
Lesson 7: Informal Proofs of Properties of Dilations 
Topic B Similar Figures 
Lesson 8: Similarity
Lesson 9: Basic Properties of Similarity
Unit 2Lesson 5: Transformations Golf with DilationsLesson 6: Social Scavenger Hunt (Print available) [Free lesson]
Lesson 10: Informal Proof of AA Criterion for SimilarityUnit 2Lesson 7: Are Angles Enough?
Lesson 11: More About Similar TrianglesUnit 2Lesson 7: Are Angles Enough?Lesson 8: Shadows
Lesson 12: Modeling Using SimilarityUnit 2Lesson 8: ShadowsLesson 9: Water SlideLesson 10: Points on a PlanePractice Day 
Topic C The Pythagorean Theorem 
Lesson 13: Proof of the Pythagorean TheoremUnit 8Lesson 6: The Pythagorean TheoremLesson 7: Pictures to Prove ItLesson 8: Triangle-Tracing Turtle [Free lesson]
Lesson 14: The Converse of the Pythagorean TheoremUnit 8 Lesson 9: Make It Right

Module 4: Linear Equations

Topic A Writing and Solving Linear Equations 
Lesson 1: Writing Equations Using Symbols 
Lesson 2: Linear and Nonlinear Expressions in x 
Lesson 3: Linear Equations in xUnit 4Lesson 3: Balanced MovesLesson 4: More Balanced Moves (Print available)
Lesson 4: Solving a Linear EquationUnit 4Lesson 3: Balanced MovesLesson 4: More Balanced MovesLesson 4: More Balanced Moves (Print available)Lesson 5: Equation Roundtable (Print available) [Free lesson]Lesson 6: Strategic Solving (Print available)
Lesson 5: Writing and Solving Linear EquationsUnit 3Lesson 1: Turtle Time Trials Unit 4Lesson 3: Balanced MovesLesson 4: More Balanced Moves (Print available)Lesson 5: Equation Roundtable (Print available) [Free lesson]Lesson 6: Strategic Solving (Print available)
Lesson 6: Solutions of a Linear EquationUnit 3Lesson 10: Solutions Unit 4Lesson 3: Balanced MovesLesson 4: More Balanced Moves (Print available)Lesson 5: Equation Roundtable (Print available) [Free lesson]Lesson 6: Strategic Solving (Print available)
Lesson 7: Classification of SolutionsUnit 4Lesson 7: All, Some, or None?
Lesson 8: Linear Equations in Disguise 
Lesson 9: An Application of Linear Equations 
Topic B Linear Equations in Two Variables and Their GraphsUnit 3Lesson 2: Water TankLesson 3: PostersLesson 4: Stacking CupsLesson 5: Flags [Free lesson]Lesson 6: Translations
Lesson 10: A Critical Look at Proportional RelationshipsUnit 3Lesson 1: Turtle Time Trials [Free lesson]Lesson 2: Water TankLesson 4: Stacking CupsLesson 5: Flags [Free lesson]Lesson 7: Water CoolerLesson 8: Landing PlanesLesson 9: Coin Capture
Lesson 11: Constant RateUnit 2Lesson 9: Water SlideLesson 10: Points on a PlanePractice Day  Unit 3Lesson 3: PostersLesson 4: Stacking CupsLesson 5: Flags [Free lesson]Lesson 6: Translations Unit 4Lesson 8: When Are They the Same?
Lesson 12: Linear Equations in Two VariablesUnit 3Lesson 3: PostersLesson 6: Translations Unit 4Lesson 3: Balanced MovesLesson 4: More Balanced Moves (Print available)
Lesson 13: The Graph of a Linear Equation in Two VariablesUnit 3 Lesson 4: Stacking CupsLesson 5: Flags [Free lesson]Lesson 6: TranslationsLesson 7: Water CoolerLesson 10: SolutionsLesson 11: Pennies and Quarters
Lesson 14: The Graph of a Linear Equation―Horizontal and Vertical LinesUnit 3 Lesson 9: Coin CapturePractice Day  [Free lesson]
Topic C Slope and Equations of Lines 
Lesson 15: The Slope of a Non-Vertical LineUnit 3Lesson 5: Flags [Free lesson]Lesson 6: TranslationsLesson 7: Water CoolerLesson 8: Landing Planes
Lesson 16: The Computation of the Slope of a Non-Vertical LineUnit 3Lesson 7: Water CoolerLesson 8: Landing Planes
Lesson 17: The Line Joining Two Distinct Points of the Graph 𝑦 = 𝑚x + 𝑏 Has Slope mUnit 3Lesson 7: Water Cooler
Lesson 18: There Is Only One Line Passing Through a Given Point with a Given SlopeUnit 3Lesson 5: Flags [Free lesson]Lesson 7: Water Cooler
Lesson 19: The Graph of a Linear Equation in Two Variables Is a LineUnit 3Lesson 4: Stacking CupsLesson 5: Flags [Free lesson]Lesson 6: Translations
Lesson 20: Every Line Is a Graph of a Linear EquationUnit 3Lesson 3: PostersLesson 4: Stacking CupsLesson 5: Flags [Free lesson]Lesson 6: Translations
Lesson 21: Some Facts About Graphs of Linear Equations in Two VariablesUnit 3Lesson 3: PostersLesson 6: TranslationsPractice Day 
Lesson 22: Constant Rates RevisitedUnit 2Lesson 9: Water SlideLesson 10: Points on a Plane Unit 3Lesson 1: Turtle Time Trials [Free lesson]Lesson 2: Water TankLesson 3: Posters
Lesson 23: The Defining Equation of a LineUnit 3Lesson 10: SolutionsLesson 11: Pennies and Quarters
Topic D Systems of Linear Equations and Their Solutions 
Lesson 24: Introduction to Simultaneous EquationsUnit 4Lesson 7: All, Some, or None?Lesson 8: When Are They the Same?Lesson 13: All, Some, or None? Part 2
Lesson 25: Geometric Interpretation of the Solutions of a Linear SystemUnit 4  Lesson 9: On or Off the Line?Lesson 10: On Both LinesLesson 11: Make Them Balance [Free lesson]Lesson 12: Line Zapper [Free lesson]Lesson 13: All, Some, or None? Part 2Practice Day 2 (Print available)
Lesson 26: Characterization of Parallel LinesUnit 3 Lesson 6: Translations
Lesson 27: Nature of Solutions of a System of Linear EquationsUnit 4  Lesson 9: On or Off the Line?
Lesson 28: Another Computational Method of Solving a Linear System 
Lesson 29: Word Problems 
Lesson 30: Conversion Between Celsius and Fahrenheit 
Topic E Pythagorean Theorem 
Lesson 31: System of Equations Leading to Pythagorean Triples 

Module 5: Examples of Functions from Geometry

Topic A Functions 
Lesson 1: The Concept of a FunctionUnit 5 Lesson 1: Turtle Crossing [Free lesson]Lesson 2: Guess My Rule [Free lesson]
Lesson 2: Formal Definition of a FunctionUnit 5 Lesson 1: Turtle Crossing [Free lesson]Lesson 2: Guess My Rule [Free lesson] Lesson 3: Function or Not?
Lesson 3: Linear Functions and ProportionalityUnit 3Lesson 1: Turtle Time Trials [Free lesson] Unit 5Lesson 4: Window Frames
Lesson 4: More Examples of FunctionsUnit 5Lesson 3: Function or Not?Lesson 4: Window Frames
Lesson 5: Graphs of Functions and EquationsUnit 5Lesson 4: Window FramesLesson 5: The Tortoise and the Hare [Free lesson]Lesson 6: Graphing StoriesLesson 7: Feel the Burn (Print available) [Free lesson]Lesson 8: Charge! (Print available)
Lesson 6: Graphs of Linear Functions and Rate of ChangeUnit 2Lesson 9: Water SlideLesson 10: Points on a Plane Unit 3Lesson 4: Stacking CupsLesson 5: Flags [Free lesson]Lesson 6: Translations
Lesson 7: Comparing Linear Functions and GraphsUnit 5Lesson 3: PostersLesson 5: The Tortoise and the Hare [Free lesson]Lesson 6: Graphing StoriesLesson 7: Feel the Burn (Print available) [Free lesson]
Lesson 8: Graphs of Simple Nonlinear Functions 
Topic B Volume 
Lesson 9: Examples of Functions from GeometryUnit 8Lesson 1: Tilted SquaresLesson 2: From Squares to Roots
Lesson 10: Volumes of Familiar Solids—Cones and CylindersUnit 5Lesson 10: Volume LabLesson 11: Cylinders [Free lesson]Lesson 12: Scaling CylindersLesson 13: Cones [Free lesson]Lesson 14: Missing Dimensions (Print available)
Lesson 11: Volume of a SphereUnit 5 Lesson 15: Spheres Practice Day 2 (Print available)

Module 6: Linear Functions

Topic A Linear Functions 
Lesson 1: Modeling Linear RelationshipsUnit 5 Lesson 6: Graphing StoriesLesson 7: Feel the Burn (Print available) [Free lesson]Lesson 8: Charge! (Print available)
Lesson 2: Interpreting Rate of Change and Initial ValueUnit 2Lesson 9: Water SlideLesson 10: Points on a Plane Unit 3Lesson 1: Turtle Time Trials [Free lesson]Lesson 2: Water TankLesson 3: PostersLesson 4: Stacking Cups
Lesson 3: Representations of a LineUnit 5Lesson 6: Graphing StoriesLesson 7: Feel the Burn (Print available) [Free lesson]Lesson 8: Charge! (Print available)
Lesson 4: Increasing and Decreasing Functions
Lesson 5: Increasing and Decreasing Functions
Unit 5Lesson 1: Turtle Crossing [Free lesson]Lesson 5: The Tortoise and the Hare [Free lesson]Lesson 6: Graphing Stories
Topic B Bivariate Numerical Data 
Lesson 6: Scatter Plots
Lesson 7: Patterns in Scatter Plots
Unit 6 Lesson 1: Click BattleLesson 2: Wing SpanLesson 3: Robots [Free lesson]Practice Day 1 (Print available) [Free lesson]
Lesson 8: Informally Fitting a LineUnit 6 Lesson 4: Dapper Cats [Free lesson]Lesson 5: Fit Fights [Free lesson]Lesson 6: Interpreting SlopesLesson 7: Scatter Plot CityLesson 8: Animal BrainsPractice Day 1 (Print available) [Free lesson]Practice Day 2 (Print available)
Lesson 9: Determining the Equation of a Line Fit to Data 
Topic C Linear and Nonlinear Models 
Lesson 10: Linear Models
Lesson 11: Using Linear Models in a Data Context
Unit 5 Lesson 4: Window FramesLesson 5: The Tortoise and the Hare [Free lesson]Lesson 6: Graphing StoriesUnit 6 Lesson 6: Interpreting SlopesLesson 8: Animal BrainsPractice Day 2 (Print available)
Lesson 12: Nonlinear Models in a Data Context 
Topic D Bivariate Categorical Data 
Lesson 13: Summarizing Bivariate Categorical Data in a Two-Way TableUnit 6 Lesson 9: Tasty Fruit
Lesson 14: Association Between Categorical VariablesUnit 6 Lesson 10: Finding Associations [Free lesson] Lesson 11: Federal Budgets Practice Day 3

Module 7: Introduction to Irrational Numbers Using Geometry

Topic A Square and Cube Roots 
Lesson 1: The Pythagorean TheoremUnit 8
Lesson 6: The Pythagorean Theorem
Lesson 2: Square RootsUnit 8
Lesson 2: From Squares to Roots
Lesson 3: Between Squares
Lesson 4: Root Down [Free lesson]
Lesson 3: Existence and Uniqueness of Square Roots and Cube RootsUnit 8
Lesson 5: Filling Cubes
Lesson 4: Simplifying Square RootsUnit 8
Lesson 2: From Squares to Roots
Lesson 3: Between Squares
Lesson 4: Root Down [Free lesson]
Practice Day 1 (Print available)
Lesson 5: Solving Equations with Radicals 
Topic B Decimal Expansions of Numbers 
Lesson 6: Finite and Infinite Decimals
Lesson 7: Infinite Decimals
Lesson 8: The Long Division Algorithm
Lesson 9: Decimal Expansions of Fractions, Part 1
Lesson 10: Converting Repeating Decimals to Fractions
Unit 8
Lesson 12: Fractions to Decimals
Lesson 13: Decimals to Fractions
Lesson 11: The Decimal Expansion of Some Irrational Numbers 
Lesson 12: Decimal Expansions of Fractions, Part 2 
Lesson 13: Comparing Irrational NumbersUnit 8
Lesson 14: Hit the Target
Lesson 14: Decimal Expansion of π 
Topic C The Pythagorean Theorem 
Lesson 15: Pythagorean Theorem, RevisitedUnit 8
Lesson 6: The Pythagorean Theorem
Lesson 7: Pictures to Prove It
Lesson 16: Converse of the Pythagorean TheoremUnit 8
Lesson 9: Make It Right
Lesson 17: Distance on the Coordinate PlaneUnit 8
Lesson 11: Pond Hopper
Lesson 18: Applications of the Pythagorean TheoremUnit 8
Lesson 10: Taco Truck [Free lesson]
Practice Day 2 (Print available)
Topic D Applications of Radicals and Roots 
Lesson 19: Cones and Spheres 
Lesson 20: Truncated Cones 
Lesson 21: Volume of Composite Solids 
Lesson 22: Average Rate of Change 
Lesson 23: Nonlinear Motion 

Plan your professional development

We’re excited to partner with you on your Amplify journey. Flexible professional development pathways have been designed to meet your needs.

Illustration of a rocket labeled "Launch" for beginning of the year, and a woman lifting a dumbbell labeled "Strengthen" for mid-year or end of year program implementation steps.

Recommended Professional Development Plan

Our team has curated a recommended professional learning path from initial launch to continuous support. Use the Professional Development Planning Guide below to discuss the plan that best meets your school or district needs with your Account Executive.

Sessions overview

Recommended sessions are highlighted below.
Title Duration Modality
Elementary school sessions
Initial training (online course) Self-paced (approximately 3 hours) Online course
Initial training 2 hours Onsite/Remote
Initial training, 2 sessions in 1 day 2 2-hour sessions Onsite/Remote
Initial training, 3 sessions in 1 day 3 2-hour sessions Onsite/Remote
Initial training (add-on session) 2 hours, scheduled consecutively with another Amplify training Onsite
Initial training: Train the Trainer 2½ hours Onsite/Remote
mCLASS® Initial training with Boost Reading Texas overview This Boost Reading Texas session occurs during the last hour of a 1-day mCLASS initial training. Onsite/Remote
Teacher dashboard reporting and analysis (online course) Self-paced (approximately 3 hours) Online course
Teacher dashboard reporting and analysis 2 hours Onsite/Remote
Comprehensive implementation PD package 2 2-hour sessions, scheduled separately Remote
Administrator reporting  2 hours Onsite/Remote
Middle school sessions
Initial training  2 hours Onsite/Remote
Initial training, 2 sessions in 1 day 2 2-hour sessions Onsite/Remote
Initial training, 3 sessions in 1 day 3 2-hour sessions Onsite/Remote
Initial training: Train the Trainer 2½ hours Onsite/Remote
Deeper dive 1 hour Remote
Elementary and middle school sessions
Initial training package 2 2-hour sessions Remote

Elementary school sessions

Initial training (online course)

Self-paced

Our self-paced, on-demand online course contains approximately three hours of training. Teachers in grades K-5 who are new to Boost Reading Texas will learn how to implement the program by learning about the structure of the program, the student experience, data reporting, and implementation setup.

As this is a self-paced, on-demand online course, participants will be able to access the course anytime, move as quickly or slowly as needed through different sections, and revisit the course up to one year as a refresher in the future.

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome)
Modality: Online course

Initial training

2 hours

Teachers in grades K-5 who are new to Boost Reading Texas will prepare to implement the program in their classrooms by learning about the student experience, data reporting, and implementation setup.

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants
Modality: Onsite/Remote

Initial training

2 sessions in one day

Teachers in grades K-5 who are new to Boost Reading Texas will prepare to implement the program in their classrooms by learning about the student experience, data reporting, and implementation setup. Two training sessions will be scheduled consecutively in one day to accommodate a larger number of teachers (up to 60 teachers, with 30 participants per session.)

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants
Modality: Onsite/Remote

Initial training

3 sessions in one day

Teachers in grades K-5 who are new to Boost Reading Texas will prepare to implement the program in their classrooms by learning about the student experience, data reporting, and implementation setup. Three training sessions will be scheduled consecutively in one day to accommodate a larger number of teachers (up to 90 teachers, with 30 participants per session).

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants
Modality: Onsite/Remote

Initial training (add-on session)

2 hours

Scheduled consecutively with another Amplify training.

Teachers in grades K-5 who are new to Boost Reading Texas will prepare to implement the program in their classrooms by learning about the student experience, data reporting, and implementation setup.

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants
Modality: Onsite

Initial training: Train the Trainer

2½ hours

Educators in grades K-5 who are new to Boost Reading Texas will prepare to implement the program in their classrooms by learning about the student experience, data reporting, and implementation setup. As this is a Train the Trainer session, participants will have increased time to deepen their knowledge and receive greater hands-on support from an Amplify facilitator. Participants will also receive annotated session materials in order to turnkey the session to colleagues.

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants
Modality: Onsite/Remote

mCLASS initial training with Boost Reading overview

6 hours

This training includes both mCLASS® and Boost Reading training. The first five hours are mCLASS Texas initial training, where educators will learn how to administer the mCLASS assessment. The last hour is a Boost Reading Texas overview, where educators will receive an overview of Boost Reading Texas and how it connects with their mCLASS data in grades K-5. This Boost Reading Texas session occurs during a one-day mCLASS Texas initial training.

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants
Modality: Onsite/Remote

Teacher dashboard reporting and analysis (online course)

Self-paced

Our self-paced, on-demand online course contains approximately three hours of training. After teachers in grades K-5 have used Boost Reading Texas for at least six weeks, they will learn how to analyze data on the Teacher dashboard and use that data to identify small groups and target instruction.

As this is a self-paced, on-demand online course, participants will be able to access the course anytime, move as quickly or slowly as needed through different sections, and revisit the course up to one year as a refresher in the future.

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome)
Modality: Online course

Teacher dashboard reporting and analysis training

2 hours

Delivered after teachers in grades K-5 have used Boost Reading Texas for at least six weeks, this training will help teachers analyze the data on their teacher dashboard and use that data to identify small groups and target instruction.

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants
Modality: Onsite/Remote

Comprehensive implementation PD package

2 2-hour sessions

This package is intended for schools and/or districts that want the highest level of support in launching Boost Reading Texas! The first session is an initial training session and prepares teachers in grades K-5 to implement the program in their classrooms by learning about the student experience, data reporting, and implementation setup. The second session is the Boost Reading Teacher dashboard session and is delivered after at least six weeks of usage. This session will support K-5 teachers in analyzing the data on their teacher dashboard and using that data to identify small groups and target instruction.

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants
Modality: Remote

Administrator reporting

2 hours

This training supports K-5 administrators in accessing and leveraging Boost Reading Texas reports.

Audience: Administrators, maximum 30 participants
Modality: Onsite/Remote

Middle school sessions

Initial training

2 hours

Teachers in grades 6-8 who are new to Boost Reading Texas will prepare to implement the program in their classrooms by learning about the student experience, data reporting, and implementation setup.

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants
Modality: Onsite/Remote

Initial training

2 sessions in one day

Teachers in grades 6-8 who are new to Boost Reading Texas will prepare to implement the program in their classrooms by learning about the student experience, data reporting, and implementation setup. Two training sessions will be scheduled consecutively in one day to accommodate a larger number of teachers (up to 60 teachers, with 30 participants per session.)

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants per session
Modality: Onsite/Remote

Initial training

3 sessions in one day

Teachers in grades 6-8 who are new to Boost Reading Texas will prepare to implement the program in their classrooms by learning about the student experience, data reporting, and implementation setup. Three training sessions will be scheduled consecutively in one day to accommodate a larger number of teachers (up to 90 teachers, with 30 participants per session.)

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants per session
Modality: Onsite/Remote

Initial training: Train the Trainer

2½ hours

Educators in grades 6-8 who are new to Boost Reading will prepare to implement the program in their classrooms by learning about the student experience, data reporting, and implementation setup.

As this is a Train the Trainer session, participants will have increased time to deepen their knowledge and receive greater hands-on support from an Amplify facilitator. Participants will also receive annotated session materials in order to turnkey the session to colleagues.

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants
Modality: Onsite/Remote

Initial training

3 sessions in one day

Teachers in grades 6-8 who are new to Boost Reading Texas will prepare to implement the program in their classrooms by learning about the student experience, data reporting, and implementation setup. Three training sessions will be scheduled consecutively in one day to accommodate a larger number of teachers (up to 90 teachers, with 30 participants per session.)

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants per session
Modality: Onsite/Remote

Deeper dive

1 hour

This training supports educators in grades 6-8 in understanding how Boost Reading Texas was designed to benefit students and how to leverage data to inform instructional next steps.

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants
Modality: Remote

Elementary and middle school sessions

Initial training package

2 2-hour sessions

This package consists of two 2-hour remote sessions and is intended to support schools or districts launching Boost Reading Texas in grades K–8. One session will be geared toward K–5 teachers, and the other session will be geared toward 6–8 teachers. In each session, teachers who are new to Boost Reading Texas will prepare to implement their respective program (either elementary or middle school) in their classrooms by learning about the student experience, data reporting, and implementation setup.

Audience: Teachers (administrators welcome), maximum 30 participants
Modality: Remote

Pricing

We offer the following pricing for training sessions and packages:

Session typePricing
Online course$49 per individual seat
1-hour remote session$500
2-hour remote session$750
2 sessions in 1 day, remote$1,200
3 sessions in 1 day, remote$1,500
2-hour onsite session$2,200
2 sessions in 1 day, onsite$2,800
3 sessions in 1 day, onsite$3,200
2-hour add-on to onsite training$1,200
2 ½-hour Train the Trainer session, remote$950
2 ½-hour Train the Trainer session, onsite$2,400
1-day mCLASS initial training with Boost Reading Texas overview, remote$1,200
1-day mCLASS initial training with Boost Reading Texas overview, onsite$3,200
Comprehensive implementation PD package$1,500
Elementary and middle school initial training package$750

Please note that the prices are general ranges and may be subject to change.

Contact

Amplify welcomes the opportunity to partner with schools and districts to design professional development plans and answer your questions.

If you would like to order any of our professional development services, please contact your local Amplify sales representative or call (800) 823-1969.

Welcome, Massachusetts reviewers!

On this site, you will find the following information to assist you as you review Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts: a program overview to get you started, the CKLA knowledge sequence, comprehensive program guides for a deeper dive into the research base and day-to-day instruction, and other useful information. You’ll also find a month’s worth of lessons for each grade level.

CKLA was developed by the Core Knowledge Foundation and Amplify.

Getting started

Welcome to CKLA, a comprehensive reading and language arts curriculum built on today’s rigorous standards. CKLA delivers superior results through a uniquely research-based approach, combining step-by-step foundational skills with meaningful content knowledge in science, history, literature, and the arts. By focusing deeply on building students’ knowledge base, CKLA levels the playing field for every child.

Read the program overview to learn more about CKLA’s unique approach.

Grades K–2

In grades K–2, Amplify CKLA is segmented into two distinct strands: Knowledge and Skills.

Skills Strand: Skills Strand lessons build a strong foundation for students through daily instruction in phonemic awareness, spelling patterns, decoding with engaging, decodable texts, writing mechanics, and writing structure and processes.

Knowledge Strand It is vital to build students’ knowledge and vocabulary while they are still in the process of learning to read. In doing so, you better ensure their long-term success. CKLA’s Knowledge Strand is based on that very principle.

Grades K–2 Resources

K–2 materials

Core components for grades K–2:

Teacher Guide
You’ll find step-by-step lessons that are comprehensive, engaging, and support every learner.

Activity Book
With an integrated approach to reading and writing, students practice new sound-spellings by reading them in diverse contexts and then writing in response to the text.

Reader
Unlike other decodable texts, CKLA’s Readers feature engaging plots and characters, making the process of learning to read rewarding.

Teacher Guides

Student Readers

  Student Activity Books

Teacher Guides

Student Readers

  Student Activity Books

Teacher Guides

Student Readers

  Student Activity Books

Grades 3–5

In grades 3–5, the Skills and Knowledge strands are integrated. As part of the curriculum’s research-based design, students in grades 3–5 spend several weeks immersed in sequenced domains in science, history, and literature, deepening both critical literacy skills and background knowledge.

Grades 3–5 Resources

Grades 3–5 materials

Core components for grades 3–5:

Teacher Guide
Teacher Guides for each unit provide step-by-step guidance, clear lesson objectives, and formative assessment as well as differentiated supports to empower teachers with proven strategies and research-based tools.

Activity Book
Anchored by the unit’s text, Activity Books immerse students in content-rich learning for deeper comprehension. They provide daily opportunities for students to respond to text while applying knowledge and serve as formative assessments connected to each day’s objectives.

Reader
Rich in knowledge and diverse in content, Student Readers are the foundation of each unit as students dive into increasingly complex text and sharpen their analytical skills. From geology to the Middle Ages, students engage with a truly diverse range of topics.

Teacher Guides

Student Readers

 Student Activity Books

Teacher Guides

 Student Activity Books

Teacher Guides

Student Readers

 Student Activity Books

A powerful partnership

Amplify Science was developed by the science education experts at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science and the digital learning team at Amplify.

The Lawrence Hall of Science
The University of California, Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science is a recognized leader in PreK–12 science education, producing groundbreaking curriculum products for more than 40 years, including the international award-winning Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading®. The Hall’s curriculum materials are used in one in four classrooms across the nation. Read more about The Hall’s research-proven Do, Talk, Read, Write, Visualize multimodal learning model.

The logo for The Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley, features blue text on a light background and is recognized by educators using Amplify Science for middle school science programs.

Amplify
Amplify has been pioneering digital education products for more than 15 years, empowering teachers across the country to offer more personalized instruction and accelerate the potential of their students to become more active, engaged learners. Amplify has supported more than 200,000 educators and three million students in all 50 states.

Elementary school course structure

  • Needs of Plants and Animals
  • Pushes and Pulls
  • Sunlight and Water
  • Animal and Plant Defenses
  • Light and Sound
  • Spinning Earth
  • Plant and Animal Relationships
  • Properties of Materials
  • Changing Landforms
  • Energy Conversions
  • Vision and Light
  • Earth’s Features
  • Waves, Energy, and Information
  • Patterns of Earth and Sky
  • Modeling Matter
  • The Earth System
  • Ecosystem Restoration

Middle school course structure (Integrated Model)

  • Launch:
    Microbiome
  • Metabolism
  • Engineering Internship:
    Metabolism
  • Traits and Reproduction
  • Thermal Energy
  • Ocean, Atmosphere, and Climate
  • Weather Patterns
  • Earth’s Changing Climate
  • Engineering Internship:
    Earth’s Changing Climate
  • Launch:
    Geology on Mars
  • Plate Motion
  • Engineering Internship:
    Plate Motion
  • Rock Transformations
  • Phase Change
  • Engineering Internship: Phase Change
  • Chemical Reactions
  • Populations and Resources
  • Matter and Energy in Ecosystems
  • Launch:
    Harnessing Human Energy
  • Force and Motion
  • Engineering Internship:
    Force and Motion
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Light Waves
  • Earth, Moon, and Sun
  • Natural Selection
  • Engineering Internship: Natural Selection
  • Evolutionary

Watch a video walkthrough

Elementary school

Middle school

Review the program (K–5)

For K–5 units, the teacher accesses the digital curriculum or printed Teacher’s Guide for daily instruction while students read Student Books, conduct investigations using the hands-on kit materials, and record observations in their Student Investigation Notebooks. When lessons call for students to access the simulations or “sims” in grades 2–5 (about once per week), they share devices.

You can review all of Amplify Science online through this review site.

Before you dive into the digital curriculum, download and review some of these helpful resources:

You will find unit overviews and complete materials lists as well as downloadable versions of the Student Investigation Notebooks within the program itself. When you’re ready, click Preview now below. You’ll automatically be taken on a short guided tour where you can select the grade you’re interested in reviewing.

Questions come up during your review? Email scihelp@amplify.com and mention that you are a reviewer in the subject of the email.

Review the program (6–8)

For 6–8 units, the teacher accesses the digital curriculum or printed Teacher’s Guide for daily instruction while students use their Student Investigation Notebooks, the hands-on kit materials, and their digital student accounts to access simulations or “sims”, modeling tools, assessments, and more.

Before you dive into the digital curriculum, download and review some of these helpful resources:

You will find unit overviews and complete materials lists as well as downloadable versions of the Student Investigation Notebooks within the program itself. When you’re ready, click Preview now below. You’ll automatically be taken on a short guided tour where you can select the grade you’re interested in reviewing.

Questions come up during your review? Email scihelp@amplify.com and mention that you are a reviewer in the subject of the email.

View technology requirements.

Contact your Amplify representative directly

Patti Savage
Senior Account Executive

Email: psavage@amplify.com
Phone: (626) 224-3174

Welcome, Tennessee educators!

On this site, you will find the following information to assist you as you review Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA): a program overview to get you started, the CKLA knowledge sequence, comprehensive program guides for a deeper dive into the research base and day-to-day instruction, and other useful information. You’ll also find a month’s worth of lessons for each grade level.

Amplify CKLA was developed by the Core Knowledge Foundation and Amplify.

Illustration of historical sea battle with various sailing ships bearing british and american flags, and a fort in the background.

Getting started

Welcome to Amplify CKLA, a comprehensive reading and language arts curriculum built on today’s rigorous standards. CKLA delivers superior results through a uniquely research-based approach, combining step-by-step foundational skills with meaningful content knowledge in science, history, literature, and the arts. By focusing deeply on building students’ knowledge base, CKLA levels the playing field for every child.

Read the program overview to learn more about CKLA’s unique approach.

Grades K–2

In grades K–2, Amplify CKLA is segmented into two distinct strands: Knowledge and Skills.

Skills Strand: Skills Strand lessons build a strong foundation for students through daily instruction in phonemic awareness, spelling patterns, decoding with engaging, decodable texts, writing mechanics, and writing structure and processes.

Knowledge Strand It is vital to build students’ knowledge and vocabulary while they are still in the process of learning to read. In doing so, you better ensure their long-term success. CKLA’s Knowledge Strand is based on that very principle.

Grades K–2 Resources

K–2 materials

Core components for grades K–2:

Teacher Guide
You’ll find step-by-step lessons that are comprehensive, engaging, and support every learner.

Activity Book
With an integrated approach to reading and writing, students practice new sound-spellings by reading them in diverse contexts and then writing in response to the text.

Reader
Unlike other decodable texts, CKLA’s Readers feature engaging plots and characters, making the process of learning to read rewarding.

Teacher Guides

Student Readers

  Student Activity Books

Teacher Guides

Student Readers

  Student Activity Books

Teacher Guides

Student Readers

  Student Activity Books

Grades 3–5

In grades 3–5, the Skills and Knowledge strands are integrated. As part of the curriculum’s research-based design, students in grades 3–5 spend several weeks immersed in sequenced domains in science, history, and literature, deepening both critical literacy skills and background knowledge.

Grades 3–5 Resources

Grades 3–5 materials

Core components for grades 3–5:

Teacher Guide
Teacher Guides for each unit provide step-by-step guidance, clear lesson objectives, and formative assessment as well as differentiated supports to empower teachers with proven strategies and research-based tools.

Activity Book
Anchored by the unit’s text, Activity Books immerse students in content-rich learning for deeper comprehension. They provide daily opportunities for students to respond to text while applying knowledge and serve as formative assessments connected to each day’s objectives.

Reader
Rich in knowledge and diverse in content, Student Readers are the foundation of each unit as students dive into increasingly complex text and sharpen their analytical skills. From geology to the Middle Ages, students engage with a truly diverse range of topics.

Teacher Guides

Student Readers

 Student Activity Books

Teacher Guides

 Student Activity Books

Teacher Guides

Student Readers

 Student Activity Books

Contact us

A smiling woman with shoulder-length blonde hair, wearing an orange blouse and gold earrings, against a light background.

Chasity O’Quinn
Account Executive for East Tennessee
coquinn@amplify.com
(865) 599-5101

Portrait of a smiling woman with short brown hair, wearing glasses, a black blouse, and a pearl necklace against a maroon background.

Ann Patterson
Account Executive for West Tennessee
apatterson@amplify.com
(704) 813-7757

Frequently asked questions

Still have questions? We have answers. Check out the following FAQ.

A teacher discusses educational content in front of a whiteboard while students in the classroom raise their hands eagerly.

Program questions

Amplify Science California is a flexible, blended K–8 science curriculum that addresses 100 percent of the Next Generation Science Standards for California, and a significant number of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts, Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects, and Math, as well as the California English Language Development Standards. Together, the units deliver three-dimensional instruction across the following disciplines: Life Science, Earth and Space Science, Physical Science, and Engineering Design.

Since Amplify Science California is a blended curriculum, districts who adopt it are outfitted with a variety of print and digital resources as well as hands-on materials kits. To explore the specific components of the program, visit the What’s Included portion of our site.

As our customers will tell you, when you adopt Amplify Science California, you aren’t just buying a science curriculum, you’re joining a family. As such, along with materials, your adoption of Amplify Science California also includes care and support through a variety of staff and resources, including customer support specialists, pedagogical support specialists, implementation specialists, professional learning specialists, educational partnership managers, and more.

Amplify Science California does indeed features some powerful and engaging digital components, which are gradually introduced beginning at grade 2. However, as a fully blended and flexible program, Amplify Science California can be (and has been) implemented in a wide variety of scenarios.

All lessons were designed with device sharing in mind, and never assume that every student has a separate device. While 1:1 scenarios are great, they aren’t required. When devices are necessary for students to fully experience a concept, teachers can opt to share devices across pairs or small groups, or simply display the Sim or Modeling Tool to the whole class and allow students to “drive” using your device.

Rather than introducing a concept on Monday, testing for mastery on Friday, and knowing students will forget everything by the next Tuesday, we set out to help students build meaningful and lasting knowledge that they can retain and transfer over the course of the entire unit. We accomplish this by giving students multiple opportunities (a.k.a. “at-bats”) to encounter, explore, and experience a concept. Said another way, Amplify Science California is actually made up of a series of multi-modal “mini-lessons.” This intentional cyclical and iterative design mirrors the 5Es, allows teachers the flexibility to speed up or skip ahead once students have demonstrated mastery, and empowers students to learn concepts more deeply than any other program.

We support both. No one solution works for everyone; therefore, in partnership with the Lawrence Hall of Science, we developed suggested sequences for both the integrated model of instruction and the discipline-specific model. Because it’s our goal to provide districts the maximum amount of flexibility, we’re also happy to support districts interested in implementing a different sequence of instruction.

Yes. Rather than separating Performance Expectations into physical science units, earth and space science units, and life science units, Amplify Science California units are organized around anchoring phenomena designed to give students opportunities to dive deeply into certain disciplinary core ideas (DCIs) while also drawing from or applying to others. In organizing the Amplify Science California middle school units, we’ve carefully sequenced these ideas within each grade level to support the development of deep and coherent understanding.

Many real-world phenomena cross the domain boundaries of life, physical, or earth and space science (as well as engineering). Each Amplify Science California unit begins with an intriguing real-world phenomenon that poses a problem that needs to be understood and/or solved. By the end of the unit, students will have analyzed the anchor phenomenon across multiple scientific domains, possibly designed and tested an engineering solution, and always applied what they’ve learned in a different context.

For example:
In the unit Light Waves, students investigate the anchoring phenomenon of why Australia has a much higher skin cancer rate than countries at similar latitudes like Brazil. The focus of this unit is on disciplinary core ideas related to wave properties (PS4.A) and electromagnetic radiation (PS4.B). Students explore these physical science ideas deeply within the unit, and also draw on ideas from earth science (e.g., latitudinal variation of the sun’s energy) and life science (e.g., the effect of energy on the DNA in the nucleus of a cell) in order to explain the central phenomenon.

Absolutely. Hands-on learning is at the heart of Amplify Science California. Integrated into every unit are opportunities for students to take on the role of scientists and engineers as they gather evidence, think critically, solve problems, and develop and defend their claims.

In addition, our unique combination of focus and flex activities means teachers have more options, opportunities, and materials to make learning active. Each hands-on activity provides clear instructions for the teacher, with more complex activities supported by video demonstrations and illustrations.

What’s important to remember is that more hands-on doesn’t necessarily mean better, at least according to the California NGSS. That’s because only two of the eight Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs) are directly related to hands-on learning.
Just as scientists gather evidence from many types of sources, so do students in the Amplify Science California program. Like scientists, students gather evidence from physical models, digital models, texts, videos, photographs, maps, and data sets. By doing do, we provide students more opportunities than any other program to practice using all of the practices called out in the California NGSS Framework.

NGSS 8 Science Practices

  1. Asking questions
  2. Developing and using models
  3. Planning and carrying out investigations
  4. Analyzing and interpreting data
  5. Using mathematics and computational thinking
  6. Constructing explanations
  7. Engaging in arguments from evidence
  8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

While all of our units engage students in gathering evidence from a rich collection of sources, the reliance on different types of evidence (and evidence sources) varies according to unit. For instance, some units lend themselves to meaningful hands-on experiences, while in other units the phenomena students are investigating are too slow, too dangerous, or too big to be observed directly. In those units, students rely more heavily on other evidence sources such a physical models or simulations.

Unit types in grades K-5

In each K–5 grade, there is one unit that emphasizes investigation, one that emphasizes modeling, and one that emphasizes design. In addition, in grades 3–5, there is also one unit that emphasizes argumentation.

Unit types in grades 6-8

Each 6–8 grade features three types of units: Launch, Core, and Engineering Internships. Each year has one Launch unit, six Core units, and two Engineering Internships.

For teachers who want to supplement the lessons with even more hands-on activities, optional “flextension” activities are included in many units.

Yes indeed. Amplify Science California integrates all four STEM disciplines—science, technology, engineering, and math—in addition to English Language Arts—throughout the curriculum. In addition, each grade level features specific units that emphasize engineering design.

Every lesson in Amplify Science California explicitly calls out which CCSS ELA and CCSS Math standards are addressed. That said, this is not a math program, nor an ELA program; therefore, it does not address all of the Common Core standards. But the program does address a significant number of the standards as they pertain to science.

Yes, the program includes multiple opportunities for summative assessments.

End-of-unit assessments: At grades K–1 these look like targeted conversations, at grades 2–5 we incorporate written responses, and at grades 6–8 we assess through a combination of auto-scored multiple-choice questions and rubric-scored written responses. These summative assessments for each unit are designed to provide valid, reliable, and fair measures of students’ progress and attainment of three-dimensional learning.

Benchmark assessments: Delivered four times per year in grades 3–5 and three times per year in grades 6–8, benchmark assessments report on students’ facility with each of the grade-level appropriate DCIs, SEPs, CCCs, and performance expectations of the California NGSS.

Science Seminars and final written arguments (formative and summative components): In grades 6–8, culminating performance tasks for each core unit invite students to figure out a new real-world problem. They collect and analyze evidence, examine a number of claims, and then engage in a full-class discussion where they must state which claims are best supported by the evidence, all while making clear their reasoning that connects the evidence to the claims. After the seminar, students then individually write their final scientific argument, drawing on the DCIs, SEPs, and CCCs they have used over the course of the unit to develop a sophisticated and convincing argument that addresses the problem they’ve been investigating. Rubrics, scoring guides, and examples of student responses at each scoring level are provided to teachers to support the assessment of students’ understanding of concepts and specific practices.

No. While we do provide suggested sequences for integrated and domain courses, there are other logical ways to sequence the units and we expect that teachers will present the units in a variety of different orders and in any combination. There are a few notable exceptions. For example, students completing the Metabolism Engineering Internship should have completed the Metabolism core unit beforehand, or a unit that provides students with the same information. Amplify Science California specifies prerequisites for each unit in the event that teachers are interested in using an Amplify Science California unit in combination with other materials.

The typical elementary classroom delivers science instruction only two times per week. Yet, most curricula provide 180 days of lessons. Rather than asking teachers to wade through unnecessary content, we designed a program that addresses 100 percent of the NGSS in just 66 days at grades K–2 and 88 days at grades 3–5. With plenty of wiggle room built right into the program, teachers can relax knowing that there’s ample time to get it all done.

Amplify Science California provides more than enough instructional content to fill 180 days of instruction. However, unlike other programs that expect you to complete 180 discrete lessons, Amplify Science California includes built in wiggle room.

For example, the typical elementary classroom delivers science instruction only two times per week. Rather than asking teachers to wade through unnecessary content, we designed our program to address 100 percent of the California NGSS in just 66 days at grades K–2 and 88 days at grades 3–5. When it comes to middle school, we address 100 percent of the California NGSS in 146 lessons.

Some classes might last longer than one session due to a number of reasons (e.g., enthusiastic student conversations, challenging topics requiring deeper dives, more time needed to accommodate diverse learners, etc.). Also, teachers might want to supplement Amplify Science California with some of their own favorite lessons. Lastly, we’ve accounted for the inevitable assembly days, class trips, testing schedules, et cetera. For teachers that want to go deeper or expand upon a unit topic, we also offer a number of additional lessons that are not core to each unit.

Amplify Science California lessons are designed to be completed in the following timeframes:
Grades K-1 lessons are designed for 45 minutes of science instruction.
Grades 2-5 lessons are designed for 60 minutes of science instruction.
Grades 6-8 lessons are designed for 45 minutes of science instruction.

That said, it’s not a problem if you can’t allocate 45 mins of science instruction every day at K-1, or 60 minutes per day at 2-5. Since there are a total of 66 lessons to address 100 percent of California NGSS at grades K-2, and 88 lessons to address 100 percent of California NGSS at grades 3-5, you can easily teach the lessons in smaller blocks and cover all of the content over the course of the school year.

Technical questions

To ensure that your hardware and network meet the minimum technical requirements for optimal performance and support of your digital curriculum products please see Amplify’s customer requirements page.

mCLASS Professional Development

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Elk Grove Science K5

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Getting started with Amplify Science California

Dear Elk Grove K–5 teachers,

Welcome to the Amplify Science California family! Below you’ll find everything you need to successfully kick off your science instruction this year.

– Your California team

Amplify Science - Student reading a book remote & hybrid

Program introduction

Onboarding videos

To start using Amplify Science California quickly in your classroom, check out the following onboarding videos. They cover what you need to know to get started fast, from unpacking materials to quickly start using Amplify Science in your classroom and navigating the digital Teacher’s Reference Guide.

Program pacing

Hands-on materials kit

The following videos give you a quick look into our Amplify Science California classroom kits. For each grade level, you’ll find a “How to unpack your kit” video for the first unit of the program.

Teacher digital resources

Watch this video to understand the basic organization of the digital teacher experience and how to navigate the platform.

Want some practice? Download this exploration guide to practice toggling between teacher view, presentation view, and student view.

Our new digital experience also makes it easy to assign work through our LMS integrations.

Our new digital experience also makes it easy to view student work in real time.

Student digital resources

Watch this video to take a peek at the various student digital resources available to your class.

Use this Student Login Click Path document to support students and families logging in from home.

Essential resources

Your Teacher’s Reference Guide is a tremendously rich resource. It’s also packed! That’s why teachers getting started with Amplify Science love our condensed Unit Guides, lesson planners, and device calendars.

Unit Guides

These short and sweet guides provide a big picture overview of each unit’s phenomenon and storyline, the key questions that guide learning, and how the storyline develops from chapter to chapter. We even spoil the big reveal at the end by pointing out ahead of time what students figure out throughout the unit.

A laptop displays an educational website titled "The Earth System" with lesson modules; a printed Teacher’s Guide with a similar cover design is shown beside it.

Kindergarten

Grade 1

Grade 2

Grade 3

Grade 4

Grade 5

Lesson planners

Our lesson planners give you easy access to direct links to key resources within the program.

Kindergarten

Grade 1

Grade 2

Grade 3

Grade 4

Grade 5

Teacher-provided materials

Your Amplify Science classroom kit includes a wide variety of consumable and non-consumable items. In fact, each kit contains enough non-consumables to support a class of 36 students working in small groups, and enough consumables to support 72 student uses.

In addition to these provided items, there are some teacher-provided items required in each unit. For a consolidated list of teacher-provided items per unit, download the appropriate PDF below.

Device calendars

Our at-a-glance device calendars make device management and sharing between grade-level colleagues a breeze. With one calendar per unit (beginning in grade 2), you can easily see which lessons utilize devices.

Approach to assessment

The Amplify Science California assessment system is grounded in the principle that students benefit from regular and varied opportunities to demonstrate understanding through performance. In practice this means that conceptual understanding is revealed through engagement in the science and engineering practices.

Assessment types at a glance

In your classroom, you’ll be utilizing a variety of formative (F) and summative (S) assessments:

  • End-of-Unit Assessment (S): Assessments toward the end of each unit feature a combination of targeted discussions, student-generated models, and written explanations to gauge students’ knowledge and growth.
  • Pre-Unit Assessments (F): Discussion, modeling, and written explanations to gauge students’ knowledge.
  • On-the-Fly Assessments (OtFA) (F): Multi-dimensional tasks integrated regularly throughout the lessons. OtFA opportunities were designed to help teachers make sense of student activity during a learning experience (e.g., student-to-student talk, writing, and model construction) and to provide evidence of how a student is coming to understand core concepts and developing dexterity with SEPs and CCCs. Three-dimensional assessment opportunities make measuring progress toward NGSS learning goals possible.
  • Self-assessments (F): One per chapter; brief opportunities for students to reflect on their own learning, ask questions, and reveal ongoing wonderings about unit content.
  • Critical Juncture Assessments (F): Variety of multidimensional performance tasks intended to assess student progress, occurring at the end of each chapter. Examples include writing scientific explanations, engaging in argumentation, developing and using models, and designing engineering solutions. Based on student performance on the assessment, teachers have access to recommendations for targeted student interventions, suggested follow-ups, or differentiating classroom instruction.
  • End-of-Unit Assessment (S): Assessments toward the end of each unit feature a combination of targeted discussions, student-generated models, and written explanations to gauge students’ knowledge and growth.

Pre-Unit Assessments

Most Pre-Unit assessments are embedded within an activity of the first lesson of a unit. In kindergarten and grade 1, the Pre-Unit assessment (as well as the End-of-Unit assessment) is oral. In grades 2–5 they are typically written. Refer to the Digital Resources area of the Lesson Brief for materials needed for the assessment activity, such as the Clipboard Assessment Tool (K–1 only), copymasters (grades 2–5 only), and an Assessment Guide that will help you interpret and leverage students’ responses.

If you and your students have Interactive Classroom licenses, students can complete their assessment digitally instead of using the copymaster.

When students complete the assessment pages digitally, you’ll be able to review their work on the View Work page.

Critical Juncture Assessments

Critical Juncture assessments typically occur towards the end of each chapter. The Materials and Preparation section will indicate when there is a Critical Juncture to prepare for, but you can also tell when an activity is designed to be a Critical Juncture assessment by the hummingbird icon that will appear within it. Selecting the hummingbird icon will tell you how to assess students’ understanding with the activity, and how to tailor instruction based on what you find. If you need guidance on the “answers” to the assessment activity, refer to the “Possible Responses” tab.

If you are using Classroom Slides or Interactive Classroom, you’ll see a hummingbird or “Critical Juncture” label in the bottom right corner of one of the slides of the activity.

The notes about assessing understanding and tailoring instruction are located in the notes of that slide (on the right-hand side of the Teacher’s Guide tab in the Interactive Classroom experience; underneath the slide in Classroom Slides).

End-of-Unit Assessments

End-of-Unit assessments are typically the last lesson of a unit. In some units, these are two-part assessments that take place over two lessons. The easiest way to find the End-of-Unit assessment is to skim through the lesson titles. Lessons containing End-of-Unit assessments will always have that noted in the title.

Like the Pre-unit assessment, you can find materials for the End-of-unit assessments in the Digital Resources area of the Lesson Brief.

On-the-Fly Assessments

These embedded assessments leverage the formative opportunities in the learning experience students are already engaged in, such as creating models, analyzing data, actively reading, conducting investigations, and more. Refer to the Critical Juncture section above for guidance on finding information about using them.

Unit-level assessment information

You can find overall information about an individual unit’s assessments in the “Assessment System” resource, which is located within the Teacher References section on the Unit Overview page.

The Assessment System resource contains a comprehensive list of all of the assessment opportunities in the unit, including the assessment’s location, a brief indication of what students are doing in that particular activity, what type of assessment it is, which Disciplinary Core Ideas, science and engineering practices, and cross-cutting concepts it specifically addresses, and the kind of evaluation guidance you can expect for it. If you are in a kindergarten or first grade unit, you will also find information on the Clipboard Assessment Tool (used for supporting oral assessment) in this section.

If you’re interested in focusing on information related to the unit’s Critical Juncture and On-the-Fly assessments in particular, check out the “Embedded Formative Assessments” resource, also located within the Teacher References section on the Unit Overview page.

Three-dimensional assessment connections

All assessment opportunities within Amplify Science California include clear labeling around the Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs), Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs), and Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs) to help teachers connect formative and summative assessments to specific NGSS dimensions.

Coming soon

Unlike other publishers, we don’t make you wait until your next adoption to get the latest and greatest from Amplify. We’re always launching new and exciting features. In fact, on this page is a list of new features you can look forward to using during the 2023-2024 school year.

FAQs

Program questions

Amplify Science California is a flexible, blended K–8 science curriculum that addresses 100 percent of the Next Generation Science Standards for California and a significant number of the California English Language Development Standards and Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts, Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects, and Math. Together, the units deliver three-dimensional instruction across the following disciplines: Life Science, Earth and Space Science, Physical Science, and Engineering Design.

Amplify Science California does indeed feature some powerful and engaging digital components, which are gradually introduced beginning at grade 2. However, as a fully blended and flexible program, Amplify Science California can be (and has been) implemented in a wide variety of scenarios.

All lessons were designed with device sharing in mind, and never assume that every student has a separate device. While 1:1 scenarios are great, they aren’t required. When devices are necessary for students to fully experience a concept, teachers can opt to share devices across pairs or small groups, or simply display the Sim or Modeling Tool to the whole class and allow students to “drive” using your device.

Rather than introducing a concept on Monday, testing for mastery on Friday, and knowing students will forget everything by the next Tuesday, we set out to help students build meaningful and lasting knowledge that they can retain and transfer over the course of the entire unit. We accomplish this by giving students multiple opportunities (a.k.a. “at-bats”) to encounter, explore, and experience a concept. Said another way, Amplify Science California is actually made up of a series of multi-modal “mini-lessons.” This intentional, cyclical, and iterative design mirrors the 5Es, allows teachers the flexibility to speed up or skip ahead once students have demonstrated mastery, and empowers students to learn concepts more deeply than any other program.

Yes. Rather than separating performance expectations into physical science units, earth and space science units, and life science units, Amplify Science California units are organized around anchoring phenomena designed to give students opportunities to dive deeply into certain Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) while also drawing from or applying to others. In organizing the Amplify Science California middle school units, we’ve carefully sequenced these ideas within each grade level to support the development of deep and coherent understanding.

Many real-world phenomena cross the domain boundaries of life, physical, or earth and space science (as well as engineering). Each Amplify Science California unit begins with an intriguing real-world phenomenon that poses a problem that needs to be understood and/or solved. By the end of the unit, students will have analyzed the anchor phenomenon across multiple scientific domains, possibly designed and tested an engineering solution, and applied what they’ve learned in a different context.

For example:
In the Light Waves unit, students investigate the anchoring phenomenon of why Australia has a much higher skin cancer rate than countries at similar latitudes like Brazil. The focus of this unit is on Disciplinary Core Ideas related to wave properties (PS4.A) and electromagnetic radiation (PS4.B). Students explore these physical science ideas deeply within the unit, and also draw on ideas from earth science (e.g., latitudinal variation of the sun’s energy) and life science (e.g., the effect of energy on the DNA in the nucleus of a cell) in order to explain the central phenomenon.

Absolutely. Hands-on learning is at the heart of Amplify Science California. Integrated into every unit are opportunities for students to take on the role of scientists and engineers as they gather evidence, think critically, solve problems, and develop and defend their claims.

In addition, our unique combination of focus and flex activities means teachers have more options, opportunities, and materials to make learning active. Each hands-on activity provides clear instructions for the teacher, with more complex activities supported by video demonstrations and illustrations.

What’s important to remember is that more hands-on doesn’t necessarily mean better, at least according to the California NGSS. That’s because only two of the eight Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs) are directly related to hands-on learning.

Just as scientists gather evidence from many types of sources, students in the Amplify Science California program gather evidence not just by making physical models, but also by making and interpreting digital models; reading texts; watching videos; and analyzing photographs, maps, and data sets. By doing do, students are provided with more opportunities than any other program to use all of the practices called out in the California NGSS Framework:

  • Asking questions
  • Developing and using models
  • Planning and carrying out investigations
  • Analyzing and interpreting data
  • Using mathematics and computational thinking
  • Constructing explanations
  • Engaging in arguments from evidence
  • Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

While all of our units engage students in gathering evidence from a rich collection of sources, the reliance on different types of evidence (and evidence sources) varies according to unit. For instance, some units lend themselves to meaningful hands-on experiences, while in other units the phenomena students are investigating are too slow, too dangerous, or too big to be observed directly. In those units, students rely more heavily on other evidence sources such a physical models or simulations.

Unit types in grades K–5

In each K–5 grade, there is one unit that emphasizes investigation, one that emphasizes modeling, and one that emphasizes design. In addition, in grades 3–5, there is also one unit that emphasizes argumentation.

Unit types in grades 6–8

Each 6–8 grade features three types of units: LaunchCore, and Engineering Internships. Each year has one Launch unit, six Core units, and two Engineering Internships.

For teachers who want to supplement the lessons with even more hands-on activities, optional “flextension” activities are included in many units.

Yes indeed. Amplify Science California integrates all four STEM disciplines—science, technology, engineering, and math, in addition to English Language Arts—throughout the curriculum. In addition, each grade level features specific units that emphasize engineering design.

Yes, the program includes multiple opportunities for summative assessments.

End-of-unit assessments: At grades K–1 these look like targeted conversations, at grades 2–5 we incorporate written responses, and at grades 6–8 we assess through a combination of auto-scored multiple-choice questions and rubric-scored written responses. These summative assessments for each unit are designed to provide valid, reliable, and fair measures of students’ progress and attainment of three-dimensional learning.

Benchmark assessments: Delivered four times per year in grades 3–5 and three times per year in grades 6–8, benchmark assessments report on students’ facilities with each of the grade appropriate DCIs, SEPs, CCCs, and performance expectations of the California NGSS.

Science Seminars and final written arguments (formative and summative components): In grades 6–8, culminating performance tasks for each core unit invite students to figure out a new real-world problem. They collect and analyze evidence, examine a number of claims, and then engage in a full-class discussion where they must state which claims are best supported by the evidence, all while making clear their reasoning that connects the evidence to the claims. After the seminar, students then individually write their final scientific argument, drawing on the DCIs, SEPs, and CCCs they have used over the course of the unit to develop a sophisticated and convincing argument that addresses the problem they’ve been investigating. Rubrics, scoring guides, and examples of student responses at each scoring level are provided to teachers to support the assessment of students’ understanding of concepts and specific practices.

Amplify Science California provides more than enough instructional content to fill 180 days of instruction. However, unlike other programs that expect you to complete 180 discrete lessons, Amplify Science California includes built-in wiggle room.

For example, the typical elementary classroom delivers science instruction only two times per week. Rather than asking teachers to wade through unnecessary content, we designed our program to address 100 percent of the California NGSS in just 66 days at grades K–2 and 88 days at grades 3–5. When it comes to middle school, we address 100 percent of the California NGSS in 146 lessons.

Some classes might last longer than one session due to a number of reasons (e.g., enthusiastic student conversations, challenging topics requiring deeper dives, more time needed to accommodate diverse learners, etc.). Also, teachers might want to supplement Amplify Science California with some of their own favorite lessons. Lastly, we’ve accounted for the inevitable assembly days, class trips, testing schedules, etc. For teachers that want to go deeper or expand upon a unit topic, we also offer a number of additional lessons that are not core to each unit.

Amplify Science California lessons are designed to be completed in the following time frames:
Lessons in grades K–1 are designed for 45 minutes of science instruction.
Lessons in grades 2–5 are designed for 60 minutes of science instruction.

That said, it’s not a problem if you can’t allocate 45 minutes of science instruction every day at K–1, or 60 minutes per day at 2–5. Since there are a total of 66 lessons to address 100 percent of California NGSS at grades K–2, and 88 lessons to address 100 percent of California NGSS at grades 3–5, you can easily teach the lessons in smaller blocks and cover all of the content over the course of the school year.

Each lesson of every Amplify Science California unit includes point-of-use differentiation strategies and embedded teacher and student supports for diverse learners, including English learners, students who need more support, and students who are ready for more challenge. These strategies and methods ensure that all students have access to the same content as their peers.

Two notable categories of suggested modifications are:

  • English-learner-specific strategies such as English/Spanish glossaries, native language supports, and provision of cognates and other content-specific language scaffolds are provided in each unit.
  • Relatively small alterations and additional scaffolds that provide students with greater access to the content.
    These types of scaffolds benefit all learners and include suggestions such as providing graphic organizers, practice with multiple-meaning words, etc.

With Amplify Science California, the use of technology is always purposeful.

For example:

  • The curriculum has a strong emphasis on literacy, with students reading and analyzing informational texts, and writing scientific explanations and arguments.
  • Digital elements are gradually introduced to students in grades 2–3, with the greatest use of digital elements taking place in grades 4–5, as the phenomena at these grades become more challenging to observe directly.
  • The curriculum’s readers and interactive notebook pages are available in both print and digital across all K–5 units.

This curriculum addresses a significant number of the standards as they pertain to science. Throughout each unit, students read science texts, engage in science talk and argumentation, and write evidence-based science explanations. The curriculum supports vocabulary, language, and reading comprehension development. Students also use measurement tools with precision, record and analyze data, make sense of scientific phenomena, and develop solutions to problems experienced in the real world.

Digital questions

Teacher Support notes including sample teacher talk, student responses, pedagogical support, and possible student responses are provided within your student-facing slides. Simply click “Teach” and reference your private Teacher Guide tab. Students will only see the lesson slides that you are presenting.

You, the teacher, must “Start class” to launch the presentation tab. (Remember, without the presentation tab, students would be able to see your teacher notes.)

Clicking “Starting class” also brings students to the correct slide, which is particularly important for young students who are learning to navigate.

Teachers can either press the “End class” button in the bottom right corner of the slide navigation, or they can simply close the presentation tab.

Clicking “End class” also enables students to navigate through the lesson on their own. That means they’ll be able to return to slides and books to review content, to the Sims and Modeling Tools to replay them, or to notebook pages to update their work.

You can click on the “Student preview” option in the bottom right corner (within the menu that opens when you click the three dots) to open a new browser tab where you can preview the student view using your teacher account.

Any work you complete in this student preview (or elsewhere in the teacher experience) will be automatically saved to your account.

Looking for help?

For login or technology issues, please submit an EGUSD Heat ticket. For curriculum and pedagogical questions, please refer to the support resources below.

Powerful (and free!) pedagogical support

Amplify provides a unique kind of support you won’t find from other publishers. We’ve developed an educational support team of former teachers and administrators who provide pedagogical support for every Amplify curriculum, assessment, and intervention program. This service is completely free for all educators who are using our programs and includes:

  • Guidance for developing lesson plans and intervention plans.
  • Information on where to locate standards and other planning materials.
  • Recommendations and tips for day-to-day teaching with Amplify programs.
  • Support with administering and interpreting assessment data and more.

To reach our pedagogical team, use our live chat within your program, call (800) 823-1969, or email edsupport@amplify.com

Timely technical and program support

Our technical and program support is included and available from 4 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT, Monday through Friday, through a variety of channels, including a live chat program that enables teachers to get immediate help in the middle of the school day.

For your most urgent questions:

  • Use our live chat within your program.
  • Call our toll-free number: (800) 823-1969.

For less urgent questions:

Connect with other teachers

Our Amplify Science Facebook group is a community of Amplify Science educators from across the country. It’s a space to share best practices, ideas, and support on everything from implementation to instruction. Join today.

Top 10 Science of Reading podcasts to get you started

Since 2019, Science of Reading: The Podcast has delivered the latest insights from researchers and practitioners in early reading. Hosted by Amplify’s Chief Academic Officer Susan Lambert, each episode welcomes a renowned leader in the education and literacy community, explores a timely topic related to the Science of Reading, and offers instructional advice to educators implementing evidence-based practices in their schools.

New to the podcast? Here are 10 popular episodes to acquaint yourself with the Science of Reading. Listen, enjoy, and subscribe — we have new episodes every other Wednesday!

S1-E1: Natalie Wexler on “The Knowledge Gap”

Susan hosts Natalie Wexler for a deep dive into her latest book, The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America’s Broken Education System—And How to Fix It, and a discussion of the lack of equity in reading education among students, the benefits of knowledge-rich curriculum inside and beyond the classroom, why it’s important to build background knowledge while teaching foundational skills, and why professional development doesn’t seem to be making a difference and how it can be improved.

S1-E3: Emily Hanford on reporting on education and the Science of Reading

Susan sits down with Emily Hanford, education reporter and host of the Education Post podcast, to examine the big takeaways from her experience reporting on dyslexia and the patterns that emerged in her investigation; why reading instruction isn’t more aligned with the Science of Reading; and the evolution of whole language, balanced literacy, and phonics instruction.

S1-E8: Tim Shanahan on evidence-based literacy practices

Reading expert Tim Shanahan discusses his view on teaching reading, including an explanation of the four crucial things you need to teach reading, and what it means to really do a “close read” in literature.

S3-E1: Dr. Jane Oakhill on Scarborough’s Reading Rope

Dive into the first episode of our Deconstructing the Rope series as Dr. Jane Oakhill, professor of experimental psychology at the University of Sussex, provides an overview of Scarborough’s Reading Rope. She also emphasizes the importance of inferencing in comprehension, why the Simple View of Reading is still relevant almost 40 years later, and how each element of the Rope comes together to deconstruct the complexity of reading.

S3-E3: Dr. Louisa Moats on decoding

Join Dr. Louisa Moats, President of Moats Associates Consulting, as she unwinds decoding, a strand of Scarborough’s Reading Rope. In the third episode of our Deconstructing the Rope series, Louisa highlights the significance of decoding in the Science of Reading and discusses the value of becoming students of our own language. She also explains the reciprocal relationship between decoding and encoding and why both are essential to provide effective phonics instruction to children in the classroom.

S2-E7: Sonia Cabell on research, comprehension, and content-rich literacy instruction

Join Sonia Cabell, Assistant Professor of Education at Florida State University, as she shares findings from her research trials on content-rich literacy curricula and whether activating students’ background knowledge alongside explicit phonics instruction is more effective than traditional approaches. She also explains what constitutes “compelling evidence” in the Science of Reading and why students need to interact with both written and spoken language while learning to read.

S3-E5: Dr. Bruce McCandliss on sight recognition

Join Dr. Bruce McCandliss, Professor at the Graduate School of Education of Stanford University, as he unwinds sight recognition, a strand of Scarborough’s Reading Rope. In the fifth episode of our series, Bruce explains the role of sight and word recognition in the Science of Reading and highlights the importance of the rapid integration of print, speech, and meaning. He also encourages listeners to be cognizant of the ever-changing technological learning environment while nurturing young readers and writers.

S2-E1: Dr. LaTonya Goffney on a district-wide SoR adoption

Join Dr. LaTonya Goffney, Superintendent of Schools for Aldine Independent School District in Texas, as she recounts her two-year journey with her team of district educators to adopt a new early literacy curriculum. Hear how they successfully challenged the traditional adoption process, studied the science of teaching reading, analyzed student data and experiences, and developed a district-wide set of beliefs and expectations.

S3-E7: Maria Murray on The Reading League’s Defining Movement

In this special episode, Dr. Maria Murray, President, and CEO of The Reading League analyze the intricacies of literacy instruction and shares common misconceptions that educators have about the Science of Reading. She also explains why the Science of Reading: A Defining Movement coalition was founded: the belief in a clear understanding of what the Science of Reading is and what it is not, in order to promote the proper use of instructional practices aligned with its findings.

Instructional strategies for integrating literacy into your science classroom

Do you ever feel like science is the underdog in your school or district? You’re not alone.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, we know that science can overdeliver. That’s especially true when educators successfully integrate it with other subjects.

You can dive into the power of integrating science and literacy with the latest season of Science Connections. Here’s a sneak peek at what we explore in the first few episodes of Season 3 of our podcast.

Rooting for the underdog

In what sense is science seen as an underdog? Just ask Eric Banilower and Courtney Plumley of Horizon Research, a consulting firm that supports educational improvement and policy development. Host Eric Cross interviews them in Season 3, Episode 1.

As you know, an underdog is generally a weaker or less favored person or entity. Banilower and Plumley find that science instruction often fits that mold.

One thing they found: elementary school teachers’ schedules allow for less instruction of science than math and ELA. They also note that when there’s a break in routine—a special assembly or early dismissal—science is often “the first thing to go,” says Plumley.

They also note that instructors (like many others) are often expected to design their own curriculum.

The conversation offers some solutions for shifting these practices, as well as supporting science instructors in general.

“You don’t ask doctors to develop new treatments and tests. Their job is to get to know their patient, assess what’s going on, and then use research-based methods to develop a plan of action. That analogy [suggests] a scalable approach for raising…the quality of science education,” Banilower says.

What is that approach? According to Banilower, “Giving teachers research-based, high-quality instructional materials that they can use to meet the needs of their students would allow them to focus on getting to know their students, seeing their strengths, [finding areas where they have] room for growth, and…help[ing] those students progress.”

The power of integrating science and literacy into the science classroom

Science does not need to stay in a silo. As we illuminate in Episodes 2 and 3, bringing literacy work into the science classroom can supercharge students’ work in both. (We also explore the topic in this blog post.)

“We know we need to dramatically improve literacy rates in this country, and as we’ll show in the coming episodes, science can be a key ally in that goal,” says our host, Eric Cross.

It goes the other way, too. Language development and literacy instruction can support science. “Win-win, folks,” says Cross.

In Episode 2, senior science educator Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep described how bilingual and multilingual students in her school accelerated their English speaking and learning when they were excited to discuss science phenomena.

Indeed, she notes, the NGSS provides rich linguistic opportunities for students. We used to talk about language in science as all technical, but that’s changed. “Language is now developed through the science learning experiences,” says Gomez Zwiep.

Two key approaches you can use:

  • Think of science lessons as a narrative. Gomez Zwiep suggests you ask yourself, “What’s the story arc of my science lesson? How are the science ideas building over time?”
  • Welcome language that’s comfortable and conversational for your students.  “This expansion of language, including non-standard dialects and even home language, is really important for letting students bring their whole selves into the classroom,” she says.

More ways to enhance literacy in science 

Don’t worry—you don’t need to take a second job. “It’s not that you have to become a reading specialist to integrate literacy into science,” says Douglas Fisher, Ph.D., professor and chair of educational leadership at San Diego State University. “It’s how our brains work.”

It’s also how science works. “Science teachers and scientists do a lot of reading, writing, speaking, and listening and viewing. They use the five literacy processes all the time,” says Fisher, our guest on Episode 3.

Some strategies Fisher offers:

  • Invite multiple aspects of literacy. Think: What role do speaking, listening, reading, writing, and viewing, play in your class? Provide opportunities for students to do those things each time you meet with them.
  • Read challenging texts. “Science is an ideal place to get students reading things that are hard for them. Doses of struggle are good for our brains,” Fisher says. “Complex texts that don’t give up their meanings easily allow students to reread the text, mark it, talk to peers about it, and answer questions with their groups.”
  • Get them writing, even in short bursts. “Writing is thinking,” he says. “While you are writing, your brain cannot do anything else.” So if your students understand a given concept, have them write about it.

And that’s just the beginning. Tune in—and stay tuned—for more strategies for encouraging literacy integration in a science classroom.

More ways to learn

Free professional learning opportunities for math educators

We hope you’ll take some time this summer to refresh your energy—and your math teaching skills and knowledge. We’re here to help with these professional learning opportunities for math teachers.  

Culled from our trove of blog posts and webinars, we’ve compiled a list of math teacher resources covering topics from technology in the math classroom to math anxiety and more. We hope your down time and your math time add up to a great summer! 

Diving into math curriculum

As math teachers, you work every day to celebrate student brilliance, build deep conceptual understanding, and create the conditions for every student to be successful. Find out how Amplify Desmos Math can help with these resources. 

Desmos Classroom

This four-part webinar series will give you the tools you need to go from platform novice to skilled Desmos Classroom whiz.

What amazing math looks like

How can you help students both learn math and love math? Examine what amazing math looks like for both educators and students in this webinar series that explores the importance of focus, engagement, and collaboration. Start with our special kickoff webinar presented by math expert Dan Meyer, host of Math Teacher Lounge, then binge-watch our webinars on next-level math engagement! 

Desmos Math 6–A1

Learn about the EdReports process for evaluating high-quality instructional materials (including Desmos Math 6–8) in a post from our blog, then check out our info session and Step Ahead webinars to learn more about the program—and see it through the eyes of math students!

Creating a math community 

As any mathematician knows, there’s strength in numbers! The following posts, all from the Amplify blog, will help you build a culture of collaboration and community in your math classrooms. 

Summer is one of those good things that must come to an end. But when it does, we hope these resources will have helped you feel more prepared than ever for a magical year of math! 

Top professional development picks for the summer

First priority for your summer? A bit of a break, and maybe a beach read. But summer is also the perfect time to prepare for the year ahead, and to invest in your professional growth.

During summer PD, you can take your time exploring the research-backed strategies essential to effective literacy instruction. There are lots of opportunities out there to dive deeper into everything from foundational skills and evidence-based practices to instruction based on the Science of Reading. Investing this time in your professional growth will help you not only align your methods with the most current research, but also equip you with tools to meet the individual needs of your students and create supportive learning environments in the fall.

Summer school for you: Teacher professional development

That said, we know you’d probably rather spend your summer building sandcastles than digging around for the right PD. That’s why we asked Amplify Ambassadors—educators like you—to share their top teaching resources and professional development picks for the summer. Keep reading to hear their excellent recommendations!

Danielle Hawkins, former principal of Newfane Central School District in New York, shares the value of professional development opportunities offered by Amplify for educators.

“To support the teachers I coach and deepen my knowledge of the Science of Reading, I joined the beta test of Amplify’s Science of Reading: The Learning Lab courses to monopolize on the flexibility that summer provides.”
—Miracle Foster, Literacy Coach, Armada Area Schools, Michigan

“If you haven’t listened to the Sold a Story or Knowledge Matters podcasts, they are great places to start! I purchased The Knowledge Gap and The Writing Revolution books before the school year was even over! I have Shifting the Balance in my cart as well.”
—Stephanie Schuettpelz, Teacher, Marion School District, Wisconsin

If you have a chance to participate in curriculum development, it’s a wonderful way to dig deeper and get to know different features of each unit better.

—Kim Eich, Grade 6 Teacher, Anoka Hennepin ISD #11, Minnesota

“Any online PD from The Reading League or Cox Campus is good. There are a TON of great podcasts out there, including Amplify’s Science of Reading podcast, and also Shanahan on Literacy, Melissa and Lori Love Literacy, and All for Literacy. Some great books are the Shifting the Balance books, The Knowledge GapSpeech to Print, or Structured Literacy Interventions with Spear-Swerling.”
—Lori Gray, Program Coordinator, Office of Student Learning, Yelm Community Schools, Washington

“A book study.”
—Carla Cruse, Teacher, Rock Falls Middle School, Illinois

Back to school for teachers: Webinars to get you ready

Join our Amplify experts as they walk you through all of your program essentials and share their guidance on everything from getting started in the new school year to leveling up your implementation. These series are for everyone—whether this is your first or fourth year with Amplify, you’ll walk away having learned something new. There will be a webinar for each of the following Amplify programs:

  • Amplify Science
  • mCLASS® DIBELS® 8th Edition and mCLASS Lectura
  • Amplify CKLA and Caminos
  • Amplify ELA
  • Boost Reading and Boost Lectura