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)dive deep, with guests, into the math and educational topics you care about. Interact with us on Twitter (@mtlshow) or join our Facebook group (facebook.com/groups/mathteacherlounge) for more content.
To close out the year, we’re revisiting some of our favorite moments from the first nine episodes of the Beyond My Years podcast – and looking ahead at some of what’s to come in 2025! Listen to Beyond My Years: Subscribe to Beyond My Years on Apple Subscribe to Beyond My Years on Spotify Listen to Beyond My Years via web browser...
The latest episode of Beyond My Years features 2023 National Teacher of the Year — and math educator! — Rebecka Peterson. On the episode, Host Ana Torres and Rebecka discuss their similar experiences as young immigrants to the United States. Rebecka shares all that she has come to love and appreciate about the K–12 environment after a tough transition from teaching college-level courses. She also reveals her most important lesson learned: Teach humans over content. Rebecka talks about her “One G...
Hi Math Teacher Lounge listeners! Here’s an episode from Amplify’s new podcast, Beyond My Years , that we think you’ll like. It features math teacher extraordinaire Fawn Nguyen, who you may remember from past appearances on this show. On this episode, Fawn, a math educator with over 30 years of classroom experience, tells Host Ana Torres the story of her near-death experience being lost at sea while escaping Vietnam, and explains how it shaped the sense of gratitude she led within the classroom....
Check out Amplify’s new podcast, Beyond My Years — host and educator Ana Torres seeks out educational insights and hard-won lessons directly from people who have thrived for decades in the classroom: seasoned educators. On this premiere episode, Ana soaks up wisdom from Joyce Abbott, an educator so passionate about her students that she inspired one of them to go on and write the hit show “Abbott Elementary.” Joyce tells all about her experiences working in a Title 1 school and what it means to ...
Listen to this trailer for our new podcast, Beyond My Years , launching August 14th. Every day headlines tout something “new” in education—the latest research, the hottest tech, the trendiest new hacks for organizing your classroom. However, beyond all the hype there’s one underestimated resource that’s truly deserving of our attention: educators who’ve been doing this for years . In this trailer, you’ll hear from host and educator Ana Torres as she explains her season-long journey of learning f...
After watching so much great basketball analysis throughout March and April, Dan has been inspired to put the spotlight on a different kind of superstar: exceptional math educators. Check out a little preview of Dan's new project with Kelly Serpa Howe. Check out the full video
Listen to the final episode of Math Teacher Lounge! We’ll walk through the past 10 episodes on math fluency and pull out the key takeaways from our amazing hosts–such as tips on defining and assessing fluency, fluency development in a bilingual setting, and the potential pitfalls of relying too heavily on so-called fake fluency. We’ll also talk about the future of the podcast and what’s next for us. Spanning six seasons, we’ve had the privilege of reaching thousands of educators while exploring ...
Tune into this episode of Math Teacher Lounge , featuring math teaching and learning specialist and friend of the podcast, Fawn Nguyen. Listen as Nguyen dives into the unique and powerful relationship between math fluency and problem-solving, and learn about how problem-solving activities can be leveraged to engage all students and fuel math fluency development. Learn why math fluency and problem-solving have a symbiotic relationship and how to create problem-solving activities that generate ind...
Join us for Episode 9, in which Bethany sits down with former classroom teacher Myuriel von Aspen to talk about the importance of a systematic approach to math-fluency instruction. Listen as von Aspen discusses how effective fluency instruction takes students beyond fact memorization into deeper learning through mathematical discourse. To hear more from Myuriel, check out the following resources: Watch Myuriel’s welcoming message at NCSM, 2022 . Listen to an excerpt of Myuriel’s message at NCTM,...
Tune in to Episode 8, where we chat with guest and former grade 1 teacher, Jody Guarino, Ed.D., about how math teachers can collaborate to develop math fact fluency at the building level. Listen as Dr. Guarino talks about what it takes for schools to do this successfully, and her key takeaways from her own experience. For more from Dr. Guarino, check out the following resources: Follow Dr. Guarino on X: @jody_guarino Learn more about Dr. Guarino and her work by checking out her University of Cal...
Join Math Teacher Lounge as we continue our season-long discussion on math fluency with a special live recording at NCTM 2023. In this episode, our guest, Jennifer Bay-Williams Ph.D., and Dan dive into math fluency games to discuss how we bring joy into the classroom while building math fluency. For more from Jennifer, check out the following resources: Discover more math fluency games with Jennifer’s book, Math Fact Fluency: 60+ Games and Assessment Tools to Support Learning and Retention. Move...
Join us for Episode 6, where we discuss how to take an asset-based approach to building math fluency with John W. Staley, Ph.D., who has spent decades in math classrooms. In this episode Dr. Staley shares his experiences and research to provide strategies on how to utilize student strengths to encourage growth. For more from Dr. Staley, check out the following resources: Follow John on X at @JStaley06 . Learn more from John by checking out his NCTM articles . Read John’s book, High School Mathem...
Tune in to Episode 5, where we dive back into our season-long discussion of math fluency with classroom teacher Lauren Carr. Listen as Lauren shares how she allows her students to approach mathematical thinking and learning with joy and fun to encourage the development of math fluency. For more from Lauren Carr, follow her on X !
Join us for a special episode of Math Teacher lounge where we take a break from our focus on math fluency to talk with scholar and author Nicole M. Joseph Ph.D. Tune in to this important conversation where Dr. Joseph shares her research and discusses how we can begin to uplift Black girls and empower them in our math classrooms. For more from Dr. Joseph, check out the following resources: Read Dr. Joseph’s new book Making Black Girls Count in Math Education: A Black Feminist Vision for Transform...
Tune in to the latest episode of Math Teacher Lounge where we learn how to intentionally foster fluency with Dr. Art Baroody, Professor Emeritus of Curriculum & Instruction, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Listen as Baroody shares strategies on how to utilize a student’s natural problem-solving skills and desire to learn to build fluency.
Tune in to our latest episode where we sat down with Dr. Valerie Henry to discuss how math fluency assessments can be redesigned to provide teachers with better data and students with better learning experiences. Listen today and don’t forget to grab your MTL study guide to track key strategies and make the most of this episode! For more from Valerie, check out the following resources: Learn more from Val and check out her resources on her website FactsWise . Dive deeper into fluency with Val an...
Season 6 of Math Teacher Lounge is here! This season, we’ll be digging deep into math fluency—exploring what it is, looking into the research around it, and sharing practical tips for building it in math classrooms. Join us as we kick things off this week with Jason Zimba, Amplify’s chief academic officer of STEM! In our first episode, we sat down with Jason to get a clear understanding of what math fluency is and what we really mean when we talk about it. As a prominent math advocate with many ...
Join us as we continue our summer mini-series where we discuss how to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) as a teaching tool. In this episode of Math Teacher Lounge , we sit down with educator Kristen Moore to discuss how she is using Chat GPT as a tool to revolutionize student learning and streamline lesson planning. Listen today and don’t forget to grab your MTL study guide to track your learning and make the most of this episode!...
Join us for our summer mini-series where we’ll be talking about artificial intelligence (AI): what it is, how it is already being used in education, and how it will continue to transform education in the future. In this kickoff episode, we sat down with Jennifer Carolan, general partner at Reach Capital, to chat about the current state of AI in education technology. As a former teacher and current leading-edge education technology entrepreneur, Jennifer has so much to share on how, if done corre...
As we wrap up this season of Math Teacher Lounge , we’re sharing our biggest takeaways from our incredible discussions around tackling math anxiety. We’ve been able to speak to five great thinkers on math and the anxieties that can affect students, teachers, and even caregivers. From acknowledging math anxiety and finding ways to immediately start relieving the pressure, to redefining math and establishing positive math routines in and out of the classroom, we’ve learned so much with every singl...
So far in this season of Math Teacher Lounge, we’ve been very lucky to have had so many prolific and brilliant researchers on our show, and our next guest is no exception. In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Marjorie Schaeffer to discuss how the attitudes of adults affect children and their anxiety levels, the need for meaningful, positive interactions around math, and how the right math technology can make an incredible impact on lowering math anxiety in children and caregivers. Listen now an...
So far this season, we’ve investigated math anxiety in students and its causes with passionate researchers and curriculum experts, including 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 rig...
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 Math Teacher Lounge study guide to track your learning and make the most of this episode!...
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 m...
Season 5 of Math Teacher Lounge 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...
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 ....
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–...
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 is a former m...
In this episode, Bethany and Dan explore mathematical joy by visiting a math teacher conference in Southern California and Dan shares recent experiences on how he tried to cultivate mathematical joy in his own school-aged kids.
In this episode, Bethany and Dan chat with Sarah Strong and Gigi Butterfield, authors of Dear Math: Why Kids Hate Math and What Teachers Can Do About It . Listen in as they chat about their experience with finding joy in math, and how their passion helped tell the story of other students' journeys to find, or not find, joy in math.
