Representations: Opening the Doors to Mathematical Ideas

Recognize the five categories of mathematical representations
Explain why all students should have the opportunity to solve using diverse representations
Examine examples of representations and find mathematical connections between them
Investigate research-based best practices to support students with representations

Schedule:

5 minutes – Settle in, take attendance, Intro question: Which category of mathematical representation do you typically find most comfortable? And which category of mathematical representation do your students generally find most comfortable?

10-15 minutes – Participants’ implementation share-out

3-5 minutes – Transition into current module, connection between concepts: How does the nature of a math task influence the potential for incorporating multiple representations? In what ways do diverse representations of solutions deepen students' understanding of mathematical concepts?

10-20 minutes – Workbook reflection:

What is the distribution of mathematical representations used in your classroom, and how might you wish to shift them?
What are the benefits of using multiple representations for all students?
How can you utilize multiple representations to increase the cognitive load?
Were there any prompts in this section of the workbook that you wanted to discuss with the rest of the group? What about them were you looking to explore further?

20-30 minutes – Application discussion prompts:

What structures are necessary to increase the number of representations in your classroom?
What are the benefits of students understanding different representations?
Choose an upcoming problem and in a group work on how to increase access to different representations.

5-10 minutes - Wrap up: Each individual brainstorms "What can you do between now and our next meeting to incorporate or emphasize this topic more in your classroom?" and a few participants volunteer for the next session’s implementation share-out