Shows / Math on the Rocks
Math on the Rocks
We are three mathematics educators who love to talk about math, math education, and the politics of math...often while drinking a beer. Our podcast is an attempt to invite more people into our conversations. For the video versions of our episodes, go here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvolZqLMhJmlKZXVW-HMWHmGsXXaeH09f
Episodes
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 83 - Direct Instruction and Site Leaders and MTSS
If we were given a magic wand to design an instructional system that actually worked for all students, what would our system look like? In this episode, the…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 82 - What to say when they bag on your inquiry instruction
Inserting inquiry into your teaching routine is HARD. Teachers know this. Unfortunately, inquiry-based instruction has been caricatured as NOT TEACHING…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 81 - English Learner Success Forum is supporting California’s math moment
English Learner Success Forum invites us to look beyond simply adopting high-quality instructional materials and ask a more important question: are those…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 80 - How do Inquiry Direct Instruction and Math Facts play together
While Scott is having fun on the gold course, Duane and Cole continue our conversation about Direct Instruction. We bounce around ideas of how inquiry, direct…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 79 - Duane and Cole talk Direct Instruction
The recent Science of Reading movement has caused dozens of states to update their instructional practices with reading. Many states have gone so far as to…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 78 - Mike Flynn is making math more accessible with micro moves
Mike Flynn invites us to rethink accessibility in mathematics by shifting the focus from fixing students to redesigning the learning environment. Drawing on…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 77 - Joanie Funderburk is shifting the cognitive lift to students
Joanie Funderburk challenges us to think about who is doing the mathematical thinking in our classrooms. Even when we believe students should make sense of…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 76 - Heather Price shows how classroom conditions shape math learning
Heather Price invites us to look beyond what students learn in mathematics and consider how they experience the classroom. Drawing from research conducted in…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 75 - Ashley Powell inspires us with problem solving
Ashley Powell invites us to rethink what it means to teach mathematics through problem solving. Rather than treating problem solving as something students do…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 74 - Duane and Keith talk HQIM
Keith steps up and joins Duane to continue our ongoing conversation about the importance of high-quality instructional materials. Sure…a school district might…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 73 - Kevin Dykema is rethinking productive struggle
Kevin Dykema invites us to rethink productive struggle as more than a math education buzzword. Instead of rescuing students with steps and answers, he shows…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 72 - Nolan Fossum is rethinking instruction through cartoon math
Nolan Fossum invites us into the learner’s seat by experiencing math in an unfamiliar way. Using a “cartoon base-10” system, he creates moments of productive…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 71 - Screens screens everywhere screens
Scott and Duane get together to chat about math, but Duane gets grumpy and jumps up on his soap box to complain about schools using too much EdTech throughout…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 70 - Mark Alcorn on goals, agency, and meaningful mathematics
In this episode, Mark Alcorn (educator, coach, and founder of the Sum of It All podcast) invites us to rethink something deceptively simple: goals in math…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 69 - Talking about MKT. The Sweet Sauce.
We all got together to chat some more about mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) and why it is so important for teachers to have it. Who is responsible…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 68 - Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching
This is our final podcast episode before our symposium. So we spend a little time talking about how cool we are…and why folks should attend our symposium. Then…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 67 - Teaching Through Problem Solving
Duane is still on his quixotic adventure to convince teachers to update their instructional script to Teaching Through Problem Solving (TTP). It is the secret…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 66 - Janet Lee-Ortiz and Rachel Lambert are rethinking disability and mathematics
Welcome to another episode of CMC's Inspiring Math Minds webinar series! Janet Lee-Ortiz (teacher and 2024 LAUSD Teacher of the Year) and Rachel Lambert (UC…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 65 - HOW to teach mathematics through problem solving
Whether we know it or not, math teachers in America have a default teaching script that is so engrained into our cultural DNA that we don't even know it…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 64 - How to support teachers to grow mathematically
As the mathematics instruction community adds to our understanding of how mathematics should be taught and learned, teachers now face the prospect of having to…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 63 - Scott and Duane are still talking about TTP
We start out by talking about the goings on of California Math Council as we get ready for our symposium in March. Then we switch to continuing our…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 62 - Howie Hua is building mathematical confidence
Howie Hua (professor, speaker, and social media communicator) joins us to explore what it really means to be “good at math” and how we can help students build…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 61 - Scott and Duane talk about Teaching Math Through Problem Solving
It has been a while since we got together to record an episode of Math On the Rocks, so Scott and Duane got together to catch up. We refresh our conversation…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 60 - Odalis Amparo is bridging language and mathematics
Odalis Amparo joins us all the way from Massachusetts and shares best practices for multilingual learners. Odalis was a teacher and now works for Student…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 59 - Richard Sgroi schools us on financial math
In this rebroadcast of our Inspiring Math Minds webinar Richard Sgroi teaches us the algebra and finance connection and how we can use real world, real math…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 58 - Ki Karou (Palm Springs Special)
Our most controversial episode yet! Ki Karou, an EdTech product director, brings in the heat with some strong opinions…and then he defends them like heck…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 57 - Huerta and Williamson (Palm Springs Special)
In this LIVE episode, our guests Suzanne Huerta and Stephanie Williamson drop some major bombs of wisdom that sparks the audience into sharing points of…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 56 - Dr Buck (Palm Springs Special)
Yeah…yeah…we had some technical difficulties as is typical with our Math On the Rocks vibe. But don't let that stop you from enjoying this live episode from…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 55 - Rebecca Lewis Takes Us On a Journey From Framework Vision to Classroom Practice
In this rebroadcast of our Inspiring Math Minds webinar Rebecca Lewis shares a TON of resources for supporting implementation of the California Mathematics…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 54 - Peg Cagle has stopped looking for answers
In this rebroadcast of our Inspiring Math Minds webinar Peg Cagle shares her wisdom that we should stop looking for answers in math class! Yup…you read that…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 53 - Katie joins us to talk about the Collaborative Lesson Design Protocol
While Cole, Scott, and I are getting ready for our live episodes coming up in Palm Springs, we decided to record a special episode with our good friend Katie…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 52 - Chris Shore brings us Clothesline Math!
In this special episode of Math On the Rocks, we rebroadcast an Inspiring Minds webinar. This time our guest is Chris Shore…amongst many other things, he is…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 52 - Chris Shore brings us Clothesline Math
In this special episode of Math On the Rocks, we rebroadcast an Inspiring Minds webinar. This time our guest is Chris Shore…amongst many other things, he is…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 51 - Preparing for Teaching Through Problem Solving
Scott and Duane finally get a chance to catch up with each other about the math education going on in our areas. We also talk about how important it is for…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 50 - Adopting a textbook is just the start of the journey
First we talk about the challenges of being a mathematician parent of a student taking math. We grapple with whether there is a difference between y=4x-3 or…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 49 - Cole and Duane talk about Pre-School Math and Textbook Adoption
Duane and Cole return from a long summer vacation and discuss how our P-2 conferences are going. This is the conference series we designed specifically for…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 48 - Scott and Duane share their math summer reading list
Scott and Duane share their mathematical summer reading list. If reading a good math book brings you joy, we've got EIGHT recommendations…plus Scott drops a…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 47 - Tim Weekes gets us thinking about opportunity gaps
Tim Weekes is our guest for this webinar. Tim gets us thinking about reframing the Achievement Gap as really being an Opportunity Gap. Listen to this…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 46 - Seven steps to improve math instruction
Cole, Scott, and Duane discuss a recently published article by Michael Kirst (former president of the California State Board of Education) that lists the seven…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 45 - How to improve math achievement
Cole and Duane discuss a recently published article about how a school dramatically improved their math scores. Lots of great ideas for YOUR school to…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 44 - Christina Lincoln-Moore on Subversive Leadership
Christina Lincoln-Moore is our guest this episode. She led one of our Inspiring Math Minds webinars and we are reposting it in the Math On the Rocks feed…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 43 - P2 teachers are MATH TEACHERS too!
Duane and Cole uncork a crucial conversation about why educators working with our youngest learners—preschool through 2nd grade—must embrace the title “math…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 42 - Cole has us thinking about TRUST in mathematics
Cole ask us: Do leaders TRUST their teachers to implement ambitious instruction? Do teachers TRUST themselves mathematically? Are we asking teachers to trust…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 41 - NCTQ says teachers have a shaky understanding of math. What should we do about it?
Duane is loafing on Spring Break. Cole and Scott are working. We talk about a convergence of two things: an article about teachers needing significantly more…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 40 - Dionne Aminata shares her TRUST framework
Cole and Duane host a webinar the 3rd Thursday of every month in which we have a guest share their wisdom to all who log in to listen and participate. This…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 39 - Duane remembers to press record. Then he complains.
We talk about the featured speakers who are already lined up to speak at our symposium in March, 2026. The we announce our P2 Conferences which is a series of…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 38 - A late night conversation with the brilliant Nigel and Brandon
Day 1 of our symposium is over. Game Night was a major success. To debrief the day and prepare for Day 2 of the symposium, Cole and Duane chat with Nigel and…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 37 - Nick Lopez has us reimagining rigor
Nick was our guest for the March (2025) webinar. We are now releasing it as a podcast on our Math On the Rocks feed. In this session Nick leads us through……
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 36 - A conversation the night before the symposium
We talk about stuff the night before the symposium. We also talk about "magic" teaching that excites and engages teaching. This "magic" is not magic at all. It…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 35 - Scott and Duane talk about the Symposium
The California Math Council puts on three conferences a year…actually, two conferences and one symposium. They are three of the finest state/regional…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 34 - Arynn and the boys talk about CBPL
Cole and Duane went to Dallas to learn about curriculum-based professional learning from the fine folks at Learning Forward. We had a great time getting to…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 33 - Pam Harris talks about REAL math and shows us the SHARK
Pam joins our monthly webinar series to share her profound thoughts on using problem strings to help students develop strategies based on number relationships…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 32 - The boys talk about MKT again
While Cole was driving to Anaheim (again), the boys got together to chat some more about mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) and why it is so important…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 31 - Scott and Duane talk about HQIM and MKT
While Cole is away doing important stuff, Scott and Duane talk about high-quality instructional materials and the importance of mathematical knowledge for…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 30 - Albert Vilalta lifts up the Math Practices
Albert was one of our guests during the live podcast recording Cole and Duane did during the 2024 CMC-South Conference in Palm Springs. Albert also has the…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 29 - Fawn Nguyen is engaging ALL students in math class
Fawn was one of our guests during the live podcast recording Cole and Duane did during the 2024 CMC-South Conference in Palm Springs. Fawn is a deep thinker…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 28 - Casee Andree shares thoughts about HQIM and DOI
What the heck does a title like that even mean? Casee Andree explains it all in this engaging webinar Cole recorded while Duane was out galavanting around…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 27 - Dr. Pam Seda shares her framework for equity in the math classroom
Pam Seda joins us for another live recording from the California Math Council South Conference in Palm Spring in November 2024. Pam Seda is one of the authors…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 26 - Phil Daro pulls no punches about math in America
Phil Daro joins us for another episode that Cole and Duane recorded live at the California Math Council South Conference in Palm Spring in November 2024. Phil…
- Math on the Rocks
Ep 25 - Steve Leinwand has a few things to say about Algebra II
Steve Leinwand joins us to share his passionate belief that the traditional Algebra II curriculum (heck...all of high school math) often includes unnecessary…