This episode of Room to Grow, Curtis and Joanie speak with Pam Harris. Pam is well known and loved for her website, podcast, books, and conference sessions all based on her core belief that “Math is FigureOutAble.” Today’s discussion centers on Pam’s newest publication, Developing Mathematical Reasoning: Avoiding the Traps of Algorithms.

Pam starts with three distortions about math that are common among teachers, students, and the population, and can impact how educators engage students with math in their classrooms. Next the conversation shifts to what is meant by algorithms, and how they differ from strategies and formulas. Then the discussion focuses on the potential traps to learning that can result from teaching algorithms in mathematics. All of these ideas are based on the development of mathematical reasoning, from counting strategies to additive thinking, to multiplicative reasoning and proportional reasoning, then the functional reasoning that comprises much of the math students learn in high school.

There are so many good ideas in this episode that will challenge you and get you thinking!

Additional referenced content includes:

· Pam Harris’ website, Math is FigureOutAble.

· Pam’s book, Developing Mathematical Reasoning: Avoiding the Traps of Algorithms.

· Pam’s podcast, Math is Figure-Out-Able!

· Find Pam on all your favorite social media platforms.

Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com . Be sure to connect with your hosts on X and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.

This episode of Room to Grow brings together our 2025 series on the Mathematics Teaching Practices from Principles to Actions, an NCTM publication. After discussing each of the eight practices in isolation over the last several months, this month tackles the ideas and challenges in actually making substantive change to classroom practice.

Our hosts share ideas for engaging with others in deeper professional learning, coaching, and peer observations, as well as ideas for individual teachers to work on making change in their classrooms. They acknowledge that change is complicated, and encourage listeners to engage in small, incremental steps that add up over time.

Additional referenced content includes:

· NCTM’s Principles to Actions

· NCTM’s Taking Action series for grades K-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12

· NCTM’s Principals to Actions Toolkit – Professional learning and other resources for a deeper dive into the eight Mathematics Teaching Practices

Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com . Be sure to connect with your hosts on X and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.

This episode of Room to Grow wraps up Joanie and Curtis’ season 5 series on the Mathematics Teaching Practices from NCTM’s Principles to Actions. The final practice in the series is “Support productive struggle in learning mathematics.” This is defined as follows:

Effective teaching of mathematics consistently provides students, individually and collectively, with opportunities and supports to engage in productive struggle as they grapple with mathematical ideas and relationships.

Our hosts begin with discussing the connection to classroom culture, ensuring that students feel safe, emotionally and academically, in order to be willing to struggle. Additionally, the expectations set by the teacher when there is a belief that productive struggle is a valuable and important aspect of learning math. Then they linger on the word “grapple” and the connotation it creates, and how different it is than the connotation of the word “struggle.” And they emphasize that productive struggle isn’t about the math being hard, but rather thinking about the mathematics in new ways, and making connections that may not have been obvious. A key idea is the importance of educators’ asking questions to better understand student thinking, which is a necessary condition for helping them to grapple with new mathematical connections.

Additional referenced content includes:

· NCTM’s Principles to Actions

· NCTM’s Taking Action series for grades K-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12

· Favorite No protocol (5 minute Video)

· Previous Room to Grow episode Helping Students Struggle Productively

· Image of America flag made of baseballs

Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing roomtogrowmath@gmail.com . Be sure to connect with your hosts on X and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.