“That’s the core idea of MƒA – teacher-created and teacher-inspired opportunities where we learn from each other.”

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Many mathematics teachers wonder how and where their students learned about various aspects of multiplication and division. During our 2018 fall semester, math teachers from elementary through high school worked on discovering a better understanding of mathematical progression around multiplication and division in the “From Repeated Addition to the Quotient Rule: Multiplication and Division K to 12” workshop.

Considering some of the "newer" multiplication and division models that have become popular in lower grades and drawing connections to models explored in higher grades, MƒA Master Teachers Scott Matthews and Crystal Thiele co-facilitated a deep dive into the standards around multiplication and division, looking for connections and common threads throughout different grades with their MƒA colleagues.

“We were able to make some sense of what students should know at different levels. We examined what we should expect our students to have seen and what they will be expected to do in later grades,” said Scott, who teaches high school.

“When teachers specialize in one or two grades or subjects, it can be hard to see the big picture of what math is like for students over the many years they are in school,” added Crystal, who teaches elementary school. “This workshop offered the rare opportunity for teachers of all grade levels to work together to tailor instruction for their classrooms.”

Both Scott and Crystal are excited to participate in continued opportunities at MƒA where teachers collaborate across all grade levels. Scott adds, “That’s the core idea of MƒA – teacher-created and teacher-inspired opportunities where we learn from each other.”