What if “misconceptions” are actually students making sense of math in real time?
Shift the lens → build on their thinking → more students see themselves as mathematicians.
Join us on April 14 and 28 to learn more.
www.openupresources.org/eventdetail/...
April newsletter is out 👀
Pop culture ideas, what I’m reading + watching, and a few things I can’t stop thinking about.
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www.brooke-powers.com
Students compliant but not really engaged?
Tonight 6 PM ET we’re breaking down 5 classroom structures that actually build thinking, collaboration, and real outcomes.
Not more strategies. Better structures.
Join us 👇
zoom.us/webinar/regi...
I love this take!
Pop culture meets math leadership.
Ted Lasso. Abbott Elementary. Taylor Swift.
Join me at CMC Central for
Leading Boldly: Lessons in Coaching, Culture, and Courage from Pop Culture Icons.
Sat 3/14
1:10–2:20 PM
Mechanics Bank Tap Room
@cmccentral.bsky.social
Graphic titled “March 2026 Schedule” featuring educator and speaker Brooke Powers. The design has a navy background with pink accents and includes a headshot of Brooke on the right and her signature logo at the bottom. The schedule lists three speaking engagements: March 10 at the KCM Conference in Lexington, Kentucky presenting “Routines That Work: Supporting Math Discourse for All Learners”; March 14 at CMC Central in Bakersfield, California presenting “Leading Boldly: Lessons in Coaching, Culture, and Courage from Pop Culture Icons”; and March 25 at the NCSM Virtual Coaching Lab presenting “Be Curious, Not Judgmental: Coaching That Builds Trust, Clarity, and Real Change.”
March speaking schedule 📍
March 10
KCM Conference | Lexington, KY
March 14
CMC Central | Bakersfield, CA
March 25
NCSM Virtual Coaching Lab
Hope to see some of you along the way!
100th Day of School idea for Pre K:
Stop chanting 100. Start building it.
We:
• Built 10 towers of 10 cubes
• Stacked 100 cups
• Did 10 moves × 10
• Made snack mix with 10 groups of 10
Real number sense > cute worksheets.
Full blog here: www.brooke-powers.com/realtalk/100...
#ElemMathChat
Well this was too fun! Back to watching the Olympics for me but thank you so much for joining and helping me think about asking better questions!
#ElemMathChat
Q8: The questions we ask either reinforce that math belongs to a few or expand it to everyone in the room. If tomorrow we asked more questions that center Student thinking we would not just improve instruction. We would reshape who sees themselves as a mathematician.
#ElemMathChat
Q8 I would shift toward Qs that uncover how students are making sense of ideas
What are you seeing?
What are you trying?
Why does that work?
When questions are rooted in curiosity rather than correctness, they experience math as something they participate in not something they survive
#ElemMathChat
Q8:
I would stop using questions to evaluate students and start using them to understand them.
Too often our questions are subtle checkpoints. We ask to see who got it. Who is fast. Who is right. Even when we do not mean to, that communicates that math is about performance.
#ElemMathChat
Yes! I love this idea!
A7: When I ask students to explain, justify, connect, or represent, I am communicating that their thinking matters.
If my questions only reward quick answers, I am unintentionally signaling that math belongs to the fast.
Belonging is shaped by what we choose to value publicly.
#ElemMathChat
Yes! And it is their idea regardless - so if we label it "misconception" it sends the idea that it is just "wrong".
#ElemMathChat
I am currently visualizing you chasing actual squirrels! 🐿️
#ElemMathChat
Q6: Often the unexpected answer reveals an underlying structure or conception that is worth unpacking publicly. In a humanizing classrooms we talk about treating errors as contributions to the learning community. I also banned the word "misconception"
#ElemMathChat
A5: Instead of changing the task, I change the entry point through questions.
What is a number you know that is close to 25?
Can you represent your thinking visually?
This allows multiple pathways while keeping the math intact. Differentiation becomes about access, not simplification.
#ElemMathChat
Learning is a social construct ...❤️
#ElemMathChat
A4: I intentionally ask students to connect to one another.
Who solved it differently?
Who can restate what Jordan said in your own words?
In a humanizing clasroom I think we have to emphasize collective meaning making. Questions can signal that math is something we build together.
#ElemMathChat
And acutally listening! I am guilty sometimes of asking but then not really focusing on what they are saying! But their words are so valuable.
#ElemMathChat
Notice and Wonder Woman 🦹♀️!
#ElemMathChat
A3: “What made that make sense to you?”
It slows students down in a good way.
It also normalizes that sense making is the goal, not speed. That shift is a start of changing classroom culture.
Plus I usually learn a lot from their sense making!
#ElemMathChat
#ElemMathChat Q3
What is one question you ask regularly that consistently surfaces student thinking? Drop the exact wording.
Hello my live 30 miles apart and only see each other online and at conferences friend! I'll see you at KCM in a month!
#ElemMathChat
Yes! 100%!!!
Well I love when I am in any of your sessions and you ask me to tell you more!
#ElemMathChat
A2: If I already know the answer I want, I am probably funneling.
Inviting sounds like “How did you decide?”
Funneling sounds like “Did you double first?”
One preserves agency. The other narrows it.
#ElemMathChat
Yes!!! I love asking the patterns questions especially!
#ElemMathChat
IQ1: try to ask questions that name what I see instead of what I want.
“I notice you broke apart 16. Can you say more about why?”
That keeps ownership with the student. It positions them as a mathematician making decisions, not following my path.
#ElemMathChat
Yes! My mind went straight to doubling and halving and how we elicit that thinking from them!
#elemmathchat
