The book, Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics..., by Peter Liljedahl helps teachers implement 14 optimal practices for thinking that create an ideal setting for deep mathematics learning to occur. This book provides the what, why, and how of each practice. The 14 practices are organized into four toolkits that can be implemented in order and built on throughout the year.

This workshop is for teachers who already started implementing practices from Toolkit 1 and who are ready to deepen their practice by exploring Toolkit 2 and 3 strategies. The focus will be on sustaining student thinking, promoting meaningful discourse, and building a culture of collaboration.

Objectives

• Articulate Micro-Interventions: Experience and discuss how “Proximity,” “Stop-Thinking,” and “Keep-Thinking” questions guide student reasoning and sustain productive struggle.
• De-Front the Classroom: Explore how classroom setup and verbal task launches impact engagement, and reflect on ways to make learning more mobile and collaborative.
• Sequence for Success (Thin-Slicing): Co-design a series of connected tasks that build complexity while keeping students in flow.
• Practice Strategic Intervention: Discuss and practice timely teacher moves—hints, extensions, and redirects—that keep thinking alive.
• Facilitate Knowledge Mobility: Experience strategies that help students learn from one another’s work and normalize movement and idea sharing.
• Design for Consolidation: Engage in model discussions that connect multiple solution paths and support concept formalization.
• Guide Meaningful Note-Taking: Reimagine note-taking as student-owned meaning-making—creating “notes to their future selves.”
• Check for Understanding: Design short, ungraded reflections that help students assess learning and plan next steps.
• Observe Thinking in Action: Practice noticing and documenting student thinking through simple formative assessment tools.

Who Should Attend?

Those who have read the book, Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics K-12, by Peter Liljedahl:

• Teachers in grades 3-12
• Math Specialists
• Math Coaches
• Math Instructional Leaders

Details

Date: November 19, 2025

Time: 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Cost: $225 per participant (Includes lunch)

QUESTIONS? Contact:

Amy Ruppert, Program Assistant
aruppert@cesa6.org

Sara Fleischman, Director
sfleischman@cesa6.org