Presented by Jay Meadows, CEO, Exemplars; and Jessica Alstete, Elementary School Teacher and Content Creator, Sunflower Scaffolds
Moderated by Alaina Cioffi, Director of Sales, Exemplars

Sponsored by Exemplars

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Creating a learning environment that is exciting and engaging for students takes more than a good curriculum. How can teachers establish a classroom environment that helps students successfully learn mathematics while enjoying the process? Hit the ground running with effective ideas for establishing a classroom culture that inspires deep learning and gets students excited. In this edWebinar, you’ll learn:

• What kinds of math tasks and problems should you be asking your students to work on
• How to inspire students to construct their own understanding versus simply giving them algorithms
• Questioning strategies to keep students thinking when they struggle
• How your walls and classroom set up can help stimulate engagement while supporting your learning goals
• How to arrange your classroom so that mathematical resources are readily accessible
• How to arrange desks to stimulate collaborative mathematical investigations and discourse
• How to establish a safe culture for sharing ideas and developing a growth mindset during the first few weeks of school

Watch Jay Meadows and Jessica Alstete as they explore powerful, research-based best practices and draw on their extensive years of experience in creating engaging and thriving math classrooms.

This recorded edWebinar is of interest to elementary and middle school teachers, math coaches, and school and district leaders.

About the Presenters

Jay Meadows serves as Exemplars’ Chief Executive Officer. He is a former middle school math and science teacher and has been working in education for more than two decades. Jay holds a Master of Arts in teaching from the University of Vermont and a master’s in mathematical pedagogy from Southern New Hampshire University.

Jay is also one of Exemplars’ primary performance task writers and professional development consultants for the middle level. Leading sessions throughout the United States, Jay works with teachers to integrate performance tasks and research-based best practices into their curricula. Through Exemplars, Jay dreams of teaching a generation of students to become powerful problem solvers. Prior to his career in education, Jay coordinated delegations from the former Soviet Union through U.S. State Department grants. Jay has also worked alongside a number of international non-profits and is a former Peace Corps Volunteer.

Jessica Alstete is certified in elementary/special education and has been a classroom teacher for seven years. Jessica has an MS in teaching from Iona College in New York. She currently teaches fourth grade in New Jersey while always seeking to improve her teaching practices.

Jessica has been using Exemplars in her classroom for years and finds that the researched-based system has helped her students to improve their mathematical thinking. Jessica runs a teacher-focused business called Sunflower Scaffolds. She coaches new teachers in areas including lesson planning and classroom management. Jessica creates resources for educators to help them simplify their preparation times and improve their classroom environments.

About the Moderator

Alaina Cioffi is the sales director at Exemplars and works to support onboarding, customer success and outreach. She is a former middle school math and social studies teacher and worked for almost a decade to support student success with problem-solving performance tasks.

Learn more about viewing the live presentation and the recording, earning your CE certificate, and using our new accessibility features.

Join the Classroom Environments: From Class Set-up to Student Engagement by Design community to network with educators, participate in online discussions, and receive invitations to upcoming edLeader Panels.

Exemplars provides performance tasks, rubrics, and student anchor papers for schools and districts in Math, Science, and Writing. Our performance material engages students and promotes reasoning, communication, and higher-order thinking. Performance tasks are classroom-tested and may be used for assessment, instruction, and professional development. Exemplars’ supplemental resources are research-based and designed to meet state, national, and Common Core standards.