Fostering Empathy and Resilience in Math Classrooms Through Differentiation and Performance Tasks

Presented by Jay Meadows, MAT, Chief Executive Officer, Exemplars; and Lisa Westman, Founder and President, Lisa Westman Consulting
Moderated by Jim McVety, Managing Partner, First Step Advisors, and Senior Advisor, Exemplars

Sponsored by Exemplars

Watch the Recording

Closed captioning will be added to the recording within 2 weeks of the live presentation. Get a CE Certificate for this edWebinar Learn more.

In the post-COVID classroom, how do we get students excited to learn math again? As educators we are working to get our students re-engaged in learning while trying to meet the varying needs of every student. Now more than ever, the students in our classrooms demonstrate an extremely vast range of understanding, engagement, and abilities. How then can educators focus on the grade-level learning standards while also ensuring our students are inspired, curious, and challenged?

Lisa Westman is a world-renowned educator, author, and consultant. She brings years of experience in differentiation to this edWebinar on how rich math tasks, authentic context, and intentional structures can help every student be successful.

To achieve success with your students, we discuss the importance of:

• Offering empathy to our students so we can provide additional assistance based on their readiness level
• Being clear with yourself and your students about learning targets and success criteria
• Hooking every student with tasks that provide engaging context and various possible solution strategies that allow for rich conversations and rich problem solving
• Using formative assessment to regularly inform your instruction
• Utilizing cooperative group work with intentional structures that allow every student to engage and stretch towards new learning

This recorded edWebinar is of interest to teachers and school and district leaders of the PreK through middle school levels.

About the Presenters

Jay Meadows serves as Chief Executive Officer of Exemplars. He is a former middle school math and science teacher and has been working in education for nearly three decades. Jay holds a Master of Arts in teaching from the University of Vermont. In addition to his role as CEO, Jay is one of Exemplars’ primary performance task writers and professional development consultants for the middle level. Leading sessions throughout the United States, he works with teachers to integrate performance tasks into their curricula. Through Exemplars, Jay dreams of teaching a generation of kids to become effective problem solvers. Prior to his career in education, Jay coordinated delegations from the former Soviet Union through U.S. State Department grants. He has also worked alongside a number of international non-profits and is a former Peace Corps volunteer.

Lisa Westman is an author, speaker, and consultant who regularly works with school systems internationally to provide professional learning on student-driven differentiation, empathy as the foundation of our instructional practices, standards-based learning, and implementing instructional coaching programs. Before becoming a consultant, Lisa taught sixth, seventh, and eighth grade (gifted humanities, English language arts, social studies) and was an instructional coach specializing in differentiation in Skokie, IL.

Her publications include Student-Driven Differentiation: 8 Steps to Harmonize Learning in the Classroom (Corwin Press, 2018), Teaching with Empathy: How to Transform Your Practice by Understanding Your Learners (ASCD, August 2021), and frequent contributions to Education Update (ASCD), Education Week, Education Week Teacher, and Edutopia.

Lisa is married to an educator and is the parent of a sixth grader, a ninth grader, an eight-year-old Pomeranian rat terrier, and an 18-month-old border collie. She enjoys the Bar Method, music, and the City of Chicago!

About the Moderator

Jim McVety is Managing Partner of First Step Advisors. A lifelong advocate for innovation in education, Jim brings with him 20+ years of research and analysis experience. Jim has hosted numerous webinars, expert panels, and keynote presentations during his career, and his focus is on building the capacity of service organizations to better support educators and students.

Closed captioning will be added to the recording within 2 weeks of the live presentation.

Join the Helping Students Succeed in Math community to network with educators, participate in online discussions, receive invitations to upcoming edWebinars, and view recordings of previous programs to earn CE certificates.

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.