Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics
Welcome to Partners for Educational Leadership website for Building Thinking Classrooms
If you are a teacher or coach who would be willing to share what you’re doing with BTC with others, PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINK TO FILL OUT A GOOGLE FORM. We will use this information to populate a spreadsheet that we will share ONLY with the people on this list and on the PEL/BTC website, which is not a publicly listed site. View that spreadsheet here.
If you wish to join the mailing list for BTC-related activities, please use this link to sign up.
This link takes you to the tasks we have been using to teach about the difference between a traditional, teacher-centric lesson (Model 1) and a BTC-influenced, student thinking-forward lesson (Model 2).
This link takes you to the recipes that we have developed and are testing as part of our work on standard work. For more information about standard work and recipe testing, please read Coaching Letter #190
This link takes you to emails we have sent to the BTC mailing list with the latest information about all our BTC-related resources and workshops.
BTC for Leaders, Spring 2024
Readings included in the Welcome Letter
In preparation for the workshop, please read at least one of the following chapters from Cobb et al. 2019, Systems for Instructional Improvement. We would like everyone to read Chapter 4 Systems for Instructional Improvement overview of the TLS.pdf. The other chapters are specified by role:
For coaches: Chapter 7 Systems for Instructional Improvement instructional coaching.pdf
For building leaders: Chapter 12 Systems for Instructional Improvement school instructional leadership.pdf
For district leaders: Chapter 13 Systems for Instructional Improvement district instructional leadership.pdf
Optional Readings
Kristal & Santos 2021, GI Joe Phenomena
Rubie-Davies et al 2014, A Teacher Expectation Intervention
Excerpt from Nobili et al, in prep, Equitable Instruction Section on leadership dispositions
Excerpt from Barnas 2016, Beyond Heroes Chapter on standard work for leaders
Equitable Instruction Resources ToC
Tools
Link to the page on recipes (which is on this website)
A sample Google form for collecting specific information about a single recipe
A sample Google form for collecting information about multiple recipes
BTC for Coaches, Fall 2023
Readings
Learning goals and performance goals: pp. 21-22 of Making Coaching Matter
Hattie & Timperley (2007) | Hattie & Clarke (2018)
BTC Toolkit 1 data collection form | BTC Toolkit 2 data collection form
June 30, 2023 meeting
Meeting hosted by Derby for math teachers, coaches, and instructional leaders looking to support the implementation of BTC in math classrooms.
June 5, 2023 meeting
Meeting hosted by Derby for leaders looking to support the implementation of BTC in their schools and districts.
Email Communication for June 5th Participants
Student-Centered Instructional Framework
Video of explanation of SCIF (although not the one on June 5)
Inference Squared activity from Nottingham PDF of instructions
Inference Squared slides Google slide deck of the pictures and graphs we used
Click here to learn more about the inference square from the Challenging Learning series
New York Times "What's Going On In This Picture?"
Building Thinking Classrooms Workshop: June 5, 2023
Peter Liljedahl's Visit to Connecticut April 2023
Day 1: April 3, 2023
Day 2: April 4, 2023
Day 3 (Manchester): April 5, 2023
Day 4: April 6, 2023
Book Discussion
Elementary Sessions
Session 1 - March 14, 2023
Session 2 - March 21, 2023
Session 3 - March 28, 2023
Secondary Sessions
Session 1 - March 15, 2023
Session 2 - March 22, 2023
Session 3 - March 29, 2023
Meet your facilitator
Thomas Nobili Ed.D. is the Pk-5 STEM Instructional Supervisor for Milford Public Schools. Tom has held a variety of other roles throughout his career including as an elementary classroom teacher and instructional coach. He has a wealth of experience in the areas of curriculum development and implementation, instructional coaching, strategic planning, and instructional design; he has provided professional development in these areas at the local, state, and national level. He is a member of several professional organizations, including the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics (NCSM) and the American Educational Research Association (AERA), and serves on the Board of Directors for the Connecticut Council of Leaders of Mathematics (CCLM). He teaches graduate classes in educational leadership at The University of Bridgeport.
