Educator Resources

Saturday Math

Welcome to Saturday Math, a place where teachers, administrators, curriculum enthusiasts, and other colleagues from the metropolitan New York area do, learn, and talk about math together. Four times each year we meet to explore our own mathematical thinking and discuss issues related to teaching and learning mathematics. Each facilitated session consists of interactive activities and discussions, and you will go home with resources and ideas to try out in your own practice on Monday. Session topics may focus on content (e.g., Connecting Fractions, Decimals and Percents) or pedagogy (e.g., Using Mathematical Routines), and will always provide ample opportunity to make connections to your unique practice as a teacher, coach, administrator, or other educational professional.

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Dates and Topics for 2019-20

This year in Bank Street’s Saturday Math seminars, we will explore the question: Where have all the statistics gone?

As math teacher leaders, we need to reflect on how much time we spend engaging our students in the content of data and statistics. I know many math teachers, including myself, who let statistics be pushed to the very end of the school year and squeeze it into a two-week period. While state tests do not typically assess students on a lot of statistics questions, we need to recognize the importance of our students understanding statistics in today’s world of data overload. This subject should become one of our priority standards when thinking about our curriculum maps and pacing during the school year.

In each session, participants will engage in mathematical problem-solving that is connected to statistics. We will model different teaching strategies that can be used effectively to teach statistics conceptually. Most importantly, we will spend the four sessions looking at the arc of statistics from kindergarten through high school.

The sessions will be held at Bank Street College of Education in room 710 from 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM on the dates listed below.

We ask for a $10 donation to help offset the costs and participants will receive CTLE hours.

October 5, 2019—Statistics in K – 2

For our first session in the Statistics series, we will be spending a lot of time digging into “What is statistics?” and “Is statistics important?”. After thinking about those questions, we will be shifting into thinking about where we see statistics in early elementary grades. We will think about how to create space in our classrooms for our younger (and older) students to engage with data. As always, we will spend time doing math together as a community.
December 7, 2019—Statistics in 3 – 5

In this session, the focus will be on what data collection and analysis looks like in upper elementary classrooms. The participants will spend time collecting and organizing data in different ways. We will be discussing an appropriate level of data analysis for 3rd – 5th grade students. As always, we will be engaging in math as a community.
February 1, 2020—Where Does Probability Fit In With Statistics?: A Closer Look at Probability in Middle and High School

We have been focused on statistics this year during our Saturday Math sessions. In thinking about statistics in elementary school, we realized the standards were called measurement and data. As we move into middle and high school, the standards shift from measurement and data to probability and statistics. In this session, we will be discussing what probability is and why it is constantly paired with statistics. We will think about what connections we can see between what students learn in elementary school that sets them up for thinking about probability.
March 14, 2020—Statistics and Social Justice

A common question amongst math teachers is how to bring social justice into the math classroom. Frequently, math teachers are given superficial ways to do this that seem forced and inauthentic. In this session, we will continue our discussion about statistics and brainstorm authentic ways to bring social justice issues into our classrooms.

Meet the Facilitator:

Nancy Buck

Nancy Buck supports current students and graduates of the Leadership in Mathematics Education program in facilitating the Saturday Math sessions. Nancy has taught math to students ranging from 5th grade – freshmen in college. She currently and coaches teachers at The Young Women’s Leadership School of the Bronx. She is also a Master Teacher in the Math for America program. She believes that math is a beautiful and creative subject that allows people to understand the world around them. She works hard to create safe spaces so that all educators can see that both they and their students are mathematicians.

History of Saturday Math

Since 1989, Bank Street faculty, current students, and graduates have run Saturday Math at Bank Street. Saturday Math invites teachers, administrators, curriculum enthusiasts, and other colleagues from the metropolitan New York area to enter the doors of Bank Street and engage in experiences that reflect the College’s progressive thinking around mathematics education.

While Saturday Math has grown and developed over time, it maintains consistent core goals. We support the development of education professionals, provide access for prospective candidates for the Leadership in Mathematics Education program, and empower current graduate students to design and facilitate powerful professional development seminars. In keeping with Bank Street’s commitment to growing community, we provide a light breakfast and space for participants to network and mingle.