Math teachers from K-8 are invited to attend summer math education workshops presented by the UW-Madison School of Education. Each session will include 2 in-person days and 1 asynchronous day led by UW faculty/staff experts and K-8 partners.
“How can we strengthen number sense while building mathematical problem-solving and discourse?” This professional development workshop series is designed to help educators answer that question to strengthen students’ mathematical confidence and understanding. Through discussions and hands-on activities, educators will also analyze how their curricular resources provides equitable access to these big ideas through discourse, concept development, and fluency games.
What You’ll Gain:
- A developmental progression that connects the essential areas of counting, place value, whole number operations, and fractions
- Hands-on exploration of curricular resources, problem-solving tasks, discourse structures and strategies, and high-leverage fluency routines that can be used productively across multiple math topics
- Practical tools to foster equitable, thinking-centered classrooms
Participants will leave with strategies to enhance student math engagement and understanding in meaningful ways.
Building Confident Math Thinkers I & II Workshop participants will also receive:
- A $150 stipend OR PAC credit for attending Building Confident Math Thinkers I
- A $150 stipend OR PAC credit for attending Building Confident Math Thinkers II.
- Small-group engagement with educators in similar roles. This workshop is led by UW faculty/staff experts and K-8 partners and provides opportunities for in-depth exploration and application to participants’ contexts.
- Whole-group learning experiences with hands-on activities and discourse.
- Whole-group meals including breakfast and lunch for in-person days.
- A UW-Madison School of Education Certificate of Participation for Building Confident Math Thinkers I/II upon successful completion of all required components of the conference.
When and Where:
FREE Virtual Professional Learning Community for Summer 2025 Participants Only:
-
- Feb 2, 2026 | 3:30-5 pm
- April 13, 2026 | 3:30-5 pm
Summer 2026 Building Confident Math Thinkers:
- Building Confident Math Thinkers I
- August 4-6, 2026 | TEC
- In-person Tuesday & Thursday
- Virtual Wednesday
- Program Fee (non-refundable): $50*
- Building Confident Math Thinkers II
- August 11-13, 2026 | TEC
- In-person Tuesday & Thursday
- Virtual Wednesday
- Program Fee (non-refundable): $50*
- To attend this session, you must first complete session 1 above, or have completed the August 11-15, 2025 session.
* Building Confident Math Thinkers: Deepening Understanding and Engagement Beyond Procedures is hosted by the UW-Madison School of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction and the office of Professional Learning and Community Education (PLACE). This partnership was made possible by the generosity of the Peggy Porter Glick Fund and the School of Education Dean’s Office.
*PLACE is committed to creating inclusive and accessible events. If you need accommodations, please make sure to include this information when you register for this event. If accommodation needs arise after registration, please contact us at place@education.wisc.edu at least two weeks before the event. While we will do our best to fulfill late requests, we may not always be able to guarantee them.
Program Partners
Dr. Gwyneth Hughes is a mathematics educator with experience spanning K-12 teacher professional development and secondary math classroom teaching. She began her career teaching high school math before earning a Ph.D. in Geosciences. Realizing her true passion lay in math education, she spent over a decade supporting teachers through Boise State University and the UW-Madison. In 2021, she returned to the classroom and currently teaches 7th grade math at Wright Middle School in MMSD.
Dr. Sarah Lord is a mathematics educator specializing in how children develop multiplicative reasoning and how teachers can deepen their understanding of mathematical concepts. She has extensive experience teaching and supporting pre-service and in-service teachers, focusing on building mathematical reasoning, discourse, and inclusive learning environments. Sarah currently serves as Teaching Faculty for elementary and mathematics education at UW-Madison.
Dr. Hala Ghousseini is the John G. Harvey Professor of mathematics education in the department of Curriculum and Instruction and faculty partner with Mary T. Kellner Teacher Education Center. She has several years of experience teaching elementary and middle school mathematics. Since joining UW-Madison, she has collaborated with teachers in MMSD around professional development focused on responsive math teaching and classroom mathematics discourse.