This is a slide from our presentation. Did you know that the diagonals of the area model have the same product? Using that fact, we asked participants to find the possible area models. This question is the lynch pin of the investigation we did with students to help them develop a strategy for factoring when a is not 1. It's pretty cool and effective.

The last highlight I'd like to share was the session from Dr. Valerie Faulkner on Opportunity, Equity & Agency: How do our grouping practices mediate student sense of mathematical identity? She makes a very convincing argument about how grouping in education (high and low students) just doesn't make a lot of sense. The statement I have been using to summarize her talk is one she made.
"We are surprisingly bad at evaluating what a person can and will do even if we have a vested interest in doing so."
We should stop trying to separate students using some abstract high and low characteristic of student ability. We must begin to talk about students in regards to what they know and when they need to work on.
As I shared, the three days were a whirlwind. I am excited about new friendships developed and being able to connect with teachers from across the state. Maybe I'll even start blogging more often. Haaaa.....Haaaaa.....Haaaa. No promises but always a goal.
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