Featured Speakers
Jenna Laib
Jenna Laib is a math specialist at the Driscoll K–8 School in Brookline, MA. She started her career as an upper elementary classroom teacher and later became a grade 6 math teacher, K-8 math coach, and educational consultant. She is grateful to have wonderful colleagues—at her school and in the larger education community—to share in the pursuit of dynamic and equitable learning environments. Jenna enjoys collaborating with others to develop content knowledge, pedagogical strategies, and infinite curiosity for mathematical thinking and learning.
Chris Luzniak
Chris Luzniak is ready to show you how math is debatable (more than you think)! As an international math consultant, author, and podcaster, he challenges students and educators to learn the art of arguing. His nearly 20 years of teaching mathematics began in New York City public schools, where he also founded and coached the Speech and Debate team. Through this combination of teaching and coaching, Chris has developed debate routines that bring student voice, discussion, and argumentation into the math classroom. He coaches teachers to develop real-world debate activities for students. Some of his work can be seen in his book Up for Debate! published by Stenhouse Publishers or heard on The DebateMath Podcast. Get ready to Debate Math!
Nat Banting
Nat Banting is a classroom mathematics teacher with Saskatoon Public Schools who blogs about teaching math at natbanting.com/blog and tweets as @NatBanting. He also enjoys working as a lecturer in math education programs at St. FX University and the University of Saskatchewan. Recently, he received a 2021 Prime Minister’s Certificate of Excellence in STEM, and in 2019 the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences awarded him the Margaret Sinclair Memorial Award recognizing innovation and excellence across Canadian mathematics education. When he is not working in math education, you can usually find Nat spending time with his kids, on his gravel bike, or in a rink coaching young goaltenders.
Maegan Giroux
Maegan Giroux is an accomplished mathematics teacher, instructional coach, and educational consultant, currently working in Regina Catholic Schools. Having taught for over a decade at every grade level from kindergarten to grade 8, Maegan’s teaching philosophy is rooted in innovative and student-centered approaches, with a strong emphasis on thinking classroom pedagogy, fostering student autonomy, and implementing robust assessment practices. Maegan also works in Canada as a valuable member of the Building Thinking Classrooms professional development team. In this capacity, she plays a key role in facilitating workshops related to Building Thinking Classroom methodologies, sharing her expertise and insights with educators who are interested in implementing these innovative teaching practices. She speaks frequently at various educational conferences, where she imparts her knowledge on a wide range of math teaching concepts, further contributing to the advancement of mathematics education in Canada and beyond. In addition to her role as an educator, Maegan is actively engaged in academic pursuits. Her current research focuses on decolonizing mathematics education by challenging power dynamics through the framework of the 4 Rs of Indigenous research.
