Pre-Conference Workshops
If you’ve registered for a per-conference workshop, you can select between these two great workshops. Each workshop will be a deep dive and run approximately 2.5 hours long. Make sure your ticket to SUM 2026 includes a Pre-Conference Workshop!
Vanessa Vakharia
Math Therapy: How to help students overcome their fear of math!
This session is all about the F-word that’s holding your students back from accessing curiosity and creativity math: F-E-A-R. If you’re ready to move beyond band aid solutions that manage math anxiety in the moment, and start learning how to help students overcome that anxiety for good – this session is for YOU! You’ll walk away with a toolkit of impactful strategies you can use RIGHT away to break the cycle of fear, anxiety, and avoidance. This session will totally transform your understanding of math anxiety and empower you to help ALL students build healthier relationships with math, starting NOW!
*While this session will focus on strategies teachers can use with students, ANY teacher who wants to explore healing their OWN math trauma is welcome to attend! Come!
Kyle Webb
From Mimicry to Mastery: Building a Thinking Classroom
For too long, math classrooms have prioritized mimicry over genuine thinking. This highly interactive workshop is designed to change just that. First, you’ll become the student and experience rich thinking tasks firsthand to see how a Thinking Classroom feels. Be prepared to roll up your sleeves and engage in some math yourself. Then, we will unpack the “how.” We’ll debrief the tasks, unpack the research, and focus on the teaching practices that move students from mimicry towards mastery. Whether you are brand new to Building Thinking Classrooms or an experienced implementer, you’ll leave with new insights and practical strategies to implement immediately.