March 23, 2020 was the day Orange County Public Schools were to resume after Spring Break. However, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know school is on hold for most of the United States. Instead of heading back to school to welcome students for the last final push of the year, teachers dove into the crazy world of how to teach digitally. On Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, thru emails and texts the online resources started pouring in. However, with so many resources at our fingertips, is anyone else starting to become overwhelmed?
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics was set to have their national conference April 1st celebrating 100 years of mathematics education. Again, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know almost every conference was cancelled due to COVID-19. However, NCTM is working to bring conferences digitally to educators in the coming months, so be on the look-out for that! NCTM through all of this commotion has decided to make some of their resources, previously for members only, free to the public. This. Is. Amazing. Journals, webinars, resources for children, and lessons are now being offered for free.
I’ve seen numerous Google Sheets being shared on social media listing hundreds of online resources for teaching mathematics. If you’re looking at the list thinking “where do I begin?”, then head over to https://www.nctm.org/freeresources/ and grab some free resources. As you soak in all the new knowledge, consider joining as a member and receive even more great resources. As a math coach, I visit the site daily, but even as a classroom teacher I constantly referred to NCTM for guidance on how to best reach all my students in math through research-based strategies. I can’t recommend NCTM enough for any math educator, but especially during these unprecedented times (seems to be the buzz phrase right now), it is helpful to head to an organization I know provides quality content. Check them out and let me know what you think of their free resources.
