Welcome back from President Laura Wageman!

How many flowers do you see? How did you count?

As I was vacationing in west Ireland this summer, I noticed the math all around me. From counting flowers and money spent (Patterns & Relationships) to constantly checking the weather for rain (Data & Probability) to measuring the time needed for our adventures and the temperature for our clothing choices (Spatial Reasoning), it was a great reminder that our world is mathematical.

As I am getting ready for this school year, my highest priority is to reread the Career, College, Community Readiness Vision Statement. This will be my North Star this year in creating the conditions for student success through building positive classroom learning environments, learning partnerships and joy in mathematics.

Minnesota career, college and community ready students will:

Be curious, pose questions and seek patterns in order to make sense of their world.
Communicate their mathematical thinking and contribute to high-level math discussions.
Be persistent, flexible, collaborative and creative problem solvers.
Make connections between mathematics concepts and other disciplines, experiences outside the classroom, interests and career aspirations, as well as the connections amongst mathematical ideas.
Build conceptual understanding, thinking and reasoning in order to develop procedural fluency and flexible problem-solving strategies.
Collaborate with cultural perspectives and traditions like and unlike one’s own, allowing students to make sense of mathematical concepts and value various mathematical identities connected to lived experiences.
Solve problems connected to place, story, cultural practices, language and perspectives relevant to historical and contemporary Dakota and Anishinaabe/Ojibwe communities (Minnesota Statutes 2021, section 120B.021).

As we are one year away from implementing our 2022 math standards, I encourage you to take 10 minutes each week to read the documents on the MDE Implementation page, the MDE/MCTM One Stop Doc or the MCTM Youtube Channel. There are 39 weeks between September 7th and June 7th. If you spend 10 minutes each week learning, that will be 390 minutes or 6 ½ hours Experiencing the 2022 Math Standards.

Wishing you each a wonderful year!

Laura Wagenman

MCTM President, 2025-2027

2026-2027 MathBits Update

Welcome back to another school year MN teachers!! As you work to integrate the 2022 Math Standards, know that MCTM is here to support you. This year, MathBits will come to your inbox bi-monthly. The first of the month will bring you updates specific to the math community. The 15th of the month will bring you standards implementation specific information. We look forward to engaging with our amazing math community during this historic year!

MCTM Foundation Update

The members of the foundation were pleased to support the attendees of the 2026 Spring Conference. Through an anonymous donation the foundation board was able to support twelve pre-service teachers. The foundation board also supported five individual teachers and three teams by awarding grants totaling $5405. It was great to see the number of teachers attending both the symposium and the conference. Our book sale, quilt raffle, wood intarsia, and baskets raffles were successful due to your generous support. We raised over $1400 in the two days. Stay tuned for what is in store for the conference in the Spring 2027!

Click to read more from the Foundation!

Are you interested in joining the Foundation Board?

We have two in-person meetings and one virtual meeting, second Saturday of October, first Saturday in December and first Saturday in February. Additional virtual meetings will be scheduled to discuss grant and scholarship applications.

The MCTM Foundation Governing Committee is composed of at least nine members that each serve a three year term. The Purpose (Mission):

Raise funds to support classroom teacher’s attendance at MCTM conferences, college coursework, and other professional development.
Encourage teachers to apply for funds.
Maintain effective practices for the financial health of the foundation.

MCTM Elementary Endowment Update

We recently experienced our very first Endowment-sponsored math workshop for elementary teachers. Thirty teachers participated in this workshop which was held in person at Hamline University and remotely in Cloquet and Houston. Terry Wyberg facilitated two fabulous days of learning about early math trajectories. We engaged in a variety of learning activities and left feeling very inspired!

NCTM Update

The NCTM Connection

Notes and resources from Minnesota's NCTM Representative – Becky Rahm

Welcome back! It’s hard to believe September is here. A new school year is a good reminder that none of us has to figure out math teaching alone. NCTM provides a national network, while Minnesota has an incredible community of math educators right here at home (click to read more from Becky!).

Announcements From Our Partners

Hurry! Time is running out!

6th & 7th grade teachers
Tied to the new MN Data Sciences Anchor Standards
Each teacher $1,000 + $100 for administration of the standardized assessment
School gets $1,000 to support teachers
Substitutes, mileage (over 50 +) and hotel (if needed) are covered
This is a randomized control study. 50% of teachers will receive the pd in the fall. The second group will receive the PD next summer