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We hear it all the time: Make math real-world.

But real-world doesn’t automatically mean relevant.

In this episode, I’m sharing how one of my favorite cell phone projects slowly lost its relevance—and what it taught me about choosing contexts that actually matter to the students sitting in front of us.

We’ll talk about:

• The difference between real-world and relevant math
• My Spheres of Relevance: self, community, culture + the larger world
• How timeliness can create relevance
• Why relevant doesn’t have to mean entertaining
• Using real data to build mathematical literacy

Plus, I’m sharing how election data can give students a timely reason to use statistics to analyze the information they’re already encountering outside of school.

This week’s reflection: Where does the math you’re teaching exist in the real world—and why might it matter to your students?

This podcast is a member of the Teach Better Podcast Network. Better Today. Better Tomorrow. And the Podcasts to Help You Get There.

Connect with Kristen:

• Follow on Instagram @moorethanjustx
• Join the Facebook Community: The Modern Math Teachers Movement

More About the Modern Math Teacher Podcast

Kristen Moore, classroom teacher and instructional coach at Moore Than Just X, empowers modern secondary math teachers to transform the student experience with the strategies and the confidence to implement project-based learning, mastery-based assessment, and student engagement strategies in their classrooms.

Whether you're a math education newbie or a seasoned veteran, you'll find something new and inspiring in every episode. You’re already a listener, why not join the Movement inside ✨The Modern Math Teachers Movement Facebook group. Join the community of math teachers who are not afraid to shake things up and make math class the best part of the day for our students. So tune in each Tuesday, have some fun, and let's elevate our math teaching game together!

*Amazon orders may provide a small affiliate payout at no extra cost to you. These payouts help keep the podcast free for all!

Let’s chat—send me a text!

“Projects sound great…but when are students actually learning the math?”

That’s a fair question—and the answer isn’t simply putting more calculations into the project.

In this episode, we’re talking about how to intentionally keep deep, rigorous mathematics at the center of PBL using one of my favorite project-design tools: milestones and milestone markers.

Using my Wasted Space Geometry Project as an example, we’ll explore how students can use surface area, volume, modeling, constraints, and optimization to redesign product packaging—and how intentional checkpoints make their mathematical thinking visible along the way.

We’ll talk about:

• The difference between a deadline and a mathematical milestone
• How milestone markers give you evidence of student learning
• Checking individual understanding during collaborative projects
• Using project evidence to decide when students need instruction or practice
• Why the final product should never be your only evidence of learning

Milestones organize the learning journey. Milestone markers give us evidence that the learning happened.

✨Ready to design your own meaningful math PBL experience? PBL Kickstart is my $17 on-demand workshop designed to help you get started with the mathematics you already teach. Enroll in PBL Kickstart Today

Reflection: If I looked only at the milestones in your project—not the final product—could I tell what mathematics you want students to learn?

This podcast is a member of the Teach Better Podcast Network. Better Today. Better Tomorrow. And the Podcasts to Help You Get There.

Connect with Kristen:

• Follow on Instagram @moorethanjustx
• Join the Facebook Community: The Modern Math Teachers Movement

More About the Modern Math Teacher Podcast

Kristen Moore, classroom teacher and instructional coach at Moore Than Just X, empowers modern secondary math teachers to transform the student experience with the strategies and the confidence to implement project-based learning, mastery-based assessment, and student engagement strategies in their classrooms.

Whether you're a math education newbie or a seasoned veteran, you'll find something new and inspiring in every episode. You’re already a listener, why not join the Movement inside ✨The Modern Math Teachers Movement Facebook group. Join the community of math teachers who are not afraid to shake things up and make math class the best part of the day for our students. So tune in each Tuesday, have some fun, and let's elevate our math teaching game together!

*Amazon orders may provide a small affiliate payout at no extra cost to you. These payouts help keep the podcast free for all!

Let’s chat—send me a text!

“I’d love to do more projects…but I just don’t have time.”

If that sounds familiar, this episode is for you.

Because somewhere along the way, we started assuming that good project-based learning has to mean a massive, multi-week project complete with research, presentations, fancy final products, and approximately 47 things for the teacher to manage.

It doesn’t.

In this episode of The Modern Math Teacher, we’re talking about how to right-size PBL for the mathematics, your curriculum, and the instructional time you actually have.

We’ll explore the continuum from rich tasks and performance tasks to mini-projects and full PBL experiences—and why bigger doesn’t automatically mean better.

I’m also sharing four practical ways to shrink a project without shrinking the mathematics.

In this episode:

• Why good PBL doesn’t have to take three weeks
• How to right-size a project around the mathematical goal
• The difference between rich tasks, performance tasks, mini-projects, and larger PBL experiences
• Why smaller projects aren’t watered-down PBL
• How “project bloat” steals instructional time from the mathematics
• Four ways to make a project more manageable
• Why you can weave a project into instruction instead of saving it for “project week”
• What you should NEVER cut when shortening a project
• Why starting with one manageable project is enough
• The goal isn’t to find more time for PBL.
  It’s to design PBL that fits the time you actually have.
  
  

Ready to Get Started with PBL?

If you’ve found the place in your curriculum where a project makes sense but you’re still wondering how to turn that idea into an actual learning experience, PBL Kickstart is for you. Enroll in PBL Kickstart and Start Planning Now

PBL Kickstart is my $17 on-demand workshop that walks you through planning your first project-based learning unit in three simple steps—without assuming you have unlimited planning time or three empty weeks in your pacing guide.

Because you don’t need to transform your entire classroom.

You need one good place to start.

This podcast is a member of the Teach Better Podcast Network. Better Today. Better Tomorrow. And the Podcasts to Help You Get There.

Connect with Kristen:

• Follow on Instagram @moorethanjustx
• Join the Facebook Community: The Modern Math Teachers Movement

More About the Modern Math Teacher Podcast

Kristen Moore, classroom teacher and instructional coach at Moore Than Just X, empowers modern secondary math teachers to transform the student experience with the strategies and the confidence to implement project-based learning, mastery-based assessment, and student engagement strategies in their classrooms.

Whether you're a math education newbie or a seasoned veteran, you'll find something new and inspiring in every episode. You’re already a listener, why not join the Movement inside ✨The Modern Math Teachers Movement Facebook group. Join the community of math teachers who are not afraid to shake things up and make math class the best part of the day for our students. So tune in each Tuesday, have some fun, and let's elevate our math teaching game together!

*Amazon orders may provide a small affiliate payout at no extra cost to you. These payouts help keep the podcast free for all!