Building Thinking Classrooms Conference 2026: Full Schedule

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8:00am EDT

Subtraction is the Achilles Heel, But It Doesn't Have To Be

Tuesday June 30, 2026 8:00am - 8:55am EDT

Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School - Room 238

Building Thinking Classrooms and other pedagogcal structures require teachers to be flexible in the moment responding to the thinking of their students, but in my experience as a consultant for 7 years, I have found teachers' own conceptual understanding of subtraction is limited to the traditional US algorithm. I am hoping to either begin or to deepen participants' ownership of various flexible strategies and also various models that can be used to make this thinking visible. In this way, teachers can be sure to be providing access to each and every student to use strategies that make sense to them and for the numbers they are asked to calculate with. After this session, participants will walk away with a deeper understanding of the operation of subtraction, how these strategies can be applied to all sets of numbers, models that can help these strategies visible, as well activities and routines they can incorporate in their classrooms to develop these understandings by their students.

Speakers

Ann Elise Record

Founder, Lead Consultant, Ann Elise Record Consulting LLC

Ann Elise Record is a national consultant, speaker, and author who is passionate about building positive math identities and agencies of each and every student by providing experiences for students to engage in rich math discourse, connect multimodal representations of thinking, and... Read More →

Subtraction is the Achilles Heel Resources 2026 docx

Tuesday June 30, 2026 8:00am - 8:55am EDT
Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School - Room 238 177 College St, New Haven, CT 06510, USA

Teaching, Mild

Grade Level or Subject Area K-2; 3-5; Instructional Coaches

9:15am EDT

Lights, Camera, Action: Real Students, Real Thinking, Real Classrooms

Tuesday June 30, 2026 9:15am - 10:10am EDT

Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School - Lecture Hall 111

Go behind the scenes to explore what a Building Thinking Classroom looks and sounds like in action. In this session, participants will view and analyze multiple video clips from real elementary classrooms implementing Peter Liljedahl’s Building Thinking Classrooms framework. Together, we’ll unpack the intentional structures, routines, and teacher moves that promote student thinking, collaboration, and engagement. Whether you’re new to BTC or a seasoned practitioner, you’ll leave with fresh insights, practical strategies, and inspiration to strengthen a culture of thinking in every math lesson.

Speakers

Ashley Smith

1st Grade Teacher, Pleasant Knoll Elementary School/Fort Mill School District

Tammy McMorrow

teacher, Cynthia Mann Elementary, Boise School District

Tammy McMorrow has been teaching first grade for 32 years in Kuna, Idaho. In 2022 she began building a thinking classroom inspired by the work of Peter Liljedahl and was quickly won over by its magic and messiness. Determined to start a movement, she created a Facebook page for K-2... Read More →

Tuesday June 30, 2026 9:15am - 10:10am EDT
Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School - Lecture Hall 111 177 College St, New Haven, CT 06510, USA

Teaching, Mild

Grade Level or Subject Area K-2; 3-5; Instructional Coaches

10:30am EDT

Small Groups, Big Thinking: BTC in Intervention Settings

Tuesday June 30, 2026 10:30am - 11:25am EDT

Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School - Room 301

Participants will leave this session with practical strategies and structures for applying Building Thinking Classrooms practices in small group intervention settings. They will learn how to adapt BTC elements - such as thinking tasks, random groupings, and visible thinking spaces - to meet the needs of students who require targeted support. By the end of the session, teachers will have concrete examples, planning tools, and renewed confidence to foster deep mathematical thinking, engagement, and independence among all learners, even within small intervention groups.

Speakers

Grace Wallace

Math Instructional Coach, Greater Clark County Schools

Tuesday June 30, 2026 10:30am - 11:25am EDT
Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School - Room 301 177 College St, New Haven, CT 06510, USA

Teaching; Special Populations, Medium

Grade Level or Subject Area K-2; 3-5; Instructional Coaches

2:15pm EDT

Tips and Tricks to Enrich and BTC-ify Any Activity

Tuesday June 30, 2026 2:15pm - 3:10pm EDT

Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School - Black Box 118

How can I adapt a task that will work with my favorite BTC strategies? Join us to discover how to successfully turn an activity from your existing curriculum into a BTC thinking task! Leave with experiences that will help you adapt divergent thinking rich tasks as well as convergent thin-slicing tasks.

Speakers

Jackie Murawska

Math Success Manager, Innovamat Education

Hi there! Jackie Murawska is a Math Success Manager at Innovamat Education in Chicago. She earned her EdD in Curriculum Leadership, Cognate in Mathematics, from Northern Illinois University. She is an author, speaker, and a past president of the Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics... Read More →

Albert Vilalta

Tuesday June 30, 2026 2:15pm - 3:10pm EDT
Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School - Black Box 118 177 College St, New Haven, CT 06510, USA

Teaching; Coaching

Grade Level or Subject Area K-2; 3-5; Instructional Coaches

Building Thinking Classrooms Conference 2026

8:00am EDT

Ann Elise Record

9:15am EDT

Ashley Smith

Tammy McMorrow

10:30am EDT

Grace Wallace

2:15pm EDT

Jackie Murawska

Albert Vilalta

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