DETAILS
Date: Register anytime between August 21, 2026 - August 20, 2027
Course #: LR 288:608
Instructor: Steven McHugh (steven@growprofessionally.com)
Number of License Renewal Credits: 2
Registration Deadline: Last day to register is Friday, August 20th 2027 by 5:00 p.m.
This 2-credit, 4-week course is entirely self-paced.
Participants will be expected to begin the course once registration is processed and an email has been received from the instructor with instructions on how to get started.
All assignments, discussions, and final project work are due at the end of the 4-week course to receive credit for the course.
Course Description
The course is designed to support teachers in developing the planning habits and instructional decision-making skills necessary to lead rigorous, student-centered mathematics discussions that maintain high levels of cognitive demand.
Participants will examine the five core practices—anticipating, monitoring, selecting, sequencing, and connecting student responses—and explore how these practices give teachers purposeful control over the direction of classroom discussions. Emphasis will be placed on aligning mathematical goals with high-level tasks, preserving cognitive demand during implementation, and using strategic questioning and accountability structures to deepen student thinking.
Throughout the course, teachers will engage in structured analysis and lesson design work that prepares them to implement the Five Practices with fidelity. Rather than requiring immediate classroom enactment, participants will develop detailed, implementation-ready action plans that include measurable success criteria and adjustment strategies to address common instructional challenges. By the end of the course, educators will possess a sustainable framework for planning, facilitating, and refining productive mathematics discussions within their own instructional contexts and professional learning communities.
Learning Objectives:
Upon completion of this course, participants will...
● Analyze and articulate the theoretical and research foundations of the Five Practices framework and explain how each practice supports purposeful teacher control during student-centered mathematics discussions.
● Evaluate the relationship between mathematical learning goals, task selection, and the maintenance of cognitive demand during classroom instruction.
● Design high-level mathematics lesson plans that intentionally incorporate anticipating, monitoring, selecting, sequencing, and connecting student responses.
● Develop structured anticipation and monitoring tools that identify likely student strategies, misconceptions, and teacher questioning moves.
● Construct discussion orchestration plans that include purposeful selection and sequencing of student work to advance specific mathematical goals.
● Formulate measurable success criteria that identify evidence of maintained cognitive demand, productive student discourse, and equitable participation.
● Create adjustment strategies to address common implementation challenges, including declining cognitive demand, limited student participation, and procedural drift.
● Develop a sustainable, implementation-ready action plan for integrating the Five Practices into ongoing instructional planning and collaborative professional structures.
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**Important Information for You**
Please read through as these are Frequently Asked Questions in which answers can be found within this page.
1. The instructor will email you once your class registration has been processed and forwarded to him with information on how to get started in the class:
- Emails regarding this class will come from the instructor, Steven McHugh, with this email address: steven@growprofessionally.com;
- Be sure to check your junk/spam/clutter folder-mailboxes in case the email address isn't recognized as a known address; and
- IF YOU ARE USING A SCHOOL EMAIL ADDRESS, many schools have their network security filters set up to push unknown emails directly to spam and you will not even see it; if this is the case you will need to either talk to your IT department and request emails with the email address be allowed through or let us know you want to use a different email address.
2. The Tabs at the top of the registration page have important additional information regarding this class:
- The Syllabus gives information of what will be expected of you in the course. Generally it will include course policies, rules and regulations, required texts, and a schedule of assignments;
- The Fees will let you know how much this class will cost depending on the type of credit you want to take it for as well as if you are an ISEA Member or not;
- The Cancellation Policy is important so you know how to cancel if you need to and how refunds are handled; and
- The ISEA Official Transcript page tells you how to access your transcript once the class has ended.
WHEN
PLANNER
REGISTER FOR THE TRAINING SESSION TODAY!