Closing Strong: Data-Driven Teaching for Maximum Impact

Dear Educator,As we enter the final stretch of the school year, this episode of PD for the Soul invites you to shift from information to transformation.You’ve gathered benchmark data, you've seen your students grow—and now it’s time to make every instructional moment count. In this episode, we explore how to finish strong by using data to drive targeted instruction, balance pacing with purposeful reteaching, and build student confidence as they approach end-of-year assessments.We also introduce a powerful, practical routine to support your math block: the Three Reads Strategy. This routine helps students develop deeper understanding and problem-solving stamina when approaching word problems. Here's a quick overview:Read 1: What is the situation about? Guide students to identify context and relationships—not just race to the numbers.Read 2: What is countable or measurable? Encourage them to annotate, discuss quantities, and clarify units and values.Read 3: What strategy should I use to solve? Listen for their reasoning and references to strategies learned in class.As you implement this in your classroom, observe how your students annotate and explain their thinking. For those who’ve struggled with problem-solving, encourage them to lean into one strategy and really master it. Depth over breadth builds the kind of confidence that lasts.Whether you're reteaching, remediating, or ramping things up for rigor, this episode is here to support you in closing the year with clarity, impact, and purpose.You’ve done so much this year—let’s finish strong, together.Send a textBuild multiplication fluency through understanding with the Seeing Patterns, Building Power series. Two books now available on Amazon—plus check out my son’s new adventure novel, Anansi: Shadows of Myth and Mystery!Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Make Math Happen podcast! If you enjoyed today’s conversation, subscribe on your favorite listening platform, leave a review, and share this episode with your fellow educators. You can also join the discussion and connect with me directly by clicking the link to join the Math Collective. Together, we’ll keep exploring practical strategies to transform classrooms and inspire students. Remember, new episodes drop every Sunday at 9:00 am, so mark your calendars! Until next time, keep making math happen, and I’ll catch you in the next episode.If you like math videos, let's connect: YouTube TikTok