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Central Middle students win math contest; teachers show Illustrative Math during board 'Spotlight on Learning'
Summary
Central Middle School students described individual and team successes at a recent math contest and teachers Kristen Kennalty, Abby Wolf and Brandon Glennon demonstrated Illustrative Math warm-ups and classroom structures for the board, highlighting engagement strategies and multiple solution paths.
Students from Central Middle School told the Harford Joint One School District board on March 23 about their recent math contest and math-league performances, and teachers demonstrated parts of the Illustrative Math 360 instructional model during the board’s Spotlight on Learning.
Teacher advisers (identified in the meeting as Miss Canelty, Miss Glennon and Miss Wolf) introduced student participants and reported that the school’s eighth-grade team, nicknamed “Team Cheese,” placed first in the event. A teacher conveyed individual results across grades—first, second and third place finishes at the sixth-grade level and multiple top finishes at seventh and eighth grade—calling the team’s showing “a really strong finish as a team and then also as individuals.” Students discussed the contest structure, which included 30 multiple-choice logic and math questions and separate team and individual scoring.
During the Illustrative Math presentation, teachers Kristen Kennalty (identified as an eighth-grade teacher), Abby Wolf (seventh grade) and Brandon Glennon (eighth grade) explained that Illustrative Math emphasizes problem-based learning, visual representations (for geometry and proportional relationships), warm-up activities such as “notice and wonder,” math talks and a “which three go together” task that prompts discussion and multiple valid approaches. Teachers invited board members to complete a warm-up in real time; the exercise was used to demonstrate student engagement and classroom discourse.
“It's really about how you look at it,” one presenter said while describing activities designed to surface different solution strategies and thinking routines. Board members asked whether the activities increased participation; teachers affirmed that the model is engaging and supports discussion, and board members commended the students for their performance and the teachers for the demonstration.
The Spotlight on Learning segment concluded with board praise and an invitation for board members to attend related presentations and teacher-led sessions later in the evening. The student recognition and demonstration highlighted classroom practice and the district’s emphasis on active, discussion-based math instruction.
