Allison Hintz




As a fifth-grade teacher, engaging in Developing Mathematical Ideas professional development with University of Washington professor Elham Kazemi, Allison Hintz started to develop a new understanding of number and curiosity for children’s thinking. She stopped talking and started listening. She felt clunky. She felt inspired. "Can you say more about your thinking?" became an opening to learn mathematics with and from children. She started finding joy and wonder for mathematics and seeing it everywhere in the world.

Continuing to teach and learn, Allison received an MEd and a PhD in mathematics education from the University of Washington. She was a teaching and research assistant and became a faculty member at University of Washington on the Bothell campus "UWB" (just north of Seattle). During all this time, learning alongside educators, students, and families in local school communities, she was grateful to collaboratively write Intentional Talk: How to Structure and Lead Productive Mathematical Discussions with Elham. In the years since, she has deepened a wonder around the listening that lies underneath and within such talk. Listening, truly deeply listening, is a gift she has experienced from others and is something she aspires to better understand how to do. She wonders - how can mathematics classrooms be democratic spaces that nurture listening in order to more deeply understand others and ourselves?

At UWB, she met colleague and friend, Antony T. Smith. In their offices across the hall, they found delight in thinking together about facilitating discussions with young readers and mathematicians. They thumbed through stories and were excited to discover they noticed and wondered about different things in illustrations and words! This collaboration eventually led to Mathematizing Children’s Literature: Sparking Connections, Joy, and Wonder through Read-Alouds and Discussion. In this book, Allison and Antony share what they have learned with and from educators – in a broad range of settings from classrooms to public libraries – including ideas about how to select books, plan engaging interactive read-alouds, and facilitate meaningful and dynamic math-literacy discussions. The book focuses on the ways mathematics is alive in children's literature, offering several different types of read-aloud experiences, open-ended questions, and ways to hear and engage with children’s ideas. Vignettes from classrooms, paired with planning templates for each read-aloud type and discussion, aim to inspire teachers to take up and innovate with the mathematizing process in their classrooms.

Allison is a scholar mother experiencing life alongside two children (ages 13 and 9), a partner of 27 years (who continues to make her laugh), and Abby the labrador.

Allison Hintz

Twitter: @allisonhintz124

 

Titles by Author (shown below):
2 products
Intentional Talk
Intentional Talk
Elham Kazemi and Allison Hintz
Paperback
$34.00 $25.50 Save $8.50
Mathematizing Children's Literature
Mathematizing Children's Literature
Allison Hintz and Antony T. Smith
Paperback
$37.33 $28.00 Save $9.33
Elham Kazemi and Allison Hintz:::100159

Intentional Talk

9781571109767

$34.00 $25.50 Save $8.50

Mathematical discussions in the classroom are crucial for sharing ideas and developing understanding, but not all are created equal. In Intentional Talk: How to Structure and Lead Productive Mathematical Discussions, authors Elham Kazemi and Allison Hintz provide teachers a framework for planning and facilitating math talks that deepen and enrich student learning.

Based on four principles, Intentional Talk will help structure conversations to stay productive and on task:

  • Discussions should achieve a mathematical goal
  • Students need to know what to share and how to share it to meet the goal
  • Teachers need to orient students to ideas and each other so every class member is involved
  • Teachers must communicate all children are sense makers and their ideas are valued

 
Through detailed vignettes, the authors examine student’s roles as both listeners and talkers and offer strategies for improving student participation and learning. The book also includes a collection of planning templates for teachers to apply the right structure to discussions in their own classrooms.

In these conversations students engage with each other, share ideas, and develop critical thinking skills. Intentional Talk provides the perfect bridge between student engagement and conceptual understanding in mathematical discussions.

Intentional Talk
Allison Hintz and Antony T. Smith:::100160

Mathematizing Children's Literature

9781625311580

$37.33 $28.00 Save $9.33
Many teachers use traditional counting and shape books in math class. But what would happen if we approached any story with a math lens? How might mathematizing children's literature give learners space to ask their own questions, and make connections between stories, their lives, and the world around them? These are the questions authors Allison Hintz and Antony T. Smith set out to explore in Mathematizing Children’s Literature: Sparking Connections, Joy, and Wonder Through Read-Alouds and Discussion as they invite us to consider fresh ways of using interactive read-alouds to nurture students as both readers and mathematicians. 

Inside Mathematizing Children’s Literature, you'll learn how to do the following:
  • Select picture books according to the goals of the read aloud experience
  • Plan and facilitate three styles of read aloud discussions – Open Notice and Wonder, Math Lens, and Story Explore
  • Utilize Idea Investigations - experiences that invite students to pursue literacy and math-focused ideas beyond the pages of the read aloud
  • Connect with students' families and communities through stories
 
Along the way, Hintz and Smith provide a wide range of picture book suggestions and appendices that include ready-to-use lesson planning templates, a form for notes, and a bookmark of guiding questions. Mathematizing Children’s Literature is a practical resource you'll find yourself referring to frequently.
 
Mathematizing Children's Literature