David is often invited to speak at professional meetings and conferences. Whether his audience members are classroom teachers, reading or math specialists, library/media specialists or administrators, they always leave with a million ideas in their heads and big smiles on their faces. David’s resume includes appearances at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, National Science Teachers Association, International Reading Association and National Council of Teachers of English as well as many state reading and math councils, where he has often been a keynote or banquet speaker.
David also offers professional development sessions at schools and districts around the world.
Keynotes
These sessions can be given to audiences of any size in a room with theatre-style seating.
Math Happens When Children Wonder About What They Have Read Teachers of grades K-8
Author David Schwartz shows how exciting the results can be when children begin mathematical explorations inspired by literature. In this presentations, which is highly consistent with the Common Core State Standards, he shares an extraordinary collection of student-created work based on his many books, and he demonstrates how children gain real-life math skills, problem-solving experience and a great sense of accomplishment while having so much fun that they forget they’re learning math! You’ll have just as much fun seeing David’s entertaining, informative, inspiring presentation.
The Magic Of Millions, Billions and Trillions: Exploring Big Numbers Across The Curriculum Teachers of Grades K-5
Big numbers are exciting to children and intriguing to adults — and it is especially important to understand them in today’s world. Explorations of big numbers can lead to a wealth of active mathematical learning opportunities at all grade levels. By sharing student-created work inspired by his books How Much is a Million?, On Beyond a Million and G Is for Googol, David shows how educators can use big numbers as conduits to activities that connect math with science, social studies and the language arts. Many place value activities are included. You’ll leave with a smile on your face and a million new ideas in your head. (Note: This session is relevant to the Common Core State Standards domain “Number & Operations in Base Ten” at many grade levels. The Introduction to Grade 4 content standards specifically calls for understanding of place value to 1,000,000.)
Workshops
These are best for smaller groups. Classroom style seating (with tables) is preferred although “Nature Books Are a Natural” can also be done with theater-style seating.
Nature Books Are A Natural
Literature, science and math come together in nature books including those David has written, including Where In the Wild? If You Hopped Like a Frog, and the “Look Once, Look Again” and “Life Cycles” series. While projecting magnificent photographs and presenting fascinating facts about animals and plants, David shows how nature books can be an entry point for exploring many mathematical content standards. “Doing the math” can also heighten our awareness and appreciation of the natural world. In an optional interactive portion, books from the “Life Cycles” series are distributed so that participants can find and share mathematical learning opportunities derived from the text.
Literature and Manipulatives — Use BOTH to Teach the Standards
Literature enlivens math concepts and invites understanding. Manipulatives take the learning to another level by making it experiential. In this hands-on session, participants see how books and manipulatives used together can give students a rich understanding of place value, exponents, scaling, ratio, proportion and problem solving approaches. Base ten materials will model place value and the role of exponents in the study of large numbers. Cuisenaire Rods will model multiplication as scaling and move towards proportional reasoning. In both cases, the research practice of moving students from concrete through representational to more abstract mathematics will be enacted through the context of literature-based situations.
Conference Resume
National Conferences
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
National Science Teachers Association
International Reading Association
National Council of Teachers of English
Regional Conferences
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (many)
International Reading Association-Southeastern Region
Northwest Math Conference
State Conferences
Alabama Reading Association
Arkansas Reading Association
California Reading Association
California Math Council
Colorado Council of International Reading Association
Colorado Math Council
Florida Reading Association
Florida Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Georgia Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Illinois Reading Council
Iowa Reading Association
Keystone State Reading Conference
State of Maryland International Reading Association Council
Michigan Reading Association
Mississippi Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Association of Mathematics Teachers of New York State
South Carolina Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Tennessee School Library Association
Texas Library Association
Virginia State Reading Association
Washington State Reading Association
Wisconsin State Reading Association
Wyoming Reading Association