Make Math Happen
Make Math Happen (formerly known as PD for the SOUL) is the podcast for educators ready to move with intention and teach with impact. Hosted by math coach and equity-focused educator Laneshia Boone, each episode bridges practice and purpose to help you design instruction that centers students, builds capacity, and makes learning stick—especially for those pushed to the margins.
Every week, you’ll get strategies that work in real classrooms, grounded reflections that challenge the status quo, and conversations with educators who are making bold moves in math education. From planning with purpose to using charts that anchor learning, from building strong routines to disrupting expired rules, this podcast is where meaningful math instruction comes to life.
You’ll walk away with ready-to-use tools, fresh insight, and the confidence to make every lesson count.
Because when we move with care, plan with clarity, and teach with courage, we make math happen.
Make Math Happen
Understanding Math: Negative Numbers, Distance, and Value
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Strategies that clarify the number line for every learner
Negative numbers are often taught through rules that don’t stick. In this episode, we return to meaning.
We explore how students have been reasoning about space, direction, and position on the number line since the earliest grades, and why negative numbers are an extension of that work—not a new concept. By grounding integer operations in movement and distance, this episode shows how students can reason about direction, magnitude, and value without relying on memorized rules.
You’ll hear classroom-tested routines that build understanding through visual models, rich conversation, and purposeful practice. We also connect this work forward into seventh-grade multiplication and division of integers and eighth-grade equations and expressions, showing how early sense-making supports long-term success.
This episode is designed to help teachers slow down instruction without lowering expectations and give students the tools they need to judge reasonableness, explain their thinking, and apply integer reasoning across domains.
Build 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.
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