By Bill McCallum, IM CEO and cofounder
As CEO and cofounder of Illustrative Mathematics, Bill McCallum shares his reflections from the 56th Annual NCSM Conference and NCTM’s 2024 Annual Meeting & Exposition in Chicago, where he connected with educators, explored the exhibition spaces, and gathered valuable insights on the implementation of IM. His experiences and conversations underscore the excitement and challenges faced by the IM community, setting the stage for what’s ahead with IM® v.360 in 2025 and beyond. Read below for his first-hand account of his 2024 NCSM and NCTM experiences!
What has your experience been like at the conferences?
Earlier this week, I was at NCSM, and it’s just been so incredibly wonderful to see all the teachers and teacher leaders and practitioners who are implementing IM, talk to them, and hear about their experiences.
What did you take away from the NCSM panels?
At NCSM, I went to a couple of panels. One panel featured a group of teachers from the Syracuse School District, and it was powerful to hear not only their joy but also the difficulties they’ve encountered in implementing IM. It was really important for me to listen to these experiences and to think about the future of IM and where we go from here.
How was your experience at the exhibition space at NCTM?
At NCTM, I just walked around the exhibition space and visited all the booths that have IM. Of course, there’s the Illustrative Mathematics booth itself, along with booths from Kendall Hunt, Imagine Learning, and Kiddom. They’re all one happy cluster of booths—partners who are distributing the IM curriculum and connecting with educators.
Describe what the IM booth experience was like. What did you see?
The primary focus of our conversations was AccessIM.org, which debuted in Summer 2024. It’s IM’s digital hub that houses IM v.360—the latest version of our free curriculum. The new website also offers resources to support educators with instruction and planning in the classroom. In the booth, our team was sharing the story of IM with teachers and administrators and coaches and asking educators about their experience in the classroom. We also received vital feedback on how our curriculum and professional learning products and services are helping students and educators know, use, and enjoy mathematics. Some booth visitors even got to preview AccessIM.org during our in-booth demos, and a few lucky folks saw the IM Classroom Virtual Reality Experience as well!
For those who don’t know what the IM Classroom Virtual Experience is, can you describe it more?
Booth visitors got the chance to virtually step inside an IM Classroom. When you put on the virtual headset, a 360º virtual reality video immerses you in the sights and sounds of three real IM classrooms, where teachers and students are engaging in real IM lessons from IM’s problem-based curriculum. It was a really cool immersive experience, and we’re so glad people got a chance to take it for a spin.
IM’s Certified® Partners were at NCSM and NCTM. Can you tell us more about how IM partners collaborate at conferences?
Several of our IM thought-leaders presented at NCSM and NCTM, and we even collaborated with our IM Certified Partners for their panel discussions and events. For example, we collaborated with both Imagine Learning and Kendall Hunt for on-site events during the math conference week, and we connected with Kiddom during an in-booth special event in the exhibition hall. These three opportunities gave us the chance to connect with our partners and meet inspiring educators across the country.
What is your outlook on the future of IM?
I’m super excited to see all that’s happening here. It’s been great to see you all, and I hope you continue on this journey with us. It’s going to be a wonderful experience going forward with IM v.360.
Next Steps/Call to Action:
Visit our IM Experience Events webpage to view and download all of our session presentations from NCSM and NCTM. You can also check out our upcoming conference schedule to catch up with us in California this fall.