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Home > Making Math Moments That Matter > Don’t Let March Kill Your Momentum: When Planning for Next Year Hurts This Year
Podcast: Making Math Moments That Matter
Episode:

Don’t Let March Kill Your Momentum: When Planning for Next Year Hurts This Year
Category: Education
Duration: 00:19:01
Publish Date: 2026-03-09 09:00:00
Description:

It’s March. The weather is shifting. Spring break is coming. And quietly, many math leaders have already started thinking about next year.

Budgets. Staffing. PD planning. Testing season. Fatigue.

It becomes easy to let this year wind down early—to shift staff meetings to logistics, to soften expectations, to delay the hard work until September. But when we ease off the gas in March, we slow the math improvement flywheel we’ve worked all year to build.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

  • Why March fatigue leads math leaders to prematurely shift into “next year mode”
  • How easing off math improvement work now disrupts momentum for September
  • What “keep the math flywheel turning” actually means in practice
  • Why unrelenting focus (not more initiatives) protects system coherence
  • How budget pressures and staffing changes make systems even more important
  • What finishing strong really looks like for math leaders

Ask yourself: What does finishing strong mean in my role?
Keep one foot in next year—but don’t lift the other foot out of this year just yet.

Not sure what matters most when designing math improvement plans? Take this assessment and get a free customized report: https://makemathmoments.com/grow/ 

Math coordinators and leaders – Ready to design your math improvement plan with guidance, support and using structure? Learn how to follow our 4 stage process. https://growyourmathprogram.com 

Looking to supplement your curriculum with problem-based lessons and units? Make Math Moments Problem Based Lessons & Units 


Show Notes Page

Love the show? Text us your big takeaway!

Are you wondering how to create K-12 math lesson plans that leave students so engaged they don’t want to stop exploring your math curriculum when the bell rings? In their podcast, Kyle Pearce and Jon Orr—founders of MakeMathMoments.com—share over 19 years of experience inspiring K-12 math students, teachers, and district leaders with effective math activities, engaging resources, and innovative math leadership strategies. Through a 6-step framework, they guide K-12 classroom teachers and district math coordinators on building a strong, balanced math program that grows student and teacher impact. Each week, gain fresh ideas, feedback, and practical strategies to feel more confident and motivate students to see the beauty in math. Start making math moments today by listening to Episode #139: "Making Math Moments From Day 1 to 180.
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