Math Ed Said
April 22: If you missed Dan Meyer's talk from NCTM, here's your chance to see it. The talk is called "Beyond Relevance & Real World: Stronger Strategies for Student Engagement" and it contains some very practical advice for exploiting the fact that we're not limited to presenting all of a problem at once like textbook publishers have had to do on paper. If you're thinking you'd like to take Dan's ideas and use them with teachers in professional development, let me also suggest checking out these materials from the Primas project (adapted from Swan & Pead, 2008). There, they are called "unstructured problems," and the materials include examples as well as guides for teacher enactment and reflection.Shared by: Nancy Terry, Dan Meyer, Peps Mccrea, Patty Stephens, Bryan Anderson, Craig Barton, Kyle Pearce, Robert Kaplinsky, Greg George, Damion Beth, Marilyn Burns, Danielle Reycer, danny brown, Jennifer Blinzler, Mark Chubb, MathDDSB, Math with Matthew, Rusty Anderson, Stephanie Ling, Keith Devlin, Andrew Gael
April 23: The post "How to help your kids fall in love with math: a guide for grown-ups" makes me think about how important our definitions of mathematics are. For me, I generally define math as "the human activity of reasoning with quantity, shape, and patterns," so as long as I'm doing that kind of reasoning, then I recognize that I'm doing mathematics. When we think of mathematics that way, it's easier to value the kind of activities children can do (and often do unprovoked) and support them with their reasoning.
Shared by: Peg Cagle, Malke Rosenfeld, Janice Novakowski, Christopher Danielson, Brian Bushart, Mark Chubb, Sunil Singh, Christina Sherman, Jennifer Lawler
April 24: Kristin Gray shared, "RTI for Adults," a post that reflects her thinking about the type of intervention and supports we offer those who might struggle and how we might deal with unintended consequences.
Shared by: Kristin Gray, Jennifer Lawler, Anna, Janice Novakowski, Jamie Duncan, Kent Haines, Andrew Gael, Mark Chubb, Laura Wagenman, Tracy Johnston Zager, Tim Hudson, Nicora Placa, Shelley Carlisle, Nathan Kraft, Anne Schwartz, Brian Bushart
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| Gail Burrill at the 2016 ASSM Annual Meeting |
Shared by: Dan Meyer, Jedidiah Butler, Megan Schmidt, Ilana Horn, Bob Lochel, Zak Champagne, Brian Bushart, NCTM, Ron King, Rusty Anderson, John Golden
April 26: A bunch of people shared this on the 25th, but it was the top share on the 26th, too. "Stop telling kids you're bad at math. You are spreading math anxiety 'like a virus.'" appeared in the Washington Post and was written by Petra Bonfert-Taylor, a Dartmouth engineering professor.
Shared by: Markus Sagebiel, Camsie McAdams, Shannon Houghton, Egan Chernoff, Sherri Adler, Regina Barrett, Amy Spies, Chris Robinson, Jeff de Varona, Anthony Purcell, NikolaJL, Clint Chan, POWER Org Math
April 27: A lot of people were sharing Robert Kaplinsky's ShadowCon talk, "Empower." No, it's not a pun related to exponents. It's about something more important — it's about ways in which we lead and the dynamics between power and influence, both broadly and within schools and classrooms.
Shared by: Zak Champagne, NCTM, Mary Bourassa, Robert Kaplinsky, John Berray, Kaneka Turner, Michael Fenton, Bob Lochel, Kristin Gray, Brian Bushart, Megan Schmidt, Jamie Duncan, Graham Fletcher, Laura Wagenman, Elham Kazemi, mathzone, Heather Kohn, Henri Picciotto, Mark Chubb
April 28: In another ShadowCon talk, Rochelle Gutiérrez asks us to "Stand Up for Students." Rochelle asked us to think about the students we're not serving well, to examine how we view math and power, and then gives a list of 10 things educators need to know about mathematics. Related: If you're looking for more explanation about why Rochelle asks us to use the term "emerging bilinguals," I suggest this article by Ofelia García.
Shared by: NCTM, Rochelle Gutierrez, Sadie Estrella, Robert Kaplinsky, April Pforts, Mike Flynn, Brian Bushart, Dan Meyer, Matt Larson, Rusty Anderson, Megan Schmidt, Kaneka Turner, Christina Sherman, Sharon Vestal, Bryan Meyer
Around the Math Ed Web
Have you submitted your proposals? If you want to present at these conferences, here are the due dates:- NCTM Annual Meeting: May 1, 2016
- NCTM Research Conference: Not yet announced
- NCSM Annual Conference: June 1, 2016
- AMTE Annual Conference: May 15, 2016
Sam Otten is looking for some informed opinions:
Last week in the Global Math Department we heard about Coding in Math Class from Dawn DuPriest. (Fun fact: I didn't recognize Dawn from her Twitter profile picture, but I recognize the mountains in her header photo. That's Mt. Lincoln on the left and North Star Mountain on the right, and the picture is taken from just off Highway 9 south of Hoosier Pass. Okay, I can stop showing off my Colorado bona fides now...) Where was I...oh yeah, GMD! Next week Kent Haines will show us "A Conceptual Approach to Teaching Integer Operations by Global Math Department."Middle school and high school math teachers, please weigh in on what should be included in teaching methods courses. https://t.co/oXqr5FPfQA— Samuel Otten (@ottensam) April 25, 2016
Research Notes
Remember that really long list of new articles in last week's TWiME? You'll have to settle for looking at it again because I checked more than 30 journals and didn't find a single new math education article published in the last week. There's probably some things floating around in "online only" status, but I'll wait for them to be assigned to an issue before listing them here.Math Ed in the News
- Boonton Twp. Board of Education votes down math specialist position (NorthJersey.com)
- U.S. 12th graders' math scores fall, reading stalls: Education Dept (Reuters)
- Green River College math professor earns Education Reform Award (Kent Reporter)
- Educators want to pair math and music in integrated teaching method (The Washington Post)
- The Search for Common-Core Curricula: Where Are Teachers Finding Materials? (Education Week) (It's more than a week old, but discussion-worthy)
Math Ed in Colorado
The deadline for submitting CCTM conference proposals is May 1!The University of Northern Colorado is offering three graduate level math courses this summer as part of their Masters in Mathematics: Teaching Emphasis program. You don't have to be in the program to take the courses. A tentative schedule of courses through Spring 2018 and contact information is here.
Rebekah Ottenbreit from CDE's Office of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education is offering two more sessions focused on helping math teachers and ESL/bilingual educators use tools and strategies to make mathematics content more accessible to English learners. You can grab a flyer here.
- May 10, 2016, from 8:30-noon at the Pueblo City Schools Administration Building, Pueblo, CO (register by 5/5/16)
- May 13, 2016, from 8:30-noon at the NW CO BOCES downstairs conference room in Steamboat Springs (register by 5/8/16)
See the Rocky Mountain Math Teachers' Circle website and the Northern Colorado Math Circles for information about upcoming events, including a joint workshop in Durango from August 8-11. You have until June 15 to apply for that one!
The "Expanding Your Horizons" symposium for middle school girls interested in STEM registration begins March 1.
NCTM is offering two summer institutes this summer in Denver:
- July 18-20: Algebra Readiness Institute (6-8)
- July 21-23: Number and Operations Institute (Pk-5)
- Lake County School District in Leadville is looking for a 7th and 8th grade math teacher. If you are interested in joining a math department that combines Jo Boaler's work with Expeditionary Learning while living in a small town in the mountains, this job is for you. More information and an application can be found at their website.
- Delta County is looking for a math teacher at Delta High School to teach upper-level math. Contact Todd Markley for details.
- Hope Learning Academy is looking for secondary math teachers.