This Week in Math Ed: September 23, 2016

I just wrapped up some very long, busy days for the CCTM annual conference. I feel like I missed what was going on in the wider world of math ed. Let's look, shall we?

Math Ed Said

September 16: With a new look to his blog, Dan Meyer gives us "The Desmos Guide to Building Great (Digital) Math Activities."

Shared by: Jennifer Blinzler, Kit G, Danielle Reycer, Alex Jaffurs, Patty Stephens, Jessica Faurote, Megan Balong, Cathy Yenca, Megan Heine

September 17: The California Math Council is dedicating the year to issues related to equity and social justice in mathematics, and has gathered resources here.

Shared by: Cathy Carroll, CMC - CA MathCouncil, Rosa Serratore, Christina Moore, Jeremiah Ruesch

September 18: There was a #MTMSchat around Victor Mateas's article, "Debunking Myths about the Standards for Mathematical Practice" in Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School.

Shared by: Matt Larson, NCTM, Jamie Duncan, Jeremiah Ruesch, Siri Anderson, Lorraine Males

September 19: NPR reported on some reasearch that found "When Blind People Do Algebra, The Brain's Visual Areas Light Up."

Shared by: Francis Su, Steve Phelps, David Hallowell, Egan J Chernoff, Joshua Bowman

September 20: Desmos.com introduced its Classroom Conversation Toolset, a set of controls that gives the teacher the ability to control the pace of students moving through Desmos activities and pause to allow for coming together and conversation. A lot of people liked this.

Shared by: Desmos.com, Dan Meyer, Derek Oldfield, Jennifer Lawler, Jennifer Wilson, John Golden, Eli Luberoff, Shelby Aaberg, Matt Owen, Megan Heine, Dan Anderson, Bob Lochel, Jon Orr, Christopher Danielson, Patrick Honner, Michael Fenton, Bridget Dunbar, Audrey McLaren, Robert Cop, Cathy Yenca, Jennifer Blinzler, Karl Fisch, Alex Overwijk, Jon Orr, Chris Hunter, Avery Pickford

September 21: With his fingerprints on another popular post this week, Dan Meyer addresses "Teaching for Tricks or Sensemaking" in the context of justifying why 4^0=1.

Shared by: Dan Meyer, Nancy Terry, Greg George, Heather Sugrue, Cathy Yenca, Ed Campos Jr, Bethany Mager, Jennifer Blinzler, Brett Parker, Shauhna Feitlin

September 22: Andrew Stadel gave us "Zombie Apocalypse," an activity on Desmos.

Shared by: Nathan Kraft, Desmos.com, Kathy Henderson, Andrew Stadel, Siri Anderson, Shauna Hedgepeth, Jim Pardun

Around the Math Ed Web

Next week NCTM kicks off it's first #MTchat, which rounds out the lineup of article-based chats along with #TCMchat and #MTMSchat. These chats may not have the impact and scope of a conference, but this gives members have a way of interacting with each other and their professional organization on a much more regular basis.

If it's Tuesday night, it's Global Math night. Last week was "Getting Students Talking... Open Questions in the Math Classroom" with Mishaal Surti and next week is "3 Reasons Kids Don’t Know Facts and How to Help."

On the conference front, both the Phoenix and Philadelphia NCTM Regional Conferences are approaching, as is the new Innov8 Conference. NCTM is also asking for proposals for next year's regionals, due December 1st.

Research Notes

A new ZDM is out for October 2016, this time with the theme "Mathematical working spaces in schooling."

Math Ed in the News

Math Ed in Colorado

José Franco of WestEd co-led a teacher presession at
the 2016 CCTM Annual Conference
Today was the big day at the CCTM Annual Conference, and I literally drove home, grabbed something to eat, and started writing this week's post. So pardon me if my head is still buzzing from the events of the day! I'll have more from CCTM when I get it organized, but for now here are some reminders of things going on in Colorado.

Math on the "Planes"

As far as I know, there are still spots available, so register now!

Boaler Book Study

Cassie Harrelson of Aurora Public Schools will be facilitating an online book study on COPilot with Jo Boaler's book Mathematical Mindsets. Participants will need to purchase the book and register online ($45 for CEA members, $145 for non-members). The book study begins October 2nd and will last for 5 weeks. Let Cassie know if you have any questions!

MSP Grants

If interested in applying for a Mathematics and Science Partnership grant, please submit a letter of intent via SurveyMonkey by Oct. 5. Applications will be due Monday, Nov. 14. For additional information and to access the application, please visit the MSP webpage.

Professional Learning Opportunities

Do you have English learners in your class? Do you want to know more about how to help them access mathematical content? Rebekah Ottenbreit of CDE is offering "Teaching Math to English Learners" on October 18 in Grand Junction. The all-day workshop will offer tools and strategies for making math more accessible to English learners through teaching the Colorado English Proficiency (CELP) standards. You can register for the workshop on the CDE website.

Colorado School of Mines will offer weekly Saturday training sessions focused on Computer Science Principles. They are following the Code.org curriculum and started with Unit 2 on Saturday, September 10, but I think it's fine if you jump in late. You are welcome to attend any of the units/lessons that you think might be valuable, whether you are using Code.org or not. Details can be found at the C-START website under the CS Principles link.
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Location: Boulder, CO, USA