This Week (Accommodating the Storm Day)

Happy first day of your last week of classes for 2011!

Normally when a class is cancelled due to weather, all activities get pushed to the next day. Therefore, tomorrow (Tuesday, November 29th) our team teaching will be done by the people who were to teach for us on Thursday, November 24th.

People scheduled to teach on Tuesday November 29th will now be teaching on December 1st.

Of course this means that we won't have any time now for our math party :( and we have to have our course evaluation on December 1st too, so we need to allow time for that.

You were supposed to get your exam results last week too (dang storm!), so you will receive those tomorrow.

Hope you were able to take advantage of the gift of time on Thursday! Remember, keep it all in perspective.... you are almost done!

Next Week

Well we have day one of team teaching activities under our belt! Thank you to the 6 groups from both classes who taught their lessons today.

Tuesday November 22nd at noon will be the time for the make-up exam for any students who missed on exam day. I tend to wait until all make-ups are completed before giving back exams (you will get to see your exam, where you did well or in some cases, not as well, and pass back to me). If you are very anxious about your exam result I ask that you email me before 5 p.m.  Friday (November 18th) and we can discuss it. Please include your first and last name, as emails tend to come as "f56rfv@mun.ca." (This means it will not be acceptable to email me on Sat, Sun, or Mon. about this).

Enjoy your time with your students tomorrow!

Team Teaching Details

On March 25 and 27th you will participate in team teaching. In groups of 2 and 3 you will lead a problem-solving activity for your classmates and this can be a lot of fun! No, really!

Thank you for arranging your own groups of two/three. On Tuesday (March 18th) we will draw numbers to decide which groups will go on which day as the fairest solution. 

The key is for you to find a really good task or problem. The quality of your team teaching activity is directly related to the quality of the task you bring to the class. I will not be giving groups feedback on the quality of your topic/task before you teach so please do not ask (sorry!). Choosing a good topic is part of this assignment.

What is your responsibility?

You and your group will provide the class with an example of great math teaching through a 15-20 minute problem-solving mathematical activity that is a strong example of what to do with children.

Your lesson / task / activity is to be an open-ended problem solving activity /task taught according to the NCTM Principles and Standards.

Please review the process standards HERE if you are in need of a refresher.

Please get your "students" involved in the task/activity right away. Please do not spend time reviewing or refreshing a topic. The biggest challenge with this assignment is finding a great task/activity.

I will be looking for evidence of interesting mathematics and your understanding of that mathematics. I will wish to see activities that are worthy of children’s time and attention. 

I will be interested in your ability to hold a whole class conversation where your students are talking about the math they are doing and defending their mathematical ideas.

I will be looking for evidence of your growing understanding of how to manage time, materials, groups, diverse students, whole group conversation, and technology if appropriate.

Remember, please, do not use your valuable time making pretty things for your lesson. It is not necessary or important for this assignment. I am looking for a thoughtful approach and evidence of your growing understanding of mathematics education.

When you are not teaching a lesson you will be participating as a learner. You may be asked to provide feedback at the end of teaching activities each day.

What’s this about having a conversation as part of the lesson?

When it comes to your teaching activity, part of the lesson will include a mathematical conversation facilitated by you, the teachers, with the "students" after they have had some time to experience the activity, since we know that whole group conversation is a significant part of any good mathematics lesson. Getting students to communicate their thinking and their ideas is key and takes practice.

You may need to stop students as they work (because of time constraints) so you can fit in a conversation about the mathematics they are doing. Just a reminder: This is not a conversation about teaching with your colleagues. It is a conversation about the math you are doing with your  "students." You will still be ‘in’ your teaching activity.

You will need to keep track of the time and to use the 15-20 minutes well. You will be stopped when you reach twenty minutes.

Having a good sense of your own strengths and weaknesses is crucial for reflective practice as a teacher and personal growth as a learner. You will be called to reflect on your own team-teaching experience during a conversation with me immediately following your lesson. Be ready to reflect on your team teaching. Think about what it is that worked well, and what you would change or improve or focus on if there were to be ‘a next time.’ During this conversation I will want to know what you know about the mathematics, and about how the topic is connected to the curriculum. You do not need to recite back specific outcomes. You do need to know the big ideas where your task is connected. 

What do you pass in to me?

At the beginning of class on the day you are scheduled to team-teach, please submit a one-page ‘plan.’ This means your group has to pass in a concise one page explanation of your activity in paper form. This one page should explain in clear language
a) exactly what it is that you will be doing,
b) the important mathematics that the lesson takes up,
c) how you will assess understanding,
d) how it is connected to the written curriculum -not specific outcomes but generally
e)  how it might be extended for diversity as an open-ended problem,
f) and reference from where the idea came.

This one page is not the place for detailed descriptions or listing of curriculum outcomes and objectives. There should be enough detail to be useful, but your descriptions should be brief enough for browsing. Please do not submit a cover sheet or accessorize with clip art. 

What manipulatives do you use?

You are welcome and encouraged to use any of the class manipulatives but you will need to make certain that the manipulatives you need actually exist and are available. Please have the materials you need organized and your teaching space (chairs, tables, materials, computer, ELMO) ready. That is your responsibility.

How will you share lessons with each other?

You should consider providing copies of the one page lesson for your classmates but it is not mandatory for the assignment. I suggest providing an electronic version to everyone.

What is the reason for this assignment?

One reason for stagnancy of the curriculum is that practising teachers often don’t have access to teaching ideas that support emerging conceptions of mathematics teaching. This assignment has a very pragmatic purpose: to compel you to assemble what should (collectively) be a valuable teaching resource.

This summative assessment has many other pedagogic purposes, including:

• To expose you to a variety of potentially solid mathematical ideas that are connected to curriculum and are developmentally appropriate.

• To provide you with the chance to teach and lead a lesson.

• To allow for collaborative teaching and planning.

• To demonstrate your growing understanding of problem solving and worthwhile tasks.

• To demonstrate your ability to reflect on teaching and to articulate strengths and areas of improvement.

Try to enjoy this experience. It is a chance for you to try some teaching in a safe environment and to get some constructive feedback. It should also be fun! 

Good luck! I am looking forward to seeing you all in action.

October 27th Class

Hi folks.

Tomorrow we will be discussing assessment and then focusing on early number sense. To get you ready for the cognition needed for counting, I want you to watch this very serious educational video:

Reading for Tuesday October 18th

Please make your way through the next chapter (4) for Tuesday. We will be discussing the myths that surround problem solving and we will go over what it is that we will be doing and reading during the rest of the semester for those of you wanting to get on top of your reading. I have placed a copy of the third edition of our text on reserve in the CMC.

Have a great time tomorrow at the schools, and see if you can find a 10 x 10 multiplication array in the classroom.

Math Fair Self Reflections

Hi all. Thank you to all students who completed their self-assessments during class today. I will do my best to have your marks for the math fair ready for Tuesday's class.

For students who did not complete the math fair self assessment, I will need you to do this before receiving your mark. Please be prepared to write it after class on Tuesday and hopefully I will be able to give you your mark for Thursday's class.

Good luck to everyone writing their Exceptionalities exam tomorrow!

One Grain of Rice

Hi everyone. Today we read the lovely mathematical folk tale One Grain of Rice by Demi. I urge you to follow and read the following link that contains a systems based review of this book.

The author of the review gives a very nice account about exponential growth and the power of this mathematics.

Here are some details from Amazon about the book:

• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Press (April 1 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059093998X
• ISBN-13: 978-0590939980
• 
  

Two Extra Days...

Hey there.

Participants in both classes have agreed that holding the Math Fair on Thursday, October 6th will work, and this will give everyone more time to do this assignment well.

Please remember that part of this assignment is figuring out and playing with the problem with your partner. Make sure you have chosen one that you like, or that you feel good about.

(That is why I have given you a choice of problems so you can get one you actually like).

On Tuesday we will be doing some mathematics together that looks at problems that are open ended, have multiple entry points, focus on some interesting mathematics, and the problem will be in context.

See you then... and read chapter three!

Math Fair!

On October 4th we will be having our math fair during class. On Tuesday (Sept 27) we will be discussing this in-class activity, and what expectations will be. I want to expose you to the SNAP Math Fair that come from the University of Alberta.

On the SNAP Math Fair website there is the following brief overview:

"SNAP Math fair is not like a traditional science fair. Although there is a superficial resemblance, it differs in its structure and its scope. Like a science fair, the math fair has tabletop displays presided over by students, but the similarity does not extend much beyond this.

A SNAP math fair is:

Student-centred,

Non-competitive, 

All-inclusive, and 

Problem-based.

The purpose of a SNAP math fair is to provide a meaningful problem-solving experience for all students. These four guidelines make the math fair appeal to all students at all levels. We believe that once you have tried a SNAP math fair, you will incorporate it as part of your regular math curriculum."

You and your partner will choose one problem from the following problems on the Galileo Network Math Fair Problems Page. You will be responsible for learning as much as you can about this one problem, and then during the math fair you will provide others in our class with the opportunity to solve the problem.

In the comments section below this post, you will need to type:

1. Both people's names (First and Last names)
2. The name of the problem you will be responsible for,
3. If you are in the First Class (9 am) or Second Class (10:30). It will be first come, first choice with the problems. We do not want any problems repeated in the same section.

You will also need to check the teacher's page for the Math Fair problems, because some of the problems are more geared for secondary, and for the purposes of our class, I only want you to provide problems geared towards K-6. It will also help you see what area of mathematics your problem takes up and you may notice your problem listed in a few mathematical categories since the problem may encompass more than one area of mathematics.

Here is a rubric courtesy of the Galileo Educational Network that you can use to guide your work, and to use with your own students when YOU do math fairs at your school in the near future.

Click here to see a few images from our Math Fairs last fall.

What is Mathematics?

What assumptions do you hold about mathematics? In class we will spend time thinking, talking, and challenging what mathematics might be, and the impact that traditional definitions have on us as learners. Using Lakoff and Nunez's notion of the mythology that surrounds math, (what they refer to as 'the romance of mathematics' from their book Where Mathematics Comes From) we will look at traditional notions of mathematics and bump it up against a reconceptualized view. Figuring out our own positioning towards mathematics is critical to becoming a reflective teacher of mathematics. What part of the romance do you believe? How does what you think about mathematics affect how you teach it?

What, for you, are the big ideas in mathematics? How, if at all, have your beliefs about mathematics shifted? What is it that you will need to know, to read, to figure out, to study to gain a better understanding of the nature of mathematics as something that might be a living discipline, a human activity?

Reuben Hersh is an American mathematician who has written extensively about mathematics. He takes up his ideas from What is Mathematics, Really? in the following interview that I would like you to read: What Kind of Thing Is a Number? A Talk with Reuben Hersh Be sure to click on THE TALK at the bottom of the page to read the entire interview. He delves into his view of mathematics, the teaching of mathematics, and how our stance towards mathematics impacts how and what we teach.

Please also work your way through Chapters 1 and 2, if you have not yet done so to help you with your thinking. Looking forward to hearing your ideas in class!

Math Curse!

I hope you enjoyed Math Curse, the award winning children's picture book by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith and published by Viking.

There is so much you can do with this book, as we discussed in class. The fun begins when Mrs. Fibonacci tells the class, "You know, you can think of almost everything as a math problem...."

ISBN-10: 0670861944
ISBN-13: 978-0670861941

Tomorrow's Class and Readings

It's Monday, the sun is shining, and there is no Hurricane Maria devastation to keep us distracted from our work, thankfully.  On Friday many of you had your first observation day school experience. For most of you that was cut short due to the Hurricane possibility, but hopefully you were able to spend some time with teachers and children. We will begin tomorrow's class with a sharing of what you experienced, focusing on mathematics where possible.

Our class tomorrow will also focus on the mathematics that is in schools and how it has shaped what you think mathematics actually is.

I encourage you to read Chapters One and Two from our course text (third edition) by Thursday. 

Also, I will be adding an online reading for Thursday after tomorrow's class.

Hope your week is off to a great start. See you Tuesday morning!

Do Schools Kill Creativity?

Do Schools Kill Creativity?


Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity, rather than undermining it. He challenges the way we look at education and children.

So what does this mean for you, as a future primary/elementary teacher, with regards to teaching and in particular with regards to teaching mathematics to children?

Looking forward to discussing this with you.

Math Autobiography

Please reflect on your own learning of mathematics in school. This is your Math Autobiography.

Rationale: Many people have difficulty remembering their mathematics education in primary/elementary grades. In order to begin to study the teaching of mathematics to children it is important to revisit your own education in mathematics. it is necessary to reflect on your assumptions, emotions, and nostalgia surrounding your experiences and to critically examine them. Consider the following:

• What did mathematics in your classroom look like (kindergarten-grade 6)? Be descriptive.

• What is your best and/or worst memory surrounding mathematics in primary and elementary? How has this affected your views about mathematics now as an adult?

• Were you "good" or "not good" at math? How did you know this?

• What was the role of the teacher in your math classes? How do you think they felt about mathematics?

• What did assessment look like?

• Tell briefly about math in high school.

• What math courses did you take in university?

• Did you take any math electives?

• Do/did you engage with mathematics in your life in major ways?

• How do you feel about mathematics now?

We will be sharing our math autobiographies on September 15th. 

Please submit this assignment at the end of the class (September 15th). I will be looking for a thoughtful, well-written, clear and critically reflective account of your mathematics history. (It would be a good idea to refer to the 4.8.3 MUN University Regulations on Good Writing, located in our course outline). 

This written (word processed) narrative should be no more than 3 pages.  Please do not use a cover sheet or clip art. Just make sure your name is at the top of your first page and the pages are stapled together. Remember, I have 80 of these to read. Please do not email your assignment to me.

Welcome to Mathematics in the Primary/Elementary Grades

Welcome to the start of our Fall 2011 Semester.

If you are reading this it means you have found our class blog. Please check this blog on a regular basis as I will be using it in conjunction with our class time. I will not be posting "lectures" on the blog. This is not a transmission of information course. It is a course where you learn about teaching and about learning mathematics. In order to do this well, you will need to spend time reflecting, reading, discussing, and doing.

Check back soon for more information as we get our course under way!