In less than two months, participants from projects supported by the Exxon Education Foundation will convene at Exxon's corporate headquarters in Irving, TX for the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the K-3 Mathematics Specialist Teacher-Leaders. Slated for Thursday afternoon, September 16, though Sunday morning, September 19, the conference will bring together teachers, project directors, mathematics supervisors, pre-service educators and other friends of the Foundation for an extended weekend of learning and networking.
The conference planning committee is pleased to announce that Nicholas Branca will be presenting on Friday, and that Pat Wasley will be joining us again to present on Saturday. In addition, NCTM President Glenda Lappan will be moderating an informal discussion on Sunday morning. Profiles of the presenters appear below, and a list of their publications can be found in this issue's supplement.
The conference will provide opportunities for discussion in focus groups on a variety of topics. Joan Akers, Bob Callahan, Bonnie Tank, Bob Speiser and Chuck Walter will be presenting and facilitating those sessions.
Anyone who can arrange to arrive early is invited to attend one of the pre-sessions that will begin at 2 PM on Thursday. Although there is really no set agenda for the pre-sessions, Chuck Walter will moderate the discussion about pre-service education, and Cathy Allen will facilitate conversation around the DMI (Developing Mathematical Ideas) Institute. The pre-sessions will offer an opportunity for those who share an interest, experiences, or a project focus in either of these areas to talk informally with one another.
Following last year's success, invitees have been encouraged to contribute to the "poster displays" that will be exhibited in the halls outside the break-out rooms. Last year's exhibits began many engaging conversations during coffee breaks!
We anticipate that this year's conference will be another success, and thank Nancy Cole, Evelyn Dixon, and Beth Williams for their help with planning the meeting.
Thanks to Nicholas Branca and Pat Wasley for contributing the biographical information below, and for providing their lists of publications for the supplement. Ed.
Pat's provocative and engaging presentation at our annual meeting last year left conference participants wanting to learn more about her work. In last year's talk, Pat shared her findings on two issues: the reliance in schools on routines and the need for teachers to develop new repertoires; and strategies for fostering growth and development among educators. The Foundation is honored and pleased to welcome Pat back again this year as a featured speaker. Those new to the annual meeting are in for a treat.
Currently the Dean of the Graduate
School of Education at the Bank Street College in New York City,
Dr. Wasley began her career as a public school teacher and
administrator.
Pat worked as a researcher for the Puget Sound Educational Consortium at the University of Washington, one of the fourteen school/university partnerships directed by John Goodlad's National Network for Educational Renewal. She was also the Senior Researcher for School Change at the Coalition of Essential Schools and at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University from 1989-1996.
The focus of Pat's research has been on the improvement of public education through teacher and administrator change and whole school reform. She is the author of numerous articles and several books on school reform, including Teachers Who Lead and Stirring the Chalkdust. Published in Fall 1997 by Jossey-Bass, her most recent co-authored book, Kids and School Reform, investigates the relationship between school change and students' academic achievement.
Dr. Wasley has lectured all over the United States, Australia, and parts of Asia on changing schools and the implications for teachers' roles. In her current role, she and the Bank Street College faculty are examining and attempting to define what it means to be a progressive educational institution at the turn of the century.
Pat is on a number of advisory boards and committees concerned with the improvement of public education. She has appeared on both radio and television in discussions of school reform, charter schools, vouchers and the renewal of teacher education, among other topics. Her current research projects include a study of Chicago's small schools initiative, and a national action project to provide better quality support for newly-emerging teachers.
Dr. Nicholas Branca is a Professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at San Diego State University. He is currently serving as the principal investigator of the K-12 Mathematics Renaissance and The Video Cases in Mathematics Projects. Both projects are involved in the professional development of teachers of mathematics.
Professor Branca has a B.S. in Mathematics from Iona College, a M.A.T. from Harvard, a M.A. in Mathematics and an Ed.D. in Mathematics from Teachers College, Columbia University. He taught junior and senior high school mathematics, served as a research assistant or associate at Columbia and Stanford Universities, and was on the faculties of Stanford and Pennsylvania State Universities before joining the faculty of San Diego State University in 1976.
Dr. Branca served as a member of the working group for the NCTM's Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics. He has directed several NSF-funded projects aimed at enhancing teacher development and has studied the mathematics problem-solving processes of intermediate and junior high school students as well.
From 1982 to 1992, Dr. Branca directed the San Diego Mathematics Project (SDMP), developed to improve mathematics education in the elementary and secondary schools of San Diego and Imperial counties. From 1992 to 1999, Professor Branca served as the Statewide Executive Director of the California Mathematics Project (CMP). The CMP administers the statewide professional efforts of seventeen regional sites, including the SDMP.
When he served as the Principal Investigator of the Authentic Assessment Institute, Dr. Branca worked with teachers from schools with large percentages of students from underrepresented groups who were focusing on assessment issues. The major goal of the project was to produce urban mathematics teachers who were knowledgeable about alternative assessment and able to apply that knowledge to classroom instruction.
Dr. Branca was also involved with the Southwestern College Mathematics Academy, a cooperative venture for secondary and college faculty and middle-school students. This project developed powerful teaching repertoires in secondary school and community college mathematics faculties and prepared underrepresented students for transferable mathematics coursework.
Professor Branca has lent his expertise to developing mathematics curriculum as well. He was a member of the California State Committee on Mathematics, and directed a professional center for Michigan State University. He and teacher-leaders from the San Diego Mathematics Project pilot-tested new curriculum material for the Connected Mathematics Project.
In 1989-90, Dr. Branca served as the program coordinator of the American Mathematics Project, sponsored by MAA and NCTM. He also served as the co-chair of the Special Interest Group for Research in Mathematics Education of the AERA and president of the Greater San Diego Mathematics Council. In 1988, he received an Outstanding Faculty Award from SDSU's Alumni Association in recognition of his contributions to mathematics education, the university, and the community.
Many thanks to Paul Trafton, a professor in the mathematics department at the University of Northern Iowa, and to Susan Weinberg, a second-grade teacher in Dike, Iowa for the article below. Paul wrote: "I thought it fit the slower pace of the season when we have more time to reflect on what we are doing." Absolutely. Thanks, Paul!
It is always enjoyable to recall those wonderful moments in our classrooms that build on children's thinking. They remind us how powerful it is to give children the opportunity to take risks, solve problems, and participate in a community of learners. Sue Weinberg, a second- grade teacher shares a very special moment from last May. It involved asking children to come up with expressions for 143, a task she does once in a while. As Sue notes, "The students were in total control and I was invited to step back so they wouldn't lose their ideas."
Her students quickly offered several examples and two patterns emerged. The first was the following: 243-100, 343-200, 443-300, 543 - 400. By increasing each number by 100, after the first one, the students knew the difference would remain the same.
The second pattern, a division one, turned out to be even more remarkable. Jason suggested 286 ÷ 2, and said this could be checked by doubling 143. A few minutes later Ben asked if he could go to his seat, as he needed a piece of paper. He returned as said: "OK! Are you guys ready? 572 ÷ 4 = 143." He explained that 286 + 286 = 572, so 572 divided by 4 would be 143.
To check the work, he took the chalk from the teacher and announced that he had a new way of adding. He wrote 286 + 286 vertically and began by adding the two 80's. He wrote 100 above the hundreds column and recorded 60 above the tens column and crossed out the two 80's. Then, he added 6 and 6, writing 2 below the ones column and 10 above the 60 in the tens column. He continued by adding the tens and the hundreds.
Kody then asked Sue to be quiet so he didn't lose his trail of thought. He wrote 572 + 572 = 1144 and then 1144 ÷ 8 = 143. Ben and Kody then explained their doubling and dividing thinking. But the students weren't done. Jonathan wrote the expressions in the box below on the board. He builds on the fact that 1144 ÷ 8 = 143.
His plan was to extend the doubling to lead to 9152 ÷ 64.
| Jonathan's Expressions | |
| 2288 16 | (i.e., 1 x 2288 ÷ 16 = 143) |
| 2288 32 | (i.e., 2 x 2288 ÷ 32 = 143) |
| 2288 | |
| 2288 64 | (i.e., 4 x 2288 ÷ 64 = 143) |
Sue finally asked for the chalk back, and said it was time to stop. Josh announced that the class needed to end with a fraction. He said, "61 1/2 + 61 1/2 = 143."
Another student added, "You're close, but 60 + 60 = 120, so you're 20 off. All you need to do is add a 10 to each side to get 71 1/2 + 71 1/2 for 143."
Sue said "This is incredible; however, we do need to stop."
Ben shook his finger at her and said, "Are we not the smartest class you ever had?"
Kody added, "Can we please do this everyday? This is fun."
Ben added while shaking his head, "I think we would get way too smart!" He then looked at Sue seriously and asked, "Wouldn't we?"
These events don't happen every day, but they are only one of the many ways our students let us know that math is making sense to them, and that they think that working on challenging problems is really fun. It is so interesting to learn from children that working on hard problems is fun for them.
Thanks to Susan Racciato for the article below about her child and his understanding of mathematics. Several years ago, as a parent, Susan approached the Foundation to fund professional development in mathematics at her children's school in Bellaire, TX. Here's her personal story about the difference that support made. Ed.
The last couple of years my children have been lucky to have benefited from teachers who received extra training in mathematics supported by the Exxon Education Foundation. My children attended Horn Elementary in Bellaire, Texas. Bellaire is a township located in the Houston area. Horn Elementary is in the Houston Independent School District.
Last October our family moved to Hobbs, New Mexico. Two months ago the following story made me realize that my children are still benefiting. I cannot attribute the story to the school that the children are now attending.
In trying to explain the need for maintaining healthy teeth to my seven-year old son, I stated, "The more cavities you have, the less teeth you have." My son promptly put that sentence into graph form. He drew two bar graphs showing the loss of tooth matter. One bar graph showed 100% cavities. It was darkened in with pencil. The second bar graph showed the other extreme--and hopefully the future--absolutely no cavities.
Both my children are doing exceptionally well at their present schools. But incidents like the one above make me aware of the added benefits which come with teaching mathematics for understanding and application, and not just learning math facts.
This spot is not intentionally left nearly blank. Reveled in riveting reading recently? If so, what's caught your attention?
Please send in a short review or even just a title along with "twenty-five words or less." Thanks. Ed.
David Davison, professor of mathematics education at Montana State University-Billings, and director of Exxon-supported Project PRIME, is one of three authors of a new Phi Delta Kappa "fastback" publication entitled Integrating Science and Mathematics in the Elementary Curriculum (Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, Bloomington, IN, 1999, $3.00). Call 1-800-766-1156 to order a copy using a credit card.
Bob Witte has forwarded information about subscribing to Principled Practice in Mathematics and Science Education, a newsletter published by the National Center for Improving Student Learning and Achievement in Mathematics and Science, Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Focusing on issues of reform in mathematics and science education, this timely and informative publication is free upon request. Call (608) 265-6240 or fax (608) 263-3406 to be placed on the mailing list.
There's always a spot in this newsletter for your article. So why not pack up your thoughts in an article and send them off for a little summer vacation in Texas?
To submit something for the September issue, please send it by Monday, August 23, to Jean Ehnebuske, 105 Hideaway Cove, Georgetown, TX 78628; e-mail, jehne@ibm.net; phone, (512)869-1580; fax, (512) 869-8477. Thanks so much.
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