In only a few weeks, the ExxonMobil Foundation, in cooperation with NCTM, will host the Twelfth Annual Meeting for Mathematics Specialists, Project Directors and Teacher-Leaders at the corporation's Fairfax, VA Downstream Headquarters. Following early-afternoon pre-sessions on Thursday, September 21, the conference will officially begin with a welcome buffet that evening. The meeting will conclude at noon on Sunday, September 24 following informal conversation with NCTM President Lee Stiff.
Highlights on Friday and Saturday will include major sessions led by invited presenters Ruth Parker and Patty Lofgren; Deborah Ball and Hyman Bass; Tom Carpenter and Megan Loef Franke; Doug Clements and Vicki Bachman; Lee Stiff, Skip Fennell and Doug Clements. It is a pleasure to announce that NCTM Executive Director John Thorpe will join us again this year.
Between 2:30 – 5:30 PM on Thursday, concurrent pre- sessions will be offered by Skip Fennell and by Virginia Bastable, Deborah Schifter and Jill Bodner-Lester. Christopher Kribs-Zaleta and Sherry Rosenberg will facilitate. Following dinner on Thursday night, Virginia Bastable and Christopher Kribs-Zaleta will present information about "birds-of-a-feather" conversations arranged for Saturday at lunch. Anne Herndon and Holli Aflatouni will lead discussion about the ExxonMobilTNT listserv. There will also be an opportunity for participants who could not attend the pre- sessions to view them on videotape.
In addition to networking with friends old and new and interacting with invited presenters, participants will also dine with ExxonMobil employees during the traditional "Take a Teacher to Lunch" on Friday. Friday afternoon's agenda will include a variety of break-out sessions led by Sherry Beard, Carol Brooks, Susan O'Boyle and Casilda Pardo. An entertaining "Evening in Washington, D.C." is slated for Friday night.
At the traditional reception and dinner on Saturday evening, ExxonMobil Foundation President Ed Ahnert will welcome and address participants. Following his remarks, Ed will introduce the guest speaker, NCTM President Lee Stiff.
Participants may wish to pack business attire for lunch with ExxonMobil employees on Friday and for the reception and dinner on Saturday night. Also consider tucking in a light jacket or sweater for evenings—and for air-conditioned meeting rooms. A pair of comfortable shoes for the excursion to D.C. wouldn't go wrong either.
Please review the June and July/August issues of Intersection at www.intersec tionlive.org for more details about sessions and presenters. Questions? Please contact Joe Gonzales at joe.e.gonzales@exxon.com and Jean at mbb321@ultranet.com.
Many thanks to Mary Belanger and Martha LaPointe for contributing this article and the accompanying photo. For those unfamiliar with MEC's work, this article is a fine introduction. Ed.
Just a week after public
schools closed for the summer, 32 teachers in CACE—Central
Aroostook Council on Education— gathered again for class,
only this time they were the students. Ruth Parker of the
Mathematics Educational Collaborative (MEC) was here to present
her nine-day course on Patterns, Functions, and Algebraic
Thinking. Funding from the ExxonMobil Foundation, Maine
Mathematics and Science Alliance, and local school districts
brought Ruth to rural, remote northern Maine.
The group ranged from novice to veteran teachers K-16, and included two administrators. Some came with math phobias, others came familiar with algebra, and more came comfortable with mathematics at their grade level. Yet all were there anxious to learn more about mathematics. We were prepared to put in long days knowing class ran from 8:30 to 3:30 with homework assignments. We weren't prepared for the excitement generated by it! As we got farther into the nine days, our enthusiasm grew exponentially!
Ruth believes, "Our job as teachers is to understand what the child sees, not to help the child see what we see." Stepping out of her role only once—and then it was to trick us—Ruth modeled this kind of teaching. Her gentle handling of anxious students created a trusting atmosphere with the expectation that they could understand the mathematics. All participants felt they had the time they needed to develop their own understanding.
Some quotes from participants:
"It is good to struggle. It is exhilarating to finally understand."
"For the first time in my life I've used math as reasoning and not arithmetic." (from a veteran of 33 years)
"I want the next course! I can't believe I spent three hours solving a problem; I don't have the solution and I still care about it!"
We've arrived at this point after three years developing, writing, and rewriting proposals to Exxon and ExxonMobil. Last fall Jean Moon visited our site and guided us through writing a successful proposal. Now we have a nucleus of teachers excited about teaching mathematics who are eager to spread the word. With Ruth's support in a follow-up session, we can maintain our momentum. We can't wait for school to begin in the fall to work with our students as we all learn more about mathematics.
Beth Williams, Bedford County, VA, contributed the article that follows about the successful workshops held in her district this summer. Thanks, Beth! Ed.
The week beginning June 26 was a powerful one in Bedford County, Virginia! With our second ExxonMobil grant, we were able to bring in seven instructors from Marilyn Burns "Math Solutions" for our first week-long Level I course. Our course instructors were excellent teachers. All were able to clearly bring understanding of the mathematics involved in their lessons. They also shared with humor the struggles that they had lived through to be able to teach mathematics with understanding.
Eight principals, two central office staff members, and one hundred forty-six teachers from grades K - 8 spent five engaging days doing mathematics, talking about how students learn mathematics, and often becoming learners themselves in new and exciting ways.
The evaluations of the course were very enthusiastic. The topic written about most often was number sense and the relationships explored among the operations. Many new ways to connect new concepts to previous knowledge were shared, and the enthusiasm for having students explain their thinking processes both verbally and in writing grew throughout the week. Modeling student thinking strategies was done all week, and became for many a powerful teaching tool. Mistakes and wrong answers became exciting learning opportunities, and many course attendees shared recognition of the need for a "safe" classroom environment to allow all learners to be able to participate in the very necessary risk-taking involved in problem solving.
Time was also an issue constantly discussed in the evaluations. Students need more of it to explore and discover during directed classroom activities. Teachers need to spend less time talking and more time questioning to develop student understanding. Homework and its usefulness were also discussed. The homework presentation gave session attendees much to think about and volumes were written about the need to look at homework assignments more carefully.
The need for follow-up "Math Solutions" sessions to be able to share classroom successes and struggles was also expressed often. We plan to offer study groups for interested participants during this school year using our building lead teachers. Next summer we plan to bring back Level I and offer Level II courses so that many more can share in this wonderful professional development opportunity.
Thank you, thank you, ExxonMobil Foundation!
Thanks to new contributors Rebecca Harper and Kim Emery, teachers in the San Bernardino City Unified School District, CA, for this essay on Math Case Discussions, and to Carne Barnett of WestEd for making the arrangements. Part or all of this essay will appear in a casebook for primary grade teachers to be published soon. Ed.
Most teachers are autonomous in their classrooms. They rarely have the opportunity to work with other teachers. At in-services, personal connections are arbitrary and superficial. Staff and grade level meetings tend to focus on procedures rather than on professional content. Even though we may experience frustrations, confusions or perplexing situations in our classrooms, we rarely feel comfortable discussing them openly.
After having been elementary teachers for over a decade in the San Bernardino City Unified School District, we became involved in Math Case Discussion methods. Not only have we enjoyed the process, but we have found it to be effective in improving our classroom instruction. More importantly, Math Cases have created in us a stronger sense of professionalism and built an interactive collegial base with others who have participated in Math Cases. In the past four years, we have been participants and have co- facilitated and facilitated Math Case discussions. This past year, we were selected and trained to be teacher-leaders in our district to facilitate and train others in Math Cases.
Cases work to develop collegiality and professional growth among those in many professions, such as doctors and lawyers. We have seen these professions work together to discuss their problems using the case method as a form of professional growth. Participation in critical reflection is the norm in their professions. When discussing cases, criticism is not viewed in a personal way. In the teaching profession, we tend to have a fear that when we are discussing our instructional failures, we are seen as failures. Case discussions offer teachers an opportunity to grow professionally as other professions do by analyzing unexpected outcomes in teaching.
The reason case discussions work in other professions is that there is an atmosphere of collegiality, where everyone is a colleague dealing with similar issues. Participants realize that each colleague brings his or her own expertise to the discussion. They also value the varied points of view to solve problems and resolve issues. Asking for advice or opinions indicates a mutual respect, not a weakness. In our view, the same should apply to the teaching profession.
In our personal educational experiences, we have felt isolated and left adrift to deal with new curriculum and materials. We have been expected to implement curriculum with little guidance or instruction in content changes. When certain lessons caused us to ponder the validity of the curriculum or our delivery of that curriculum, we tended to blame ourselves. We have gone to in-services that gave us some new innovative procedures but never provided us with the pedagogical content knowledge (the overlapping area between content, student thinking and teaching). Math Case discussions have afforded a way of building an atmosphere of collegiality as well as developing the pedagogical content knowledge necessary for teachers to be effective professionals.
Since our involvement with Math Case discussions, our collegiality and professionalism have grown tremendously. The more discussions we have been involved with, the more we experience a building of collegiality and a deeper consideration in the way we plan lessons—both short and long term. The colleagues we have been involved with in Math Case discussions have become life-long professional partners and friends. As a result, we no longer feel that we are isolated in our educational environment.
We have seen a change in our teaching. We now find ourselves deeply considering the implications of each part of a lesson. This contemplation takes place before, during and after each lesson. Even though Mathematics is the focus of our case discussions, we also look at student thinking and content more deeply in other areas such as Language Arts, Science and Social Studies. The idea of a student-centered curriculum has now become real and practical in our classrooms as a result of our involvement with Math Case discussions.
The more we discuss cases, the more we develop collegiality and pedagogical content knowledge. The pedagogical content knowledge enhances the collegiality, and collegiality promotes pedagogical content knowledge. Thus, this continuum creates a strong analytical teaching professional. Teachers who want to become true professionals have the opportunity through Math Case discussions to attain that goal.
If you would like to know more about Math Case discussions, please e-mail us at rebecca.harper@sbcusd.k12 .ca.us or kim.emery@sbcusd .k12.ca.us or write to us at Rebecca Harper and Kim Emery, Lankershim Elementary School, 7499 Lankershim Ave., Highland, CA 92346. If you would like information about bringing Math Case discussions to your district or school site, please e-mail Carne Barnet at cbarnet@WestEd.org.
Evelyn Dixon forwarded this update about accomplishments in her school district, Fort Bend ISD in Sugar Land, Texas. Thanks, Evelyn! Ed.
There are many accomplishments to be celebrated in the Fort Bend Independent School District as the first year of the Mathematics Strategic Plan comes to a close. The elementary math leaders and math specialists had a phenomenal year of leadership training. Elementary math leaders are full-time teachers, while building math specialists are support personnel for the campus. As the district moves from having math leaders in every building to having a math specialist in every building, the training has given the teachers many of the leadership skills necessary to be able to work with other teachers on their campuses in order to help implement the best possible instruction for our students.
Through the support of the ExxonMobil grant and district funds, training was provided by Marilyn Burns Educational Associates, Creating Training Techniques, several outside consultants and district staff to give the leaders diverse training in leadership skills.
The article below was contributed by Carol Price, K-12 supervisor of mathematics for the East Baton Rouge Parish Public School System in Louisiana. Thanks so much! Ed.
Twenty-one elementary schools in East Baton Rough Parish use either grant money or Title I money to employ the services of their own on-site mathematics specialists. Two of these schools employ one math specialist for grades K-2 and another math specialist for grades 3-5. So popular is the math specialist program here in East Baton Rouge Parish that the demand for elementary mathematics specialists has exceeded our supply.
One reason for the increase in popularity can be attributed to higher standardized test scores for schools employing their own math specialist. On the average, students at these at-risk schools scored nine percentile points higher on the third-grade Iowa Test of Basic Skills than they did as second-graders the year before (cohort comparison).
Such a significant growth is important for schools, due to Louisiana's High Stakes Testing Program. Each school is given a school performance score based on attendance rate (10%), third-grade ITBS scores (30%), and fourth-grade LEAP state test (60%). Schools with low performance scores are placed in corrective action by the state. Here in East Baton Rouge, we were proud to declare that not one of our 62 elementary schools was placed in corrective action for the past school year.
Needless to say, the elementary mathematics specialist program played an enormous role in growth and performance of our at-risk students. The specialist's main objective is to provide job-embedded staff development for teachers in the area of mathematics. Some of the functions of the specialist include: performing demonstration lessons, sharing results from research, assisting with grade-level planning, conducting workshops, and writing curriculum and assessment documents.
The district supports our math specialist program by providing the salaries of two additional Central Office math specialists— Mary Bacon and Ann Watts—to serve schools that cannot afford their own math specialist. The district also provides monthly training for the specialists on topics of their choice.
No instrument or test score could ever measure the worth of our elementary mathematics specialists. Their enthusiasm for mathematics and love of children is inspiring. Since these specialists work directly with the students as well as the teachers, their enthusiasm is spreading exponentially. So, if you ever find yourself down here in Cajun Country, please feel free to stop by for a visit. We thoroughly enjoy sharing the successes of our outstanding elementary math specialist program!
Cindy Chapman NominatedIf you've visited www .nctm.org lately or if you've read the most recent NCTM News Bulletin, you are aware that the slate of candidates for the NCTM presidency and for board positions has been announced. Those of you who are NCTM members will have an opportunity to learn about candidates and to cast those important votes after information and ballots arrive in September. Ballots will be due October 31. Please exercise your privilege to vote!
If you haven't heard about the upcoming election, you can learn here first that Cindy Chapman is one of the individuals who has been nominated for a three-year term on NCTM's Board of Directors. She is a candidate to fill the spot for "Director, Elementary School Classroom Teacher." To be nominated for the board is such an honor! Congratulations, Cindy!
Cindy has been involved with foundation-supported projects in Albuquerque, NM for several years. Those of you who have been reading the newsletter for awhile probably know Cindy, since she has been a frequent contributor (see Intersection, March 1998, May 1999, June 1999, Nov/Dec 1999). If you went to NCTM's Annual Meeting in Chicago, you may have met Cindy at a session she presented with her colleague, Craig Gates,"Young Children's Mathematical Representations: What is the Teacher's Role?" They were "featured speakers" this year.
For those of you who don't know Cindy, she is a second-grade teacher at Inez Science and Technology Magnet School in Albuquerque who has been teaching for 28 years. She was a Presidential Awardee and also a Fellow in New Mexico Fellows for the Advancement of Mathematics Education (FAME). Cindy served on a mathematics standards committee for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and she is currently the treasurer for the New Mexico Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Her service to NCTM includes working on the 1999 Program Committee for the Annual Meeting in San Francisco, the MET Judging Panel for Toyota TIME Awards in 1998-99, and the Task Force for Integrated Mathematics in 1996-97. Cindy has made numerous presentations at national, regional and state conferences, including one given in Spanish at NCTM's Annual Meeting in 1995.
Cindy says that it is her 28 years of experience with young children—understanding the mathematics they can and should do and the many ways they learn—that is her greatest strength as an elementary school teacher.
Again, congratulations, Cindy! We wish you and all the candidates the very best.
Last April, Beth Williams' colleagues voted her "Boonsboro Elementary School Teacher of the Year." Following that, a selection committee comprised of teachers from across Bedford County, Virginia named her "Bedford County Elementary School Teacher of the Year." And after that, Beth was chosen by a different selection committee as "Bedford County Teacher of the Year." It comes as no surprise to those who know her that Beth was subsequently asked to submit her portfolio to Richmond, Virginia, and that she has been nominated for regional and state recognition. Beth will hear about final selection in November.
Beth writes: "I feel very honored to have been nominated and selected by my colleagues. My association with the foundation has been a great blessing in my life. The friendships and opportunities that I have been given have stretched me and allowed me to grow in so many different ways." We all share your happiness, Beth! Congratulations!
Within this collective readership, there must have been hundreds of engaging, provocative, mind-stretching professional books and articles read this summer. So, to borrow the timeless words of kindergarten teachers, "Please share."
Also, I will mail "for keeps" to the first person who offers to review it, the most recent title from Marilyn Burns—About Teaching Mathematics: A K-8 Resource, Second Edition.This is the newly revised edition of Marilyn's original 1992 publication that has over 200,000 copies in print. Many sections of the book have been updated, and a new section called "Mathematical Discussions" addresses the math in nearly forty of the book's activities. Another new feature is "Extending Multiplication and Division." Soooo, who's interested? Please contact me via the information below. Thanks!
And the month is just beginning! Would those thirty days allow you time to send an article about your project to me by Monday, October 2? That's the next deadline. Please send contributions to Jean Ehnebuske, 105 Hideaway Cove, Georgetown, TX 78628; phone, (512) 869-1580; fax, (512) 869-8477; e-mail, jean@intersectionlive .org.
As you've probably noticed, this issue features articles by individuals from projects in five different states—Maine, Virginia, California, Texas and Louisiana—who relate a variety of activities in programs that have been launched and made possible with the support of the ExxonMobil Foundation. A Texas-sized "thank you" to you all. While I'm at it, thanks to all of you who regularly contribute to this newsletter and to the fun I have putting it together!
I'd also like to thank Nihad Ziad and her staff at NCTM in Reston, VA for their help in doing all it takes to mail out the copies I send them each month. The attention to detail, speedy turn-around and general TLC Nihad and her staff put into getting Intersection distributed is just not found very often. Thank you, Nihad!
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