#INspirEDmath
September 2019, Volume 13
Discover Math Together
Problem of the Month
Secondary Problem of the Month
Can you find every number between 1 and 20 using only four 4’s and any operation?
Elementary Problem of the Month
What happens when you add 4 pools + 300 dogs? You get a big, hairy, splashy party. Every year the town pool in Calgary, Canada has Dog Day. The pools need to be cleaned at the end of summer, so why not let dogs splash around in there first? Best of all, dog owners pay to let their doggies paddle, and the money collected helps take care of rescued animals. By the way, grown-ups and kids can swim with the pooches, too, if you don't care whether the water is clean...
Lower Elementary: If you and your dog both swim, how many legs do you put in the pool together?
Upper Elementary: If a family pays $24 total to bring their 6 dogs into the pool, and each dog costs $3, how much extra did the people pay to swim themselves?
Encourage Families To Do Math Together Every Day
Here are several ways you can encourage families to get involved:
- Discuss charts, tables, and graphs from magazines, news outlets, the internet.
- Give your student a budget to manage.
- Read books that highlight mathematical themes.
- Use "math talk" - For example, when you are eating cookies, count how many you have, talk about their shape, and ask what happens when you break them apart, eat them up, or ask for more.
- Be a cheerleader - acknowledge their effort and make mistakes positive, emphasizing that effort leads to success!
What if Families Are Unfamiliar With the Content?
- Where do you think you should begin?
- What do you already know that may help you work through the problem?
- What have you done so far?
- Can you draw a picture or make a diagram?
- Can you solve it by using a calculator?
- Should we tackle this problem another time?
Making Math a Family Thing
- Give students a math craft to share with families
- Send a math game home to play
- Text or email video clips of classroom math tasks
- Encourage time together
- Improve math knowledge and skills
- Promote parental awareness to support their student
- Math exists both in and out of school
- Discuss math content and reasoning behind how the problems can be solved
- Invite parents into the classroom to share their experiences with math
Bedtime Math
Laura Bilodeau Overbeck, founder, and president of Bedtime Math posts daily math problems for families to build mathematical literacy. Just 5 quick minutes of number fun for kids and parents at home. Read a cool fact, followed by math riddles at different developmental levels so everyone can jump in!
Figure This!
Everyone Can Learn Math
Opportunities For The Field
Mathapalooza - An Extraordinary Event!
Increasing engagement in the K-12 math classroom through FREE full-day math-specific professional development and YOU are invited!
Indiana Department of Education’s (IDOE) math specialists from the Office of School Improvement are organizing another professional development series to continue our support of a vision for ambitious instruction in the K-12 math classroom! Participants will explore and develop rich tasks that support the Eight Mathematics Teaching Practices as outlined in NCTM’s publication Principles to Action (2014). In this interactive and engaging full day session, participants will discover how to open up traditionally closed problems to promote student discourse, provide opportunities for productive struggle, and to support students in risk-taking and sense-making. Guided implementation and opportunities for collaboration will be embedded throughout the day. Classroom teachers and coaches are the target audience, although the support of building level administrators is highly encouraged!
Details:
Five PGP’s will be given for educators who attend the full day professional development
Educators should bring a laptop or other device
Each site will have the following schedule, with minor variations in time, dependent upon location: 8:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. with a one-hour lunch on your own
Space is limited to 150 educators (75 secondary and 75 elementary) at each location so sign up quickly to reserve your seat!
Analytical Algebra II Fall Learning & Collaboration
Join the secondary math specialist from IDOE for a full day of PD surrounding the new Analytical Algebra II course. Participants will:
- Participate in model lessons
- Analyze assessments
- Discuss resources/strategies
- Continue to build out community
Click on one of the dates below for registration!
October 29 - Warsaw, IN
November 6 - Indianapolis, IN
November 8 - Jasper, IN
2019 IMLEA Conference
September 29-30
Indianapolis Marriott North
Which conference is the only one in Indiana that focuses solely on middle school pedagogy and best practices? The IMLEA conference, of course! We also make it a point to include many classroom teachers as presenters. IMLEA members can attend for only $132/person. That fee includes breakfast, lunch, two amazing keynotes, and five different breakout session time slots!2019 ICTM Conference
Marriott East
Math Teachers as TRANSFORMERS: Transforming Learning, Transforming Lives
Are you a new teacher or do you know a new teacher? Keep reading about the NEST scholarship to learn how you could attend the ICTM conference for FREE!
Jane Ortner Education Award
The Jane Ortner Education Award honors a non-music educator who uses music in her or his classroom. The winning educator will receive:
- $3,000 honorarium
- $1,000 grant awarded to their school
- Two tickets to the 62nd Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, PLUS paid travel and accommodations
- In-person and online professional development programs
The application deadline closes in early December. To find out more go to: https://www.grammymuseum.org/education/janeortnereducationaward. Click here to apply!
News From Assessment
As families receive their students’ ILEARN results, they may notice the Quantile measure provided on the score report. The Quantile measure is different from the scale score. It is a score of the student’s ability as measured against the Quantile Framework® for Mathematics, as determined independently by MetaMetrics®. The Quantile measure is an additional piece of information to help identify student readiness to engage with new mathematical content. The IDOE website provides additional information and resources on how the Quantile Framework® for Mathematics applies to Indiana, including a parent guide.
Early Childhood Family Engagement Resources
Who To Follow On Twitter
@EveryoneCanMath
Inspiring children’s picture book about applying a growth mindset to learning mathematics. Posts encourage parents to talk math with their kids.
@TableTalkMath
@MathBeforeBed
Math Educator Spotlight - Ree Johnson and Becky Tagliaferri
Becky Tagliaferri and Ree Johnson run the Kingsmen Tutoring Program at Penn High School. The program started in 2013 with 30 tutors and has continued to grow each year. Currently, Penn High School has between 60 and 80 tutors for their 3600 students. Teachers see Kingsmen tutors as a welcome addition to their classroom and attribute part of their success to having a Kingsmen tutor.
Here are the main ideas for their program:
- Training - student tutors are trained initially as a large group followed by ongoing small group monthly training throughout the school year
- Relationships - students are placed in their assigned classroom on the first day of school to create relationships with the students and to learn the teachers teaching style
- Engagement - the purpose is to engage with students and help them be successful academically, not making copies or running errands for the classroom teacher
- Reflection - as a part of the internship program tutors complete monthly assignments; (these assignments can be seen in the attached student manual)
- Ownership - monthly training is run by second year tutors
Additional information can be found in the links. Please feel free to reach out to either Becky (btagliaferri@phm.k12.in.us) or Ree (rjohnson@phm.k12.in.us) for additional information!
Your IDOE Mathematics Team
Robin Conti
Email: rconti@doe.in.gov
Website: doe.in.gov
Location: Indiana Department of Education
Phone: (317)-233-6098
Twitter: @RobinLConti
Emily Bruning
Email: ebruning@doe.in.gov
Website: doe.in.gov
Location: Indiana Department of Education, West Washington Street, Indianapolis, IN, USA
Phone: (317)-232-9142
Twitter: @MrsBruning