Lynn Prentiss, President, Grants Chair, and Newsletter Co-Editor; lpiq18@gmail.com

Stephen Levesque, President-Elect and Newsletter Co-Editor; slevesque314@gmail.com

Cathy Boutin, Past President, ATMNE/NCSM Rep; cboutin@westwarwickpublicschools.com

Ray Morin, Treasurer and Membership; rmorin1035@cox.net

Lynn Rakatansky, Secretary; lynnrak@msn.com

Eric Simonian, NCTM Representative; esimonian@verizon.net

Susan Pagliaro, RIDE Representative; susan.pagliaro@ride.ri.gov

Chris Castillero, RIDE Representative; christopher.castillero@ride.ri.gov

Meredith Astrologo, At-Large; meredith_astrologo@nksd.net

Donna Christy, At-Large; dchristy@ric.edu

Kees deGroot, At-large; degrootc@mail.uri.edu

Jill Fisher, At-Large; jfisher@westwarwickpublicschools.com

Gina Kilday, At-Large and Web Communications; gkilday@gmail.com

Christine Payson, At-large; Christine.payson@cumberlandschools.org

Please keep the board updated of any ideas or suggestions that you have.

Let a board member know how we can support you in the classroom!

A Position of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

Question: What is required to create, support, and sustain a culture of access and equity in the teaching and learning of mathematics?

NCTM Position

Creating, supporting, and sustaining a culture of access and equity require being responsive to students' backgrounds, experiences, cultural perspectives, traditions, and knowledge when designing and implementing a mathematics program and assessing its effectiveness. Acknowledging and addressing factors that contribute to differential outcomes among groups of students are critical to ensuring that all students routinely have opportunities to experience high-quality mathematics instruction, learn challenging mathematics content, and receive the support necessary to be successful. Addressing equity and access includes both ensuring that all students attain mathematics proficiency and increasing the numbers of students from all racial, ethnic, linguistic, gender, and socioeconomic groups who attain the highest levels of mathematics achievement.

Reflection

NCTM's recently issued Position Statement on Access and Equity in Mathematics Education addresses many of the concerns of educators, families and the public at large. The Statement articulates that, in order to ensure all students attain mathematics proficiency, a climate and culture of being “responsive to students’ backgrounds, experiences, cultural perspectives, traditions and knowledge” must be the norm rather than the exception. At first glance, this may sound simply as being “politically correct,” but in reality, it points out the need for a cultural change in the climate of mathematics education and explicitly states the recipe for good instruction that will ensure that all

learners are successful.

NCTM’s position is that educators of mathematics must fully embrace the entire educational community. Working in collaboration with those that specialize in special education, gifted education, instructional technology, and English language development is essential to our students’ success. The sense that “it takes a village to educate a child” must be accepted in literal context.

The statement goes on to explain that all teachers have a comprehensive understanding of the concepts and skills being taught. This is essential and necessary for educators to truly present lessons that result in access and equity for all students. This understanding includes seeing the “big picture” and how appropriate grade level expectations fit into that picture. The statement goes on to say that student achievement, as measured by a variety of assessments, including so called “high stakes” tests, will show improvement. However, this improvement (1) takes time and patience and (2) does not imply “teach to the test.” "Patience” includes a reference to “wait time” in the classroom, as well as patience in observing higher student achievement (i.e. higher test scores). It also refers to the fact that students must be patient in their learning. They must become persistent learners demonstrating perseverance. This is not a characteristic that most students inherently exhibit. In fact, especially in this day and age of instant gratification, the very nature of "stick-to-it-ness” is, in many instances, the exception, not the rule. This must change. In order to achieve “access and equity” for all students, they must have opportunities in order to experience high-quality and challenging learning situations that allow them to experience the need to persevere. This persistence also applies to assessments.

Teachers can be impatient when it comes to assessing student learning and, therefore, may resort to “teaching to the test.” Of course, the short-term result is usually higher test scores. However, it gives students and teachers alike a false sense of success, and it certainly does not give students the opportunity to experience persistence in order to solve a problem – a specific goal of mathematics instruction and one that will serve them well as they mature.

NCTM’s Position Statement is in response to a specific question: “What is required to create, support, and sustain a culture of access and equity in the teaching and learning of mathematics.” The answer actually goes to the core of good, effective instruction that results in all students becoming successful and productive citizens of the 21st Century and beyond.

Response to Intervention, RTI, is a support for students with learning needs.

Developing a solid intervention plan is the foundation for supporting a student who is having difficulty in math. The four I’s, Identify the students, gather Information, write the Intervention, and examine the Impact are part of the many steps along the way to make sure we are meeting the needs of our students. RTI is not designed for a one-size-fits-all implementation and it takes time to develop the right plan to support a student in need.

IDENTIFY

First, students in need of interventions need to be identified. This can be done in two ways. One way is through a teacher referral and the other is through the school’s universal screening. The results from the universal screening, such as STAR or AIMSweb, are reviewed by the school’s data team. Depending on your school there are many potential participants on the data team. Ideally the principal, school psychologist, guidance counselor, and math specialist should all be part of the data team. The team reviews the screenings for the school and identifies the students who may be in need of an intervention plan. A universal screening (such as STAR or AIMSweb) is only one data point. The team should look at other historical data such as historical grades and PARCC data as they consider which students may potentially need an intervention. Meetings should be scheduled for those students so the RTI team can gather more information. If a student is not flagged through the school-wide screening process there is a procedure for the teacher to refer that student to the RTI team.

INFORMATION

At the initial RTI meeting, information is gathered and shared about the student. The classroom teacher, the person in the school who knows the student best, is added to the team at this point. They can share the student’s classroom performance including academic behaviors and areas where the student is having difficulty. The team may review historical data such as grades and attendance, examine formative and summative classroom assessments, and ask questions to determine the best way to support the child. This is an information gathering session and anything possibly affecting the student’s performance should be discussed. It is important to take the time to listen and be thoughtful about each child’s unique needs.

INTERVENTION

At the initial meeting, the team decides if the student needs an intervention plan. If the student does need a plan, the team is there to develop it. From the information gathered, the team decides what needs to be targeted and many questions need to be considered. Does the student need to work on skills or problem solving? What group size would the student be most successful in? How long will the intervention block be and how frequently will it occur? What intervention strategy will be used? How will you monitor the student’s progress and how often will that occur? When will you meet to review the impact of the intervention?

IMPACT

At a predetermined time the RTI team reconvenes to hear from the classroom teacher and the interventionist about the impact of the intervention. The data from progress monitoring is shared along with any new classroom results. There is a new set of questions to be answered. Is the intervention working? Is the student’s performance improving? Should the intervention continue? Should the intervention strategy be changed? Do we have evidence to support these decisions? What are our next steps?

Staying true to this process ensures that as a team, we are examining the specific learning needs of a student and targeting those needs. The data gathered supports our decisions and we are able to see what is working and make needed adjustments to our plan. This student-centered approach developed by a team is all about the I’s!

Kristina Sparfven
Math Content Leader, Chariho Middle School

This one may tile in with Christine's for design and color, and post-activity display purposes. I attached activity sheets I used for a lesson on beginning area ideas (I used it in grade 1). Here the "nuts and bolts" for the activity I call "Floor Tile Designs":

a) Prerequisite: Initial ideas of the concept of area as a measure of the amount of plane enclosed by a plane figure (no area formulas for this activity).

b) Pink sheets: 6 inch by 6 inch square and 4 inch by 8 inch rectangle. (The teacher may/may not wish to discuss that these figures have the same perimeter.)

c) Assorted colors of 1inch by 1 inch square "tiles" used to create a floor design for each pink-sheet figure. These tiles are called "small square tiles" in the activity.

d) Yellow sheets: same figures as the pink sheets.

e) Assorted colors of 2 inch by 2 inch square "tiles" used to create a floor design for each yellow-sheet figure. These tiles are called "large square tiles" in the activity.

f) Purple sheet: questions that serve to guide whole-class discussion of the floor design results. By respective counting and comparison, the students determine that the square floor here has the larger area since in each case it took more squares to cover it than the (non-square) rectangle floor. Also, this is a more powerful result if the class established initially before any tiling that both floors have the same perimeter. They also determine that different square units may be used to cover these floors, and that given a rectangular floor, the actual numerical measure for "area" depends on the size of the square unit used for its tiling.

g) Gray sheet: Post-activity floor design that has students use both small and large tiles. Their creative designs can be displayed in the classroom!

Here is the link to the activity sheets!

file:///C:/Users/prentissl/Downloads/AreaSheetsActivity_DChristy.pdf

Professor, RIC

CAROUSEL ACTIVITIES

As teachers, we look for ways to encourage students to communicate and use proper mathematical vocabulary. The Common Core’s Standards for Mathematical Practice include that students learn to construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others (Standard MP3) and attend to precision (Standard MP6). One activity that encourages students to communicate effectively and review concepts is a carousel activity. On top of the review and communication opportunities they provide, students really seem to enjoy them!

Before class, I post 8-10 sheets around the classroom or in the hallway. Each sheet is lettered and displays both an equation and a graph; an example of one of them is shown below. However, the graph does not match the equation on that sheet. It does, however, match the equation on another sheet. Students start at any one of the sheets, examine the graph shown, and attempt to find the equation that matches the graph on one of the other sheets. Once they find the correct sheet, they repeat the process, looking for a third sheet that contains the equation matching the graph on the second sheet. Students repeat the process until they arrive back at the sheet at which they started, which can take between 10-20 minutes.

I use these activities about once per month in Algebra II, but the activity can easily be applied to any high school mathematics course, especially when studying a family of functions. One of these activities, a review of vertex and intercept forms of quadratic functions, can be found in PDF form at http://bit.ly/2gPYvRm and in Microsoft Word form at http://bit.ly/2i4wfvl. It’s great to see students walk into class after seeing the sheets posted in the hall and ask, “Are those sheets for us? They are? Yes!” Give it a try and you may get the same level of enthusiasm. Good luck!

Steve Levesque

President-Elect

East Greenwich High School

As a new feature of the RIMTA newsletter, we are featuring challenge examples for your

students. Some of these examples were culled from sources such as Rhode Island Mathematics League contests and qualifying tests from the American Mathematical Society’s Who Wants to Be a Mathematician? competition. Hopefully, these problems will challenge your students and inspire them to engage in such competitions in the future.

But we don’t want to end here. Please share your results with us. Send samples of your

students’ work (creative approaches are especially welcome!) to Leves314@yahoo.com and we may display them in our next newsletter.

Elementary School

1. Emily is 10 years older than her cousin. In five years, she will be twice as old as her cousin. How old is Emily now?

2. In a set of five distinct positive integers, the mean and median are both 7. What is the largest integer that can be in the set?

Source: www.mathleague.org

3. Parker builds a structure in Minecraft in the shape of a rectangular prism with walls and a roof that are one block thick, and there are no blocks on the floor. If the structure is 6 units long by 8 units wide by 5 units tall, how many blocks did he use to build the structure?

ANSWERS: 1. 15 years old 2. 17 3. 144 blocks

Middle School

1. On what day of the week was New Year’s Day 2000? (No computers or tablets!)

2. What is one-fifth of two-thirds of three-fourths of 40% of 720?

3. Use six 3’s and any combination of operations to obtain 30.

ANSWERS: 1. Saturday 2. 144/5 3. Answers may vary: one solution is 3^3 + 3*3 - 3 - 3.

High School

1. The graph of f(x) is shown. Find the domain of j(x) = square root of f(x).

2. What is the highest power of 2 that divides 100! (without remainder)?

Source: AMS “Who Wants to Be a Mathematician?” 2011 qualifying test

ANSWER: 2 to the 97th power

3. The area of a circle inscribed in an equilateral triangle is 1 sq. ft. What is the perimeter of the triangle?

Source: AMS “Who Wants to Be a Mathematician?” 2011 qualifying test

RIMTA’s Student Recognition Awards

2016-2017

“Ensuring Mathematics Success for All…

RIMTA will recognize up to one Rhode Island student in each of the grades K-5 and 6-12, to be presented in coordination with school administration.

Each student who is recognized will receive:

● A certificate from RIMTA

● A $50 gift card to use as they wish

Nominating teachers of student award winners will receive:

● A one-year membership/extension in RIMTA

● A recognition certificate

Guidelines for Student Recognition Awards

1. Awarded to a student that is enrolled in grades K through 12, who is an example of “true grit” (See page 2);

2. The student meets at least one of the following criteria:

a. Has demonstrated sustained success in mathematics;

b. Has shown significant progress in mathematics achievement;

c. Has demonstrated leadership in or out of the classroom regarding mathematics education;

d. Has a specific “mathematics student success story” deserving of recognition (e.g., extraordinary project, overcome obstacles, etc.); or

e. Has gone “above and beyond” in some aspect of his/her mathematics performance.

Application Process

1. The student’s mathematics teacher submits

a. A letter of nomination (2 pages maximum),

b. A completed student information form (see page 3), and

c. The nominated student’s response, typed (12-point font, 1.5 space) or legibly hand-written, to at least one of the provided prompts (see page 3)

2. The submission is emailed in MS Word or pdf format, or scanned/photo taken, to lpiq18@gmail.com to be received on or before March 31, 2017.

A teacher may nominate no more than two students.

Questions? Contact Lynn Prentiss at lpiq18@gmail.com.

Timeline for RIMTA Student Awards

January 7, 2017 Initial announcement to RIMTA members (Listserv and Newsletter)

Announcements to Rhode Island area mathematics leaders, principals, superintendents

March 31, 2017 Nomination materials received by Lynn Prentiss

April 27, 2017 Selections made by RIMTA Board; awardees and teachers notified; coordination with school administration for presenting the award

RIMTA’s “Rookie of the Year” Award

2016-2017

“Ensuring Mathematics Success for All…

RIMTA will recognize a Rhode Island teacher in grades K-12 during the 2017 RIMTA Spring Meeting at the Radisson Hotel on Airport Road in Warwick, RI on Thursday, May 11, 2017.

Each teacher who is recognized will be RIMTA’s guest at the Spring Meeting and will receive:

● A one-year membership/extension in RIMTA

● A one-year electronic membership to NCTM

● A certificate from RIMTA

● A $250 award to use towards their classroom

Each teacher who is recognized will be asked to:

● Submit an article for publication in the newsletter (Details to be discussed later; support will be provided)

● Collaborate with nominating educator to present a PD workshop in the 17-18 school year

Nominating educator of award recipient will receive:

● A one-year membership/extension in RIMTA

● A recognition certificate

● A $50 award to be used towards their professional practice

Guidelines for Awards

1. Awarded to a teacher that instructs students in grades K through 12, who has shown outstanding promise;

2. The teacher has been teaching three or fewer years and meets at least one of the following criteria:

a. Has demonstrated reflective practice that has impacted teaching and learning;

b. Has shown significant progress in delivering mathematics instruction;

c. Has demonstrated leadership in or out of the classroom regarding mathematics education;

d. Has a specific “mathematics success story” deserving of recognition (e.g., extraordinary project, overcome obstacles, etc.); or

e. Has gone “above and beyond” in some aspect of his/her mathematics instruction.

Application Process

1. The nominating educator submits

a. A letter of nomination (2 pages maximum),

b. A completed teacher information form (see page 3), and

c. The nominated teacher’s response to the provided prompts (see page 3), (2 pages maximum)

2. The submission is emailed in MS Word or pdf format to lpiq18@gmail.com to be received on or before March 31, 2017.

An educator may nominate no more than two teachers of mathematics.

Questions? Contact Lynn Prentiss at lpiq18@gmail.com.

Timeline for RIMTA’s Rookie of the Year Award to be given at the 2017 RIMTA Spring Meeting

January 7, 2017 Initial announcement to RIMTA members (Listserv and Newsletter)

Announcements to Rhode Island area mathematics leaders, principals, superintendents

March 31, 2017 Nomination materials received by Lynn Prentiss

April 27, 2017 Selection will be made by the RIMTA Board; awardee and nominating colleague notified

May 11, 2017 Selected teacher and his/her nominating colleague recognized at the 2017 RIMTA Spring Meeting

RIMTA’s “Outstanding Teacher of the Year” Award

2016-2017

“Ensuring Mathematics Success for All…

RIMTA will recognize a Rhode Island teacher in grades K-12 during the 2017 RIMTA Spring Meeting at the Radisson Hotel on Airport Road in Warwick, RI on Thursday, May 11, 2017.

Each teacher who is recognized will be RIMTA’s guest at the Spring Meeting and will receive:

● A one-year membership/extension in RIMTA

● A one-year electronic membership to NCTM

● A certificate from RIMTA

● A $250 award to use towards their classroom

Each teacher who is recognized will be asked to:

● Submit an article for publication in the newsletter (Details to be discussed later; support will be provided)

● Collaborate with nominating educator to present a PD workshop in the 17-18 school year

Nominating educator of award recipient will receive:

● A one-year membership/extension in RIMTA

● A recognition certificate

● A $50 award to be used towards their professional practice

Guidelines for Awards

1. Awarded to a teacher that instructs students in grades K through 12, who has demonstrated effective characteristics of an outstanding practitioner;

2. The teacher has been teaching five or more years and meets all of the following criteria:

a. Has demonstrated reflective practice that has impacted teaching and learning;

b. Has demonstrated leadership in and out of the classroom, regarding mathematics education;

c. Has been an instructional model/mentor for others and across disciplines;

d. Has demonstrated positive, productive and effective use of instructional strategies and tools; and

e. Has demonstrated and fostered inclusionary practices for stakeholders in the school community

Application Process

1. The nominating educator submits:

a. A letter of nomination (3 pages maximum),

b. A completed teacher information form (see page 3), and

c. The nominated teacher’s response to the provided prompts (see page 3), (3 pages maximum)

2. The submission is emailed in MS Word or pdf format to lpiq18@gmail.com to be received on or before March 31, 2017.

An educator may nominate no more than two teachers of mathematics.

Questions? Contact Lynn Prentiss at lpiq18@gmail.com.

Timeline for RIMTA’s “Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award” to be given at the 2017 RIMTA Spring Meeting

January 7, 2017 Initial announcement to RIMTA members (Listserv and Newsletter)

Announcements to Rhode Island area mathematics leaders, principals, superintendents

March 31, 2017 Nomination materials received by Lynn Prentiss

April 27, 2017 Selection will be made by the RIMTA Board; awardee and nominating colleague notified

May 11, 2017 Selected teacher and his/her nominating colleague recognized at the 2017 RIMTA Spring Meeting

Please be sure to go to our website at rimta.wildapricot.org

for more information regarding all of these awards.

The 5th Annual Lesley University Summer Math Institute will be held on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday –July 25, 26 & 27, 2017

Each of the 3 days will contain sessions for elementary, middle and secondary level teachers and other math professionals.

Each 150 minute interactive morning session will be repeated in the afternoon, so that every participant at each grade level will experience everything that each of the other participants at that level will experience.

Our presenters are among the most popular and well-respected math educators from New England and beyond.

The theme of the Institute will be:

Using Appropriate Tools Strategically while Looking for, and Making Use of, Structure.

Our webpage will be up shortly, but you can obtain additional information by contacting Steve Yurek at syurek@lesley.edu.

Light Breakfast and Full lunch are included in the registration fee.

Save the Date Tuesday through Thursday, July 25 through 27, 2017

You may attend one, two or all three days

Here is the link to a page that has a link to the flyer for The Second New Cubed Conference.

The First New Cubed Conference was a success, with the attendees enjoying going to workshops along a narrow grade band, such as 7-8. This allowed for very grade specific material to be covered. Children of the participants had fun attending the Math STEM Camp, while their parents were at the conference. Check out the flyer for more details. Please join us for The Second New Cubed Conference to be held at Siena College near Albany, NY on July 9-12, 2017.

http://atmim.wildapricot.org/event-2391830

April 5–8, 2017 • San Antonio

Save the date and plan to join more than 9,000 of your mathematics education peers at the premier math education event of the year.

Why attend?

Hear what makes the NCTM annual meeting a must-attend event year-after-year from fellow attendees and your colleagues in the classroom, then make your plans to join us in San Antonio!

For more information, visit http://www.nctm.org/Conferences-and-Professional-Development/Annual-Meeting-and-Exposition/

Rhode Island Mathematics League

c/o Raymond Morin

19 Bouvier Ave

Manville, RI 02838-1104

401-766-7512 email RIML@COX.NET