6-12 Mathematics Update
Week of December 15, 2014
Important Updates
Common Core Georgia Performance Standards
Please click on the following link to gain access to the revised Math Standards and the survey to provide feedback.
Standards for Mathematical Practice
This week, the focus is on SMP 2: Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
Please view the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp8r5hlGFsQ&list=PLkCODEjk2FRH25fQhq_Wfsk-cKSB5OZVQ
Coaching Tip
Make Good Relationships with Teachers a Priority.
Specific Suggestions
Help teachers in any way that you can. Remember that teachers have an enormous task. They wear many hats—social worker, psycholo- gist, office manager; creator of materials, developer of curriculum. Furthermore, elementary teachers have to know each subject area in depth so they can meet the needs of children with widely varying abilities. Help them set up their classroom before school starts, gather materials for them, and do those little (but appreciated) things, like taking over their classes so they can get to the bathroom.
Listen sympathetically to teachers’ worries; they are very real. Laugh with teachers at the funny things their children do; this lightens our load. Celebrate with teachers as their children move forward; this reminds them and you why we chose this profession. Being a cheer- leader is one of the most important ways that I support teachers.
Understand that many teachers feel a lot of pressure from a variety of sources. Since many of these things are beyond teacher control, help them think about things that they can control.
Talk to each teacher frequently; greet them cheerily in the halls and pop into their rooms to see how they are doing. I always try to remember that teachers are working hard to be the best teachers they can be; they do what makes sense to them according to their experiences.
Honor the confidences that teachers share with you. Know that they are doing their best and that you, too, once walked in their shoes.
Don’t take yourself too seriously. Walls between teachers tumble down when you and they can laugh at your own mistakes.
Recognize that as teachers’ doors swing open and conversations begin, the school’s mathematics program begins to change. Some teachers love and thrive on this change. Others may need your reas- surance that they are doing good things for children, and that we’re all learning together how to make things even better.
Courtesy of The Math Coach Field Guide: Charting Your Course published by Math Solutions Publications.
Best Practices
The Use of Pre-Assessment
Teachers must use pre-assessments to make decisions; we must become what Carol Ann Tomlinson called "assessment junkies." Pre-assessment enables us to base our flexible groupings on data and not on feelings. Teachers can be successful at implementing a task by creating small groups on the basis of the pre-assessment results so that each student can be challenged and could move forward with mastering the content.
Task of the Week
This task covers the Pythagorean Theorem, Irrational Numbers, and Area of Squares and Circles.
If all of the rectangles in the figure below are squares and the area of the shaded square is 25 square units, what is the area of square ABCD?
Upcoming Events
Increasing Mathematical Knowledge to Enhance Teaching (Middle School)
This course will engage teachers as mathematical thinkers by having them solve problems to deepen their understanding of mathematics.
The objective of this course is to build teachers’ mathematical knowledge and capacity in order to use it to increase student achievement.
Please visit MyPLC to register.
Middle School (Part 1)
Course#: 156273
Section#: 63167
Saturday, Jan 10, 2015, 09:00 AM
TBD
Increasing Mathematical Thinking to Enhance Teaching (High School)
This course will engage teachers as mathematical thinkers by having them solve problems to deepen their understanding of mathematics.
The objective of this course is to build teachers’ mathematical knowledge and capacity in order to use it to increase student achievement.
Please visit MyPLC to register.
High School (Part 1)
Course#: 156273
Section#: 63168
Saturday, Jan 24, 2015, 09:00 AM
TBD
Mr. Neal Christian, Coordinator
Email: nchristian@atlanta.k12.ga.us
Website: http://www.atlanta.k12.ga.us
Phone: (404) 802-2717
Twitter: @APS_6_12_Math