Elementary Math Update
April 2016
Elementary Curriculum Moves to The Atrium!
If you wonder where we are these days and why you may have to wait to get a response to email we are packing for a huge move. All of learning and teaching will be moved effective mid-May and huge packing and purging efforts are under way. We will be opening Walton to all of you to come and get resources that we just don't have room for any longer. The hope is to do this during the week of 4/18. Stay tuned for more details!
Friday, April 22, 2016: Math Facilitator Meeting
Our final math facilitator meeting for the year will be held on 4/22. We plan to continue work from the March meeting and share news about summer PD plans. Hope to see you all at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church (3400 Beattis Ford Rd) again! Please make plans to attend either the am sessions or the pm session. The meeting will follow the same structure and registration can be completed for credit on My Talent. We will use a doodle link to make reservations in sessions.
Sessions:
8:30-11:30 (2-90minute sessions)
12:30-3:30 (2-90minute sessions)
The Google link for materials from the last sessions is located below:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-eblhzoEHqxLU5RTnRqb1BvNk0
About Tracy
Tracy's heart to "become the math teacher she wishes she had" is infectious! I have linked her blog to her name because it is a great example of seeking to grow, shift and change as a professional. She is just like you and me. She is a learner, a math enthusiast and a teacher advocate. I am sure that you will find gems in her blog and being amazing conversations on Twitter. She is very interesting!
Tracy Zager, "Breaking the Cycle"
Is everyone invited to the party?
I have been thinking a lot lately about we develop our math voice as adults. I think of this by using the analogy of "the math party". How are teachers being "invited to the math party" in your buildings? How might we extend the invitation to more teachers? Before she left Amy Lehew and I had so many conversations about inviting teachers into leadership. We both spoke about how empowering it can be to have someone believe in you, invest in you and invite you to lead. (the order here matters)
A practice that I see taking place in light of the ILT movement in CMS is the institution of the math committee. The first place that I saw this take off was at Pinewood. My vision of math committee is a collection of people who are interested in working through issue related to math. Issues could be content, practice or school structures that support the overall math needs of the school. Do you have a math committee? Tell us about it!
Let's start thinking about the party invitations:
- How might we showing our teachers that we believe in them as math learners?
- How might we invite them to the math party?
- How might we invest in them? How and when might we invite them to lead
2016-2017 Maps and Scope and Sequence: April 15th
Maps will be ready for review by April 15th.
NCTM Annual Conference
Every year NCTM hosts an annual math conference filled with the latest ideas and research in mathematics education. Gabr'l and I will be attending the conference next week. I only became aware of this conference after becoming a facilitator. The cost can be a bit much for schools. Grants are available to help fund attendance to the conferences! See the link below. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to attend the conference in past years and want this experience for all teachers and math leaders. In addition to the national conference there are also several regional conferences as well.