At the November Middle School Math meeting, Becky Huffman from Smokey Road and Michelle Hanners from Lee shared resources with teachers. Becky shared the Drops on a Penny task and advice from her experiences in implementing the task. Click on this link to get the Drops on a Penny task: Drops on a Penny.
Michelle attended a session on Themed Family Nights at the Georgia Math Conference. She gave each teacher at the meeting a CD containing files created by Midway Middle School for their parent nights. The links in the table below are to documents updated to an editable format from the CD so that you can adapt Midway’s plans to fit the Math Night, Math/Science Night, or Curriculum Night at your school.
Themed Family Nights
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CSI (Curriculum Scene Investigation)
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Code Breakers
Crime on a Large Scale
Analyze This!
Crime Scene Computations
Estimation Police Station
Eye Witness
Logical Deductions
Ransom!
Sole Solution
Which Way Did He Go?
Who’s the Fittest Recruit?
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Math Survivor
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The Amazing Math and Science Race
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Spring Fling
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lskinner Mathematics, Middle School
Data and graphs provided the focus for November meeting of middle school math teachers. At the 6th and 7th grade levels, having students interpret a graph by writing the story behind it is a great way to have them work with the grade level data standards as well as incorporate the process standards of problem solving, reasoning, communicating, and making connections. Problems 1-3 on the sample activity, Gabbing about Graphing, are appropriate for 6th grade, and problem 4 is appropriate for 7th grade. These problems are provided as a springboard for additional teacher-created items to get students thinking and communicating.
The Drops on a Penny task is particularly appropriate for 7th grade, but it also addresses an 8th grade standard. In 8th grade, students spend a lot of time investigating linear equations and graphs. The Slope-intercept Song is a catchy way for students to remember how to graph a linear equation in slope-intercept form. Go to watch?v=TYsWIWckKeg to see a class performing the song to the tune of “YMCA” by the Village People. Another resource for 8th grade is the VANG Game in which students have to make connections between verbal, algebraic, numeric, and graphic representations.
As part of the county-wide strategic plan focus on differentiation and formative assessment, Making Math Accessible to Stuggling Students information as well as three activities that provide access at the student’s level of understanding were shared.
lskinner Mathematics, Middle School
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APPLY NOW FOR THE 2009-10 ALBERT EINSTEIN DISTINGUISHED EDUCATOR FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
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Attention K-12 teachers: Are you an experienced educator who is ready to make a difference on education policy at a national level? If so, consider applying for an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship and prepare for a year of unique opportunities. As an Einstein Fellow you will spend a school year in Washington, DC sharing your expertise with policy makers. You may serve your Fellowship with Congress or one of several government agencies such as the Department of Energy, NASA, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The Einstein Fellowship program provides an opportunity for teachers to inform national policy and improve communication between the K-12 STEM education community and national leaders. Selection is based on excellence in K-12 mathematics, science, or technology teaching; demonstrated leadership; an understanding of national, state, and local education policy; and communication and interpersonal skills.
The Fellowship program was created in 1990 with support from the MacArthur Foundation. Congress formalized the program in 1994 by passing the Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship Act. The Triangle Coalition administers the program under the direction of the Department of Energy. The application deadline is January 13, 2010.
The program continues to receive high recognition and was recently identified at a meeting of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) as an exemplar for getting input from teachers to inform policy decisions here in Washington DC. This year there are 24 Fellows serving in four Federal Agencies and two Senate and two House offices. Next year it looks as though we will be adding additional agencies, increasing the need for great candidates.
Apply online at http://www.einsteinfellows.org/application.html.
For more information about the Einstein Fellows program visit www.einsteinfellows.net or contact Program Manager Kathryn Culbertson at culbertsonk@triangle-coalition.org. An informational flyer can be accessed using this link: Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship Program.
lskinner Elementary, High School, Mathematics, Middle School, Science
For those of you who weren’t able to make it to yesterday’s middle school science curriculum meeting, I’ve posted a folder of materials for you. All of the materials from yesterday’s meeting as well as some extras are included. I hope you find them useful. The file is a “zip” file. Once you download the file, right click on it and click “extract all” to save the files to your computer.
MS Differentiation
donald.white Middle School, Science
Edutopia-10-top-tips-for-teaching-with-new-media
This is from Edutopia. It has some great tips for using technology in the classroom and getting your students engaged in your lessons.
donald.white ESOL, Elementary, English-Language Arts, Fine Arts, High School, Mathematics, Middle School, New Teachers, Pre-K, Science, Social Studies, Special Education
How would you like to be cruising to Antarctica this time next year? It could happen with Polar Trec! Included in this post is information on a student video contest and student scholarship competitions. Check them out!
PolarTec et al
2010VideoContestFlyer
2010 NOSB Video Contest
donald.white Elementary, High School, Middle School, Science
Elluminate 2009Grants
I’ve uploaded the PowerPoint presentation from Thursday’s (9/10/09) Elluminate session with the DOE’s Steve Rich. There are links to all of the grant funding sources he mentioned in his presentation. You may also download the Elluminate session to see some of the others grant sources that other teachers suggested.
http://elluminate.gavirtualschool.org/doe/play_recording.html?recordingId=1249907627015_1252610170312
donald.white Elementary, High School, Middle School, Science
Space Shuttle Program Artifacts
The link above has details about procuring Space Shuttle Program artifacts for your school. There is no cost involved except for the cost of shipping. Please see the details in the document above.
donald.white Uncategorized
I’m always on the look out for free stuff for educators. Here are few things you might be interested in:
Free Admission to the Georgia Aquarium
You’re Invited to the Georgia Aquarium, World of Coca-Cola, and Barnes & Noble Education Open House
Join us for our Education Open House for Pre-K through 12th grade educators and supervisory staff on Friday, September 25th to learn about our new educational programs.
Reserve Your Spot Today!
While there is no charge for you to attend this event, reservations are required; please use this link to register: http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/visitus/bnbregform.aspx
Bring a Colleague!
You may bring one fellow colleague to enjoy this evening with you. Please note that any additional attendees must purchase a Pemberton Place Pass at the above registration link. ID or Payment Confirmation is required for entry. This is a professional event and no children will be permitted.
Parking:
$7 Discounted Parking in the Georgia Aquarium Deck will be provided for attendees. The Georgia Aquarium parking deck is located at the Corner of Ivan Allen, Jr. Boulevard and Luckie Street.
Registration:
Find the Barnes & Noble tents in Pemberton Place, located between the Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola, to register and pick up your Activities Punch Card. Your punch card will serve as enter-to-win slips for our drawings at the end of the night.
Your evening will start at the Taste of the World of Coca-Cola from 5:00 PM – 7:30 PM. Followed by a visit to Georgia Aquarium to learn about our education program and meet educational vendors and partners from all over the Atlanta-Metro. Tours of Georgia Aquarium Learning Loop will occur between 6:00 PM and 7:45 PM. Teacher giveaways will occur at 8:00 PM on the main floor atrium.
Free Admission to Bodies: The Exhibition at Atlantic Station
You can go to “Bodies: The Exhibition” for free on Sept. 10th . Click on the following link: http://www.ticketsforgroups.com/GA_rsvp.html “Dialog in the Dark” is full but they may be able to work you in when you show up for Bodies.
For more info on Bodies go to this link: http://www.bodiestheexhibition.com
Free Museum Admission
Saturday, September 26 is National Museum Day! Go to this site http://microsite.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/admission.html and you can enter your name, etc. for a free pass to any participating museum in the country on 9/26. I would recommend the Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville but I’m sure you’ll find others that are interesting to you. Click here to find other participating museums. http://microsite.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/venue.html
Here’s a link for the Tellus Museum: http://www.weinmanmuseum.org
donald.white Uncategorized
Math Support is a class to help students successfully complete their regular grade level mathematics course. The Support class should focus on mastery of standards. Students should be engaged in doing math, explaining their thinking, and justifying their work.
Students who struggle with math have a history of bad experiences that have communicated very clearly to them that they cannot do mathematics. Providing these students with opportunities for success is vital to improving their attitude, building their self-efficacy, and increasing their achievement. It is critical that Support classes are set up for success. Experimental studies have demonstrated that changing children’s beliefs from a focus on ability to a focus on effort increases their engagement in mathematics learning, which in turn improves their performance.
Support teachers and corresponding math teachers need to collaborate so that Support teachers know what is coming up in their students’ math class. Then the Support teacher can prepare students for the vocabulary and the “most essential” concepts and skills necessary to be successful. Students in Support need to preview vocabulary, and the academic language of mathematics needs to be taught explicitly. Time in Support can be used for previewing tasks and for providing extended time to complete tasks worked on in the regular math class.
There should not be a dramatic difference in the grade a student makes in his math class and the grade he makes in Support. The Math Support grade should be reflective of students’ work on the standards, not behavioral issues such as the neatness of their notebooks and the timeliness of turning in assignments. Support teachers need to know how students are processing the information so that misconceptions can quickly be addressed and corrected, so frequent, descriptive feedback is necessary.
The links below are to documents that provide suggestions for Math Support classes.
lskinner High School, Mathematics