How are you getting this kid to the next step?

This semester I am teaching two sections of Mathematics for Elementary Teachers II. In an effort to prepare these future teachers to be educational leaders, I am asking them to lead professional development sessions around Kassia Omohundro Wedekind's book, Math Exchanges. Groups of three or four teachers are taking turns developing and facilitating activities and leading discussions related to one of the chapters. I have been impressed with their efforts and wanted to share an example from chapter three: Planning with a Purpose. (Groups are using a workshop format to plan their professional development sessions.)

Schema Activation (10 minutes): Main Ideas

What quotes or big ideas stuck out to you throughout chapter three?

Focus (15 minutes): Workshops

What math workshop did you like the most?

What common ideas did you see throughout the workshops?

What foundational concepts were touched on?

Activity (20 minutes): Creating Student-focused curriculum

Ben has 10 cookies to share between his two friends, Hailey and Anna. How many cookies will each friend get? (p. 52)

With your student (based on their specific characteristics) develop ideas with your group of how you could adjust your math exchange for this particular student.

(Groups were given a list of characteristics and a sheet of easel paper. They were asked to use these to create a poster of their adjustments to present to the class. Below are the characteristics and the final posters.)

Jose

• Easily frustrated
• Helps when he draws the problem out
• Counts on fingers

Ariana

• Very shy, keeps to herself
• Afraid to ask for help
• Observes others while they work
• Likes using the manipulative kits

Bridgett

• Confident, fast worker
• Doesn't remember how she got her answer
• Often works too fast and doesn't get right answer

Jack

• Verbal in a group setting
• Second guesses himself
• Knows material but needs help getting started

Reflection (15 minutes): Class Discussion

How can you use what you learned from specializing your lesson to help you in your classroom?

What are some things you noticed about math exchanges?

(be sure to highlight the following)

• no two math exchanges are the same
• always adjust the math exchange for YOUR students

[note: some small edits were made to the plan before posting to this blog]

What is an EdCamp? Part I

EdCamp Detroit was an eye-opening experience. A perk of being a university professor is attending a lot of conferences (NCTM and TEDxGrandRapids to name two recent ones). I had never been to an unconference, however, and was looking forward to checking out this new approach to improving teaching.

The first thing to know about EdCamps is that there are no prearranged speakers. Participants arrive and encounter instructions like those shown below. EdCamp Detroit had 32 slots available spread equally between four one-hour sessions. To my amazement (since we always struggle to find enough K12 teachers to present at Math in Action) these slots began to fill rather quickly.

I have given plenty of talks, but I will admit that this format intimidated me a little - maybe because I had not done my typical preparation. After overhearing one of the organizers encouraging another participant to put an idea up on the board, I decided to take a risk. I selected a time slot at the end of the day and a topic that I thought would allow participants to be actively engaged. Most people feel like their brains are full at the end of a conference and I wanted to provide an opportunity for them to release that pressure by reflecting on what they learned. There will be more on my presentation later, but first I want to provide an overview of the EdCamp Detroit experience.

I chose sections that I thought I could incorporate into my final session. The first was called "The Flipped Classroom and Screencasting." Dan Spencer shared his ideas for using available technology to enhance learning and referenced examples like Khan Academy and MathTrain TV. Steve Dickie led the next session on "Pseudoteaching." He referenced blogs by Frank Noschese and Derek Muller (which actually questions some of the assumptions made by Khan Academy). In the third session, Mike Kaechele led a discussion about "Collaboration Across Classrooms." This included a Skype session with a group at EdCamp Boston (led by Marialice Curran) which allowed participants to share their experiences and see the power of this resource in action.

@TheNerdyTeacher shares with participants at EdCamp Boston

Very little of this was new to me. Again, I have more time than your typical K12 teacher to explore emerging educational approaches, ideas, and resources. Still, I was energized by these sessions because of the involvement of the participants. EdCamp presenters expect everyone to get involved and in most cases participants oblige. I left Mike's session excited to see what would develop in mine.

To be continued...