Get documents about "Vol 4 Issue 1, 9-28-07
Document Sample
AL PHA Bits
Volume 4, Issue 1 September 28, 2007
Introduction:
Project ALPHA’s At the beginning of yet another school year, the learning gap between
your class(es) at the end of the last school year and that of your new
Monthly Newsletter class(es) can seem overwhelming. With all the new challenges that come
with new students, it’s often difficult to remember how you managed to fill
Algebra Preparedness that gap instructionally, much less think about ways to improve on it.
for Higher Achievement That’s where we come in. We hope that ALPHA Bits, in conjunction with
Project ALPHA’s website, will serve not only as a collection of resources
but as your constant reminder of all our math professional development
Inside this issue: past, present and future. With that said, in this issue you’ll find articles on
the Math Curriculum Council’s Leadership Retreat and the ERUSD math
CGI Workshop 2 focus for this year, the ALPHA Summer Institute, the CGI Workshop, moti-
vating puzzle activities and common misconceptions to avoid as you con-
Events Calendar 3 tinue your CLS this year. We hope you enjoy them!
-Dawn, Lorena, Steve and Tor
Professional Develop-
3
ment Opportunities
Motivating
MCC’s 2007/2008 Focus
4
Math Puzzles Since 2004, El Rancho teachers and collaborative lesson study.
have had the benefit of a repre- Their conclusion: We need to
Sudoku & Puzzle 5 sentative council which has coor- focus on “standards-based, bal-
dinated and facilitated the math anced” math instruction.
CLS: Key Elements & program district-wide. Represen-
5
Misconceptions tatives from each school meet • Standards-Based Instruc-
monthly to analyze the progress tion: As we become more
Standards-Based, of our students in math, discuss adept at designing lessons
6
Balanced Instruction directives and initiatives from the and interacting with students
state and county, and find ways around problem-solving and
07’ Summer Institute 7 to address the issues most af- conceptual understanding, we
fecting us as teachers of mathe- need to rely less and less on
matics. our textbooks. Instead, we
can guide our math programs
Last spring, our representatives by the state standards – or
discussed a professional devel- even by clumps of standards
opment focus for 2007-2008 related to various mathemati-
which would unify our many pro- cal big ideas. In this way, we
fessional development initiatives are able to create learning ex-
and program activities, including periences that are more co-
the summer institute, CGI training (Continued on page 6)
Volume 4, Issue 1 ALPHA Bits, Page 2
Cognitively Guided Instruction Workshop
During the coaches: Dawn Esqueda and Steve Me-
summer, the doza.
Educational
Services De- In the workshop, the participating teachers
partment of El learned a framework for how children learn
Rancho Uni- mathematics by focusing on the students'
fied School intuitive understanding of number. They
District held a studied various problem types and learned
four-day Cog- methods for teaching them to students.
n i t i v e l y Children's intuitive and learned understand-
Guided Instruction (CGI) Workshop. CGI is a ing of the purpose of the equal sign were
teacher professional development program also explored.
based on over twenty years of research by Tho-
mas Carpenter, Megan Franke, Linda Levi, Thanks to all participating teachers. We
Susan Empson and Victoria Jacobs. While the look forward to working with you this year as
workshop was open to all district math teach- you implement CGI in your classrooms.
ers, the content focused on lower elementary
mathematics. The purpose was to help teach-
ers design instruction to develop stronger un-
derstanding of numbers and greater fluency
with mathematics for problem solving.
The participating teachers were Guillermina Al-
varez (Selby Grove), David French (Meller),
Don Gaitan (Rivera Elementary), Irma Garcia
(Birney), Jacquelyn Jauregui (Magee), Bonnie
Kahler (Rio Vista), Leticia Lopez (North Ran-
chito), and Kathleen Navarro (Rio Vista). Facili-
tators were two district math instructional
Mathtoon
Volume 4, Issue 1 ALPHA Bits, Page 3
Events Calendar October 2007
♦ Math Curriculum Council Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
October 8, 2007 1 2 3 4 5 6
3:30 - 4:45pm
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Rivera Middle School Library
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
♦ 4th - 7th Intervention In-Service
October 11, 2007 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
8am - 3:30pm 28 29 30 31
Location TBD
♦ Principals’ In-Service
November 2007
October 23, 2007
DO1 Tech Center
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
♦ Math Study Meeting
October 24 or 25, 2007 1 2 3
3:30 - 4:30pm 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Rivera Middle School Library
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
♦ CMC-South Conference
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
November 2 - 3, 2007
Palm Springs, CA 25 26 27 28 29 30
Professional Development Opportunities
CMC-South Conference UCLA Math Content Program for
Teachers (Formerly LUCIMATH)
“Learning Mathematics Together:
Representing, For the Fall 2007 schedule, visit:
Reasoning, Reflecting” http://www.math.ucla.edu/mcpt/enrollment_fall_2007.htm
November 2-3, 2007 For more information, visit:
http://www.math.ucla.edu/mcpt/
Palm Springs, CA
Call: Theresa Lee
For more info, visit: (310) 794-6588
http://www.cmc-math.org/PS
Volume 4, Issue 1 Page 4
Motivating Students with Puzzles
Motivating students is always a challenge. Students who follow the five steps correctly
Quite often students have other things on are often amazed that any combination of the
their mind besides math. One way to engage four numbers has a sum of 45.
students is with math puzzles. The Constant-
Sum Grid (see Fig. 1), for example, is an in- How does this work?
teresting puzzle taken from the August 2004, • Encourage students to look for patterns.
MATHEMATICS TEACHER article, Motivating • Show how original numbers are generated
Activities That Lead to Algebra by Ramakrish- (see Fig. 3).
nan Menon. + 1 8 6 9
Directions 5 6 13 11 14
11 12 19 17 20
Step 1: Circle any one of the sixteen numbers
in the grid, say, 17. Keep the circled number, 3 4 11 9 12
but cross out all the other numbers that are in 2 3 10 8 11
the same row and column as the circled num-
ber (see Fig. 1). Figure 3
6 13 11 14
• Use variables to replace values (see Fig.
12 19 17 20 4).
4 11 9 12
+ E F G H
3 10 8 11 A+E A+F A+G A+H
A
B B+E B+F B+G B+H
Figure 1
C C+E C+F C+G C+H
Step 2: Circle another number, say, 6, that D D+E D+F D+G D+H
has not already been circled or crossed out.
Keep the circled number, but cross out all the Figure 4
other numbers that are in the same row and
column as the circled number. • A+B+C+D+E+F+G+H = 45. A circled
value is the sum of two addends, say, A +
Step 3: Circle a third number, say, 12, that G = 17, since A = 11 and G = 6. When
has not already been circled or crossed out. the rest of the values are crossed out in
Again, keep the circled number, but cross out the appropriate row and column this elimi-
all the other numbers that are in the same row nates the possibility of repeated addends.
and column as the circled number. Thus, essentially this puzzle is simply add-
ing up all the addends A through G.
Step 4: Circle a fourth number, say, 10, which
is the last available number. Visit our website, www.erusd.k12.ca.us/alpha,
for the complete article and more information
Step 5: Only the four circled numbers remain. on the Constant-Sum Grid. The article also
Add the four circled numbers. Is your answer includes other motivating puzzles and activi-
45? ties.
Volume 4, Issue 1 ALPHA Bits, Page 5
Sudoku Difficulty Level: Medium Puzzle
The figure below is composed of congruent
9 7 1 8 4 6
squares. How many rectangles are in the
6 4 2 1 figure?
4 3 8
4 2
5 6
4 6
6 5 1
8 5 7 1
1 2 9 8 5 7
CLS: Key Components & Common Misconceptions
At the onset of any new professional development endeavor we must be open to the likelihood that
immediate and/or great success isn’t always possible within our first attempt. There will always be a
learning curve and only time and practice will lead to efficient modifications. We must keep this in
mind as we begin a second year of Collaborative Lesson Study implementation. We could now re-
flect on our efforts from last year and, not only summarize the key components of Collaborative Les-
son Study, but highlight important misconceptions to avoid in our continued attempts.
Key Elements of Collaborative Lesson Study
• Collaboratively develop learning goals for the lesson as well as the overall math concept.
• Collaboratively plan a lesson that will address these goals.
• Select one teacher to implement the lesson while the rest make focused observations.
• Collaboratively reflect and discuss on the effectiveness of the lesson and make revisions ac-
cordingly.
• If possible, implement the revised lesson with your own class. Reflect and revise, if necessary.
Important Misconceptions to Avoid1
• Lesson study is about creating a unique, original, or never-before-seen lesson.
• There will be no benefit from just a few lesson study lessons; it’s important to conduct lesson
study for as many lessons as possible.
• Lesson study is about perfecting a single lesson.
• Lesson study is about producing a library of tried-and-tested lessons for others to use.
Collaborative Lesson Study is about improving on the best available lessons in order to meet your
goals for your students. You will never attain the perfect, “tried-and-tested” lesson because the
needs of your students will always be different.
1Excerpted from “Challenges to Importing Lesson Study: Concerns, Misconceptions, and Nuances” by Sonal Chokshi and Clea Fernandez.
Volume 4, Issue 1 Page 6
Standards-Based, Balanced Instruction
(Continued from page 1)
herent, connected and comprehensible
and that align closely with state assess-
ments without slavishly teaching to the
test.
• Balanced Instruction: Good mathemat-
ics programs help students understand
mathematics at a conceptual level and be-
come more adept at solving problems in
addition to developing their skills in com-
putation. The state framework calls this
conceptual understanding, problem-
solving and procedural fluency. Good vention outlines and lists of resources and
classroom instruction must also balance teaching strategies that will guide district
opportunities for students to explore intervention programs in grades 4 through
mathematics independently with guidance 7. Intervention teachers can attend a full-
and direct instruction from the teacher. day in-service on October 11 at the re-
The Math Council’s professional develop- quest of their principals.
ment focus encompasses both types of
balance. • Algebra Readiness: Representatives
from the middle and high schools created
In June, the Math Council attended a three- a pacing guide and assembled instruc-
day leadership retreat at the scenic Pico Park tional materials for 8th-graders who are not
Community Center. Representatives devel- yet taking Algebra I. Nine teachers at-
oped action plans for a Math Field Day, tended an in-service day on September
cross-grade articulation, intervention, parent 10 and will follow up on November 5 and
workshops and district workshops – all de- February 9. Both the intervention and
signed to further the focus on standards and algebra readiness outlines follow the
balanced instruction. At the September coun- guidelines set out in the 2006 Mathemat-
cil meeting, work continued on the action ics Framework.
plans with the following results:
In addition to these specific initiatives, math
• Field Day: Building on the success of last council representatives will continue to work
year’s county field day teams, El Rancho closely with math coaches to implement vari-
mathletes will have the chance to com- ous types of collaboration: Course-specific
pete in a district field day before moving to meetings at the high schools focusing on Al-
the county competition. Council represen- gebra I and Math A; grade-level and depart-
tatives will present information as it be- ment meetings at the elementary and middle
comes available; the competition has schools for the implementation of detailed
been tentatively scheduled for April. curriculum planning and lesson study; and
data analysis workshops at all levels to re-
• Intervention: Elementary and middle view benchmark exam results from the new
school representatives have created inter- Edusoft assessment system.
Project ALPHA’s
Monthly Newsletter Contact Information
Dawn Esqueda
El Rancho Unified School District desqueda@erusd.k12.ca.us Lorena Ponciano
lmponciano@erusd.k12.ca.us
Categorical Programs Burke Middle, 801-5059
North Park Middle, 801-5137
9333 Loch Lomond Dr. Steve Mendoza
Pico Rivera, CA 90660 smendoza@erusd.k12.ca.us Tor Ormseth
tormseth@erusd.k12.ca.us
Rivera Middle, 801-5088
Phone: 562-801-5224 El Rancho High, 801-5355
Fax: 562-949-0519 Categorical Programs, 801-52
26
El Rancho Unified Sch
projectalpha@erusd.k12.ca.us El Rancho Unified School District
ool District
Board of Education
Dr. Joseph Board of Education
Rivera
Vincent Vincent Chavez
Rita Jo Ramir Chavez Del
Rita Jo Ramirez ez Delia Alvidrezia Alvidrez las
Lup
Joseph Rivera, Ed. D. e Sa
Lupe Salas
Superintendent
Look for us on the web! Superintendent
Norbert D. Genis
Norbert D. Genis
www.erusd.k12.ca.us/alpha Assistant Superintend
Susanna Assistant Superintendent
Susanna S.S. Smith Dr. Kaent n
thry
Smith Kathryn EnloeEnloeD.
, Ed.
2007 ALPHA Summer Institute
The 2007 ALPHA Summer Institute was held Thank you, teachers, for taking time in the
June 28 through July 12. Thirty-six El Rancho summer to attend the institute. Your interest
Unified teachers participated in the eighty in increasing your math content and pedagogi-
hours of intensive training focused on rational cal knowledge and willingness to participate in
numbers. Topics included: the many activities is greatly appreciated.
Mathematics for Teaching Math: Teach- For more information on the 2007 Summer
ers must be attuned to mathematics dif- Institute, please visit our website:
ferent from that of engineers and scien- http://www.erusd.k12.ca.us/ProjectALPHAweb/
tists in order to meet the needs of their index_files/Page1791.htm
students. The teachers therefore ex-
plored questions like: What does it
mean to divide 1¾ by ½?
Student Misconceptions: Teachers inter-
viewed students to determine their mis-
conceptions of rational number concepts
and discussed typical misconceptions
as they solved problems.
Balanced Instruction: Through lesson
study and collaborative planning, teach-
ers developed and taught lessons that
balance conceptual understanding,
problem solving and computational pro-
cedures.
Related docs
