Teaching Fellows’ Meetings

October 10-11, 2008

For their fall meeting, the 2005 Physical Science and Math Teaching fellows met in Arlington, Virginia to investigate strategies for differentiating instruction for academically diverse learners. The workshop was led by Amy Germundson, former high school chemistry and physics teacher and a current doctoral student at the University of Virginia. A graduate student of Dr. Carol Tomlinson (a nationally known expert in differentiation,) Amy consults with high school science teachers on differentiating instruction. The focus of her workshop was on planning science curriculum and differentiating lessons to meet diverse student learning needs, based on student readiness, interest and learning profiles.  The fellows used the strategies they learned in the workshop to incorporate differentiated instruction into their lesson study and will implement additional strategies before the spring meeting, when they will meet with Amy again.  In addition to Amy's workshop, the 2005 Fellows used a critical friends' protocol to develop individual goals for their annual KSTF teaching portfolios.  

March 28-29, 2008 

Several workshops were developed around the theme of formative assessment for the 2005 Math Cohort’s spring 2008 meeting. The meeting was held on March 28 & 29, 2008 in Washington, DC, at the headquarters of the Mathematical Association of America. The meeting coincided with the start of Washington’s Cherry Blossom Festival. Located near Dupont Circle, the MAA’s Carriage House Conference Center hosted workshops that were conducted by Dr. Thomas Evitts, Associate Professor of Mathematics Education at Shippensburg University, and Dr. Judy Rector, Associate Professor of Mathematics Education at Berea College. Dr. Rector and Dr. Evitts worked together creating a dynamic interplay between Dr. Rector’s use of manipulatives and Dr. Evitts discussions on formative assessment. Presenting a series of constructivist activities, Dr. Rector demonstrated the “power” of mathematical manipulatives and their role in inquiry-based instruction. Each series of activities were followed with a workshop led by Dr. Evitts discussing the use of possible formative assessment techniques. Conversations throughout the two days were lively and productive.

The fellows also engaged in a robust discussion on the structure of the mathematics lesson study within KSTF guidelines and continued discussions of their 2008 portfolio goals.

October 26-27, 2007 

Several workshops on formative assessment within the mathematics class were planned for the 2005 Math Cohort’s fall 2007 meeting. The workshops were to be conducted by Dr. Thomas Evitts, Associate Professor of Mathematics Education at Shippensburg University. Due to some unforeseen circumstances Dr. Evitts has to cancel at the last minute and was unable to attend. The formative assessment workshops were rescheduled for the spring meeting. Meanwhile some of the spring 2008 meeting workshops were moved up to the fall meeting. Fellows were given some tasks to complete in anticipation of the formative assessment workshops which will be addressed in the spring. Additional workshops on the use of manipulatives that engage students in the discovery process were supplemented with workshops on how to effectively use mathematical software such as Excel, Maple and Geometer SketchPad within the classroom environment.

The fellows also engaged in a robust discussion on the structure of the mathematics lesson study within KSTF guidelines and continued discussions of their 2008 portfolio goals.

March 16-17, 2007

The spring meeting for the 2005 Mathematics Cohort was held in Charleston, SC, March 16 and 17. Dr. Henry Kepner, from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and President-elect for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics joined the fellows and helped guide their discussions and lesson study. The meeting focused on the year two theme of teaching mathematics in classes of diverse learners, where diversity includes language diversity, learning style differences, ethnic diversity, and age diversity, as well as the challenges of mainstreamed classrooms. The fellows used this base discussion of diverse classrooms to better understand reflecting on their own practice and the importance of reflection in their portfolio submissions. Dr. Kepner is a world renowned mathematics educator who has written extensively about and worked extensively in diverse classrooms in Milwaukee. He is also well known for his ability to "guide" new teachers in reflecting on their practice. The two lesson study groups advanced to the point that all of the 2005 fellows will pilot the materials this spring.

October 13-14, 2006

The 2005 Mathematics Cohort met in San Diego, California. The primary focus of this meeting was to explore teaching in diverse classrooms. The fellows observed the classrooms of two teachers at the Multimedia and Visual Arts School at Crawford High School Educational Complex. The teachers there use the Interactive Mathematics Program curriculum (IMP), a reform-oriented curriculum, and are striving to teach mathematics in a way that promotes student discourse and understanding of mathematical concepts among an ethnically diverse population. As an extension of the classroom visit, the fellows engaged in extensive discussions of classroom management in diverse classrooms, and followed with a discussion of assessment in diverse classrooms. They read three papers ahead of time on the topic of diverse classrooms. The remainder of the time was spent on lesson study.

May 12-13, 2006

The 2005 Mathematics Cohort met in Wayne, New Jersey, May 12 and 13. The primary focus of this meeting was teaching with technology. Brother Patrick Carney, KSTF Mathematics Advisory Board member, invited the fellows to De Paul Catholic High School in Wayne, where he teaches mathematics, to observe students using Thinkpads. Each student in the school has their own Thinkpad provided by the school. The students use the Thinkpads to do and record their work, interact with the teacher, and communicate mathematics with each other. They are able to access internet resources in mathematics directly at their desks. The fellows observed and interacted with other teachers in the school to see how they used various types of technology. The second day was spent talking about what the fellows observed, working on their lesson study and thinking about how they could use technology effectively in their lesson study. Additionally, each fellow was provided with the Geometer's Sketchpad software for their use in teaching.

November 10-12, 2005

The 2005 Mathematics Teaching Fellows met in Denver, Colorado, to participate in the NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) Regional Meeting. One of the highlights of the event was the opportunity to attend a session sponsored by Texas Instruments on the television show NUMB3RS, including a question and answer session with "Charlie". They also attended a workshop on Lesson Study, several keynote addresses, some teacher-led sessions and toured the exhibits. In between they found to catch-up with one another and to review their progress on their lesson study plans. The meeting was coordinated by Ginger Rhodes and several members of the Mathematics Advisory Committee shared events with them.