WordPress.com sent me a report on this blog. It was viewed 160,000 times in 2011. Thanks to everybody for your participation—and congratulations to Brian Cohen for posting the largest number of comments!
Month: December 2011
Progression for Statistics and Probability, Grades 6–8
Here is the draft progression for Statistics and Probability, Grades 6–8:
ccss_progression_sp_68_2011_12_26_bis
As usual, comments and suggestions are welcome. [New file with corrections uploaded 12/26/11, 11:38 am MST.]
[5 August 2012] This thread is now closed for comment. Please ask questions about Grades 6–8 Statistics and Probability here.
Two documents with recommendations for professional development
First, here is the final report from the Gearing Up conference at the Institute for Mathematics & Education held in April, 2011. It is very little changed from the draft that I put up a while ago: 2011_12_06_Gearing_Up.
Second, here is a report from a meeting organized by Paola Sztajn, Karen Marrongelle, and Peg Smith: http://www.nctm.org/uploadedFiles/Math_Standards/Summary_PD_CCSSMath.pdf
SMP Tool
Check out the tools page for a new presentation on the Standards for Mathematical Practice.
Task writing contest
At the Illustrative Mathematics Project, we have been planning to invite people to submit tasks for a “standard of the week.” We decided to make it a bit more interesting, and would like to announce the first round of our Standards Task Writing Contest beginning Tuesday, December 13th, 2011. The theme for this week is the K-8 functions stream (see pp 21-23 in “Examples of Structure in the Common Core State Standards’ Standards for Mathematical Content” by Jason Zimba). Some of the standards in this stream already have illustrations (see 6.RP.3, 7.RP.2, 7.RP.3, 8.EE.5) but most do not. People are invited to submit tasks for these standards:
- 3.OA.9
- 4.OA.5
- 5.OA.3
- 6.EE.9
- 7.RP.1
- 8.F.4
Authors of tasks selected for inclusion in the Illustrative Mathematics task bank will receive $200 per task (not per author, sorry!) and must be emailed by Monday, December 19th midnight in your local time zone to illustrativemathematics@gmail.com with subject line “Submission for Illustrative Mathematics Task Writing Contest Dec 12 – Dec 19, 2011.” If your task is accepted, we will notify you the week following the deadline. We may ask you to work with us to revise the task before we accept it. People may submit multiple tasks. Any questions about the contest should be sent to the same email address with subject line “Question about Illustrative Mathematics Task Writing Contest Dec 12 – Dec 19, 2011.”
How it Should Look
All task submissions must include at least one complete solution. We will give extra consideration to tasks written by pairs or teams of people, tasks that have natural connections to other tasks related to this stream, and tasks with insightful commentary. Please submit tasks in word format or LaTeX, along with a pdf if possible. Here is a word_template.
Things You Should Know Before Submitting
Writing a great task is an art, and tasks often benefit from multiple revisions. It would be helpful to read some of the tasks that have already been accepted at http://illustrativemathematics.org. To learn more about what makes a good mathematical task, read this article by Kristin Umland.
We look forward to reading your tasks!
New initiative in mathematics teacher preparation for the Common Core
APLU has launched a new initiative, the Mathematics Teacher Education Partnership, and is now accepting applications from partnerships of school districts and institutions of higher education.