Author: Ellen Whitesides

Common Core Math Parent Handouts by Tricia Bevans and Dev Sinha

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In the transition to the Common Core, we have focused more on supporting teachers and administrators, through tools to help improve their own understanding and to help work more fruitfully with their students.   But parents can also use help in this transition.  They have many legitimate questions and concerns such as having difficulty in helping their child with homework or wondering how the Common Core is designed to support their child’s mathematical development.    As parents ourselves we certainly empathize with others who are looking for clear, accessible knowledge.
We have written these parent handouts at the link below to help begin conversations which address these questions and concerns.  They are meant to be used for example at curriculum nights for parents.  We limit ourselves to one page of discussion and one page of an example (mostly taken from Illustrative Mathematics) at each grade, both for ease of use and so as to not overwhelm people with too much information at first.  Locally, we have been involved in discussions of deeper learning opportunities for parents, with these handouts as a starting point.
Click here for the document.
Edit:  Some people have asked for this document in a Spanish translation.  If you want to translate the document we would be happy to share the Spanish version here.

Fall Virtual Lecture Series from Illustrative Mathematics

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Welcome back to school! This fall Illustrative Mathematics will be offering our second Virtual Lecture Series, this one focuses on the theme:

Working with Number in the Elementary Classroom

The following lectures are scheduled in the series on Thursday nights from 7-8pm Eastern on Adobe Connect.  Watch them live with the ability to ask questions, or watch the recordings at any time:

September 25, 2014 Linda Gojak, Immediate Past President, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Director, The Center for Mathematics Education, Teaching, and Technology, John Carroll University “Using Representations to Introduce Early Number and Fraction Concepts”

October 23, 2014 Dona Apple, Mathematics Learning Community Project, Regional Science Resource Center, University of Massachusetts Medical School “Supporting students’ conceptual understanding about number through reasoning, explaining and evidence in both their oral and written work”

November 20, 2014 Brad Findell, The Ohio State University

December 11, 2014 Francis (Skip) Fennell, Professor of Education McDaniel College, Past President NCTM “Fractions Sense – It’s all about understanding fractions as numbers (and this includes those special fractions – decimals!) – use of representations, equivalence, comparing/ordering and connections”

January 22, 2015 Susan Jo Russell, TERC: Mathematics and Science Education and Deborah Schifter, Education Development Center (EDC) “Operations and Algebraic Thinking in the Elementary Grades”

Sign-up here!

This school year we will offer two series. In the fall we are featuring “Working with Number in the Elementary Classroom” and this spring we will offer “Incorporating Mathematical Practices into the Middle and High School Classroom.” The intended audience for these series is classroom teachers, district and state mathematics specialists, and mathematics coaches. The five hour long sessions will include 40 minutes of presentation from national experts on Adobe Connect, followed by 20 minutes of Q&A. The sessions will also be recorded for participants that are not able to join in person. The cost to virtually attend each series is $150.

Here is a flyer to circulate among friends that might be interested or to post in the staff room!  Hope to see you there.

Virtual Lecture Series! (and we’re back from a rocky end of year)

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Are you interested in engaging with national experts around mathematics education without the travel, hassle, and costs associated with attending a conference? Introducing Virtual Lecture Series, brought to you by Illustrative Mathematics. Virtual Lecture Series bring together top speakers from around the country for a series of talks, as well as time for questions and answers, giving you a chance to learn and interact with experts without leaving your classroom or office. Illustrative Mathematics will be offering a variety of Virtual Lecture Series on different themes.

Our first Virtual Lecture Series will meet around the theme: Preparing and Facilitating Engaging Professional Development for Teachers around the Common Core, on the last Wednesday of the month at 7pm Eastern/4pm Pacific from January through May. The intended audience for this series is district and state mathematics specialists as well as teacher leaders. The five hour long sessions will include 40 minutes of presentation from national experts on Adobe Connect, followed by 20 minutes of Q&A. The cost to virtually attend the entire series is $150 which includes access to the following presentations:

January 29th: Diane Briars, President Elect of NCTM, Topic: Effective Instructional Practices to ensure all your students are “Common Core Ready”
February 26th: Bill McCallum, Lead writer of the CCSSM, Topic: Preparing K-12 Teachers for the Pathway to Algebra
March 26th: Mary Knuck, Arizona Department of Education Retired, Topic: Math Talks
April 30th: Ashli Black, NBCT and Cal Armstrong, Math Teacher Leader, Topic: Involving Teacher Leaders in Preparing and Facilitating Professional Development
May 28th: James Tanton, Mathematician and Author of Thinking Mathematically! Topic: Instilling a Love of Mathematics

Also the blog is back from a rough time over the new year.  Sorry if you had trouble with any of the posts or forums, we were not as quick as we could be in renewing the domain.  Let us know if you continue to have trouble accessing anything.

Task Talks

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Are you interested in engaging with other educators about tasks for the mathematics classroom?  Illustrative Mathematics is starting a weekly conversation about tasks, called Task Talks.  Join the community on adobe connect every Monday night from 7pm Eastern to discuss the task identified on our Facebook and Google+ pages the previous Tuesday.  Use it in your classroom, use it with future teachers, or just ruminate on it throughout the week and join us for a discussion on Monday night.

This week we have chosen a fourth grade task about subtraction.  If you think you might join, please let us know here.

Hope to see you there!

Summer Professional Development

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Thinking about where to focus the Math Common Core PD for your school or district this summer?  Check out these two resources:

1. A report from Institute for Mathematics & Education suggesting places that might need some extra PD work.

2. Consider requesting trained teacher facilitators to deliver the Common Core Toolkit, a one-day add on to existing professional development, focused on the Common Core.  This is available for K-5th grade teachers, 6th-8th grade teachers, or high school teachers and is a project of an ad-hoc committee of the CBMS.

Toward Greater Focus and Coherence: an Illustrative Mathematics Common Core Conference

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Register today to reserve your spot for IM&E/Illustrative Mathematics’ next Common Core Conference!

Towards Greater Focus and Coherence May 26-28, 2013 at the University of Arizona This is a great way to start the summer, while you are still in the classroom flow!

We are looking forward to meeting people who care about math education and collaborating with math coaches, classroom teachers, mathematicians, district math specialists, and mathematics educators.

Highlights of the conference include:

1. Perspective from Bill McCallum, lead writer of the Common Core
2. Activities that can be immediately used in your classroom, and a plan for creating similar Common Core aligned activities for students in the future.
3. Breakout sessions from classroom teachers modeling the focus of the Common Core by digging into a particular standard or cluster.
4. Highlights of the focus and coherence of different grade bands and the mathematics behind the standards.
5. Online resources to support the Common Core.

You don’t want to miss this opportunity. Reserve your spot by March 31st for the best rates by registering online.

Mathematics Common Core in the Classroom: March 1-3, 2013 Syracuse, New York

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Save the date and register to reserve your spot now!

IM&E/Illustrative Mathematics’ next Common Core Math Conference is coming to the east coast; Syracuse, New York!

Mathematics Common Core in the Classroom March 1-3, 2013 at the Doubletree Hotel, Syracuse New York

We are looking forward to meeting people who care about math education from across the country and collaborating with math coaches, classroom teachers, mathematicians, district math specialists, and mathematics educators. Highlights of the weekend include:

1. Perspective from Bill McCallum, lead writer of the Common Core, on “What’s different about these standards?”
2. Activities that can be immediately used in your classroom, and a plan for creating similar Common Core aligned activities for students in the future.
3. Breakout sessions from classroom teachers modeling the focus of the Common Core by digging into a particular standard or cluster.
4. Mathematicians discussing the focus of different grade levels and the mathematics behind the standards.
5. Online resources to support the Common Core.

You don’t want to miss this opportunity. Save your spot today by registering online.  OCM-BOCES teachers register with your district office.  All others register on the IM&E website.

The Mathematical Education of Teachers II

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What mathematics do teachers need to know?

How can mathematicians aid teachers in learning this mathematics, in collaboration with others responsible for teacher education?

Current research and experience are synthesized to answer these questions in the new report The Mathematical Education of Teachers II (MET II) from the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences. This report updates The Mathematical Education of Teachers (published in 2001) and extends its scope from preparation to professional development in the context of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics.

The audience for the report includes all who teach mathematics to teachers—mathematicians, statisticians, and mathematics educators—and all who are responsible for the mathematical education of teachers—department chairs, educational administrators, and policy-makers at the national, state, school-district, and collegiate levels.

The report may be downloaded free at the Conference Board of Mathematical Sciences web site.  Printed copies may be ordered from the American Mathematical Society.

The Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences (CBMS) is an umbrella organization consisting of sixteen professional societies all of which have as one of their primary objectives the increase or diffusion of knowledge in one or more of the mathematical sciences. Its purpose is to promote understanding and cooperation among these national organizations so that they work together and support each other in their efforts to promote research, improve education, and expand the uses of mathematics.

For further information, contact CBMS director Ronald Rosier, 410-730-1426; 202-293-1170.