Welcome back to our new and strange reality. I know this is likely the most stressful back to school ever, fraught with uncertainty and fear.
Over the next while, I hope that I can be here to support you. I think that collaboration and turning to each other are the best ways to deal with all of these changes in a way that is educationally sound and preserves our (and our students’) mental health. If you are struggling with how to deal with your math program this fall, or if you are a high school teacher faced with planning daily 2 hr lessons for grade 8’s and 9’s, or dealing with a hybrid environment for your graduation level students, please reach out! I’m devoting September to 1:1 support and preparing information and documents that might help you. Contact me at donna.morgan@burnabyschools.ca or through my district phone at 604-760-6157.
To find some choice boards for math, go to our Burnaby Shares page on this blog. In addition, I will be posting shortly a prioritized summary of our key big ideas (K-9) so that you can focus your teaching. Coming soon too will be socially distant ideas for games and activities in math.
Math Chats
I know it is hard to find time for pro d right now, but you might want to move forward with some new routines/ideas in your math program. As a result, I will be using weekly math chats, starting Sept 24, to focus on some routines. Now is a good time to get our students engaged with routines, so that they will be easy to continue if we move to different phases. Each Thursday, starting at 12:15,I will give a very brief (less than 15 min) presentation with plenty of time to ask questions either about the topic or on other math items.
Topics coming up:
Sept 24—Math Routines—Number Talks
Oct 1—Math Routines—Which One Doesn’t Belong
Oct 8—Math Routines—Estimate!
Zoom Meeting
https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/5867791012?pwd=aitxMDdWb2NETTFlR3F2c1FvejNTZz09
Meeting ID: 586 779 1012
Passcode: ILOVEMATH
Week (or more) of Inspirational Math
If you are not yet familiar with it, I would urge you to spend this first week (at least) using some of the great videos and teaching activities from Jo Boaler and the Stanford Math Ed team’s YouCubed.Org blog. You can quickly customize a lesson plan that will engage students and build their mathematical mindsets. Find the site here. I particularly recommend showing some mindset building videos to improve student confidence in math.
Math Outdoors
Consider taking math outdoors. This needn’t be limited to primary classrooms, as much sophisticated math can be found in the natural and built environment around us. Find lots of ideas in this publication about Math Trails. Or consider this calculus investigation about the type of unusual wall in the image at right (thanks Jenn Cowley from BNSS). There’s plenty of math to be found outdoors and at a safe social distance.
Teacher Tech Tip: Simple Document Camera
So are you wishing you had a tablet now that you have to do hybrid lessons? Here are two simple ways to get the equivalent of a document camera: use this app with your smartphone or order this clip that can turn your laptop camera into a document camera. I’m not making light of our current difficulties, but these might be some solutions if you need usable tech quickly. If you deferred replacement of your tablet, you can now order one, and the teacher purchase price has dropped considerably. But I will caution you that COVID has slowed some of the production of laptops, so your replacement will not be instant.
