Author: morgand

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Fall Workshops Filling Up

Where did September go? It must be the fastest month in our calendar. I hope all teachers are settled and enjoying the new school year. 

Fall Math Workshops

If you haven’t already done so, you might want to sign up for our fall workshops.

In our two Diving Deeper In Math series (one is for primary teachers, the other intermediate), we will be examining how to strengthen our learners’ curricular competencies as we teach math content. These series involve 3 dinner sessions and one half day (Nov 22) with Carole Fullerton. Participants will also receive a Fullerton resource of their choice.

Our fall book club for K-5 is Number Sense Routines. Participants will receive either the K-3 or 3-5 book of their choice.

You can also plan now for January, as the legendary Box Cars and One Eyed Jacks authors will be doing an after school workshop on January 9th.

You can sign up for these offerings on the staff development calendar.

For secondary teachers, I am offering to support collaboration at each school. Feel free to contact me at Donna.Morgan@burnabyschools.ca for more information.

 

Resources to Check Out

Robert Kaplinsky’s blog (click on image below) is a great resource of open middle questions, professional development videos about math (including a completely astonishing story about 8th grade students answering an impossible math question) and other delights.  I urge you to spend some time on this excellent site.

 

A new book that I am starting is called Necessary Conditions: Teaching Secondary Math With Academic Safety, Quality Tasks, and Effective Facilitation.  Coming soon to a book club in Burnaby, I suspect.

 

Math Games Nights

Dates are booking up as several elementary schools are holding successful games nights for parents.  Show parents how they can help develop numeracy in students, and have some FUN without the dreaded sheets and pages of homework. Contact me to set one up (this will work for a couple of classes or for a school-wide event).

 

 

 

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Well that was fast….

The fall seemed to zip by…I noticed that last year I posted several times on the blog during the fall, and this year–well, you can just see the “Welcome Back” post below!

That being said, I think it means I’ve been working with teachers and students more, which is a great thing.  I’m working on developing number talks as a strong mathematical routine that can help all our students with the curricular competencies in math. I’ve loved visiting some classrooms and getting to know the elementary students.  I am excited by the creativity of our students. Yesterday, when doing a number talk at Forest Grove, a student explained how she mentally visualized the face of a clock to do efficient multiplication by 5’s.  Today at Suncrest, a student cleverly used the answer to the first problem as his starting point for the second problem–an efficient strategy that worked. The goal of number talks is to let students explore and share a variety of strategies so they can see the creativity and flexibility in math, and aren’t held down to a single method for problem solving.  In the New Year, I’m offering “Lunch and Learn” sessions at schools, where I will come and hold a 45 minute mini-workshop on a specific math routine.  January and February will be focused on Number Talks. E-mail me for more info: donna.morgan@burnabyschools.ca

If you are interested in number talks as a routine for your class, some great resources include Dan Meyer’s Math For Love, any book or video by Sherry Parrish, or the book Making Number Talks Matter by Cathy Humphreys and Ruth Parker.

Curriculum Implementation Day–January 28

There are several offerings available on Curriculum Implementation Day–check the Staff Development Calendar for details and to sign up.  Three that I am involved with are–

Place Based Learning at the Burnaby Lake Rowing Pavillion, 8:30 am – 1: 30 pm; Guest Speakers Dr. Gillian Judson (Walking Curriculum) and Lori Snyder (Metis herbalist). Suitable K-12.

Standards Based Assessment at Burnaby Mountain, 8:30 am – 12 noon. A look at the use of standards based assessment in Secondary Schools.

Math Connections–A session for Intermediate Teachers at Cariboo Secondary–examine how math 6 and 7 tie into math 8. Hosted by Cariboo math teacher Lori Bernard.

Spring Staff Development Offerings

Playing How Close to 100?

Most spring offerings in math (and science) are posted on the Staff Development Calendar.  Sign up now!

Spring Book Club–Jo Boaler’s Mathematical Mindsets.

Carole Fullerton–intermediate and primary sessions, May 8th.

Math Games Night–if you want to host one for your class or for several classes or even the whole school, drop me a line.

Over the Holidays

I hope you have a restful and energizing break.  But if you want your students to do a bit of fluency practice over the holidays, please direct them to the parent section of this blog, where they can find some fun math games. Also, if you need a great gift idea, I personally recommend Prime Climb–a board game that can engage kids from 5-95.

Enjoy, and I’ll see you in January.

-Donna

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Welcome Back!

The excitement of another year is always energizing. It is important not to go madly off in all directions trying to reinvent our pedagogy…but to make thoughtful and considerate changes.  Here’s a great list of math websites (I’d ignore the costly programs, however) to help with your math teaching this year.

Math Workshops on Staff Development Calendar

Learning teams, book clubs and workshop offerings for math this fall have been posted to the Staff Development Calendar.  If you are looking for basic support for math, consider signing up for Math 101. On the other hand, if Number Talks are a routine you’d like to start or deepen this year, sign up to get a copy of an appropriate book for your grade level and some supportive colleagues to discuss it with.  This fall also features a Closing The Gaps learning team, where we will use Jo Boaler’s new Grade 4 resource alongside our BCEd curriculum.

Northwest Mathematics Conference

Sign up now and put your Detached Duty form in for the BCAMT-hosted Northwest Mathematics Conference, being held in Whistler over the Oct 19/20 PSA Day. Some great speakers are coming, including Tracy Zager, Fawn Nguyen and Dan Finkel. There will be sessions and resources for every teacher, from K-12.

Call Me

I’m really looking forward to supporting math teachers across this district this year.  Call me at 604-760-6157 or e-mail me at Donna.Morgan@burnabyschools.ca if you need any support for your math teaching.