This session is FULL. Please DO NOT add this session to your schedule; ample space is still available in other sessions during this time period.
Music is organized around mathematical relationships - but math principles are typically not taught in music curricula. Science teacher Joe Flynn has created Math Marimbas, mathematically-tuned, easy-to-play musical instruments that let students explore the scientific and mathematic principles that make music sound good. Experience his lessons for yourself and be inspired by ways you can use music to teach mathematic principles.
This session is now FULL. Please DO NOT add this session to your schedule; ample space is still available in other sessions during this time period.
Be prepared to get students working together on the very first day of class! Discover and experience a wide range of mathematical ice breakers, that introduce elements of proportional reasoning and geometric thinking. The ice breakers are an ideal way to establishing cooperative norms in middle-grades classrooms, while promoting deeper and more critical mathematical understandings.
For many students today, mathematics has become a collection of blind procedures to be used to solve meaningless problems. Jamie York, Waldorf Math Educator and Author, will demonstrate how several different math problems can be taught in a way that avoids the typical “blind procedure” approach, and instead engenders deep understanding and better problem solving skills. The problems investigated will include: the four ratios of Pi‚ making the dreaded train problem come alive, and the wonder of perfect numbers.
By shifting our focus from how we teach to how students learn, we can explore how to integrate simple principles, capable of fostering significant gains in student achievement, into everyday teaching. We’ll explore a variety of questions related to how tests, feedback and problem solving help students learn, such as: Are quizzes more effective than additional study time? What is the appropriate type of feedback? Is it better to practice problems of one type or several types? How can I get my students to think more carefully about mathematical problem solving? We’ll discuss how more often then not, answers to these questions are not intuitive and practice often runs contrary to the findings of research.
A baby whale has been stranded near an off-shore oil rig in 55-degree water. Can anyone swimming out from the shore save the whale and survive themselves? This teacher-created story project, based on a compelling true story (Grayson by Lynne Cox), engages students in math class and improve math skills – while showing just how important and relevant math equations can be in real-world situations.
This session is FULL. Please DO NOT add this session to your schedule; ample space is still available in other sessions during this time period.
Manipulatives help students create visual representations of linear and non-linear functions while fostering group discussion, collaboration and explorations. Explore five simple but effective manipulative stations you can set-up in any classroom that support student mastery in finding patterns, creating graphs and expressions and identifying linear functions.
This session is now FULL. Please DO NOT add this session to your schedule; ample space is still available in other sessions during this time period.
Math Snacks is a series of animations, games and lessons developed by New Mexico State University. The lessons are designed to provide students with clear and enggeing concept images of difficult mathematics topics and important CCSS, so they can better understand, and remember, what they learn. In this sesson, highlighting Ratey the Math Cat and the game Ratio Rumble, you’ll experience how these elements can be combined with in-class activites and written exercises, to transform a topic viewed as difficult to teach and comprehend into something real and memorable.
Join Steve Leinwand, best-selling author and former NCTM board member, in this exciting workshop based on his newest book: Accessible Mathematics. He’s scoured the research – and highly effective classrooms – to identify 10 small adjustments in teaching habits that will lead to deeper student learning in math. Learn more about these transformational opportunities, and discuss how to implement these small shifts in the good teaching you already, to become a driving force behind improvements in student learning.
Before attending the session, consider reading Accessible Mathematics: 10 Instructional Shifts that Raise Student Achievement.
Building upon the work of NCTM and the National Research Council, the CCSS has established eight practice standards that “that mathematics educators at all levels should seek to develop in their students.” In this session, teachers that have examined and started to use these 8 mathematical practice standards will explore innovative ways to further integrate these practices at both the classroom and school level.
Before the Session: Consider reviewing the CCSS Math Practice Standards
A true story from a New Mexico public middle school, in a pilot test of Empires…
“A student broke his arm on the playground – I don’t mean a small break – it was a compound fracture. It was just kind of hanging there, so we had him call his parents to meet him at the hospital and he got on the phone…I was standing there, and he said, “Can you wait to go there at 10AM… after math class?” – S.M., 7th Grade Math Teacher
Story-based, strategic and collaborative, Empires will be a first-of-its kind math game, setting an entirely new standard in educational gaming. Empires goes beyond the traditional drill-and-repeat methodology currently seen in most math games by presenting math problems within the context of the story, resulted in a marked increase in student engagement and supporting understanding of mathematical thinking. Get a first look at Empires, the next story-based online math game, soon to be released by the MidSchoolMath team. While learning about this classroom tool, you'll gain a greater understanding of how and why pretend play, story and student-to-student collaboration deepen learning.
The book What a Great Idea has sold more than 200,000 copies since 1992—now meet the incredible author behind this imaginative guide to thinking creatively.
Chic Thompson knows that everyone wants to be more creative—and he knows how to make it possible. That’s why the Harvard Business School released a case study on him. Thompson has had unparalleled success teaching others how to harness their ingenuity to generate new ideas, resolve difficulties in the workplace, and overcome bureaucratic language and “killer phrases” that stifle innovation.
Experience a variety of engaging activities that help students see numbers in context, think outside the box, participate in cooperative learning and enjoy mathematics. Look at numbers as you never have before – and develop “mind-reading skills” as you look for patterns and relationships in such sets of numbers as the squares, cubes or Fibonacci numbers. With activities that are designed for use in and out of the classroom, this session will prepare you with many ways to show your students how enjoyment of math is all about seeing numbers in relationship to one another.
This cross-curricular, teacher-created story project sends Pre-algebra and Algebra I students across 7 continents on a virtual race that’s so exciting they give up their free time to focus on math! The ‘competition’ requires them to document locations visited, mode(s) of travel, distance traveled in miles and kilometers; budgeting; currency used, accrual and conversions; and more. The Race not only provides extensive practice for problem solving using expressions and equations, but offers innovative opportunities to analyze and understand dependent and independent variables.
This session is now FULL. Please DO NOT add this session to your schedule; ample space is still available in other sessions during this time period.
Be prepared to get students working together on the very first day of class! Discover and experience a wide range of mathematical ice breakers, that introduce elements of proportional reasoning and geometric thinking. The ice breakers are an ideal way to establishing cooperative norms in middle-grades classrooms, while promoting deeper and more critical mathematical understandings.
The standard way to introduce conic sections is through Cartesian geometry in an Algebra II course. But, Jamie York, Waldorf Math Educator and Author, has his eighth grade students discover the conic sections for themselves through this meaningful exercise. Using a hunt for lost treasure that can be solved through a parabola, students draw the parabola, then finds ways to transform it. Ultimately, one can transform the curve to experience, through drawings and imagination, the metamorphosis of an ellipse into a parabola and then into a hyperbola.
Join Steve Leinwand, best-selling author and former NCTM board member, in this supportive workshop to discuss how principals, teacher leaders, math coaches and other administrators can provide strong, clear and effective leadership to ensure your school or district meets and exceeds the CCSS. The session will provide a broad array of practical strategies for implementing the standards, provide examples and ammunition to make the case for change, and offer sample how-to game plans for overcoming obstacles and challenges.
Make good use of your math wits and skills and you might just survive time travel! Join Dr. Mayra Andrade in her studies of Teotihuacán by traveling back in time with her team of middle school mathematicians.
What happens when an over-confident captain and an eager young sailor set off from the shores of Florida? They just might end up in the Bermuda Triangle – if they have enough fuel to even make it that far! This cross-curricular, teacher-created story project introduces students to core concepts of geometry, while promoting problem-solving and skill-building. Explore: Bermuda Triangle uses live play acting to immerse students into a nautical mathematical adventure.
This teacher-created story project sends students on a virtual expedition, using math as they scale the highest altitudes on earth! From calculating ratios of gear to yaks to solving equations to see how long they can sustain exposure to the harsh conditions found on Mount Everest, it’s a thrilling opportunity for students to realize just how important math is in adventures and expeditions.
You’re most passionate about your own passions – so look to yours when teaching your students math through real-world examples! Alexandra Hubbard, Math Teacher and Angora Rabbit Breeder, shares an example of how she teaches probability to her students using Punnet Squares then has them compare their results to the real-life rabbits.
This session is now FULL. Please DO NOT add this session to your schedule; ample space is AVAILABLE in other sessions during this time period.
This pedagogical approach to proof-writing fosters a communal spirit of curiosity, exploration, and determination – and takes advantage of the fact that students in middle school love nothing better than to argue and prove themselves right! Learn how to inspire students to generalize, develop, and publish their own proofs, as we explore sixth grade CCSS topics by venturing conjectures about factors, multiples, and prime numbers.
This session is now FULL. Please DO NOT add this session to your schedule; ample space is AVAILABLE in other sessions during this time period.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines mathematical literacy as "an individual’s capacity to identify and understand the role that mathematics plays in the world, to make well-founded judgments and to use and engage with mathematics in ways that meet the needs of that individual’s life as a constructive, concerned and reflective citizen." In this workshop, we’ll explore and engage in tasks, discourse and discuss the learning environment necessary for achieving mathematical literacy.
Before the Session: Complete this survey on mathematical literacy: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Z9DY9V6
SANTA FE STUDENTS TAKE ON PIKES PEAK!
How long would it take YOU to run the Pikes Peak Marathon? This year, Luis Chavez's math students at Aspen Community Middle School are going to find out.
Twenty-six grueling miles rise over 7,800 feet to the top of America’s most famous mountain, taking even the most extreme runners over four hours to reach the 14,115 foot peak. A raw dirt trail, strewn with rocks and natural obstacles provides some 1800 runners a vertical challenge of nearly 6000 feet in the first 10 miles of the race. And let’s not forget about the descent!
Chavez’s story project takes math out of the classroom and onto the trail, exploring distance, rate and other mathematical concepts involved with the famous Colorado marathon. Oxygen levels, endurance, speed and determination are just some of the variables in this massive story problem. Students discover the physical and mental aspects of training for and running the Pikes Peak Marathon, calculating how long it would personally take them to complete “America’s Ultimate Challenge.” ®
