This is a distance learning course, concentrating on uses of the Internet for teaching, learning and professional development. It also is intended to give you enough web sites and leads-in to more web sites to be a continuously useful resource for your learning and doing.
This is a PASS/FAIL course. Therefore, SELECT and BASE YOUR WORK on those areas that best match your current interests. You can return any time to areas that match future concerns and changing interests--one of the many advantages of on-line learning
Assessment is based on work you produce in series of essays/listings for each Essential Question or topic you "connect with," and with an annotated lists of sites supporting your views and reflecting your web work. Note the Rubric for Course Portfolio Assessment.
For instance, you might write “The site XXXX [http://www.xxx.com] gave me a different perspective on how to help students learn _____. It also cleared up for me something I was confused about, and that is what educators mean by __________.” Certainly you would want to elaborate more.
This work may be emailed to me at ozpk100@aol.com, or snail-mailed to me at Chad C. Osborne 923 W. Mission St., Santa Barbara, CA 93101. If you email the work, you may wish to put it in a Zip file, which compresses text and makes it easier to send over the 'Net.
TEACHING & LEARNING MATH MORE EFFECTIVELY
An Online Course, Producing a Project of Ideas and Resources with Discussion Board Interaction
Because of the extensive number of links, the most important are signified with a *1* sign. These also cover the widest array of Certification Standards. Be sure your course work reflects your having learned from these sites.
*1* Either develop and answer an essential question for each section of the course, or use and re-use the following "ESSENTIAL MEGA-QUESTION": IN WHAT WAYS MIGHT YOU USE (selected) TEACHING STRATEGIES TO TEACH THE SUBJECT MATTER (selected) FROM THE RESOURCES BELOW? [A "rubric" for this question: Use Individual Brainstorming to list at least five items, each indicating both content and strategy. Try to "think outside the box" in your ideas, and then * star what you regard as the best idea(s) for each section.]
ESSENTIAL QUESTION 1: Based on the following sites, in what ways might you make the most out of reform?
Standards
Teachers in this decade must keep an eye toward standards and discuss with each other how best to prepare students to take standardized tests, particularly the high stakes tests being required for high school graduation in many states. You need to have your own copy of standards for the state where you teach, available from the Department of Education in your state. Five sources of current standards and frameworks are
Begin with this third document, and first read Chapters 1 and 2--the Vision and the Six Principles. Then survey the Standards for the grade level(s) you will be teaching.
Compare and contrast these with the Massachusetts and California Frameworks and Standards. See if you can detect results of the "culture wars" going on between teachers who want to teach for UNDERSTANDING and the conservative political agenda of teaching for rote memorization. Write about your impressions from these standards in Part 1 of your Project Notebook.
**While there are many questionable aspects of the Ed. Reform, there are two positive yet difficult directions for school-wide, positive, productive reform: 1)
Small Schools By Choice, meaning breaking big schools down into "houses" or "clusters" of 70-120 students each. This helps students and teachers to know each other better--and results in higher attendance, achievement, and less violence. Smaller school units also make it easier to bring about 2) *1* Parent and Family Engagement as a Reform Strategy. Give consideration to both of these dimensions of reform in this section.
Also realize how central the issue of *1* DEPTH vs. COVERAGE becomes in light of the extent of standards and the climate of high-stakes testing. Take particular note of the counter-intuitive idea in the DEPTH vs. COVERAGE link that wide coverage does NOT produce higher scores. Write about this idea in Part 1 of your Project Notebook, as well.
The HEART of math refers to the humanistic side of teaching, of being an "ambassador" for math--realizing it is a foreign country to many students. More effective math teaching addresses aspects of math anxiety and uses collaborative small group learning in order to engage students. But first, consider the question, what is the HEART?
What IS the HEART? Most of us have "learned" it is basically a pump, a kind of organic machine. Neurocardiology, a recent medical specialty, is developing a far different picture of the human heart. The current scientific view is aligning more with poets, with conventional and "metaphorical" sense of the word, and with Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences of intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligence.
What implications do you see for learning in general and your teaching in particular? Reflect on your thoughts in Part 2 of your Project.
Consider the links about *1* Coping With Math Anxiety, and ideas on the place of *1* Collaborative Groups in the Math Classroom from the same source. Part 2 of your Project Notebook should have a list of ideas from these sites with a 2-5 line annotation for each idea and a collection of web page reprints you choose to support them.
ESSENTIAL QUESTION 3: Based on links in this section, in what ways might I help students btter understand and master Part/Whole and Probability Relationships?
Nearly all students can do decimal/fractions when counting money or making change. The relation of parts (Quarters) to wholes (Dollars) is a lot more concrete to them, and a field where their past experience helps. But fewer than 25% of students can consistently do Percents, Decimals and Fractions well.
THE CORE of MATH--PART/WHOLE RELATIONS has over 40 valuable links centered on this core math area. It can be a KEY resource for you in teaching, a site you may want to put on your own web page for students and their families, and one you may want to use to brush up on this critical area of math.
Understanding systems, being able to analyze situations, as well as more specific functions as doing taxes and shopping for bargains, are all based in this type of thinking. It really separates adults from children when it comes to both math and life! Give it the priority it is due!
*1* PROBABILITY is the area where MCAS Tests shows students needing the most help. This page has sites for both Middle and High School!
ESSENTIAL QUESTION 4: Based on the following array of sites with ideas from numerous Math teaching links, what appeals to you most to bring Math to life for students and utilize tecnology intelligenlt?
*1* Teachers@Work Over 200 Math teaching sites, rated and annotated!
The above sites are the source for your work in Part three of your Project Notebook. *1* Make this a considerable part of your work to find
Ideas for making Math more concrete and practical (see Site 2 above) and
*1* a self-assessment of your STRENGTHS and UNDERDEVELOPED AREAS in your knowledge of Math from sites 1 and 3 above.
*1* Chart these in Part 3 of your Project Notebook, and collect web reprints that you think will be useful for you.
*1* Also, compose an imaginary Journal entry for a student who has tried an activity you select. Have them write about a project idea they might like to propose, based on the activity.
*1* **Rubrics! Great site to help you evaluate students most fairly and to help them learn to self-evaluate in all areas of Math!
Math in Daily Life - explores the universal impact of math in many
facets of everyday living
Absurd Math - interactive mathematical problem solving game series in which the player
proceeds on missions in a strange world where the ultimate
power consists of mathematical skill and knowledge
Making Schools Work for Every Child - create educational equity using math and science materials to help improve the ways in which students with varied needs are educated
Considering the following "EXTRA TOPICS" sites, how might you make your teaching more relevant and reach more students? Particularly, through a) working with parents and families, b)using alternative assessment to help students learn more, c) confronting the dilemma of depth vs. coverage. d) teaching the gifted and talented, the learning disabled, and English Language learners likely to be in your classes via "inclusion", e) coping with challenges of (beginning) teaching, including mastering the dynamics of questioning, and f) helping students with career planning and transition to life after high school.
SchoolNotes.com FREE! Easily develop homework assignments and class information, posting it on the Web!
*1***Consider, too, the importance of WAIT TIME. Most teachers ask questions at an extremely rapid rate, and average only one second of wait time after each question and after each student answer.
When teachers increase wait time by 5 seconds, the following results occur:
1) Longer student answers;
2) More appropriate answers;
3) More frequent student responses;
4) More answers on the analysis and synthesis levels;
5) More questions and responses from slow learners; and
6) More confidence by students in their answers.
An excellent site to inquire further into the dynamics of questioning and wait-time is *1*Changing the Questions.
Careers.org -- Resources for Job Seekers and links to numerous career information sites.
*1* Go through your Project Notebook. Make an annotated Table of Contents for each section, and **star the sites you want to be sure to make reference to in teaching Math more effectively.
*1*Describe in a brief essay how you intend to us the Internet as an instructional/learning tool in your teaching.
*1* Last, compose an imaginary letter to a friend who has written, asking you about teaching. Tell the friend about one class based on ideas from this online course—the kinds of students you have, the work they’ve done, how you’ve evaluated them, and what you want to try to add next year.
Mail your completed Project work to:
Chad C. Osborne 923 West Mission St. Santa Barbara, CA 93101
