Being a Wise Consumer

In this district, we do not cross multiply to compare fractions, we do not invert and multiply when dividing fractions, and the alligator does not eat the bigger number. I also discourage counting on fingers. We want kids thinking about and making sense of mathematics, not using "tricks". 

Last week, I attended CAMT (Conference for the Advancement of Mathematics Teaching) and learned about some of the latest and greatest things in the world of teaching and learning mathematics. One of my colleagues told me about a session she attended where the presenter shared strategies for teaching multiplication. As I listened to her I was discouraged because some of the strategies that were shared were "tricks".

Pinterest is a great tool! I find so many useful ideas for teaching and learning there. In fact, I created math boards for grade levels and concepts and invited my teachers to pin to them as well, but not everything on Pinterest is good.  There are many tricks and a lot of "fluff". Teachers Pay Teachers is awesome and it has made some teachers millionaires, but unfortunately not everything found there is good for teaching and learning. 

Not everything out there is going to be aligned to the intent of our standards in Texas, nor is it best practice. We as educators have to be a wise consumer and choose things that will challenge students to think and help them make sense of mathematics. We have to think not just about what will help students in the moment but instead what will help them truly understand and also be ready to make connections to future learning. 

Discovering Opportunities for School and Community Partnerships

Our district leadership team has been engaged in digital leadership training for over a year now. Recently, we began reading Eric Sheninger's Digital Leadership: Changing Paradigms for Changing Times.  Chapter 11 is about the importance of developing partnerships that enhance the mission and goals of the district and campuses. This week I attended CAMT, Conference for the Advancement of Mathematics Teaching, with over thirty of the teachers in the district where Kim Sutton was one of the presenters. We use many of her resources with our students and to the teachers, she's famous! I was so happy to make their day and introduce them to Kim, a truly brilliant mathematical thinker and a great mathematician. They took pictures with her, tweeted them, and posted them on Facebook. The most exciting part is Kim offered to Skype with their classes and do activities, discussions, etc. this year. We are so excited about this "partnership"!

Becoming A Transformative Digital Age Leader

According to Wikipedia, transformational leadership "enhances the motivation, morale, and job performance of followers through a variety of mechanisms. These include connecting the follower's sense of identity and self to the project and the collective identity of the organization; being a role model for followers that inspires them and makes them interested; challenging followers to take greater ownership for their work, and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of followers, so the leader can align followers with tasks that enhance their performance."  All of this applies to being a transformative digital age leader as well.

The ISTE Standards for Administrators outline five areas of skills needed to "support digital age learning, implement technology, and transform the education landscape".  As I read and rated myself on each skill in the five areas, I realized that although I have some strengths, I have not implemented many of the skills to a level that will affect change in my district. Also, there are many skills that our technology department has focused on, especially in the area of Digital Citizenship, that I need to involve myself in modeling to affect change. Although I rated myself a 3 on many of the skills because feel confident in the skill, I have not yet modeled or utilized the skill to a level that has transformed educational landscape in the district.

Although I feel light years ahead of where I was a year ago in becoming a digital age leader, I need to continue to model effective ways to integrate technology into my work on a daily basis, including professional development and planning, so teachers will be inspired to do the same in their classrooms with their students. Becoming a part of a larger conversation by accessing other leaders and resources through Twitter and blogging will also inspire and influence my journey. Being the change I want to see is the key to transforming the teaching and learning in the district.

Building A Bridge

This week I've been immersed in studying STAAR test data for grades 3 - Algebra I and creating an action plan for transitioning to new Math TEKS. As I was writing action steps, I was reflecting on all the things that must be considered as we move forward.

In our district when teachers plan a unit of instruction, they first study their SEs. Once they study the SEs "a la Kilgo", they are ready to look at the lesson to make adjustments for gaps and rigor. However, teachers must consider that the SE is the end point for the student, not the beginning point...so we look at the SE from the previous year, discuss what students were expected to master, and then we figure out how to build the bridge from where they are to where they have to go. We also have to consider where students are in the continuum of understanding because not all are at the same point, which makes building the bridge more complicated.

Many Math SEs are moving down to lower grade levels, which is going to cause anxiety for some teachers because they will have to learn  new content. I will be helping teachers transition and make connections between old TEKS and new TEKS, current knowledge and new knowledge, and previous methods and new methods. I'll have to consider each teacher's current level of knowledge, differentiate, and support their learning....building a bridge.

While I had building bridges on the brain, I was also thinking about my upcoming vacation. While I am off, I am going to New Mexico and plan to see the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge ten miles west of Taos. It is the seventh highest bridge in the United States, took two years to build, is 1,280 feet in length, and was awarded the "Most Beautiful Steel Bridge" in the "Long Span" category in 1966, by the American Institute of Steel Construction.

I am the architect of the bridge I am about to build and it may take me two years to complete, but I have a blueprint and I'm ready to begin!

Inspire and be inspired

Most of the teachers I work with daily would tell you that I am passionate about math. Some might even say I'm a little too passionate at times! The irony of my career never escapes me. I had a horrible experience in high school with math and avoided certain majors in college because of my lack of confidence in math.  Alas, I decided to major in education and my focus was English. Yes, the Director of Mathematics was an English major. My second year of teaching, I fell in love with teaching math and I give full credit to my best friend and colleague at the time, Terri Guajardo, and to Dr. Charles Geer, a former professor at Texas Tech University. By the time I left the classroom in 2003, my goal was to inspire teachers to be passionate about math and to inspire their students to love math so it would never be a barrier for them the way it was for me.

Seven years ago my career led me to Castleberry and when I think about how far we have come in mathematics, I'm like a proud parent boasting about the accomplishments of his/her child. The teachers and students inspire me daily and I am always thinking of ways to improve the teaching and learning of math. Occasionally, I am referred to as a "nerd". In fact, Shannon Shea called me a nerd yesterday for my excitement over part-whole cards and how they will help our students learn number combinations. :)  Yep, happy to be one!

A year ago, our leadership team embarked on a journey to become digital leaders. We learned to tweet, curate, pin, backchannel, scoop, etc. Although we all started strong at the beginning of the year infusing technology into our meetings, professional development, etc. to model the infusion of technology for teachers, the pressures of our jobs prevailed and many of us stopped tweeting, pinning, curating, and modeling the infusion of technology during the course of the year. This morning, the leadership team came together to candidly reflect on this year and look ahead to the coming year, as well as learn about some new technology tools. Honestly, I was not too excited about attending the training this morning with all the things we have going on right now, but I have to say that by the end of the training, I was once again....inspired.