Kendall Hunt Publishing

Written by Werner Garciano

Every year, I present at Career Day at the elementary school that my kids attend. I have been doing it for seven years now, and it is always well received. I don’t know why teachers and students like my sessions since I talk more about the importance of math than I do my own career. Let’s face it, the career of a mathematics curriculum specialist (that’s the title on my business card) is not too glamorous. If I talked about what I do on a day to day basis, I am sure that kids will walk out saying, “No way am I going to do that job for the rest of my life!”

In order to show the importance of math in their future career, there are certain mantras that I follow when I design my presentations. It is much the same as the mantras that I used when lesson planning.

1. Engage the participant. What could be more boring than a set of powerpoint slides about the life of a mathematics curriculum specialist? The slides just make it more bearable than a straight lecture since there is something to see other than the speaker and how he talks with his hands as he waves them about wildly.
2. Be like Mr. Miyagi. In the Karate Kid, Mr. Miyagi had Daniel San do various tasks that did not seem related to learning karate but they actually did. Remember how “paint the fence” was actually the best way to defend against a kick?
3. Recognize your star participants. Recognition can range from pats on the back, making a great example of the work done by a participant or giving them a small prize.

So now you want an example of what I did at Career Day?

I posed a set of questions that seem like off the wall questions that are used by various companies when they interview candidates. These questions ranged from “How many cows are in Canada?” to “How many quarters will it take to reach the top of the Empire State Building?” The kids were in amazement that such “preposterous” questions were asked and they wanted to know what those questions had to do with getting a job at Google. I told them it was more of a test of their problem thinking skills and they had to solve non-routine problems in order to hone their critical thinking skills.

The kids went to various stations with different puzzles and games. One game they had to play was the game of Nimm. This is a game with fifteen coins and each player removes one or two coins at each turn. The player who removes the last coin is the loser. I challenged the kids to come up with a strategy on how to play the game of Nimm and also how to tell when they were going to lose way before the last coin is taken. We also played Coin Swap and Lunar Lockout, which are found in Discovering Geometry.

After all the playing was done, I asked who was successful in the short amount of time they had to play the games or with the puzzles. The star students got a little prize and a lot of praise from me, their teacher, and most important of all, their peers.

When I left after doing all of my sessions, I got a stack of thank you notes from the kids. The all said thank you and that they loved my session. Most of all, they said that they like math now. I made it fun.

How can you make every day in your classroom a Career Day, where students leave with excitement about math?

Written by Tim Pope

For those that listen to the radio show Prairie Home Companion, you immediately recognize the title of this posting as part of Garrison Keillor’s traditional description of the children of Lake Wobegon (Coincidentally, this is also the town where all the women are strong and the men are good-looking).  Our culture seems to have an insatiable need to be better than the other guy.  This need is significantly influencing education policy and the implementation of the Common Core.

The effect of exceptionalism on education is not a new concept.  Math and science education took giant strides forward in the 1960s when we feared we were losing the space race to Russia.  The emergence of high-stakes testing in Texas in the 1980s gave us the ability to put a simple number on how our school/student performance/community is better than yours.  More recently, international assessments have led to headlines such as “Poor U.S. Test Results Tied to Weak Curriculum” and “Competitors Still Beat U.S. in Tests.” 

The cultural reality of exceptionalism in America is stated without judgment.  However, the spirit of exceptionalism may have created a dynamic of delusion.  For example, while American children may struggle with math, they excel at feeling good about themselves.  More notably, as parents we feel good about how brilliant our children are (as the father of five, I am often glared at when I proudly profess my children all seem to be stunningly average).    

The collision between exceptionalism and delusional brilliance is coming to a head with the new standards and assessments.  Texas has adopted new standards and assessments (not the Common Core, as Texas has its own brand of exceptionalism).  Policy makers there are backpedaling as parents are realizing that many students will struggle with the new assessments, and Texas has now gone from requiring four years of math including Algebra 2 to simply passing the Algebra 1 end-of-course exam for graduation.  Other groups have developed resistance to the Common Core as potentially limiting the learning of gifted learners.  Everyone seems to want to define career and college ready and to have their definition a.) be better than others, and b.) work for their children.

By and large, the Common Core (and the accompanying assessments) have done and will do a fine job of advancing the quality of mathematics education in America.  Many students will struggle with the greater demand just as students struggled 15 years ago when most states determined every student should take Algebra 1 (the argument on how these courses may have been diluted to achieve success for all will have to wait).  Rather than saying the Common Core is helping to move all students to the same end point, I believe the better articulation is that the Common Core will help move the entire continuum of learners in a forward direction.  Will the Common Core enable more students to be ready for success after high school?  Yes.  Can someone somewhere write a better set of standards?  Maybe, but it’s not worth the argument.  Now, on the other hand, arguments around the assessments and how they will be interpreted….

Today we are lucky enough to have a guest blogger, one of our Kendall Hunt authors, Robin Throne:

Practitioner research continues to gain momentum as an emerging research methodology beyond the past perceptions of it as an “applied” research method since the chasm between research and practice continues to narrow in an advancing American knowledge economy. In this definition of practitioner research, a doctoral research study is practitioner research if the study problem of focus has originated from the learner’s professional practice and relevant to the current scholarship. 

In the past, these types of study problems may have been avoided as real-world problems may not have been appropriate for the white-coat objectivism expected within dissertation research. However, over the past decade, as executive leaders have pursued the online doctorate and more and more doctoral researchers bring their dissertation research to their professional practice, practitioner research as dissertation research has continued. 

It is not uncommon for a doctoral learner—turned practitioner researcher—to consider data collection long before a specific problem has been well situated within the research literature and an appropriate study method and design has been determined for the dissertation study. While it may seem to be the nature of research within a workplace setting, or that metrics from the workplace can easily be used as study variables, it is essential for the doctoral scholar to reconsider his or her multiple roles as scholar, practitioner, and researcher and approach a study problem first from a rigorous and complex perspective beyond a practice viewpoint. Once a stance has been articulated and this positionality established, the bridge exists by which to bring the problem of the field to the doctoral practitioner research investigation.  

To learn more about the use of workplace problems as rigorous and relevant doctoral dissertation research problems, see

Practitioner Research in Doctoral Education:

• Explores the ongoing research-based conversation that demystifies doctoral research study and clarifies its relation to and within the setting of professional practice. 
• Is inspired by the varied and intriguing research into doctoral learner success, practice settings as research setting, practice-based constructs and variables, practitioner as independent researcher, and the many connotations of what practitioner research is and should be.
• Is designed for doctoral scholars who desire to bring their research to practice; as well as the doctoral faculty, doctoral program developers, and the leaders in doctoral education who serve them to consider practitioner research across the disciplines and its value for the scholar practitioner. 

Users of Practitioner Research in Doctoral Education bring innovation, problem-solving, research-based decision making and the betterment of the discipline outside of the academy as they return to professional practice.

Kendall Hunt author, Dr. Robin Throne will facilitate a free virtual weekend workshop May 3-5 entitled, “Construct operationalization: Quantifying variables from professional practice.” Send email for more information or to register. She is the author of Practitioner Research in Doctoral Education (2012, Kendall Hunt).

Written by Megan Veech

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by today’s constant updates in technology? Or, that the internet is one big information overload? The days of using library archives have dwindled. Instead, we want something at the click of a mouse. But, it can be hard keeping your connections organized and still stay up to date with recent news.

To help me stay focused and on task during the workday, below are some strategies I use so that I can keep up with education topics, such as the Common Core State Standards and STEM Education.

• Organize – Google recently announced that their web-based aggregator, Google Reader, is retiring soon. For those of you who don’t know, Google Reader collects and reads RSS feeds and Google Alerts, which are emails sent to you that match a specific term you create (i.e.: Inquiry-Based Learning). This is a great tool to house any favorite newspaper, web page or blog. Here are a few replacement suggestions from another user of Google Reader. This brings me to my second point…
   
• Read – Block at least 30 minutes out of your day to read journals, blogs or whatever relates to the area of your interest. Many of my ideas are sparked from reading posts online. Don’t have time to read the article right away but you want to save it for later? Try an app such as Pinterest or Get Pocket to organize your findings in a virtual file that can be accessed at the click of a mouse.
   
• Network – Reach out to others in the same field as yourself through forums, Facebook or other social media platforms.  Kendall Hunt’s Facebook page posts something new every day that features today’s education topics, and also serves as a way for one to share and comment with others.
   
• Share – Just like networking, it is also important to share your own findings. Don’t be afraid to share a recent article you read with others through your LinkedIn profile or Twitter page. In the end, we’re all contributing to an endless circle.

Trying to manage your digital library can be overwhelming. But, it helps to have some sort of organization for all the data that comes your way. Taking the time to apply strategies for yourself that you will utilize will save you time to focus on your career. Of course, I’m always finding new apps and reading new ways to enhance my organization tactics. Let us know what different strategies you use. Perhaps your ideas will benefit another educator in the classroom!

Written by Tim Pope

This entry is Part 3 in a three-part series. See Part 1: Too Much Uncertainty in Math Education is Cause for Concern and Part 2:  Uncertainty and the Common Core.

The education community in general, from educators to policy makers to materials providers, has been declaring that paper in schools is dying and computers will become the primary learning tool for students.  In the last ten years, technology has begun to emerge as a stronger supplemental tool in most schools (and a primary tool in a few).  The majority of teachers are perfectly comfortable, if not preferring, to access their instructional materials digitally.  If the schools I spend time in are any indication, LCD projectors have become as ubiquitous as overhead projectors were fifteen years ago.  Interactive whiteboards, graphing technology, “clicker” assessment systems, and other technologies are becoming more prevalent in our classrooms.  However, most schools still rely on paper as the primary tool for communicating with students both in terms of instructional materials and receiving work products.  Uncertainty here?  Let me count the ways:

• Will technology lead to truly individualized learning or will technology be used to improve the communal classroom experience?
   
• Is the one-to-one student tool a laptop, netbook, or tablet?  iPad or Android? 
   
• Will instructional materials all be open-sourced, non-curated content from which teachers select or will teachers still use publisher-provided complete programs?
   
• What is the true cost for technology?  Hardware, software, web tools, technology support, professional development are all costs that need to be considered.

There is uncertainty.  There are also resources that will help convert uncertainty to risk.  Along with professional organizations such as ISTE, web searches will turn up phenomenal educators such as Dan Meyer who are leading the way to help teachers use technology to improve instruction and learning.   Through (name your social media tool of choice here), vibrant communities have grown to help teachers implement incredible strategies for using technology to increase student learning.

I could continue to write of other uncertainties in math education.  School funding, changes in teacher and school evaluation systems, changes in student demographics and many other issues also lead to uncertainty.  It seems the best advice is to make sure we are embracing the first mathematical practice standard of the Common Core: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

Register today for the Student Success in College & Beyond Symposium! This spring, the event will take place in Dallas, Texas April 19-20, 2013. Please visit www.thrivingincollege.com/symposium for more details.

This cost-effective professional development opportunity is packed full of interesting and relevant session topics – it is specifically designed for YOUR student success teams. Kendall Hunt Publishing is proud to announce the following NEW Symposium Sessions:

• Key Elements of a Comprehensive & Coordinated Student–Success Plan
• Universal Principles of Student Retention & Student Learning
• Instructor Training for the First–Year Seminar

The Student Success in College & Beyond Symposium is designed and delivered by faculty, administrators, and educational consultants in the student success field who supply specific, research-based practices that can be used to promote student persistence, learning, and holistic development in the first year of college and beyond.

Can’t be with us this Spring? No problem! Watch for details soon on where and when you can join us for the Fall Symposium.

Written by Melissa Cragg, Math Educator

The Common Core State Standards can be overwhelming, especially when many teachers are trying to make sense of them while still teaching their students every day.  There isn’t enough time in a day to get it all done.  And no one teacher is expected to get it all done alone.  Here are three things that I always keep in mind to help me from losing my mind during any change in curriculum:

1.)  This will take time… Adjusting to a new curriculum will not happen all at once, so take baby steps and change one thing at a time.  It’s not going to be perfect the first year, but don’t worry, next year will come and you can fine-tune your lessons.  Have no fear; the adjustments will decrease with each passing year.

2.)  Hone your skills… Just as doctors should to stay current on the latest medical breakthroughs, we teachers need to stay at the top of our game as well.  Attend a conference, read mathematical journals, search the web for the latest information on the CCSS.  In other words, do something to improve your skills.  Also, remember you are a professional and have quite a bit of knowledge yourself, so listen to your gut as well.

3.)  Teamwork… Find a teacher or teachers who are willing to collaborate.  Everyone is in the same boat, so split up the work load and dig in.  Perhaps one of your fellow collaborators loves to write assessments, and another enjoys creating student centers.  Let them tackle these areas while you focus on incorporating graphing calculators into the lesson.  Play to everyone’s strengths and passions.

Finally, remember that you can do this.  You encourage your students throughout the day by telling them that they can do it.  Listen to your own advice.

It's that time of year again -- Kendall Hunt PreK-12's authors and staff will be taking to the road to attend some of the nation's largest educational conferences and introduce our programs to the educators who attend them. We're excited to show you our digital and print curriculum solutions for a variety of disciplines, and like most exhibitors, we'll provide you with program samples that are right for you. But did you know that Kendall Hunt's presence isn't confined to the exhibit hall? Our authors and staff also will be presenting a variety of workshops that highlight the many ways that our hands-on, inquiry-based programs are building student achievement in classrooms across the country. 

However, educational conferences aren't just a platform for us to promote our products. They're also a great way for us to learn from you. Each year, the entire Kendall Hunt team looks forward to speaking with conference attendees to hear what's working -- and what's not -- in your districts, buildings, and classrooms.  The conversations in our booth, in meeting rooms, and at conference-related events are especially meaningful to us and often serve as a springboard for developing new programs and services that address your specific needs. 

Here's where we'll be this spring -- if you're attending, too, we hope you'll attend a presentation or stop by our booth for some good discussion about ways we can support you and your students. 

See you along the road!

ASCD 2013 Annual Conference and Exhibit Show:  March 16-18, Chicago, IL -- Booth 535

NCEA 2013 Convention and Expo:  April 2-4, Houston, TX -- Booth 327

NSTA National Conference: April 11-14, San Antonio, TX -- Booth 1408

45th NCSM Annual Conference: April 15-17, Denver, CO -- Booth 301

NCTM Annual Meeting and Exposition: April 17-20, Denver, CO -- Booth 1731

IRA 58th Annual Convention: April 19-22, San Antonio, TX -- Booth 1137

NSTA STEM Forum and Expo:  May 15-18, St. Louis, MO -- Booth 600

Written by Jen Gilbert, Special Populations Liaison

“Tell me and I forget.  Teach me and I remember.  Involve me and I learn.”  –Benjamin Franklin

When I sat down to think about why I am so passionate about inquiry-based education I tried to come up with an example that sums up the experience for both teachers and students.  I remembered a colleague sharing a story about a conversation she had with a student.  She was working in a small group with special education students and she asked one of the students, “What do you think?”  The student’s response was, “I don’t know.”  She made it a teachable moment by telling the student that she was asking what they think about the topic, not what they know in terms of looking for any particular correct answer.  To me that was a powerful lesson for both of them.  How often do we ask our students what they think, and truly consider the response?  The reason I love inquiry-based science is that it allows students to think about ideas, explore ways to solve a problem, and make sense of it all in the context of the particular lesson.  In other words, the inquiry approach allows students to do science.

Working with special education students has allowed me a unique perspective on lesson design. Establishing lessons that are suited to meet the needs of special education students in the classroom will benefit ALL students in the classroom.  My first exposure to an inquiry-based curriculum in the classroom
was BSCS Biology: A Human Approach.  I remember opening up the textbook and seeing the first engage activity called “Cooperating like a Scientist” in the Being a Scientist opening section.  I saw the way the section was introduced and could not believe how much it was aligned to material I normally had to adapt for students.  Here was a program already designed with the learner in mind! I often see students struggle with biology lessons when they cannot connect the material to their everyday life.  If you watch a group of students play the “radar game,” you will see firsthand what it means to be immersed in a lesson!  Students become the investigators in these lessons; they are doing science rather than reading/writing about it. 

Have you ever had an experience where you can say to a student “Remember when we...,” where you refer back to a previous activity, and you can see the student recalling the activity?  Or perhaps they reply with details and a story about that particular day in class.  How often do we get the chance to hear from students about the impact a lesson has had, or see the connections they make?  I worked with a dozen high schools implementing BSCS Biology and feel so fortunate to have been in a position to see it on a regular basis.  From self-contained special education to general education classrooms without a cooperative team teacher, I have seen the impact of inquiry-based science on our students.  The students have to be actively engaged to participate in an activity.  When we use the inquiry model in our lessons, we ask our students to do science: to think and become problem-solvers.  I feel like I am empowering students to become lifelong learners, and I cannot imagine being in the classroom without using inquiry practices.

Written by Lacy Knipper

I love learning.  I just love it.  As educators, we all do.  You have to love learning and be a strong believer in the gift of education if you are to commit to a lifetime of helping others learn.

Furthermore, as an educator (and therefore a lover of learning) I want to stay current, fresh, and in touch with what’s going on in my field.  When I start to think about all the changes that have taken place even in the couple years since I was teaching in the classroom, it’s enough to send my head spinning. 

Ponder with me the possibilities for learning now available to educators any given day with just a few simple clicks:

• I can watch a video of a teacher in Turkey and learn about his flipped classroom.
• I can engage in a discussion with other educators on Facebook and learn about best practices for parent teacher conferences.
• I can search #edchat on Twitter and learn what other educators are saying about formative assessment.
• I can attend a webinar and learn how to use social media in the classroom.
• I can stay in touch with my professional contacts on LinkedIn and learn from their collective wealth of knowledge.

And what about the possibilities made available through new devices and tech applications?  There are now classroom-ready apps on my iPad.  Interactive whiteboard activities, online simulators, and digital curricula all offer new opportunities for learning in the classroom, and Bring Your Own Device and 1:1 technology approaches abound in schools.

If my head was spinning before, it becomes a spinning blur as I think about classroom management, lesson planning, preparing for new assessments, implementing curricula, professional development, and all the other things whirling through educators’ minds.  So what stops the spin?

Technology, specifically good technology, is at its core a solution.  To justify its existence any given technology should solve a problem.  For me, the key to utilizing technologies without falling into an overwhelming state of head spinning is to focus on how I can use technology to solve a problem I’m currently experiencing.  At that point technology stops being another thing to add to my list, and instead becomes something that shortens my list or increases my effectiveness as I tackle my list.

Take a minute and try out one of the above suggested technology applications.  Ask yourself, “How could I apply this technology to improve my practice? 

Share your teacher tech tips below, and perhaps you can stop the head spin of a fellow educator!

Written by Werner Garciano

Nothing can be better when you can combine the things you love. An Oreo cookie is good by itself. So is a cold glass of milk. But when you put them together, you have devoured a whole package of Oreos and a gallon of milk. Watching your school’s team win is good. So is watching your rival school lose a contest. But there is no better euphoria than when your school hands your rival a painful defeat. Ask any Bruin how they felt when they knocked the Trojans down a notch or two back in November.

So imagine my glee when saber metrics started to take hold in baseball. My two loves: math and baseball converged to make us math people valuable to general managers. You can use statistical analysis to quantify a player’s value in a multitude of ways. Instead of batting averages, RBIs and ERAs, you can use On Base Percentage (OBP), Wins Above Replacement (WAR) and Walks plus Hits per Innings Pitched (WHIP).

Can we have a metric that boils a teacher’s performance down to one number or a set of numbers? How about a statistic called GAS, short for Gains Above Substitute? This statistic would measure the learning gains a teacher helps students achieve versus if they had a substitute teacher. Then teachers can ask each other at faculty meetings, "Do you have GAS?" or "Is your GAS getting any better?"

Or perhaps SOL for Student Outcomes and Learning? I wouldn’t be the first to use this acronym as the state of Virginia beat me to it with their Standards of Learning.

I poke fun with my acronyms because it is a challenge to build an evaluation system that everyone can agree on. Districts struggle and debate with teachers and their unions on the best way to evaluate teacher performance. Los Angeles Unified reached an agreement with their teachers on an evaluation system that uses a mix of student test scores, teacher observations, and school level data. But this agreement did not come without heated debate between the district and the union. Even the LA Times jumped into the mix with their Value Added Analysis.

What does your district use to evaluate your performance? Join the conversation with interesting acronyms for possible evaluation systems.

Written by Tim Pope

This entry is Part 2 in a three-part series.  Part 1: Too Much Uncertainty in Math Education is Cause for Concern

From working our booth at math conferences to sales meetings to PD workshops, I have had the opportunity to observe the emergence of understanding of the Common Core.  A couple of months ago, I did a workshop on the Math Practice standards for a group of middle school teachers.  By the end of the day, the tension was palpable as the teachers faced the reality that their current instructional practices would no longer be adequate surmount the challenges of CCSS; as a result, they faced  the uncertainty of how moving toward more inquiry-based strategies would affect their classroom.  I have also met with several groups of teachers who have never considered inquiry-based materials who have now come to look more closely at our materials. 

As teachers develop a better understanding of these standards, uncertainty continues to grow.

• What makes instructional materials truly aligned to the Common Core?  Every teacher is besieged with emails and vendor booths at conferences that scream alignment to the Common Core.  How do I determine if materials align not only to the content standards but to the Math Practices?
• Will my students still learn the required skills with a new approach to instruction?
• How will our special needs students respond to new standards that require analytical ability traditionally seen in honors-type classes?
• How will my students’ parents respond to instruction and instructional materials that look nothing like they used in school?
• How do I handle classroom management when students are now required to engage with each other in mathematical discourse?

Any doubt I might have had that uncertainty around the new assessments is at a fever pitch was erased a few months ago when PARCC released their first sample assessment items and traffic to their website was so intense their servers crashed.  Everyone is looking for the latest updates and hints as to what we should expect next year when the tests are released.  Among the many questions I have heard as teachers and leaders struggle to find certainty:

• Will the new assessments test the Math Practice standards?  How?
• Will we have the technology infrastructure that will be required?
• How will the open-ended tasks be graded?
• Which standards will be tested at which high school grade?

There is good news.  Many organizations, foundations, and schools have developed tools to help build certainty.  The Progressions documents provide clear guidance on how the standards intend students to build mastery from year to year.  The Mathematics Assessment Project and the Dana Center at the University of Texas offer model tasks and assessments to help teachers make the connection between the new standards and instruction.  Finally, I recommend using the Publisher’s Criteria from the Common Core to guide your review of instructional materials.

Written by Jocelyn Van Vliet

Recently, a friend of mine who is considering applying for teaching jobs was talking about articulating a philosophy of education. It has been a long time since I sat down to think about this, so it got my mind turning. I started thinking about how my philosophy has changed as a result of my experience in both teaching and educational publishing.

Frankly, my philosophy has gotten much simpler. Quality education really boils down to learning to ask good questions. As educators, we need to ask questions that engage students in the content and encourage them to think about more than a memorized process. We need to avoid asking students 20 questions, and instead ask students fewer, higher-quality questions that challenge them to understand the concept behind the process and dig into the mathematics (or insert your preferred subject here).

This does not relieve educators of the responsibility to teach, nor does it disregard the need for procedures and basic skills. It simply calls us to challenge students to think more deeply and gain a stronger understanding of what they are learning. In addition, it provides a model for students who need to learn to ask their own questions that challenge the content or explore it deeper.

So what is it that makes a good question?

Written by Megan Veech

"Can online education be better than classroom learning?"

This was the headline for an article I came across featuring online learning. Before I considered reading the article, I asked myself that question. I then decided that my answer was an obvious "no". Classroom learning is where inquiry and innovation are the basis for student environment. Therefore, hands-on classroom learning should never be replaced. Instead, why not provide an array of learning options for students and teachers?

I happened to stumble upon another article that takes a look at online learning at a different perspective. The writer states that online learning is a growing trend and is being seen increasingly in a number of situations. As said in Three Myths of Online Learning, "Social media tools are letting people interact online – sharing content, providing feedback, and building connections – in ways that are sometimes even richer than what they can do in the physical world." The phrase "word of mouth" has taken on a whole new meaning. With social media tools, content may go viral within minutes, making the connection or marketing piece even more valuable.

But, because many people still value the long-established classroom setting, assumptions have been made about online learning. Let’s go over the three most common myths discussed in the article:

1. "Online learning is impersonal."  Well, as mentioned before, online learning isn’t as personal as classroom engagement. But with constant technology improvements, e-learners can see one another through webcams and other devices and communicate through the use of voice systems, polls, open responses, and online conferencing software – all around the world.

2. "Online learning is unengaging."  As mentioned in the article, by introducing other media such as video in an on-demand format, online learning can be just as informational and appealing. For example, would you rather listen to someone speak through the computer for more than five minutes? Or, would you rather watch that person take you into a classroom during a hands-on activity to give you an idea of how the materials are used?

3. "Online content is limited to serving low-level training needs."  Online education is quickly becoming another tool in today’s digital age. High school students, college students, teachers, and executives are grasping on to this valuable resource.

There will always be a constant demand for education. Online learning is yet another way of delivery that can now be, "Anytime, Anywhere."

Written by Werner Garciano

It’s been a whirlwind four weeks of travel for me as a mathematics specialist. My travels started in Georgia and took me to various locales: Columbia, MO; Albuquerque, NM; Anderson, SC; Whitefield, NH; and Hillsboro, OR. During these trips, I learned a number of things such as: a.) The "C" boarding pass on Southwest Airlines stands for Center seat; b.) Teachers are the fastest eaters in the world due to their 30 minute lunch periods; c.) Icy roads, not snow-covered roads, are the real reason why schools are cancelled; d.) When students come together on a project, they do really cool stuff (Watch the video at http://bit.ly/YHnb0e), and e.) If you ever want to drive home the idea that -10 is less than -2, just stand outside on a cold and windy day in the North Country.

I had an opportunity to conduct classroom observations and a professional development session during the same week at one high school recently. I was able to see the students and teachers in action, and it was tough to be just an observer. First, the students always wondered who I was and why I was there. Second, there is always something that you want to jump into but you have to show self-restraint and not get involved. The other challenging part of being an observer is the debrief, where you have to communicate what you saw without passing judgment, good or bad. The one thing I’m thankful for is that the students and teachers were welcoming and positive about my presence.

During these observations and PD sessions, I learned a number of things:

1) Teachers do incredible work. They have limited resources and are sometimes asked to do extraordinary things. Unlike a school that admits the students they want, this school takes on all students: high achievers; struggling learners; kids who place school as fifth on their list behind friends, Facebook, food, and fun; students who are involved in everything at school; students who are just passing through. For 50 minutes, the teachers have to find a way to engage and challenge their students and help them find their next level.

2) Students constantly amaze you. I was in a classroom of learners who have been identified as struggling learners. They were learning about systems of equations and how to solve them. After we posed a problem to them, they amazed us with the tool that they used first: Guess and Check, a tool they acquired in middle school. The students had just finished a unit on systems of equations and how to solve systems graphically and algebraically. They ignored all that and reverted to their middle school tool. The next day, we reminded them of the new tools that they learned in the unit. The students amazed us again. They started to using graphing and algebra to solve systems with a good degree of fluency.

3) Teachers want to get better. I know the myth of the lazy teacher is perpetuated in movies and on TV. Anyone remember the movie Teachers in which the teacher gave out worksheets daily and read the newspaper while the kids "worked" on the worksheet? The teachers I worked with were looking for ways to increase their content knowledge and to improve their pedagogy. I asked them to identify one thing they want to work on for the rest of the year and they candidly shared what they wanted to work on. For some, it was giving kids time to process a question that the teacher would pose. They wanted to increase their wait time rather than call on the first hand that goes up. For others, it was about engaging their students so they had motivation to learn the mathematics. I then challenged the teachers to hold each other accountable for what they said they would work on. This is a big task to take on since teachers are used to working in isolation. But they took on an "accountability partner" for the rest of the semester.

Watching these teachers work made me want to jump back into the classroom. Their enthusiasm and passion for teaching was obvious. If you ever want to recharge your teaching, watch another teacher for a bit. It will be better than any professional development session you will sit through. And it won’t be a Center seat.

Written by Tim Pope

Being a huge baseball fan, something of a political junkie, and a lover of statistics, I was eager to read Nate Silver’s new book, The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail – But Some Don’t.  Many know him for his blog which made headlines for his accuracy in predicting elections.  Fellow baseball fans, especially stat geeks, will know him as the creator of PECOTA which predicts baseball performance. 

In explaining the failure of so many to predict the financial crisis of 2006, Silver explains that the credit rating agencies failed to differentiate between risk and uncertainty.  Definitions from the author are in order here:

"Risk…is something you can put a price on. Say that you'll win a poker hand unless your opponent draws to an inside straight: the chances of that happening are exactly 1 chance in 11. This is risk. It is not pleasant when you take a "bad beat" in poker, but at least you know the odds of it and can account for it ahead of time. In the long run, you'll make a profit from your opponents making desperate draws with insufficient odds.

Uncertainty, on the other hand, is risk that is hard to measure. You might have some vague awareness of the demons lurking out there. You might even be acutely concerned about them. But you have no real idea how many of them there are or when they might strike. Your back-of-the-envelope estimate might be off by a factor of 100 or by a factor of 1,000. There is no good way to know. This is uncertainty."

In many ways, the current educational climate should be an incredible opportunity for improving mathematics education.  The Common Core standards provide us with well-articulated learning benchmarks to increase college and career readiness.  The upcoming PARCC and SMARTER Balanced assessments are going to provide us accurate and valid tools for measuring success in achieving those standards.  Amazing technologies are being developed that promise to provide incredible learning opportunities and individualized instruction.

But all of this change is causing a level of uncertainty that is making educators slow to move forward (if only credit ratings agencies had also sought to slow down, but that’s another story).  For each of the incredible opportunities mentioned, there is reason to be uncertain. 

With a two paragraph blog that has became three pages, insert slightly stilted break here and refer to a series of blogs that will examine these areas of uncertainty in more detail and articulate how the math education community is providing answers to reduce the fear.

Written by Sheri Glew

Why do we want to produce digital learning material? Why do district and school administrators want technology enhanced curricula in the classroom?

There are so many declaratives being thrown around in the education industry as reasons or answers to those questions. Statements such as "Our state/Our district is going to use all digital products by 2014". – yet has anyone researched quality digital curricula to cover every subject and requirement to achieve that directive? Has anyone researched the infrastructure, both hardware and software, and professional development required to support that? Another favorite statement I hear frequently as a provider of curricula, "The digital product should be half the price of the print product". Based on what? The same level of research, writing, editing, designing, testing, more editing, developing, and on and on goes into producing a digital product as it does for a print product. The only piece that doesn’t exist is the actual printing of ink on paper and the distribution – which accounts for about 8 to 15 percent of a product’s total cost.

Getting back to my original thought… why do we want to produce digital learning material and why should districts use these digital materials in the classroom? The real answer should be to serve our 21st Century Learners…. The 21st Century Skills are solid, real-world skills and truly need to be recognized if we are serious about preparing our students to excel professionally after they leave our schools. These skills are what we should measure every curriculum against. "Will this program produce this experience and learning opportunity for a student?"

That is the question. Not – "should we buy printed books or online material"? "Should we be a 1:1 school"? I don’t know – should you?

Every one of us involved in education should internalize what it means to educate students as 21st Century learners. As we develop programs, and as decision-makers consider educational material, we all need to consider these questions first:

• Will this challenge our students’ research & information fluency?
• Will this improve our students’ communication & collaboration skills?
• Will this develop our students’ critical thinking & problem solving abilities?
• Will this allow our students to show and expand their creativity & innovation?

Technology is not the answer; it’s one of many tools students and teachers need today to create the learning environment that allows students to become fluent in using technology tools, allows them to collaborate, and stretches their ability to solve problems with creativity and innovation.

Written by Jocelyn Van Vliet

"If content is King, technology is the jester." – Michael Jay, with credit to Bill Gates

I heard this quotation at a conference I attended last weekend, and I really appreciate the analogy. A good court jester serves a purpose. They engage and interact with their audience and hold their attention. They say and do things that would not be appropriate from anyone other than the court jester. They breathe life and joy (ok, maybe that’s a little strong) into their audience. On the other hand, a poor court jester can take the life out of the room. Saying the wrong thing at the wrong time can move the crowd from engagement, to disinterest, or even frustration.

Many of us use technology on at least an hourly basis, some more, some less. Sometimes technology is incredibly helpful, a good court jester, so to speak. It engages us, it teaches us, and often it saves us time or energy.

Yesterday, I was tutoring a Geometry student who had missed a week of class due to illness. Math is not her favorite thing. We were talking about triangles, incenters, circumcenters, centroids, and orthocenters, where they meet, and what their importance was. At one point I asked her if the perpendicular bisectors, which intersect at the circumcenter of a triangle, could meet outside of the triangle. Her instinct was that they could meet outside the triangle, but she couldn’t draw me an example. So we used The Geometer’s Sketchpad® to draw a triangle and mark the point of concurrency. Then we moved the vertices of the triangle around to see what happened. In the 5 minutes it took to build the triangle and experiment with it, she was now not only confident in her answer, she could also tell me what type of triangle has perpendicular bisectors that intersect outside of the triangle (obtuse). What was her response to this use of technology? "That’s really cool!" plus a deeper understanding of the mathematics, plus a hint of excitement about math, a subject she claims she doesn’t like.

Yet technology can also become the bad court jester. Teachers battle technical issues, programs that don’t work the way they should, and curricula that incorporate technology for the sake of technology rather than for the enhancement of curriculum. Frankly, as much as I think technology has a tremendous potential to enhance curriculum and engage students, I still believe that some things are better done with paper and pencil.

So my question to you is this: Where is technology working for you and your students? And where is technology a hindrance to what you desire to accomplish in the classroom?

Written by Laura Lottes

When I ask educators the reasons why they really love to teach, most teachers choose to be in the classroom because of the thrill of partaking in children learning, growing, discovering, and having fun! Part of the fun is taking on the challenge of guiding students along the path of searching, encouraging innovation, and growth. Fun also arises when the door of self-awareness opens and the teacher sees through the lens of the learner, thus opening both of their worlds to new experiences.

The beauty of this discovery and the "Aha!" moments of learning can take place in many environments, during all possible times --when you’re aiming for it, and also when you least expect it.

Think back and envision what a traditional classroom looked liked in the 60’s, 70’s, and so on; desks were neatly lined in rows, children sat quietly (most of the time) passing an occasional note just for basic stimulation, the teacher explained precisely the formulas for solving a mathematics problem, or how scientists conducted lab experiments - with very little or no hands-on self expression exhibited by the students in the classroom. How many amazing "Aha!" moments do you think took place? Furthermore, if that was considered fun in teaching and learning, maybe that teacher should have been a trial attorney, pointing out facts and answering the very questions they set forth, instead of nurturing the minds of our future.

We’re so fortunate to live in an age where inquiry and innovation are key components in many classrooms in our country; where teachers’ talents lie not only in the knowledge of the subject, but also in excelling as facilitators, leaders, and promoters of confidence within their classrooms. It’s so exciting to see the delight in a young person’s eye as they take on a challenge!

Written by Werner Garciano

I was cruising the blogosphere and I came across a curious blog by Larry Ferlazzo (visit http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/). He posed the question:

"What is the best advice you would give to help an educator become better at teaching math?"

He had three noted math educators give their advice. So I figured that I would give mine here and ask you to chime in on your advice to help others become better at teaching math.

Unlike conventional wisdom, failure is an option. Now we learned through the years that failure can be a bad thing. In Cool Hand Luke, there was the classic "failure to communicate." The great basketball coach, John Wooden, offered this bit of advice to his players: "Failure to prepare is preparing to fail." Matthew McConaughey was still living with his parents well into his thirties and thus labeled as a "Failure to Launch." But in teaching, failure is a good thing, and you can and you will fail. You need to embrace that failure like a kid who falls off his bike the first time when he is learning how to ride with two wheels. Like rubbing dirt on that skinned knee, rub that sting of failure off your math ego and move on. Reflect on that failure. Learn from it. Heck, even celebrate it when you make a mistake on the board rather than offering the cliché, "I was just seeing if you were paying attention."

Stop eating vanilla ice cream every day. By this statement, I mean take the time to go out and see other teachers in your school who teach different subjects. They are probably serving up chocolate ice cream. Or go see teachers at the schools that send students to your school. You can learn a lot about your students by watching their previous teachers. I taught high school math and I learned where my students picked up new and interesting techniques when I visited their middle school math teachers and their classrooms.

They were serving up all types of flavors. The best flavors come from visiting schools that are way different from your school. I was teaching at Tamalpais High School in Marin County, CA (school population of about 1000), and I got a full serving of 31 flavors when I visited Logan High School in Union City in the East Bay (school population of about 4000). After you visit, bring back those flavors to your colleagues and share what you saw and experienced. You will have a better perspective on what you do and how you can improve.

As your Kindergarten teacher said, "Share and share alike." This phrase is much better than the directive to collaborate. Collaboration within your department doesn’t have to be a formal event. If you have a prep period in common with another teacher who has the same subject as you, take part of that prep period to lesson plan, share ideas, reflect on the day’s lesson or distribute tasks like writing class investigations or quizzes. At Tam, we designed our class schedule so that teachers had a common prep period for collaboration. This prevents you from eating vanilla ice cream every day. It also diminishes your appetite to close the door behind you as you curl up in your teacher cave. See, what you learned in kindergarten still applies in adulthood.