Math Teacher Leader Kickoff

The Milwaukee Mathematics Partnership held the annual Math Teacher Leader Kickoff on August 26th at South Division High School.  Approximately 150 MTLs were in attendance.  The event kicked off with presentations by William Andrekopoulos, MPS Superintendent of Schools who discussed MPS’s continual goal toward improving the quality of its classroom instruction and Chris Thiel, MPS Office of Governmental Relations who discussed the development of the Governor’s funding initiative for mathematics in MPS.  The remaining breakout sessions, presented by Math Teaching Specialists, Teachers-in-Residence, and Math Education Faculty from UWM, focused on relevant topics of the 2008-2009 school year: Math Content: The Same, Yet Smaller; The Learning Team Continuum: A Guide to Focus Discussions and Provide Direction in Mathematics; and MMP Leadership Development: The PRIME Framework.

Fall MMP Courses

Beginning in October 2008, MMP offered one unique professional development course through UWM entitled “Standards-based Mathematics: Instructional Strategies” for MPS teachers to further their knowledge and improve teaching practices in mathematics. Approximately 30 MPS teachers deepened content knowledge of state standards in mathematics, developed familiarity and comfort using research-based instruction strategies, and reflected on strategies and their relationship to teaching mathematics to meet individual student needs. 

Fall 2008 MTL Seminars

From August to December 2008, Math Teacher Leaders attended four leadership training seminars each of which included Content, Leadership, and Assessment Sessions.  UWM Content sessions facilitated by Dr. Kevin McLeod focused on Algebraic Reasoning and included the following topics: “Fostering Discussions About Algebra and Algebraic Reasoning”, “Growing Algebra Eyes and Ears” and “On The Right Track To Developing Algebraic Thinking!”. Leadership sessions led by Connie Laughlin and Janis Freckmann focused on leadership of self utilizing The PRIME Leadership Framework published by NCSM.  Assessment sessions focused on understanding the importance of Richard Stiggins assessment strategies and link them to classroom practice.  Additional key activities included sessions on eDevelopment, cohort-specific concerns, completing the Mathematical Knowledge Needed for Teaching (MKT) Survey, and reviewing MMP's Year 5 External Evaluation Report.

Algebra and Geometry Labs

October 10th marked the first meeting of Algebra Lab participants while Geometry Lab participants met for the first time on October 24th.  Construction of these labs included the mathematical knowledge and collaboration of several MMP leaders.  Kevin McLeod of UWM collaborated with Gary Luck (UWM) who ran the Geometry labs and Bill Mandella (UWM) and Marta Magiera (Marquette) who led the Algebra labs.  Sessions included content knowledge based on the new textbooks, assessment for teachers to take back to their students, and a review of student work.

Foundation Level Math Assessment Pilot: Grades 8-9

Throughout the course of the 2008-09 school year, 8th and 9th grade Math Teacher Leaders met approximately once a month with MMP Leaders.  Meetings were generally divided into three sessions: Assessment, Mathematics content, Leadership and Forum.  Leadership sessions focused on the use of formative assessment principles, linking Stiggins’ principles to classroom practice and integrating the NCSM publication The PRIME Leadership Framework to increase effective leadership skills.  Yearly objectives of the Assessment sessions included using various tools of the formative assessment system with a variety of district assessments. Content focused on recognizing the structure of operations within real-world context and context of whole numbers, fractions, and decimals; developing general understandings of operations and recognizing that the same structure exits for other number systems; key relationships between measurement, geometry, and algebra; the meaning of exponential growth/decay and the components of an exponential equation; and comparing and contrasting linear and exponential relationships such as rate of change, starting value, contexts & multiplicative vs. additive recursion.  During the forum sessions MTLs choose one of several topics, which often included but were not limited to: textbook adoption, CABS summary reports, effective feedback, portfolios, content and Lie Cal.

2009 New Wisconsin Promise Conference

Tuesday and Wednesday, January 13th and 14th marked the 5th Annual New Wisconsin Promise Conference focused on closing the achievement gap.  The following are the titles of conference presentations by MMP leaders and participants:  What we’ve Learned about Assessment, Part I: Classroom Assessments Based on Standards (CABS) by Beth Schefelker, Mary Mooney, and Lee Ann Pruske; What we’ve Learned about Assessment, Part 2: Analyzing and Learning from Student Work – A Protocol by Rosann Hollinger, Laura Maly, and Pandora Bedford; What We’ve Learned about Assessment, Part 3: Descriptive Feedback: Moving to the Next Level by Cynthia Cuellar & Bernard Rahming; What We’ve Learned about Assessment, Part 4: A Guide to Formative Assessment by Astrid Fossum & Sharonda Harris; and What Does Effective Descriptive Feedback Look Like in the Mathematics Classroom? by Susan Wolter, Joanie Marchillo, and MaryBeth LaHaye.

Spring MMP Courses

Beginning in January 2009, MMP offered through UWM four professional development courses for MPS teachers to deepen their mathematics content knowledge and to enhance their mathematics instruction.  About 145 MPS teachers and administrators successfully gained insight on practices which support students' mathematical learning aligned to comprehensive literacy and mathematical frameworks over the course of the spring semester.  Course topics included Number and Computation: Addition and Subtraction, Number and Computation: Multiplication and Division, Standards-Based Mathematics: Exploring Early Number Relationships, and Number and Computation: Special Education Focus.

Spring MTL Meetings

Math Teacher Leaders choose one of two MTL meetings held once per month January through May for professional development activities.  As in the Fall, Spring MTL meetings included Content sessions coordinated by UWM, Assessment sessions and Leadership sessions led by a team of MMP teaching specialists.  Dr. Kevin McLeod, along with a team of math teaching specialists, led five sessions entitled “Paving the Way to Algebraic Reasoning”, “Using Geometric Patterns To Determine What Comes Next….”, “Using Repeating Patterns to Think Functionally”, “Let the Numbers Do the Work” and “Reflecting and Connecting”.  Leadership sessions continued to focus on The Prime Leadership Framework integrating sessions on change from the Concern-Based Adoption Model (CBAM).  The Assessment sessions highlighted important assessment principles and questioning strategies.   During the April meeting Carl Hanssen presented the MMP Program Evaluation Update and the next steps in the process. 

AMTE Annual Conference

MMP and MPS had great participation at the Thirteenth Annual American Math Teacher Educators Conference February 5-7th in Orlando, Florida. University faculty, MPS teachers, Teachers-in-Residence, and Math Teaching Specialists shared the work of MMP.  DeAnn Huinker, Connie Laughlin, and Janis Frackmann presented A Journey in Developing Statistical Reasoning in Elementary and Middle-school Teacher Leaders.  Henry Kepner presented The Challenges for Mathematics Education – Collaborations with and Recommendations for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Leigh van den Kieboom and Marta T. Magiera both from Marquette University presented Rethinking Worthwile Tasks: Using Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching to Inform Problem Selection for Preservice Teachers and their Field Students.  Meg Moss from Pellissippi State University, Kevin McLeod and DeAnn Huinker from UWM, Diana White from University from Colorado Denver, and Raven McCrory from Michigan State University collaborated on a presentation titled How Research has Informed the Design of Content Courses for K-8 Teachers. 

NCTM/NCSM Annual Conference

This year, the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics (NCSM) and National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) conferences took place from April 20-22 and April 23-25 respectively in Washington, DC.  The NCSM is an international organization of leaders collaborating to achieve excellence and equity in mathematics education at all levels.  From its origins as an organization of urban mathematics supervisors, NCSM has expanded to become an organization for mathematics education leaders in all positions at all levels (http://ncsmonline.org/).  Sixteen MMP affiliates presented over the course of the two-day conference.  The NCTM is a public voice of mathematics education, providing vision, leadership and professional development to support teachers in ensuring equitable mathematics learning of the highest quality for all students (http://www.nctm.org/). Nine presentations were given on behalf of the MMP at the conference.

WMC Annual Green Lake Conference

The 41st annual Green Lake Conference sponsored by the Wisconsin Mathematics Council, Inc. took place May 6-8 in Green Lake, Wisconsin.  This year’s conference was titled PI in the Sky: Dream Big, Do Math!

High School Support and Leadership

DIFI Supervisors, High School Math Assistant Principals, First Things First Facilitators, School Improvement Facilitators, High School Curriculum Generalists, and Released High School MTLs collaborated during 11 Discovering Mathematics Support Sessions held during the Spring of 2009.  Each meeting focused on a unique aspect of using the Discovering Mathematics text.  Sessions topics included: utilizing the text in self-contained classrooms, integrating SMART board technology, using graphing calculators, focusing on leadership skills, reflecting on the text, modeling instructional strategies for Algebra and Geometry, and other content-specific themes.

Summer MMP Courses

During the summer of 2009 the MMP offered through UWM 9 courses designed for teachers in MPS to deepen their mathematics content knowledge, enhance their mathematics instruction, and advance their leadership skills during the summer months.  Approximately 200 teachers took a break from their summer vacation and were enrolled in one of the following courses: Standards-Based Mathematics: Exploring Early Number Relationships, Number and Computation: Multiplication and Division, Number and Computation: Addition and Subtraction 1 & 2, Developing Mathematical Ideas: Working with Data, Teaching Fraction Concepts and Computation, Making Sense of Statistical Studies, and Standards-Based Mathematics: Instructional Strategies.