Minutes of September 19, 2005 meeting at the Maret School
In attendance were Betsy Bennett of St. Albans, Patty Howie of National Cathedral, Ayana Touval of Jewish Day (on leave his year), Cindy Goldman and Andrew Callard of Sidwell Friends, Carol Berenson of Georgetown Day, Suzanne Nuckolls and Karen Bancroft of St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes, Beth Cole of St. Patrick’s, Nancy Wright of Washington Episcopal, Betty King and Colleen Dunn of Maret, Clay Kaufman of Field, and Paul Penniman.
Summer remembrances (I recorded the academic ones):
Beth recommends a free workshop highly. Visit www.teacherquality.gov . They are looking for presenters in math and literacy.
Colleen raved (in a good way) about Exeter’s summer workshop.
Betty worked with SmartBoard and other new technologies. She recommends Florrie Fasanelli’s MathBrain program at George Washington.
Betsy recommends Richard Light’s book on making college choices.
Patty recommends “In Code.” There were murmurs of assent. She learned more about Deborah Hughes-Hallett’s pre-calc text, “Functions Modeling Change,” at an AP workshop and is curious about how others felt about the text. Patty is also trying to get back into programming. She took a Visual Basic course and will take Java next. Patty hopes to incorporate more programming into her math classes.
Ayana is on a leave of absence to teach at Montgomery College. She is teaching intermediate algebra and college math survey course. Over the summer she taught two courses at the aforementioned Exeter workshop, “Teaching Geometry with an Eye Toward Pre-calculus” and “A Kinesthetic Approach to Teaching Geometry.”
Syamala Chenulu of the Capitol Hill Day School was stuck on the Metro and extends her apologies. She says she will bring her dues to the next meeting.
Cindy said she got addicted to sudoku. She had a great time grading AP exams at Colorado State and not proctoring her own students’ exams.
Carol is the new department chair at the GDS middle school. She attended Dana Hall workshops.
Drew is the new chair at the Sidwell middle school. He received a grant to design enrichment problems for sixth graders. The 7th and 8th grade teachers at Sidwell are trying to coordinate and communicate better with the 5th/6th grade generalists there who also teach math.
Suzanne and her colleagues had a math teacher camp paid by the school so they could look at each grade’s curriculum and where they overlap. They are looking at the Pathways Curriculum.
Miscellaneous announcements:
Betsy announced a very good teacher, Tony Licha, is looking for work. His phone number is ____________, or you can get his contact info from Betsy or Peter Kelley.
Students from Woodrow Wilson, a local public high school, are welcome again to math meets and will pay the $50 meet fee. Mr. Yorgey, their coach, will be expected to attend all the meets his students do.
Paul solicited for help with upper school meet scorekeeping and recordkeeping. Cindy will help with meet day scorekeeping.
Last but not least: Thanks very much for Nancy Wright’s years of service as ISMAW treasurer. Nancy has been kicked upstairs at WES. You may now send your money to Suzanne Nuckolls at. St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes. Details are at www.mathteachingtoday.com/trea0905.htm
Topics for this year:
Next meeting (GDS, date TBD)—What makes us think a kid is talented in math? Is it our gut or a good placement test? Please bring ideas for helping less experienced teachers recognize readiness for higher levels/high school, and also your notions of the essential qualities of a good math student and how we encourage it. Also, please bring enrichment materials (non-technological) for upper grades.
N.B. Please vote on changing the date of this meeting to Monday, November 7, rather than keeping it at Thursday, November 3.
Third meeting (WES, December 6)--The good and the bad of technology. Is it too stressful on us or is it saving us time? Please contribute specific programs w/excellent technology (like Betsy’s Linear Algebra Power Point). Also, what about our students’ homework load? Are we assigning too much repetition, or should we assign more projects, perhaps those with technological applications? (We will not have a Smart Board demo but will instead debate the pros and cons of technology like the Smart Board.)
Fourth meeting (Field School, Feb. 15)—Teaching seventh grade: How do you develop interest, enthusiasm, and skills for higher levels and high school? Enrichment problems for middle school are encouraged. Drew Callard, for one, will share some of his puzzle and challenge problems (see above).
Last meeting (St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes upper school, April 24)—Calendar and planning for next year. Should we bring textbooks that we like?
Respectfully submitted,
Paul Penniman