engaging all students in algebra success differentiating the activities & integrating technology...
DESCRIPTION
Second lowest per pupil expenditure in the state Previously technology rarely used in classroom instruction, graphing calculators shared as classroom sets between teachers of Algebra. 1 and Algebra 2 courses Algebra 1 offered in 7th grade, 8th grade, and HS –Offered for accelerated students in year long 85 min. instruction at the MS –Offered at the HS in 85 min semester long course or year long 85 minute courseTRANSCRIPT
Engaging all Students in Algebra SuccessDifferentiating the Activities &
Integrating Technology by using Professional Learning
CommunitiesT^3 International Conference
February 27, 2009
Rural County in Maryland on the Eastern Shore
Just under 50% FARMs and Minority representation
End of Course Algebra 1/ Data Analysis test (HSA) is the NCLB (AYP) math assessment for HS. Passage is required for HS diploma with Class of ‘09
Previously missed AMO in FARMs, Special Education, and African American populations, but always met AYP using confidence intervals or safe harbor.
About Caroline County
About Caroline County
Second lowest per pupil expenditure in the state
Previously technology rarely used in classroom instruction, graphing calculators shared as classroom sets between teachers of Algebra. 1 and Algebra 2 courses
Algebra 1 offered in 7th grade, 8th grade, and HS– Offered for accelerated students in year long 85 min.
instruction at the MS– Offered at the HS in 85 min semester long course or
year long 85 minute course
The Goal: Engage all Students in Learning and Increase Achievement
How to motivate students Connect with a content that grabs their interest
Get them out of their seats and active
Make their results important Let them be creative Allow them the opportunity to present to others and show their achievements
Finding Funds for this Initiative
Grants - look for local grants from the State Department of Education– Look for corporate grants– Look for Professional development
grants– Look for technology specific grants
Our grant
A State funded Competitive Educational Technology grant– $50,000– Minimum of 25% spent on Professional
development– Incorporated Professional Learning
Communities and developing teacher leaders
What we saw in classroom walk-throughs prior to the start of the grant
POSITIVES More attempts at chunking lessons Integration of some new engagement strategies/ hands on learning and
cooperative learningAREAS OF IMPROVEMENT
Too much teacher directed instruction. Not enough active student participation in explanations of their own
work. New engagement strategies used as activities only, not instructional
strategies. Some disconnect from the new strategies to the VSC to higher level
expectations. Levels of Cognitive Demand in classroom discussions and lessons still
not differentiated or demonstrating a variety. Lack of collection of Formative Assessments.
– How do you KNOW who gets it, who doesn’t, and how to regroup without this piece?
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
What is and what is not a formative assessment..
Why do we need to use formative assessment? Can’t I just re-teach after the unit test?
Professional Learning Community Goals
Course Specific– Team Planning time - allow for shared
planning, regrouping of students, and analysis of assessment data
Subject matter– Meet with those that teach the same subject
and design common lessons, assessments, and discuss success/failure of different initiatives
– Work together at integrating new technology into instructional design
Have regular meetings with your math community– Weekly/bi-weekly
Determined by the needs and structure of your goal
Technology Integration into Instruction
• Each Teacher received a SmartBoard, wireless airliner SmartBoard tablet, LCD Projector, classroom TI Navigator Set (shared between two classrooms at each school) and set of 24 TI-84 graphing calculators
• Professional development and continued support in utilizing these technologies into the daily lesson plan• All full day inservice sessions utilized in ‘08 - ‘09 school year for
instruction in utilizing new technology resources and integrating them with differentiated teaching strategies
Why use the TI Navigator?- Formative Assessment, Summative Assessment,
and Student Engagement Allow students to discover the meaning of parts of functions and more completely understand the transformations in a function.– Linear Examples– Quadratic Examples
Collect data from students and have them analyze data individually as well as a class. (Numb3rs Activity)– Using student input data to solve open ended problems
Navigator Activity Center - explore behavior of graphs and transformations
Send assessments to students to collect formative data to shape instruction - can easily differentiate based on student need– Learn Checks and Quick Polls
TI Navigator – Activity Center
Have students compete to find the best fitting equation to fit portions of a picture.
Utilize understanding of transformations as well as the equation form of functions
What changes we have seen so far…
Teachers are recognizing an increase in student achievement and engagement in class when using the smartboard and differentiation techniques
Algebra benchmark assessment scores have increased– Last year at BM 1: 37% were projected to be proficient
on the HSA– This year at BM 1: 66% are projected to be proficient on
HSA! Teachers are using deeper questioning and
engaging students more during lessons than was observed in walk-throughs previously
Donna Johnson
Feel free to contact me at the following:
Caroline County Board of EducationCoordinator of Secondary Mathematics & STEM204 Franklin St. Denton, MD 21629410-479-2895
Website for presentation materials:http://t3seattle-johnson.wikispaces.com