County-Wide K-12 Math PLC Opportunity

Interested in participating in a county-wide PLC through participation in an online course focused on multiplication and division of whole numbers and bridging the understanding to fraction understanding?

• One major concern we hear from middle and high school teachers is that students still struggle to understand multiplication and division.  
• What do we do when students are in Math I and still don't know basic multiplication facts?  How do we intervene?
• How do we help middle school students solve equations if they don't know what it means to divide?  
• Better yet, in elementary school, how can we teach these concepts so that students develop an understanding early on?  

This online course is for teachers who want to understand student multiplicative reasoning - how students make their own mathematical distinctions when reasoning with multiple contexts for multiplication and division - and how to help students move beyond repeated addition early, instead of too late.

The design of a Massive Online Open Course for Educators (MOOC-Ed) allows the flexibility to participate at times that work with your schedule.  If you want to participate with other Johnston County teachers in a county-wide PLC with face-to-face discussions, which will provide some structure and vertical conversations around the topics, we're offering that option.  

Our first meeting will be an information session, and we'll discuss the structure of our meetings.  This will be held March 20 from 3:30 - 5:00in the Glenn Building Team Room.  If you want to find out more about the MOOC-Ed and are interested in this face-to-face participation, please let Leanne Daughtry (leannedaughtry@johnston.k12.nc.us) know and plan on attending to find out more.  Please forward this to others you think may be interested in this opportunity.      

For more information and to register, you can visit the course site:  https://courses.mooc-ed.org/dvm1  

Update:  The course will now run from April 7, 2014 - May 26, 2014.  New content will be made available weekly (scroll down to the schedule after logging in to find the available course material).   

a) Schedule:  The course runs asynchronously which allows participation at any time and in any place where you have access to the internet.  Course content will remain available through June, in order to allow for greater flexibility in your schedule.

b) Available Now: Learning Trajectory and Common Core Background material is available now!  Feel free to peruse this background material if you would like to learn more about Learning Trajectories and/or the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics.  

c) Forums: Log in to the course, introduce yourself in the Forum, and get connected to colleagues around the country.

Another MOOC, Anyone?

Here's another opportunity to participate in a Massive Open Online Course for Educators (MOOC) to better understand the mathematical concepts in the Common Core State Standards.  We're open to creating a Johnston County group to participate in this MOOC journey together.  If you are interested in participating in this group, let Leanne Daughtry know (leannedaughtry@johnston.k12.nc.us). 

Division and Multiplication of Whole Numbers: Bridging to Fraction Understanding is the second in the “Mathematics Learning Trajectories for the Common Core” MOOC-Ed series. This professional development series focuses on learning trajectories as a framework for interpreting and implementing the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics (CCSS-M). Funded by a grant from the Hewlett Foundation to provide free professional development to educators around the new CCSS, this is the first of four courses that will be released throughout the year.

Division and Multiplication was developed by the GISMO Research Group at the Friday Institute, led by Dr. Jere Confrey and Dr. Alan Maloney. Beginning March 17, the course will introduce a learning trajectory approach to students’ multiplicative reasoning, exploring a stronger conceptual basis for multiplicative reasoning, so that multiplication and division of fractions is an extension of multiplication and division of whole numbers. It is recommended for elementary and middle grades mathematics educators.

For more information about this course or to register, please click here.

What the heck is a trajectory?

Attention all life long learners (and math nerds like me)!  Want to learn more about the mathematics behind the Common Core State Standards?  Join me and enroll in this online course to learn more about Learning Trajectories and how equipartitioning in elementary grades builds a foundation for rational number reasoning.  It'll be fun!  Details listed below.

Registration is now open for the next Mathematics Learning Trajectory (MLT) MOOC-Ed (Massive Open Online Course for Educators)!  Running from October 7 through November 25, the seven-week course is designed as professional development for anyone involved in mathematics education and in implementing the K–8 Common Core Math Standards at the classroom, school, or district level. The first course, “The Equipartitioning Learning Trajectory: a K-5 Foundation for Rational Number Reasoning,” examines how equipartitioning, grounded in fair sharing activities that create equal-sized groups or parts, provides a robust foundation for students’ conceptual understanding of division, multiplication, fraction, and ratio.

To register, go to:https://courses.mooc-ed.org/EquipartitioningF13/preview

Oh, and to see some really cool things about trajectories in the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, visit http://turnonccmath.net/.