2012-2013 Mathematics Workshops

Alternative Assessments and Projects Designed to Enhance the Thinking Needed for the Common Core

Date: Friday, February 22, 2013 (Code: W-02-22-13)
Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
Presenter: Neil D. Cooperman
Audience: Grade 9-12 Teachers of Geometry, Algebra, and Precalculus

Classroom learning has traditionally focused on basic content and skill acquisition and the ability to apply that knowledge to typical problem solving situations.  The Common Core, with its focus on narrowing the number of topics required andincreasing the expected depth of comprehension, requires students to demonstrate their understanding at the deepest levels.  This session will provide you with multiple projects that will stimulate your students’ thinking at the levels demanded by the Common Core. Participants will learn about a variety of projects that they can use in their Geometry, Algebra, and Precalculus classes, and they will have hands-on opportunities to try some of them.  

Are You Preparing for the Inevitable? Statistics and the Common Core

Date: Wednesday February 20, 2013 (Code: W-02-20-13)
Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
Presenter: Neil D. Cooperman
Audience: Grade 6-12 Mathematics Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors

The Common Core State Standards require all students to know the equivalent of three-quarters of a course in AP Statistics. Students will be called upon to demonstrate their knowledge of statistics on the assessments administered during the 2014-2015 school year.  Incoming freshmen, and possibly the current rising sophomores, will be the first assessed. Are you and your students ready? Do you have the knowledge and the pedagogical tools necessary to meet this expectation? This hands-on workshop will serve as an introduction and overview of what you need to know about Statistics and the Common Core and how you can teach it so your students will be prepared.

Empowering Students Who Ask, “When Are We Ever Going to Use This Math?”

Date: Thursday, December 6, 2012 (Code: W-12-06-12)
Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
Presenter: Robin Schwartz, Adjunct Prof, College of Mt St Vincent; Founder, Math Confidence
Audience: Grade 9-12 Mathematics Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors

When Math is presented as a life skill that broadens career choice and inspires critical thinking, students embrace the learning of reasoning and problem-solving skills while building confidence and persistence. While many students will not major in science or engineering in college, all students benefit from the challenge and discipline of Math. This positive attitude can help teachers, administrators and students to meet the challenges of ‘teaching to the test’ by viewing it as an opportunity to address common errors and misunderstandings without formally reviewing. In fact, the comparison of multiple choice answers can help students to “think on their feet” while increasing accuracy, logic and frustration tolerance skills – assets in high school, college and the workplace. Worksheets will cover common secondary content incorporating HSPA and SAT content (including algebra, geometry, trig and precalc) and will use multiple representations and technology to appeal to diverse learning styles creating a path to success for all.

Learning Algebra as a Foreign Language

Date: Friday, February 1, 2013 (Code: W-02-01-13)
also given on Monday, June 24, 2013 (Code: W-06-24-13)
Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
Presenter: Anoop Ahluwalia, Instructor, Brookdale County College
Audience: Grade 9-12 Mathematics Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors

Many of us would agree that mathematics is a language and students often get lost on the vocabulary and syntax of Algebra. I have been teaching Introductory Algebra for eight years much like you would teach a foreign language. The students have responded very well to this analogy as I encourage them to recognize words and alphabets in my mathematical sentences. I have also found that funny stories or visuals can make some students feel less alienated from the formal algebraic notations and rules. I will present several concrete examples of how teaching algebra as a language can help engage students in the classroom along with laying a foundation for understanding future mathematics. This workshop addresses several Common Core Standards related to Algebra, namely: Seeing Structure in Expressions, Arithmetic with Polynomial and Rational expressions, Creating Equations, Reasoning with Equations and Inequalities.

Making Statistics Real: How to Get Students to Actively Learn the Tools of Statistics

Date: Friday, November 30, 2012 (Code: W-11-30-12)
Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
Presenter: Anoop Ahluwalia, Instructor, Brookdale Community College
Audience: Grades 9-12 Mathematics Teachers and Supervisors

This workshop outlines how to get students excited about statistics by involving them in real life data and regular hands-on classroom activities. There will be several ideas shared about how to introduce and teach topics like central tendency, variation, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, goodness of fit, test for independence, correlation and regression using student-generated data and active student participation. Also, project ideas will be offered about how students can collect their own data as a part of the course and carry out data analysis to truly understand the topics learned in class. TI-83, Fathom and Excel will be used to demonstrate some of the ways to analyze the data using technology. Attending members are encouraged to contact the instructor prior to the workshop with any questions, suggestions or comments to make this session even more relevant to their teaching needs. This workshop addresses the following Common Core Standards: Interpreting Categorical and Quantitative Data, Making Inferences and Justifying Conclusions, Conditional Probability and the Rules of Probability, Using Probability to Make Decisions.

Performance Tasks for Middle and High School Mathematics

Date: Tuesday, December 4, 2012 (Code: W-012-04-12)
Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
Presenter: Deborah Ives, Assistant Professor, Montclair University
Audience: Grades 7-10 Mathematics Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors

Come learn the new CCSS by engaging in a hands-on look at lessons and performance tasks with instructional strategies that focus on algebraic reasoning and sense making for middle and high school students.  Real world applications, including Hip Hop Music, Fashion Design, Videogaming, Special Effects, Restaurants, and Basketball will be provided through WNET/Gates Foundation fully-funded multimedia resources that help students and teachers meet the new Common Core State Standards and Assessment expectations.

Historically, the basis for a good deal of secondary mathematics stems from the development of physics. In fact, Isaac Newton invented the calculus in order to solve problems relating to the gravitational force produced by extended bodies in space (namely, the Earth). Our focus here is very basic. Participants will gain a conceptual and mathematical understanding of the physics used in the secondary curriculum. The course is a basic physics college class with mathematics teachers in mind. No previous physics education is necessary. If you had physics a long time ago and remember little to nothing or have never had a physics class, this is for you! Stress level for this class is rated as ZERO! Knowledge of a TI graphing calculator is helpful but not necessary. Topics include: dimensional analysis, kinematics and dynamics.

This course is intended for teachers who have already taken Physics for Math Teachers I (last year) or who are familiar with the topics covered in the previous class. Course topics for Physics for Math Teachers II are: Brief review of material from Course I; circular motion; work and energy; momentum; and angular kinematics and dynamics.

Date: Thursday, November 29, 2012 (Code: W-11-29-12)
also given Thursday, February 7, 2013 (Code: W-02-07-13)
Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
Presenter: Angelo DeMattia, Rutgers Institute for Improving Student Achievement (RIISA) Consultant
Audience: Grade 6-10 Mathematics Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors, Special Education Teachers

Too few students can demonstrate a deep, conceptual understanding of algebraic relationships. This workshop will help teachers develop a more visually based lesson format.  This format helps students, including SE and ELL, make an effective transition from the concrete/visual to the abstract. The emphasis will be on applying the PAW Process: P is for Pictures, A is for Algebra and W is for words. Ample hands-on lessons will highlight the process that helps students attain a higher level of achievement on NJASK and Algebra Assessments and helps teachers experience a new connection to the Common Core Standards.

Date: Thursday, January 31, 2013 (Code: W-01-31-13)
also given on Thursday, February 21, 2013 (Code: W-02-21-13)
also given on Tuesday, June 25, 2013 (Code: W-06-25-13)
Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
Presenter: Angelo DeMattia, Rutgers Institute for Improving Student Achievement (RIISA) Consultant
Audience: Grade 6-10 Mathematics Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors, Special Education Teachers

Too few students attain a deep conceptual understanding of geometric relationships. This workshop will help teachers understand this difficulty and develop a more visually based lesson format. This format helps students, including SE and ELL, make an effective transition from the concrete/visual to the abstract. The emphasis will be on applying the PAW Process: P is for Pictures, A is for Abstract and W is for words. Ample hands-on lessons will highlight the process that helps students attain a higher level of achievement on NJASK and Geometry Assessments and helps teachers experience the new connection to the Common Core Standards.

Where and when do you look for the moon? Will that asteroid hit? What’s that bright “star” up there? How much can we learn about it? This class will explore these and other questions. Why? Because they get students' attention! I’ve tried everything from temperature, to tides, to Ferris Wheels in pre-calculus and overall the response was lackluster. Then I started using astronomical ideas and things changed. No more inputting arrays of data and forcing out context. This class will provide teachers with ideas and worksheets for their classes.

Date: Friday, March 22, 2013 (Code: PRECALC-13)
Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
Fee: $165
Audience: Grade 9-14 Mathematics Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors

A dynamic, annual, one-day conference for teachers and supervisors of high school mathematics, now in its 27th year. Attend up to 4 sessions on diverse topics, plus a sharing session and plenary session. Take some really good ideas back to the classroom! For more information, see conference website – http://dimacs.rutgers.edu/precalc-conf/

Put the "Calculus" in Your "Precalculus" Class

Date: Monday, March 11, 2013 (Code: W-03-11-13)
Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
Presenter: Ralph Pantozzi
Audience: Grade 10-12 Mathematics Teachers and Supervisors

Your precalculus class can have more than a few limit problems at the end of the year! Explore the questions that led to the development of calculus in a few key activities throughout the year and engage students in developing "precalculus" skills while reasoning meaningfully with concepts of calculus. We'll ask why limits were invented in the first place, see how questions about calculating area connect with logarithms, use rates of change to study graphs, and find the number e in Pascal's triangle. Build your students' understanding and readiness for calculus by breaking down the wall between calculus and precalculus.

The Pythagorean Theorem in the 8-12 Curriculum

Date: Friday, January 11, 2013 (Code: W-01-11-13)
Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
Presenter: Ralph Pantozzi
Audience: Grade 8-12 Mathematics Teachers and Supervisors

Think inside, outside and on the triangle in this tour of "Mathematical Practices" using the Pythagorean Theorem as an organizing theme.   By examining both familiar tasks and hidden mathematical treasures, see how students can learn to make sense of problems, persevere in solving them, and reason concretely, abstractly, and quantitatively.  We'll see how the Pythagorean theorem can serve as a model for students to learn how to construct viable arguments, model mathematically, and make use of structure.  As you might expect, distance, area, similarity, the number system, equations and functions and number theory will be our focus.  Learn some math and feel more confident in leading your students to more independently see mathematical connections. 

Strategies to Prepare Special Education Students for the Math HSPA

Date: Friday, November 16, 2012 (Code: W-11-16-12)
also given on Friday, January 25, 2013 (Code: W-01-25-13)
Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
Presenter: Karen Egan
Audience: Grade 8-12 Mathematics Teachers, High School Special Education Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors

Special education teachers are sometimes faced with enormous challenges when it comes to preparing their special needs students for the mathematics portion of the HSPA. This workshop presents ideas to help your students boost their performance on the HSPA. Participants will learn strategies to make students comfortable with the vocabulary on the tests and increase their critical thinking skills through the use of open-ended questions. Activities will include differentiated instruction, cooperative games, and using a variety of manipulatives. Participants will take home a packet of all the workshop’s activities, as well as sample lessons that can be implemented immediately in their own classrooms.

Systematic Listing and Counting

Date: Monday, January 7, 2013 (Code: W-01-07-13)
Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
Presenter: L. Charles Biehl
Audience: Grade 9-12 Mathematics Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors

Counting problems are often seen as a meaningless set of symbols and rules to be memorized and easily forgotten, as in traditional permutations and combinations. There is, however, a much deeper and richer side to counting problems that integrate systematic listings, patterns in number sequences (like the Fibonacci numbers), and applications of algebra. This workshop focuses on the "why" more than the "how", and provides an intimate look into the meaning, interpretation, and connections that lie behind traditional counting problems, along with teaching and developmental strategies to enhance students' understanding and appreciation (and perhaps the teacher's!) of these often skimmed-over or inadequately developed topics.

Using GeoGebra Software in High School Mathematics Courses

Date: Friday, December 14, 2012 (Code: W-12-14-12)
also given on Wednesday, January 20, 2013
Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
Presenter: Miguel Bayona
Audience: Grade 9-12 Mathematics Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors

The GeoGebra Workshop will cover all tools and topics needed to enable teachers to use this magnificent piece of software right away. GeoGebra is a free dynamic and interactive package that allows teachers and students to create sophisticated dynamic applications for courses from geometry to calculus and beyond. GeoGebra provides a robust environment to create animations to enhance the teaching and understanding of mathematical concepts. An absolutely indispensable tool for any mathematics teacher.

Vertex-Edge Graphs and Their Applications

Date: Friday, February 8, 2013 (Code: W-02-08-13)
Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
Presenter: L. Charles Biehl
Audience: Grade 9-12 Mathematics Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors

The vertex-edge graph, sometimes called a network and usually simply referred to as a "graph", is an extremely powerful mathematical modeling and problem solving tool. This workshop contains the essence of the field of graph theory, along with several types of problems that can be solved using graphs. Many unique problem situations can be modeled with graphs, including school schedules, the algorithms behind MapQuest, social networks and even the World Wide Web. Sample problems include shortest paths, minimum cost networks, critical path analysis, and DNA sequence alignment. Graph theory is a very rich field for students to critically practice problem solving, easily accessible yet useful for solving some of the most modern of social and scientific problems.

What Does "Expected Value" Really Mean?

Date: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 (Code: W-01-15-13)
Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
Presenter: Michael Weingart, Instructor of Mathematics, Rutgers University
Audience: Grade 9-12 Mathematics Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors

Dates: Monday, July 29 to Friday, August 2, 2013 (Code: NTI-13)
Time: 8:30 am – 4:30 pm
Instructional Coordinators: To be announced

Audience: Grade 6-12 Mathematics Teachers, with 0-3 years of prior teaching experience.

Week-long, content-based induction programs designed to better prepare relatively new teachers of mathematics for their teaching assignments in the coming year and give them a great start in their teaching careers. Alternate route candidates are welcome!

The institute will be from three to five days, depending on the interests of the participants.

Fee: $995 for five-day program; reduced fee if program is shorter. (Lodging available at a local hotel, at a special conference rate.)

For more information, please see our website -- http://dimacs.rutgers.edu/nti/