2008-2009 Mathematics and Science Workshops

Overview:

Would you like to:
- Better prepare your students for NJ's statewide assessments?
- Engage your students in the lessons that you teach?
- Incorporate standards-based hands-on activities that motivate your students?
- Relate what you are doing in the classroom to "real world" applications?

THE RUTGERS CENTER FOR MATHEMATICS, SCIENCE, AND COMPUTER EDUCATION (NJ DOE provider # 2) is offering a broad range of highly interactive one-day professional development workshops that are applicable to all curricula taught by grades 9-12 teachers of mathematics or science. All workshops are based on the NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards in mathematics and science as they are reflected in the HSPA. All of these workshops will help you better prepare students for the statewide assessments and provide the resources and knowledge that you need to generate new and exciting standards-based lessons.

All workshops are full-day workshops at which participants will earn six (6) professional development hours. All workshops will take place at Rutgers University-New Brunswick (unless otherwise noted). Participants may attend single or multiple workshops in any order. Discounts are available for multiple registrations on a single purchase order.

Although some workshops address overlapping issues, teachers who attend multiple workshops will benefit from experiencing the different approaches the workshop leaders have to helping students meet the challenges of the HSPA. Our instructors are among the most experienced and respected workshop leaders in the state. The workshop topics are based on feedback and recommendations from NJ teachers and administrators.

You will leave these workshops with valuable tools to motivate your students, stimulate their curiosity, and promote a more positive attitude towards mathematics and science.

Workshop Descriptions:

• Crash Course in Discrete Mathematics

  Date: July 28-31, 2008 (Code: CRASH-08)
  Time: 8:30 am – 4:30 pm (4 days)
  Presenters: Joseph G. Rosenstein, L. Charles Biehl
  **Fee: $795, including breakfast & lunch** (Fee with 3 nights lodging, $950)

  Audience: Grade 9-12 Mathematics Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors

  Discrete mathematics is an increasingly used area of mathematics with many practical and relevant applications. Attend this 4-day course and you will get a taste of what discrete mathematics is all about, and learn how you can use these contemporary topics in your classroom. For more information, please see our website -- http://dimacs.rutgers.edu/lp/crash-course/

• Institutes for New Teachers of Mathematics and Science

  Date: August 4-8, 2008 (Code: NTI-08)
  Time: 8:30 am – 8:30 pm (Mon-Thurs); 8:30 am – 2:00 pm (Fri. Aug. 8)
  Instructional Coordinators: Paul Lawrence and Mary Oates (Mathematics)
                                         Kate Napolitano (Science)
  **Fee: $1,795, including all materials, meals, and 4 nights lodging**
  (Fee without lodging, $1,617)

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

  Week-long, content-based induction programs designed to better prepare relatively new teachers of mathematics or science for their teaching assignments in the coming year and give them a great start in their teaching careers. Alternate route candidates are welcomed! For more information, please see our website -- http://dimacs.rutgers.edu/nti/

• Helping Students Prepare Adequately for the HSPA

  Dates: October 27, 2008 (Code: HS102708)
  Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
  Presenter: James Rahn
  Audience: Grade 9-12 Mathematics Teachers, High School Special Education Teachers

  What type of activities are you incorporating in your classroom to adequately prepare your students for the 11th grade HSPA? Spend a day investigating how all students can use real data, manipulatives, and problem-solving as they learn to think mathematically. The activities included in this workshop will help you change your classroom from a traditional textbook-oriented atmosphere to one that is both engaging and standards-based. New Jersey’s Core Curriculum Content Standards in mathematics will be the foundation for all the activities presented.

• Geometry Problems? Help Students Prepare for the Geometry and Measurement Standard on the HSPA

Date: November 10, 2008 (Code: HS111008)
Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
Presenter: James Rahn
Audience: Grade 9-12 Mathematics Teachers, High School Special Education Teachers


Are your students struggling with Geometry? Come and participate in activities that will enhance your students’ conceptual understanding as well as their reasoning skills in geometry. Participants will learn to use a variety of manipulatives including geoboards, patty paper, and more. This workshop will concentrate on Strand A (Geometric Properties) of the Geometry and Measurement Standard. We will deal with the Pythagorean Theorem, 3-D Drawings, and Properties of Geometric Shapes. Woven into the workshop will be the idea of students’ using reasoning to support what they see going on in the activity. Teachers will go home with many activities they can use immediately in their classroom to help students visualize the geometric concepts required for the HSPA.

• Strategies to Prepare Special Education Students for the Math HSPA

  Dates: November 12, 2008 (Code: HS111208)
             February 13, 2009 (Code: HS021309)
  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 sometimes are 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.

• NEW! Innovative Ways to Bring the Computer into Your Science Classroom

  Date: November 17, 2008 (Code: HS111708)
  Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
  Presenter: Patti Duncan Audience: Grade 7-12 Science Teachers, Science Supervisors

  The student of today is what we call a "Digital Native". They have grown up with the internet, cell phones, i-Pods, and digital cameras. They learn differently. Keeping up with methods of teaching that reaches these kind of students can be a challenge. This workshop will address various methods of integrating 21st century technology into your classroom. Come learn to "speak" a new language....the digital one!

• NEW! Brain-Based Learning, 101 and 102

  Date: 101 – November 18, 2008 (Code: HS111808)
           102 – February 3, 2009 (Code: HS020309)
  Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
  Presenter: Stacy Del Vecchio

  Audience: Teachers of Algebra I and Higher, Mathematics Supervisors, Special Education Teachers or In-Class Support for Mathematics

  Please Note: These are hands-on workshops. You may want to bring with you something you would like to “enhance” using brain-based methods. This could include something from the curriculum, the textbook, or one of your own ideas. Brain Based Learning 101 will explore the answers to the following questions…and more!
  1. What is brain-based learning?
  2. Why does teaching in a style conducive with how the brain functions help you teach more effectively?
  3. What are some easy ways to begin to use brain-based techniques in the classroom?
  4. How can I use brain-based methods to reach students with special needs?
  5. Where can I learn more about BBL?
  Brain Based Learning 102 is a continuation of BBL 101. If you do not have any understanding of brain-based learning you can still walk away with examples of how to incorporate brain-based methods in the classroom; however, the justification for why it works may not be clear.

• New Jersey’s End of Course Biology Assessment

  Date: November 20, 2008 (Code: WST112008B)
  January 13, 2009 (Code: WST011309B)
  Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
  Presenters: Kate Napolitano, Gene McNicholas
  
  Audience: Grade 9-12 Biology Teachers, Science Supervisors
  
  How do we prepare our students for the exam, and what will be its impact on curriculum and instruction?
  

• Math and Technology – Perfect Together

  Date: December 1, 2008 (Code: HS120108)
  Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
  Presenter: June Kelley

  Audience: Grade 9-12 Mathematics Teachers, Special Education Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors

  Integrate the math and technology standards to facilitate a deeper understanding in all areas of mathematics. This workshop will focus on a hands-on, project-based approach to designing focused lessons, and will also look at internet sites that help lead to greater achievement in mathematics and better communication with students. This workshop is geared toward grade 9-12 teachers. A similar workshop for grade 4-8 teachers is offered on November 13.

• NEW! Geometer’s Sketchpad from Soup to Nuts

  Date: December 2, 2008 (Code: HS120208)
  Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
  Presenter: Anita Schuloff

  Audience: Grade 6-12 Mathematics Teachers, Pre-Service Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors

  Are your students bored with "chalk 'n talk"? Are you? Are your students more computer savvy than you are? Are you a middle school or high school teacher or a new teacher just starting out? Does your school have fancy equipment such as projectors, SmartboardsTM and laptops, etc. that are going to waste because no one is using them? If you can answer yes to any or all of these questions then this workshop is for you. We will cover all the basic commands and keystrokes needed to teach not only introductory geometry but beginning and intermediate algebra and beyond. This workshop will take place in a computer lab so that you will start using this powerful program right away. Bring a CD or flash drive to download the files you create. You will come away with enough knowledge to start using Geometer’s Sketchpad as soon as you get back to school.

• NEW! Geometry Using Cabri Jr. and the TI-84 Plus

  Date: December 3, 2008 (Code: HS120308)
  Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
  Presenter: Fred Decovsky

  Audience: Teachers of Geometry and Mathematics Teachers Grade 7-12

  This workshop introduces the basics of Cabri Jr. and ways of incorporating graphing technology into your geometry lessons to enrich instruction and extend your students' comprehension. Enhance the teaching and learning of geometry. Let your students develop a sense of adventure with geometry through conjecturing and experimenting. Participants will use Cabri Jr. to dynamically explore many geometric concepts. Topics, such as Intersecting Lines, Angles and Transversals, Translations, Reflections, Rotations, Dilations, Transformations, Triangles, Quadrilaterals, Area Relationships and Circles will be investigated.

• NEW! Visual Mathematics with Geometer Sketchpad

  Date: December 5, 2008 (Code: HS120508)
  Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
  Presenter: Iftikhar Husain

  Audience: Grade 8-12 Mathematics Teachers, High School Special Education Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors

  Integrate technology into mathematics as a visual learning tool to enhance, expand and embrace the existing curriculum. Participants will receive an activity CD to be able to appreciate the power of Geometer’s Sketchpad. The presenter will share some ready-for-the-classroom activities for Basic Algebra, Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Precalculus, and Trigonometry. Learn how to delight all types of learners with animation. Beginners are welcome!

• NEW! Chaos (and Fractals) in the Classroom

  Date: December 8, 2008 (Code: HS120808)
  Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
  Presenter: Kevin Merges

  Audience: Grade 6-12 Mathematics Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors, Teachers in Gifted and Talented Programs

  This workshop will be an introduction to Fractal Geometry and Chaos Theory. Fractal Geometry is the geometry of nature and we will explore the variety of ways this topic can be seen in the everyday life of students and teachers. Several projects will be demonstrated that can be applied in almost every math classroom. Some of the projects offered have been used in classes as early as Kindergarten, but much of the material will be for Geometry classes and higher. Some of the TI-83 and 84 programs offered could be applied to the Precalculus and level and beyond. Connections will be made for a variety of cross-curricular projects. These topics are interesting and not nearly as complex as they sound. Students can grasp the basic patterns at the elementary school level. A gifted and talented program would be an excellent place to implement these concepts.

• Beginner’s Guide to Teaching AP Calculus

  Date: December 9, 2008 (Code: HS120908)
  Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
  Presenter: Liz Marquez

  Audience: Grade 11-12 Mathematics Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors

  This workshop will provide advice, ideas, and instructional strategies to beginning AP Calculus teachers. Topics to be covered include: appropriate use of technology, dealing with students’ algebraic misconceptions, the unifying themes of calculus, and effective test preparation.

• NEW! Geometry: Reinforce and Extend Connections to Number Sense, Patterns, and Algebra

  Date: December 10, 2008 (Code: MS121008)
  Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
  Presenter: David Glatzer
  
  Audience: Grade 7-10 Mathematics Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors
  
  Do your students see the connections between geometric concepts and number sense, patterns, and algebra? This workshop will explore a variety of key topics in geometry, with an emphasis on problem solving and connections. Within the context of New Jersey’s Core Curriculum Content Standards in mathematics and the expectations on NJ ASK and HSPA, participants will explore polygons, coordinate geometry, slope, perimeter, area, volume, similarity, and the Pythagorean Theorem. Activities will include the use of special grid paper, geoboards, and other manipulatives. Extended constructed-response questions will also be included. This fun workshop will provide many activities ready for immediate use in the classroom.

• Developing Algebraic Concepts for the HSPA

  Dates: December 11, 2008 (Code: HS121108)
  Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
  Presenter: James Rahn
  
  Audience: Grade 9-12 Mathematics Teachers, High School Special Education Teachers
  

  Are your students struggling with algebra? Did you know that of all the mathematics topics addressed on HSPA, algebra holds the most weight? Do your students spend a lot of time trying to memorize formulas but never quite understand their meanings? This workshop will focus on the patterns and algebra standard. Participants will see how it is possible to build a visual picture of linear functions so that students don’t just memorize formulas but instead develop real meaning for slope and y-intercepts and how these two quantities appear in a geometric pattern. Similar questions about quadratic functions will be examined. We will then extend these activities so that students are looking at more than analytic and geometric representations of these functions. Participants will see how students can use graphs, tables, and verbal descriptions to help them describe the behavior of these two types of functions. The graphing calculator will be used to help relate graphs and tables for these two functions and to see how basic functions can be translated, reflected, or dilated. The activities included in the workshop will help your students build a better understanding of the Patterns and Algebra standard, thereby preparing them with solid knowledge for the HSPA.

• Graphing Calculator Skills that Help Prepare Students for the HSPA

  Dates: December 15, 2008 (Code: HS121508)
  Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
  Presenter: James Rahn
  
  Audience: Grade 9-12 Mathematics Teachers, High School Special Education Teachers
  
  

  Do your students use the calculator as a crutch or as a tool? The graphing calculator is a powerful tool that should be used for more than just number crunching and obtaining a graph. Graphing calculators can give students the opportunity to look at ideas in more than one way. Come learn how to use the calculator to help your students understand ideas graphically, numerically, and verbally, as well as analytically, and to help them achieve a more in-depth understanding of algebra, patterns, and geometry. Teachers will leave the workshop knowing how to use the graphing calculator as a tool to help their students develop a richer understanding of concepts on which they will be assessed in the HSPA. TI-83 and TI-84 calculators will be provided to participants for use in the workshop.

• Workshops for Grade 7-12 Science Teachers

  Topics and Dates: High School Physics – January 6, 2009
  Grade 7-9 Earth Science – January 6, 2009
  High School Chemistry – January 7, 2009
  Middle School Life Science – January 7, 2009
  High School Biology – January 9, 2009
  Middle School Physical Science – January 9, 2009
  High School Environmental Science – January 13, 2009
  New Jersey’s End of Course Biology Assessment –
  November 20, 2008 or January 13, 2009
  Hurricane Forensics – Jan. 14, 2009
  Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
  
  Audience: Middle and High School Science Teachers, Science Supervisors
  
  

  A series of one-day science workshops to “recharge your teaching battery”. The theme is hands-on, inquiry-based teaching and learning….make the science content come alive for your students, with new activities and techniques! Two concurrent, content-specific workshops are offered on most dates. (See http://dimacs.rutgers.edu/wst/ -- for a complete description of each workshop.)

• Engaging and Motivating All of Your Students with Discrete Mathematics!
  Date: January 7, 2009 (Code: HS010709)
  May 18, 2009 (Code: HS051809)
  Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
  Presenter: Joseph G. Rosenstein
  

  Audience: Grade 9-12 Teachers of Mathematics, High School Special Education Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors
  

  Discrete mathematics will make math concepts come alive for your students. It's an excellent tool for improving reasoning and problem-solving skills, and is appropriate for students at all levels and of all abilities. Teachers have found that discrete mathematics offers a way of motivating unmotivated students and challenging honors students at the same time. This workshop will address the second two strands of Standard 4, provide an overview of the discrete mathematics expectations in the standards for middle and high school students, and will focus on some of the key ideas and applications of discrete mathematics that are referred to in Standard 4. In the morning, we will focus on vertex-edge graphs and their applications, and in the afternoon, we will discuss strategies for counting (including their use in probability).

  
  
• NEW! Teaching the Big Ideas of Algebra

  Date: January 12, 2009 (Code: HS011209)
  Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
  Presenter: Liz Marquez

  Audience: Grade 9-12 Algebra Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors

  This workshop explores how to teach and assess the big ideas of algebra. Emphasis will be on content knowledge, questioning techniques, formative assessment, and technology in teaching algebra. In addition, techniques that will get students begging for more will be shared.

• Helping ALL Students Achieve – How to Integrate Discrete Mathematics into the 9-12 Curriculum

  Date: January 23, 2009 (Code: HS012309)
  Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
  Presenter: Brother Patrick Carney

  Audience: Grade 9-12 Mathematics Teachers, High School Special Education Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors

  What do state proficiency exams, homeland security, and the TV show NUMB3RS have in common? Among other things, they all use discrete mathematics. This program will introduce and explain how you can incorporate these discrete math concepts into the 9-12 mathematics curriculum which you already teach as well as a great beginning for starting up a stand-alone discrete mathematics course. Activities will include exciting hands-on activities with real-world connections. Materials will be provided which can be implemented immediately into your classroom.

• NEW! Algebra: What Should We Be Teaching?
  
  Dates: February 4, 2009 (Code: HS020209)
  Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
  Presenter: James Rahn
  
  Audience: Grade 9-12 Mathematics Teachers, High School Special Education Teachers
  (description available soon)
  
  
• How to Teach Calculus to Non-AP Students (as Well as to AP Students)

Date: February 10, 2009 (Code: HS021009)
Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
Presenter: Liz Marquez

Audience: Grade 11-12 Mathematics Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors

This workshop will focus on identifying and teaching the basic elements of calculus that all students should know, applications of calculus to various fields of endeavor, dealing with students’ algebraic misconceptions, and combating senioritis. Teaching strategies and assessment strategies will be shared.

• Good Ideas in Teaching Precalculus and….

  Date: March 20, 2009 (Code: PRECALC-09)
  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 23rd. 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/

• Teaching Trigonometry through Applications

Date: March 31, 2009 (Code: HS033109)
Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
Presenter: Liz Marquez

Audience: Grade 10-12 Mathematics Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors

This workshop will demonstrate how applications of trigonometry can be used to teach trigonometric functions. Applications will be made to situations in everyday life and to various human endeavors both past and present, all of which your students will find extremely engaging.

• Teaching for Financial Literacy in Math Class

  Date: April 21, 2009 (Code: HS042109)
  Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
  Presenter: Liz Marquez, Paul Westbrook

  Audience: Grade 9-12 Mathematics Teachers, Mathematics Supervisors

  Most high school students lack the basic financial skills crucial to success in life, yet everyone takes math and everyone is interested in money. This workshop will show teachers how to tap that money interest and help kids become mathematically and financially savvy by infusing money applications into NCTM standards-based lessons from pre-algebra through pre-calculus. Some of the applications that will be covered include: linear regression and the cost of owning a car; systems of equations and mortgage payments; measures of central tendency and buying stock; spreadsheets and credit card debt; sequences and future value; series and annuities; and percents and taxes.

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

  Date: May 5, 2009 (Code: HS050509)
  Presenter: Robin Schwartz

  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.