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Preparing Students for HSPA:

Standards-Based Mathematics Workshops for Grade 9-12 Teachers


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 is offering several highly interactive and engaging one-day professional development workshops for high school mathematics teachers. All of these workshops will help you better prepare students for the HSPA and provide the resources and knowledge that you need to generate new and exciting standards-based lessons. You will note that there are similarities among many of our HSPA workshops. We feel that giving teachers the chance to experience and learn various instructional strategies offered by several different instructors will enrich their understanding of how to help students meet the challenges of the HSPA

Our instructors are hand-picked by Dr. Joseph G. Rosenstein, Director of Mathematics Programs at the Center for Mathematics, Science, and Computer Education and co-author of the NJ Mathematics Curriculum Framework. Feedback and recommendations from NJ teachers and administrators also determine the workshop topics offered each year

You will leave these workshops with valuable tools to motivate your students, stimulate their curiosity, and promote a more positive attitude towards mathematics. All workshops are based on NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards in mathematics as they are reflected in the HSPA.

All workshops are full-day workshops at which participants will earn six (6) professional development hours. Participants may attend single or multiple workshops in any order. Discounts are available for multiple registrations for singles or groups.

Workshop Descriptions:

  • Refining 6-12 Mathematics Curriculum and Instruction Based on What We Have Learned from Student Performance on the HSPA

  • Date: October 5, 2004, May 3, 2005, May 10, 2005 (starburst - offered on three different dates)

    Time: 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m

    Location: Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ

    Instructor: Robert J. Riehs, Mathematics Specialist, NJ Dept. of Education

    This one-day workshop will address specific misunderstandings that students have consistently demonstrated on statewide assessments. Many of these misunderstandings relate to sixth-, seventh-, or eighth-grade expectations from New Jersey's Core Curriculum Content Standards. Participants will examine several of the most common misunderstandings and explore instructional activities and strategies which can be used to either modify a district's formal 6-12 curriculum or simply refine the instruction in a particular mathematics classroom. Appropriate for grade 6-12 mathematics supervisors or 6-12 teachers of mathematics.

  • GETTING READY FOR HSPA: A Nine-Step Program to Create Powerful Student-Constructed Responses to Open-Ended Questions - Number Sense and Geometry

  • Date: October 6, 2004

    Time: 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m

    Location: Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ

    Instructor: Paul Lawrence, LL Teach

  • GETTING READY FOR HSPA: A Nine-Step Program to Create Powerful Student-Constructed Responses to Open-Ended Questions Using Topics - Patterns and Algebra

  • Date: January 13, 2005

    Time: 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

    Location: Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ

    Instructor: Paul Lawrence, LL Teach

    These workshops provide a nine-step model for improving student performance on responding to open-ended questions. The first workshop focuses on Number Sense and Geometry and the second workshop on Patterns and Algebra. The key element in the approach of this nine-step program is to teach concepts through active, discovery-based lessons rather than simply using steps to get an answer to a question. Additional ways to help students create powerful responses is to have students discuss multiple strategies to solve problems and then actually critique other student responses. Each of these elements is modeled continually throughout both workshops

    Number Sense and Geometry- After a brief overview of the importance of addressing process standards in all classes, participants will become actively involved in using 11-pin-by-11-pin geoboards and pattern blocks to review angle measure, similarity, classification of polygons, and coordinates so that they can address this understanding to selected open-ended questions. After solutions to questions are determined, participants will have an opportunity to judge sample student responses for the question.

    Connecting cubes will be used to develop work in describing and extending patterns, computing probability, and building three-dimensional shapes. Once these materials are developed, additional open-ended questions with sample student responses will be distributed.

    Patterns and Algebra- After a brief overview of the importance of addressing process standards in all classes, participants will become actively involved in using Algebra Tiles to investigate variables and solve multi-step equations. Graphing calculators will be distributed and used as tools to discover and apply order of operations, relating equations and respective graphs, and the concept of the line of best fit. In addition, work with irrational numbers and the Pythagorean theorem will be presented through tangram construction and geoboard activities. If time permits, the concept of recursion and iteration will also be presented. Participants will leave with HSPA related open-ended questions and sample student responses.

  • Introduction to the Latest Graphing Calculator Technology

  • Dates: November 12, 2004, December 14, 2004 (needs starburst - offered on two different dates)

    Time: 8:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m

    Location: Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ

    Instructor: Reginald Luke, Middlesex County College

    In this one-day workshop, the TI-83 Plus and TI-84 Plus calculators will be highlighted for grade 9-12 teachers of mathematics. The program will include demonstrations and hands-on activities for mathematics problem solving in arithmetic, algebra, and precalculus. Topics will include applications in probability, statistics and discrete mathematics. The calculator-based laboratory (CBL) system and the ranger motion detector (CBR) will also be introduced for scientific data collection and math modeling.

    This workshop is geared towards high-school teachers with little or no experience with graphing calculators. This workshop is limited to 20 participants, so early registration is recommended.

  • A Handful of Activities to Help Students Prepare for the Geometry and Measurement Standard on the HSPA

  • Date: November 16, 2004

    Time: 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

    Location: Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ

    Instructor:James Rahn, Mathematics Consultant

    Come and participate in completing several activities that will enhance your students' conceptual understanding as well as their reasoning skills in geometry using manipulatives, geoboards, patty paper, and more. This workshop will concentrate on the Macro A (Geometric Properties) of the Geometry and Measurement Standard. We deal with 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.

  • Special Education - Introduction to the Latest Graphing Calculator Technology to Prepare Students with Special Needs

  • Dates: December 3, 2004, January 21, 2005 (needs starburst  offered on two different dates)

    Time: 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

    Location: Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ

    Instructor: Reginald Luke, Middlesex County College

    This introductory workshop for grade 9-12 special education teachers will focus on how this technology can assist teachers in making their mathematics more hands-on, visual and inquiry-based in reaching students with special needs. The TI-34, TI-73 and TI-83 and the CBR (Ranger Motion Detector) will be introduced with appropriate mathematics problem-solving lessons for teachers of special education.

    This workshop is geared towards high-school teachers with little or no experience with graphing calculators. This workshop is limited to 20 participants, so early registration is recommended

  • Graphing Calculator Skills to Prepare Students for the HSPA

  • Date: December 9, 2004

    Time: 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m

    Location: Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ

    Instructor: James Rahn, Mathematics Consultant

    Do your students use the calculator as a crutch or 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, verbally, as well as analytically. Teachers will learn how features on the graphing calculator will help their students. The TI-83 and TI-84 will be the calculators used in the workshop. It is not necessary to bring a calculator with you. One will be provided for you to use in the workshop. We will look at how the calculator can help your students 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.

  • HSPA: Help Students Pass Assessments - and Avoid the SRA Process!

    Date: December 16, 2004

    Time: 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m

    Location: Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ

    Instructor: Karin Rupp, Mathematics Consultant

    If you are accountable for your students' results and teach the traditional college preparation courses, this workshop will provide a close look at HSPA math concepts and open-ended questions not routinely covered in the traditional college prep curriculum. You will take home classroom-ready activities for data analysis including scatter plots, and line of best fit; spatial sense; coordinate geometry and fractals; discrete mathematics; and matrices. Open-ended questions with student responses will be provided and discussed for use with your own students

  • An Introduction to Discrete Mathematics

    Date: January 11, 2005

    Time: 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m

    Location: Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ

    Instructor: Joseph G. Rosenstein

    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 discuss strategies for counting (including their use in probability), and in the afternoon, we will focus on vertex-edge graphs and their applications.

  • Helping Students Prepare Adequately for the HSPA

    Date: January 25, 2005

    Time: 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m

    Location: Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ

    Instructor: James Rahn

    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 traditionally textbook oriented atmosphere to one that is standard-based. The NJ Mathematics Standards will be the foundation for all the activities presented.

  • Integrating Statistics and Probability into Your Classroom

    Date: February 1, 2005

    Time: 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m

    Location: Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ

    Instructor: Angelo DeMattia

    This workshop will address concepts related to the first two strands of Standard 4: descriptive statistics (collecting, generating, and describing data), inferential statistics (analyzing and interpreting data), and probability (randomness, fairness, and counting procedures). Simulations and analyses will use hands-on materials as well as technology (TI-83 graphing calculator and Fathom computer software).

 

Payment Information

The cost for each full-day workshop is $190. This fee includes a continental breakfast, lunch, and all materials.

Payment may be made by purchase order or personal check. Admittance to the workshop may be denied if no payment method is submitted by the day of the workshop.

Registration Information

You can register by:

Phone:  

(732) 445-4065 from Monday through Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

FAX:  

FAX Registration Form to (732)445-2894, 24-hours a day.

Mail:  

Send Registration Form to:

HSPA Workshops
SERC Building - Room 221
Busch Campus
118 Frelinghuysen Road
Piscataway, NJ 08854-8019

Once your registration is received, a confirmation letter including a map, directions, and parking information will be sent to you.

Click here for Registration Form.

Cancellation Policy

A full refund will be issued to the appropriate party if this office is notified at least five (5) business days prior to the workshop date. If you cancel within five (5) business days, or if neither you nor a substitute attend the workshop without notifying us, no refund will be issued.

All workshops are subject to cancellation for insufficient enrollment.

To obtain further information, or to register for workshops, call (732) 445-4065 or email programs@dimacs.rutgers.edu