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math curriculum redesign team
The goal of the Math Curriculum Redesign Team is to increase preservice teachers' knowledge of urban student populations and develop the performance skills and strategies needed to succeed in secondary math education urban school environments.
The team has restructured the syllabus for EDUC 451 Teaching Strategies and Materials in Secondary Mathematics. The following modifications were made in compliance with the goals and objectives of the Urban Impact Grant:
- Requirement 6 (pages 2 and 5 of syllabus), the urban field experience, has been added. It includes a planning conference with the cooperating teacher and one half-day of teaching experience. The ERIC search has been modified to include articles targeted at the urban school setting, and is included with the field experience project. The video abstract, currently focussed on urban teaching and learning, remains essentially unchanged, but is now included with the field experience project.
- Requirement 4e (pages 2 and 4 of syllabus), the teaching philosophy, now has a list of guiding questions. It refers to insights gained from the urban placement experience.
- Requirement 5 (pages 2 and 4 of syllabus), the in-class presentation of a Connected Mathematics mini-lesson, is related to the project since this is mathematics series adopted by the Hamilton County Department of Education for grades 6-8. Middle grades teachers across the county, no matter the school, will use this textbook series.
Furthermore, several topics currently included in the course have been identified as relevant and important uses of technology to support the mathematics curriculum. These include the graded projects listed as Requirements 4b, abstract of one piece of mathematics software; 4c, Microsoft lesson plan; and 4d, Internet scavenger hunt (pages 2-4 of syllabus). These also include the hands-on technology activities using The Geometer's Sketchpad computer software, and the TI calculator and CBL units (page 8 of syllabus, weeks 5, 6, and 11).
Urban Impact Grant funds have also been used to purchase 10 additinal units of The Geometer's Sketchpad. Using this upgraded version, more student teachers will be trained to use this math technology in the classroom.
Two extensions of this project include the following: (a) students from Howard School of Academics and Technology using the 21st Century Classroom with Educ 451 students as mentors, and (b) my classroom observation of Howard School of Academics and Technology teachers who participated in the Tennessee Higher Education Commission workshop Implementing Mathematics Standards through Computer and Calculator Technologies.