News

The Hour of Code is coming, December 7-13, 2015!

Because of your students and your stories, the Hour of Code movement keeps changing the world. Are you ready to do it again? We hope you’ll join us to make this year a turning point for computer science in our schools.

Sign up now to host an Hour of Code during Dec. 7-13 at https://hourofcode.com

 

 

100,000 classrooms

Together, we want to reach 100,000 Hour of Code events around the world in December. Be one of the organizers who proves anybody can learn, and every young person deserves to learn how to build technology that will impact everything in their futures.

Prizes for every organizer

Every participating organizer will receive a thank-you gift and you can win $10,000 for your school. Sign up now to hear first about more prizes and new Hour of Code tutorials coming soon — some of our most exciting to date!

Let’s make history again. Join us.

Free resources that will actually make your students like math? It might sound like a bunch of baloney, Charlene, but it's really that simple! At MATHCOUNTS, our mission is simple: we want to change attitudes about math. We give dedicated educators like you free programs and resources so you can help your students discover their path to math. Sign up today for our 2 FREE programs for students in 6th, 7th and 8th grade.Yep...they're really free! The National Math Club provides the lesson plans and materials you need to engage your students in fun, interesting math activities in your math classroom and club. Register for free here. The Math Video Challenge gives students a unique way to learn math that combines art, creativity, technology and teamwork. Registration is free and will open soon. Learn more here. And if you are looking to challenge your students, try the MATHCOUNTS Competition Series—the only in-person, middle school math competition of it's kind! Register your school for as little as $25 here.  We've all heard the saying "there's no such thing as a free lunch," but we've always liked math more anyway! So check out www.mathcounts.org/freelunch to take advantage of our free programs and download your free copy of the 2015-2016 MATHCOUNTS School Handbook. And who knows...maybe your students will come to love math even more than they love lunch! -the MATHCOUNTS team

The Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) is offering workshops on the newly developed model curricula for Algebra 2 and Geometry. These workshops will provide three hours of training on each of the eight units of instruction in the curriculum.

Intended Audience: These workshops are specifically designed for classroom teachers of Algebra 2 or Geometry, math leaders at the secondary level, and curriculum directors.

Visit, http://ctcorestandards.org/, for more information. 

 

TODOS LIVE!             

Monday May 11th
4:30 PM PST, 5:30 PM MST, 6:30 PM CST, 7:30 PM EST

Equitable Practices in Mathematics Classrooms: Research-Based Recommendations Presented by Judit Moschkovich 

Register for the session https://attendee.gototraining.com/r/8903380433562926081 This 

This presentation is based on the Iris Carl Equity Address Dr. Moschkovich delivered at the 2012 annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. That invited keynote considered the question of equitable teaching practices in mathematics classrooms for students from non-dominant communities. Although research cannot provide quick answers to this question nor can it provide a recipe for equitable teaching practices, there are research-based recommendations that can guide researchers, teachers, and administrators in developing their own approaches to supporting equitable practices in mathematics classrooms. Several resources are provided for considering this question: a definition of equity, a definition of equitable practices, a framework for organizing research findings relevant to equitable practices, and questions to consider when designing equitable mathematics instruction. This discussion is informed by a sociocultural and situated perspective on mathematical thinking, on language, and on bilingual learners (for details of that framework, see Moschkovich, 2002, 2010). Judit Moschkovich (jmoschko@ucsc.edu) is Professor of mathematics education at the University of California Santa Cruz. Her research uses sociocultural approaches to study mathematical thinking and learning, mathematical discourse, and mathematics learners who are bilingual and/or learning English.

Governor Dannel P. Malloy today announced that he is selecting Dr. Dianna R. Wentzell to serve as Commissioner of the State Department of Education.  Dr. Wentzell, a former teacher with over 25 years of experience as an educator in Connecticut, has been serving as the department’s Interim Commissioner since January. Read more.

Academic Office

RFP116 - ED114 Perkins; To develop fully the academic, career and technical skills of secondary students who elect to enroll in career and technical education programs

RFP992 - Provide investing and personal finance education programs in the public secondary schools

Sheff Office

ED999 - Open Choice Academic, Student and Social Support in the Sheff Region

 

For detailed information please go to our RFP page at Http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/rfp

Students of Color and Low-Income Students Once Again Outpace Statewide Increase 

Governor Dannel P. Malloy, joined by Interim Commissioner of Education Dianna R. Wentzell, today announced that graduation rates continue to climb as persistent graduation gaps continue to close. In 2014, the statewide graduation rate increased 1.5 points to 87.0 percent—up for a total 5.2 points since 2010. 

Read more.

Register for a Code Studio workshop (for teachers, grades K-5)

Taught by Code.org Affiliates who are experienced computer science educators, our free workshops will prepare you to teach the Code Studio courses for grades K-5.

Workshop details

Date: 09/27/14, 09:00-17:00
Location: CREC Greater Hartford Academy of Math and Science
15 Vernon Street, Hartford, CT 06106

Thank you for your interest in the Code.org elementary curriculum (http://studio.code.org/). Please bring a laptop and charger with you to the workshop! Lunch and light breakfast will be provided. A swag bag will also be provided. Join us to bring great activities to your classroom. Registration begins at 8:30am. 

Parking: A small visitor parking lot is located next to the school, off Vernon St. Additionally, you may park in the parking garage, located off Brownell Avenue. http://crecschools.org/files/file/AAE/learningcorridormap.jpg

NEATT - Message from conference chair

As conference chairman, I am proud to welcome you to the 77th Annual New England Association of Technology Teachers Conference being held at Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island on November 14th & 15th.  This year we are inviting Science and Math Teachers to join us.  With that in mind the Conference Committee is offering a wide variety of STEM related workshops that will be helpful and interesting for all.  The conference theme, "TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING - BRINGING THE SKILLS TO SCIENCE AND MATH (STEM)", dictates that the committee offers a variety of workshops and activities that will be helpful and informative to all Science, Math and Technology teachers elementary to high school.  After attending the NEATT conference you will return to your classroom with a renewed vision of STEM for your students.

Our keynote speaker started his career as an industrial arts teacher, Mr. Fay Butler, is the owner of Fay Butler Fab/Metal Shaping in Wheelwright Massachusetts. He is dedicated to the education of craftsmen through material science. One of his areas of expertise is the subject of creating compound curves through stretching and shrinking of metal.  Fay uses the science behind the material and breaks this procedure down to the atomic level.  He is a huge advocate of Technology, Math, and Science education, serving the aircraft, automotive, architectural, and art industries from early development concepts to reproduction of production parts.  We are sure you will enjoy his remarks.

Johnson and Wales University and the great city of Providence have a lot to offer and hopefully you will make time to enjoy the historical architecture, museums, theaters, as well as the Providence Place Mall and Waterplace Park.  Providence is known for its excellent restaurants and dining experiences, many located in the Federal Hill section of Providence and not far from the JWU campus.

I would like to thank Mr. Gerry Florio and my committee for all their help, without some assistance, this could not happen.

Enjoy!

We would like to talk with teachers interested in helping develop model news literacy lesson plans for math in grades 4 - 12. Teachers selected for the project will be compensated $3,000 each. The project is coordinated by the American Society of News Editors and the Journalism Education Association, and funded with a grant from the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
Interested teachers would be provided with news literacy lesson plans and activities that could be modified and adapted for the math classroom or the teachers could create original lesson plans. Through this process, we hope to learn how math teachers view news literacy. We are also working on similar projects with national organizations and teachers in social studies, language arts and science.

What is news and information literacy? Simply put, it is the ability to use critical thinking skills to judge the reliability and credibility of news reports and information sources. In the information age, more data is produced in a single second than can possibly be consumed in a lifetime so the need for news and information literacy has never been more important. Research suggests that students who develop news and information literacy skills become more active and engaged citizens. Many schools across the nation already teach news literacy and more research on the impact of these efforts is underway.

One way to approach news literacy is with the REALLY technique developed by Al Tompkins of the Poynter Institute. 

See REALLY? Teaching Students to Ask Critical Questions

 
Is this REALLY the story? Is this REALLY the whole story? Is this REALLY physically possible? Is this REALLY what I need to know? What do my readers and listeners REALLY want to know? This approach uses five questions to focus on this intersection of skepticism, curiosity, openness, reporting, critical thinking and knowledge.

1. Who said it?
2. Can I trust the source?
3. Is that person biased on this subject?
4. Am I biased on this subject?
5. Where can I get reliable information to help me frame my opinion?

An overview of news literacy can be found in the Six Principles to Guide Producers and Consumers of News and Information. This guide and other news and information literacy resources are available at: http://www.schooljournalism.org/news-literacy-overview/

Interested teachers should email Le Anne Wiseman at Lwiseman@asne.org or call 573-884-2689 for more information.