Sheet Metal Workers Hall
Troutdale, Oregon
OCTM Board Members Present: Giny Christensen, Winnie Miller, Trudy Mitchell, Chuck Peterson, Ross Eells, Cathy Brown, Molly Smith, Jill Sumerlin, Lynn Anderson, Tari Querin, Deanna Reisman, Mary Bailey, Kathi Kennedy, Nancy Anderson, Stephanie Legard, Marna Knoer, Mike Gould, Nancy Swarat, Janet Echanis, Mary Ruth Stranz, Marla Baber, Debbie Lindow, Linda Parker, Lois Costine, Ralph Schubothe, Brent Freeman, Phil Bartsch, Ann McMahon, Laura Lethe, Jim Specht, Cathy Brown, Cathy Bernhard, and Jackie Cooke, Patty Sandoz.
Call to Order 9:05 Giny Christensen
• Housekeeping and Agenda Changes
- Writer's Retreat, Jackie Cooke, Oregon Math Leaders Report from Leslie Graham (who needs to get on the road)
- Nominations Committee will meet at noon with Ann McMahon
- Financial Committee will meet at noon with Chuck Peterson.
•Welcome and Introductions
- Jim Specht introduced Sara Normington who has not yet committed to becoming Historian.
- Nancy Anderson introduced Stephanie Legard who is replacing Kayda Mitchell as an Area 4 Rep.
• Approval of Minutes
- A recommendation was made to include a parenthetical statement that the first mention of Board Meeting dates for 2004-2005 was later changed during the course of the meeting.
- A motion by Ann McMahon, with a second by Molly Smith, was made to accept the minutes of the August 8, 2004, Board Meeting with the addition of the statement about the change in Board Meeting dates. The motion passed.
• Miscellaneous
- Mike Gould shared information about the PowerPoint articles that he is willing to send to interested persons. He also has a book that President Bush has endorsed titled Helping Your Child Learn Mathematics, No Child Left Behind. This book is free, up to 50 per school.
Discussion Items
• Mission Statement and Strategic Action Plan
- Mission Statement and Action Plan, formally adopted at the August 8, 2004, Board Meeting, have been finalized and is now in The Oregon Mathematics Teacher (TOMT). It will also appear on the webpage.
• Logo
- Logo design using the outline of the state with the letters of OCTM inside, previously approved during the August 2004 Board Meeting as our official logo, has been accepted as is but the business that provides the OCTM awards will work with it by reversing the background and foreground. Joe Spooner, Illustration and Art Production Editor of TOMT, said the state logo will work fine in the periodical. Old stationary will continue to be used.
• National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Affiliates Leadership Conference - No date as of yet for the next NCTM Affiliates Leadership meeting. This will be on hold until our April 23rd meeting.
Old Business
• Procedures Manual
- Martha VanCleave was not able to attend the meeting today.
• Nominations and Elections Trudy Mitchell
- Giny has been given the nomination list. Our constitution requires two people to run for each office so Trudy wrote a statement about her non-interest in the office and to please vote for Patty Sandoz to fulfill the requirement of two nominees.
- Molly Smith and Sheryl Beverly have agreed to run for Vice President.
- The ballot, a postcard, will be inserted in the TOMT. Jim Specht has urged that there be a requirement of one ballot per envelope (Jim lives now in Washington where, two months after the November election, the citizens still do not have a governor.) The reason for this is that we all have access to Xerox machines! Molly has suggested putting a bright orange sticker on the cover of the TOMT issue.
- Questions came up about whether the mailer company would do this. What would be the cost? The question of an emailed vote came up but that format violates the privacy issue about how a person casts a vote. A suggestion was made to put out a reminder through the OCTM listserv.
• Oregon Math Leaders Leslie Graham
- A handout was distributed about the proposal for the 2005 Oregon Math Leaders with a theme of The Road ReVisited: ReSearch, ReSources, ReVision.
- It was suggested that each attendee at OML bring their district's teacher directory.
- It was also suggested that OML also offer some opportunities for getting out the manipulatives to do math. Maybe the idea of the Matharama could be borrowed for OML?
- One other idea to think about is to include leadership activities. Could an action plan be developed?
- Of note because of the schedule conflict is that ten school districts will participate through Teachers Development Group, in a $5 million three year grant to work on teacher improvement. Two teachers and one administrator from each school in each of the ten districts will be involved. Their meetings this summer at Oregon State University will overlap OML. The following school districts will be participating: Beaverton, Bend-LaPine, Centennial, Crook County, Molalla River, North Clackamas, Redmond, Reynolds, Roseburg, South Lane, and Woodburn.
New Business
• Scholarship Revitalization
- Nancy Rogers and DJ Muller were not able to attend the meeting today. They will report at the April 23rd meeting.
Break: 10:30
Reconvened: 10:47
Happy Birthday to Jim Specht.
- Sara Normington provided the tribute by reading an excerpt from a letter she had received from Jim himself:
"Author Anthony Jay once said, "The only real training for leadership is leadership." Very often there will come a moment when someone will choose, perhaps with more than a little trepidation, to set aside their own misgivings and advocate a cause. Though they may be quietly thinking, "What have I gotten myself into?" their very actions allow others to follow, to support, and eventually take over a leadership role themselves. This allows success to become possible and dreams to be fulfilled."
• Retooling (a.k.a. Math Professional Development Cadre) Mike Gould
- Mike asked Sara to re-read the quote which she did. Mike used this quote as a segue into his Retooling report.
- Retooling's official name is Math Professional Development Cadre. When retooling started, we had no idea the depth of the problems and issues we would face. Mike listed many of these problems. We have a tremendously undertrained staff in our schools so how does retooling attack this huge problem?
- This would include OCTM itself looking at why it is here. We are still a-birthing. The people involved don't feel adequately directed much less what to direct. We are still in a fuzzy mess which is comfortable for some and not for others.
- We would like to be able to say that the children in Oregon are better in math because of what OCTM is doing but we aren't there yet. We don't have a product yet, but we do have a by-product with the various things going on around the state such as GO-Math and others.
- How many plan to be there Jan. 22? Mike said the dialoging via a listserv has not happened yet.
- The state of Oregon, as far as Mike is concerned, is not doing anything to help us. Is OCTM the group that will do this?
- Developing the focus of Retooling is much like raising a child for the first time. It is a very slow process, much slower than any of us ever realized.
- With the Northwest Math Conference coming in the fall we will have some wonderful opportunities.
- We may need to have a Math Leaders 1 and a Math Leaders 2. The model of getting local leaders is so crucial. It's not the product we need to focus on but the process. We have a long ways to go.
- Retooling will meet January 22 in Salem. There will be more to report at the April 23rd Board Meeting. Last August we got hung up on billing procedure and getting the word out.
• Spokane's Northwest Math Conference Phil Bartsch
- NCTM brought in many of the speakers. Spokane communicated electronically only. The conference seemingly went well. There weren't very many from Oregon in attendance. Of note is that the organizers used the University of Oregon services for registration.
- Many speakers are interested and excited to come to Jantzen Beach in Portland. Exhibitor costs are cheaper for Portland.
- Trudy thanked those that helped at the OCTM table at Spokane's Northwest Conference. She received some orders.
• Area Awards Giny Christensen
- Giny will email to the Area Reps the Area Rep Recognition Form. These folks are recognized in the April/May TOMT issue.
• Writers' Retreat Cathy Bernhard
- A Writer's Retreat will follow OML with the hope that this will be an annual event. This is funded through Marj Enneking and Oregon Collaborative for the Excellence in the Preparation of Teachers (OCEPT). People interested in writing for publication will apply, and if accepted, will receive funding. There will be coaches made available so that by the end of the day there's a finished product. Marj Enneking has given a large donation to OCTM to fund early career teachers to attend. Cathy hopes to get the information out much earlier than last year. A flyer should be ready to go out along with the OML information. This generated 8 articles all of which have been used. One of the writers, Steve Wyborney from Nyssa, was selected the Oregon Teacher of the Year. His article will appear in the March/April issue.
- The funding included $100 for reimbursement for OML registration, $175 stipend for one day of writing, and $25 for dinner. About $5000 was spent for 8 people but they hope to have 12 people this summer. The hope is that these people will continue to write. There is discussion about the current writers for TOMT pairing up with an early career teacher so they can learn the ropes and might be willing to help in the future.
- A motion by Lois Costine, with a second by Ann McMahon, was made that we continue the Writer's Retreat. The motion passed.
- Cathy Bernhard will go ahead with writing the one page flyer now that this has been approved by the Board.
• Southern Oregon Position Paper Discussion Giny Christensen
- Giny thinks that the Board should put out an opinion on this topic of math problem solving.
- The position paper's first draft was actually written by Brent Freeman with a lot of people helping to fine tune it. This came out of discussion amongst the members of the Southern Oregon Math Cadre. Giny feels OCTM needs to have discussion about this.
- The position paper appeared in the January/February 2005 issue.
- The loss of math problem solving has left a big hole in curriculum.
- How do we engage kids in powerful mathematics? We involve them in interesting problems which is problem solving.
- Oregon Math Education Council (OMEC) will want to make a statement but to whom should this statement be addressed? Is there a larger audience to whom we should make this statement to influence?
- The statement was originally never intended to go outside the southern Oregon region.
- When an assessment is dropped either at the classroom level or state, that is sending a huge negative message to students, teachers, and public, etc.
- Mike feels this discontinuation is not a statement against problem solving but a statement against mathematics. Multiple choice computation results seems to be the only acceptable accountability which is a universal falsehood.
- Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is still saying that the U.S. students are performing poorly in problem solving. We should point to studies like that as part of our response.
- Ann suggested we write letters to Susan Castillo, Superintendent of Public Instruction, our concerns about the loss of math problem solving.
- There seems to be a disconnect from people in the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) about the need and validity for math problem solving. Giny is concerned that Castillo does not understand the gravity of the decision. The scoring sites are being shut down which is a source of staff development. This decision is also implying that the new programs such as Bridges, Investigations, etc., do not match the state's math standards.
- Is this an opportunity for us to get out the word that math problem solving is much more than just a state test? It's a perfect opportunity for us to focus on the instructional piece, rather than the end product.
- The large school districts had large numbers of students who weren't passing and therefore would not bring to their school districts the federal funding because of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Giny feels this was a political decision.
- Winnie is telling people in her workshops that math problem solving is not axed but just suspended for three years. This is supposed to be only temporary. The concern is that we'll forget this.
- Cathy Brown asked for a meeting which will take place this coming Monday on what math problem solving will evolve to or not evolve to. Giny Christensen, Brent Freeman, Mike Gould, and Laura Lethe will attend this meeting along with curriculum directors, scoring directors, classroom teachers, Bob Olson, Reggie Christensen, Cathy Brown, Ginger Redlinger, Doug Kosty (Cathy's immediate boss). In all, there will be about 24 people. The departments in ODE have been asked to make huge percentage cuts. This means everyone will do TESA at their district or that math problem solving will forever be gone. Cathy had ten minutes before this decision to suspend math problem solving for three years was made public!!!!!!!!
- Is writing letters or emails helpful? Cathy brown nodded yes. The level of importance has not been felt by the decision makers. The decision makers did not ask the groups involved
- The decision makers are seriously mistargeted.
- It was pointed out that the President of OCTM is the voice of OCTM. Jim Specht, during his presidency, established this. The president speaks for the council.
- The decision to suspend math problem solving was in direct opposition to the committee that was formed to make a recommendation on the issue.
Following this discussion, a ten minute silence ensued so that each of us who felt moved could write a letter to Susan Castillo, Superintendent of Public Instruction. Giny will take these letters to the January 10, 2005 meeting.
Lunch 12:20
Reconvened 1:05
Board Member Reports
• President's Report Giny Christensen
- Giny read a letter from The Math Learning Center.
- We will receive $4000 from Ginger for the Presidential awards.
- Jackie Cooke received information from the Oregon Academy of Science asking that Giny send out information about this group as they are looking for awesome master teachers to give awards to. They thought that OCTM would be an avenue for sending out this information about the award to recognize outstanding teaching in science or mathematics at the K-12 level.
• Vice President/OMEC Trudy Mitchell
-Trudy gave her officer's notebook to Jim Specht for him to cull out appropriate historical information and documents. It came back lighter.
• OMEC Trudy Mitchell
- Mathematics is the only endorsement level that has a basic and an advanced teaching endorsement.
- The Math/Science Partnership is ongoing.
- Students have to take a placement test upon entry into college. There is a collaborative project on how to deal with this issue. The interesting thing is that students who take a math class their senior year do better on the placement exam.
- Trudy will take the math problem solving issue to OMEC. Cathy Bernhard talked about the state of Oregon only requiring two years of math, one of the few states with such low requirements.
- During the week of June 20 (Mon thru Thurs), Kathy Fosnot will be sponsored by Math Learning Center. Ms. Fosnot will talk about the landscape of learning. Catherine TwomeyFosnot is the author of Young Mathematicians at Work: Constructing Number Sense, Addition, and Subtraction.
• President Elect Winnie Miller
- Winnie likes the flexibility of her new job at the ESD. She is visiting different classrooms focusing on elementary because she feels this is the weakness in her background. She also now has time to do professional reading.
- She updated us on her two grandchildren whom she takes care of one day a week for each child. She remembers being young and hearing her more experienced compatriots on the OCTM Board bragging about their grandchildren. She told the current younger members to hang in there, that understanding will eventually come to them on the grandparent bragging issue.
• Treasurer Chuck Peterson
"This is the Treasurer's Report as of December 27, 2004:
For all of those who missed our usual November meeting, I would like to thank you for allowing us not to. I missed at least 360 miles having to listen to our OCTM secretary brag about Beaver Supremacy and that alone was well worth not having our normal OCTM meeting.
As far as the expenses so far this year, there is nothing out of the ordinary unless anyone has any questions they would like to ask of me. You can pretty much look at each category and either compare this year's expenditures to last year's or compare to what we have budgeted. Since we are roughly "halfway" through the year, we should be roughly "halfway" expensed as they would say in the Oregonian about a certain town in eastern Oregon that only had "halfway" enough money to build a pavilion for the rodeo grounds. The largest expense is for the "Retooling Workshops" that were held as well as the Writing Workshop that followed Math Leaders.
These workshops for the past several years have been financed by funding received through Pacific University's and Portland State University's OCEPT grants. Last year we received $20,950 and this year another $30,700. I believe we also received just a little over $20,000 two years ago for a total of over $70,000 during that three year span. It appears these grants are over and we were told that we can't expect more immediate funding from this source. However, we are still waiting for $4,500 to cover the Writer's Workshop held at Linfield which was separate funding.
I finally couldn't stand getting just over 1% on our OCTM CD and renewed a CD that expired by extending half of a roughly $100,000 amount for 60 months at 4.04% and the other half for 30 months at 3.21%. These mature in the years 2009 and 2006 respectively. We have an $80,000 certificate currently drawing 1.24% that matures this month and I will probably extend it to a longer time frame in order to improve the interest rate.
All of the scholarships and CDs on the bottom of my report are drawing interest rates in excess of 7% with maturities of 2017 or beyond. The $62,000 CD matures this year.
I have included a new column which shows the interest paid by each of our scholarship funds to help in allocation of scholarships."
Chuck Peterson
- The Don Fineran Happy-birthday-to-him-from-Don's-wife contribution of $150 was recently received. Chuck also received $1500 from Don's son's CPA firm in San Francisco via a certified letter. The Don Fineran Scholarship is guaranteed out to 2027 because it generates $2035 per year.
- Various members send money to OCTM matching their ages.
- The Oscar Schaaf/Scott McFadden guarantees $1330 per year and OCTM also gives out scholarships based on the generated $3750 per year. All the money in the interest category is not truly available for OCTM to spend as the interest from the scholarships is included.
- We need to change our constitution to reflect the practice of going over the budget in August. Does this require a vote of the membership to change the constitution? Yes.
- Article X, Section 2 states that the Treasurer submits for approval the annual budget for the next year to the Executive Board at its last meeting of the year.
- The proposal to be made will change the wording to say:
"The annual budget for the next year shall be submitted for approval to the Executive Board at its first meeting of the new fiscal year."
- Include in the ballot the old wording as well as the proposed wording.
- The Financial Committee proposed the following policy changes:
^ For the NCTM Annual Conference OCTM will send the President and the NCTM Representative. OCTM will cover
° transportation
° half of lodging
° substitute teacher costs
° registration
° the OCTM meal limits of $7.50 for breakfast, $7.50 for lunch, and $15.00 for dinner
- For the next budget, the line item will be changed to $3000.
^ For the Affiliates Leadership Conference the priority goes to the President and the NCTM Representative, and, if costs allow, currently elected OCTM officers. OCTM will cover
° transportation
° half of lodging
° substitute teacher costs
° registration
° the above mentioned OCTM meal limits with a total of $30.00
- For the next budget, the line item will be changed to $2500.
^ All requests for funding that are not in the budget (i.e., not scholarships) needs to be submitted by July 1st to be considered for the upcoming budget.
- A motion by Phil Bartsch, with a second by Molly Smith, was made to accept the new financial policy changes. The motion passed.
- This information should go into the officers' profile information so that future candidates will know that there may be financial obligations.
• Recording Secretary Patty Sandoz
- At the first meeting of a new fiscal year, the Recording Secretary will present to the Executive Board, a compilation of the previous year's motions and policies.
- This responsibility should also be included in the Procedures Manual.
• Discussion Item
- Clarification was made about who should belong to Oregon Education Association (OEA). Previously, with Karen Higgins as President while teaching at the collegiate level, she was not an OEA member. The OCTM Board paid her membership. The constitution says that elected members are required to be OEA members. For members who are now retired and for our beloved ODE folks who can't be OEA members, this is an ongoing but silent issue. OEA's contributions have dropped considerably. It was recommended that we wait to possibly put this issue on the ballot as a constitutional amendment till next year to see how successful voting through TOMT is. The recommendation by the Treasurer is to delete this requirement.
• Membership Ralph Schubothe
- Ralph will send TOMTs to anyone doing workshops. Just email him and he will see that you get the issues to hand out as his basement is full.
- Current membership is at 1339.
• NCTM Rep Brent Freeman
- NCTM has a newly elected president who will take over in 2006.
- The cost to have a table at Anaheim's NCTM's Annual Meeting is $210. It was recommended to not do this. The table has to be staffed during set hours. Former OCTM President Bill Burger went down the aisle of the plane making people sign up for OCTM membership before they would be allowed to get off the plane! TOMTs can be given out at regional affiliates meeting.
• Northwest Math Conference Chair Phil Bartsch
- When we host the Northwest Math Conference, our greatest asset is us. We are always looking for presiders, major speakers, etc. The organizers are sporting a vest with the logo and 2005 date.
- It's the same basic team every time. We are getting long in the tooth and short on the hair--we would like to include short in the teeth and long on the hair folks to help learn this process for future continuity.
- We are in great shape. We have a wonderful team. We hope everyone comes. We have to be able to count on Washington folks coming to Oregon--they are the financial backbone.
- Online registration should be available by May.
• Grants Lois Costine
- Marj Enneking is working with the Gates Foundation to see if we can apply.
• ODE Cathy Brown
- A CD was given to everyone which contains all the math standards, scoring guides in Russian, Spanish, and English, test specifications, content standards, grade sample tests (only in English so far), and a link to find things on the web.
- Juried assessment will expand to other grade levels besides CIM level (which also meets Adequate Yearly Progress).
- Announcement to come that Cathy will be doing extended assessment, a new job for her, as well as her duties. This is due to the 20% budget cuts at ODE.
- A new position at ODE for designing reports, and what can and can't be done with data has been created. As yet, there have been no applicants and it's been open for a couple weeks.
- There will be Item Writing this year. There will be a trainer of trainers done by Cathy but the rest can be done better locally.
- This is the first year of the newer standards with full accountability for grades 3, 5, 8, and 10. Make certain that our administrators are aware of this raised bar because scores that go down might be as a result of these higher standards.
- Cathy thanked the Board for the support given to her. It has meant a lot.
• ODE Curriculum Ginger Redlinger
- Due to a meeting conflict, Ginger could not attend today's Board meeting.
- Ginger has moved over to CAM with Industrial Engineering. Until the department unfreezes the 45 day moratorium (for budgetary savings) the job will not be posted. In the meantime Ginger is filling both positions. We shouldn't expect a replacement till next year.
- Phil said there's a need to contact Washington Department of Education in regards to the 2005 Northwest Math Conference. In the past, Ginger has made this contact but Cathy volunteered to do this.
- The following is Ginger's report:
"ODE Curriculum Report
Hello Everyone, due to a conflict in board meetings (I was elected to the SEIU Board of Directors last fall and we are in the middle of bargaining strategy development…so I HAVE to attend) I was asked today to head-up a presentation at the SEIU meeting tomorrow so that kind of sealed my fate… so I have to miss this one BUT I WILL BE AT THE NEXT ONE.
Fortunately, I am able to officially continue on the Board. Hopefully we will have a great specialist replace me (and I am looking at all of you as potential replacements.) The job should post soon (in the next week or two.) If you are interested, or know someone you would like to encourage to take on this role please let them, and me, know!
My new job reflects the agencies' priorities to help students in various settings develop a strong foundation in mathematics. The only difference I feel at this point is that we have collectively expanded our mathematics family (from the agencies' perspective) to include teachers and students who may not be sitting in a formal mathematics classroom, but are using mathematics. My work is to help them understand mathematics the way that you do. In Martha's words “It’s a good thing.”
Formal report:
4. We have 3 nominations for PAEMST awards, please encourage or nominate a great math teacher. Ann, will you please email me at your earliest convenience so we can chat about the program?
5. Does your school have a method that you feel falls under the category, "strategy for student success?" The ODE summer institute will feature this theme – it could be a great place for the new workshop format to be introduced or explored – you could have a session.
6. OPPORTUNITY: FREE Professional development on developing Algebraic thinking – online with a few face to face meetings – VTEL is a possibility for remote locations. Your own pace, your own time, with support. Martha Van Cleave, Linda Samek, and Ginny Gray are the instructors. ONLY 90 spots in each location. All are welcome. College credit available as well as CPDU’s. Contact me for more info.
Enough for now – see you in Salem – we are always happy to host the meeting – looking forward to seeing some of you next week."
Ginger Redlinger
• Historian Jim Specht
- Jim brought along the 1949's version of the OCTM webpage (an old, old well worn book!) It contains minutes and treasurer's report from February 26, 1939 to 1960. Everything is written in longhand then glued into the book. The first year of OCTM ended with Dues received of $22.00, expenses of $0.75 (for postcards, stamps, and treasurer's book) and an ending balance of $21.25!!!
- Jim has taken names of people found in this document to write the next two articles for TOMT. He said it is quite humbling to read about the vision and motivation that these people had.
- Jim will be stopping his work as Historian and is looking for a replacement. We hope Sara Normington will agree.
• TOMT Cathy Bernhard and Jackie Cooke
- The editors now have four issues under their belt.
- They have received some grief because of the green color of the cover. Next year we hope to see orange!
- The Advance Problem Box was not being used very much so it's been discontinued. There is a need for a writer for the Primary Problem Box.
• OML Marge Burak and Jill Sumerlin
- Leslie Graham went home early because of road and pass closures.
- The organizers said that they will probably be adding the book that Trudy talked about to the list and deleting the Van de Walle book (partly because of its cost).
- It was suggested to have a book review in TOMT or listserv.
• Publicity Lois Costine
- Each high school is asked to recognize the top 2 math students during the year. Besides the recognition the students receive at their individual schools the recipients will also be recognized in an issue of TOMT.
- Lois appealed to the Board to get the information out about student awards and in turn, get the recipients' names back to her for proper recognition in TOMT. This could be a discussion item at area meetings at OML.
• Awards Ann McMahon
- The three awards will become four with the addition of the Oregon Mathematics Pioneers Award--an award to recognize somebody or bodies who have done something significant in Oregon in mathematics.
- We want to make a spreadsheet of all the nominees as well as those who were chosen. Ann needs to know names of nominees in the past.
• Scholarship
- Nancy Rogers was unable to attend today's meeting.
• Contests Laura Lethe
- Gilbert House has not spent the $500 that OCTM gave them last year. If Gilbert House receives a request from a school to present outside the Salem area, the school has to pay mileage, lodging, substitute teacher costs, etc.
- Molly Smith related her frustration about trying to bring them to eastern Oregon. It was prohibitively expensive to try to get them to North Powder.
• TOTOM
- Martha VanCleave was unable to attend today's Board meeting.
- Teachers of Teachers of Mathematics (TOTOM) is comprised of a representative from every public and private institution of higher learning. TOTOM meets once a year with this year's meeting taking place in Ashland. Next year's meeting will be at Western Oregon University.
- Discussion this year focused on PASS. They invited teachers and supervising teachers to discuss. Brent Freeman presented, or rather answered a lot of questions. They try to have a panel of "real teachers" to talk to TOTOM about the real world. They reported out what teachers teach about assessment. With one exception (George Fox) each college or university said they brought in a guest to speak about the scoring guide.
- This is not a closed meeting so possibly interested folks could attend this once a year meeting.
• Webpage Jackie Cooke
- - We have lost our web page because the service provider has lost the complete OCTM file! This has been very stressful for Joe and Jackie. Currently the OCTM webpage says "the future home of . . ." or "this page is under construction"
• Mailing Clerk Lynn Bonser
- Contrary to emails, Lynn did not leave any TOMTs at the mailer provider.
Thank you to Marla Baber and Debbie Lindow for hosting this meeting.
Meeting adjourned 2:50.
Respectfully submitted,
Patty Sandoz
Recording Secretary
Area Reports
Area 1 Jill Sumerlin and Lynn Bonser
Clatsop County:
• Two two-day problem solving institutes will be offered with follow-up activities planned throughout the year.
• We have a good size list of possible OML participants.
• Lynn has been in all but two school buildings in the county at least once.
• A year-long series of classes based on the Annenberg "Learning Algebra" course is taking place.
Tillamook County
• An institute took place during the October inservice day with a follow-up meeting January 3, 2005. The institute covered lesson study, data analysis, differentiation of instruction, and brain research.
Area 2 Tari Querin and Deanna Reisman
This is the third year of an NSF grant that has helped make a difference in Portland. The schools involved in the grant had greater increase in achievement scores than those schools not involved. More Family Math nights and "Math and Muffins" workshops for parents have occurred.
We have had workshops that focus on case studies and discussions using Developing Mathematical Ideas (DMI). A cadre of teachers trained to be DMI facilitators in classroom observations do monthly meetings in their own buildings. These observations focus on what's happening with students during the lesson and teachers like the feedback.
We have an Expanding Your Horizon Conference planned for March 12, 2005. Middle school and high school students will attend at the University of Portland.
The process for new high school adoption materials has started and the committee includes middle school and high school teachers. The committee members are looking at Best Practices and are open for the first time to a non-traditional curriculum.
Portland Public Schools has paid for an OCTM membership in each of our buildings. Our emphasis for membership is on private schools and new teachers.
Area 3 Mary Bailey and Kathi Kennedy
1. The OML invitation list has been updated and sent to Cheri Haynes.
2. Communication has been ongoing to establish a building contact list.
3. First year teachers have been actively sought out and given free membership to OCTM. At the end of the year, we will encourage those teachers to continue their memberships.
4. Beaverton is in the process of textbook adoption. The district has reviewed available materials and has narrowed the choices for further study. Hillsboro has adopted materials for all levels and purchased materials for K-8 but not high school.
5. Conversation about articulation between grade levels and between building levels has been occurring in both Beaverton and Hillsboro with the goals of addressing the issues and concerns and making improvements.
6. Forest Grove schools have hired Cathy Bernhard to work on an ongoing basis with grades 3-8 and she is also working with schools in Beaverton and Hillsboro this year.
Area 4 Nancy Anderson and Stephanie Legard
Report from Area 4 South
Nancy Anderson
Salem has been very busy with the new adoption of Bridges and Investigations. We have had a lot of positive publicity in the local paper - The Statesman Journal. It seems to be going pretty well with two TOSAs - Kathy Bowers and Kathy Cheval helping Laura Lethe with the training and support. Nancy Anderson has helped with some of the Bridges training also. Support has been ongoing during inservice days with another half day training scheduled for January 28.
Nancy Anderson and Cheryl Klampe-Van Hess have been working with the Cascade School District using the "retooling" model. Nancy has been modeling lessons for the 8 third grade classrooms in the 4 elementary schools in the district (Turner, Aumsville, Cloverdale, and Marion). Cheryl has been working with the middle and high school teachers. A full day elementary inservice is planned for January 18 (focus on Algebraic relationships) and another for February 17 (focus on Probability and Statistics) which Nancy will present. Cheryl will also be working with the middle and high school teachers those two days.
Laurie Burton has been instrumental in getting the Annenberg lessons taped at Western Oregon University. The Measurement series, Data Analysis, Statistics, and Probability. and Patterns, Functions, and Algebra are all underway. Maria Fung and Laurie are also helping with the Northwest Math Conference.
My End of Area 4 Report
Stephanie Legard
Kayda Mitchell continues to be in a Math TOSA position for the elementary and middle school levels in Newberg. Newberg also has a part time high school TOSA. The district focus has been to help students be more proficient at using TESA for math assessment.
In McMinnville, Stephanie has taken a once a week teacher-leader role in the area of mathematics. She has been helping teachers as they begin their second year with a newly adopted curriculum. A big focus has been on how it fits with the standards and where it needs to be supplemented. This fall, 8 elementary and middle school teachers from McMinnville School District attended Nancy Anderson’s “Hands-On Equations” workshop in Salem. Several teachers in the district are planning to attend Kim Sutton’s workshop in Portland in February.
Area 6 Marna Knoer
Lane County has a bumper crop of new teachers and we made an effort in the fall to get as many as possible signed up with OCTM for the first year.
Judy Ferrari and Inga Perham marched with their students in the Eugene Celebration parade to celebrate the importance of Mathematics and OCTM.
Judy Ferrari ran a well received Lane ESD workshop on Problem Solving. Problem Solving was also the subject of a series of inservices provided to Eugene teachers in grades 3-5.
Bethel, Springfield, and Eugene math coordinators are working collaboratively to offer workshops. Each district is hosting mathematics workshops and inviting teachers from the other two districts to fill up the slots. This gives a wider variety of opportunities for teachers from all three districts.
Area 7 Mike Gould
1. Paraprofessional training in mathematics is continuing with sessions in north, south, and central Douglas County.
2. South Umpqua School District is using the Annenberg material to bring 6-12 math teachers together for discussion and dialog.
3. Don Crossfield and Mike Gould are broadcasting a Professional Development Class to Southern Oregon. there are about 20 teachers and 10 schools involved.
4. Southern Douglas County is working on a yearlong course on how to use differentiated instruction in the classroom. In November, Laurie Newton did a session just on math instruction. Great job.
5. The Douglas ESD is offering inservice in mathematics on February 4th. Some of the topics will be computation and problem solving.
6. Roseburg is doing group problem solving sessions each trimester. Grades 3-12 are involved in working with Mike in developing good tasks that relate to the adopted materials and then scoring them.
7. Paul of Texas Instruments came to Douglas County for a presentation and a trade in old overhead calculators for new TI-84. He is wonderful.
8. CPM (College Preparatory Mathematics) has come to Roseburg High School three times this year for inservice and support of the new adopted materials.
9. Mike is working on writing OSAT warm up material that can be used in grades 3-10. How to write good discovery based, warm up questions that practice skills needed to be successfully on the OSAT test?
Area 8B Damon Langley
Several kinds of workshops have been held during the late summer and early fall for training in math. These workshops were attended by elementary teachers from Klamath County and Klamath Falls City Schools. Malin Elementary held an all-day workshop focusing on teaching problem solving skills more effectively. Merrill Elementary held an especially well-received workshop focused on verification. Teachers concentrated just on that dimension of the problem solving scoring guide, examining lots of different verifications, sorting, organizing, scoring and writing verifications of their own. The workshop seemed to clear up some commonly held misconceptions.
Lakeview School district held their fall in-service on August 28. The entire district focused on math problem solving. All secondary teachers were trained in posing cross-curricular problems that involved math problem solving and the elementary teachers received separate training in teaching problem solving skills.
Klamath County Schools have been holding grade-level math in-service training meetings once each six-week grading period for their secondary math teachers. During these meetings, they have received updated training in the scoring guide and also held two different mock-scoring sites for problem solving. These meetings have been viewed as very successful and much needed by the teachers involved. More meetings are planned for February and March.
The Southern Oregon Math Cadre has continued to meet this school year. The main topic of conversation has been the response to the state’s announcement that the problem-solving test was suspended for the next several years. The cadre generated a position paper, to be distributed to curriculum offices in our region, which describes how central the math community feels problem solving is to any math curriculum. The position paper will also be published in an up-coming TOMT.
Sheryl Beverly has been hired by Southern Oregon ESD to act as a part-time TOSA for mathematics in our region. She has played an instrumental role this year in delivering much-needed training to Klamath County and Klamath Falls City teachers. She was contracted to spend 10 days providing training in scoring guide and math problem solving, among other topics for schools throughout both districts in Klamath County.
One final math note worth a quick mention is an experiment being conducted in special-ed math classes in Klamath County Schools. The special education teachers are piloting Connected Math and Visual Math units in their classrooms, in an effort to bring their instruction more in line with state standards and with mainstream instruction. Special education teachers are being mentored by experienced math teachers who help in planning units and lessons. Then a series of model lessons are taught in the special-ed classrooms by the mentor teacher and sub release time is provided by the district for the teams to meet and debrief each model lesson. The transformation in these classrooms has been exciting to see.
Area 10 Molly Smith
Greater Oregon Math is a grant that encompasses Jordan Valley, Adrian, Annex, Seneca, Wallowa, John Day, Lakeview, Silver Lake, and Halfway school districts. The grant targeted schools with high percentages of low-income students and targeted schools with a low percentage of highly qualified teachers. Teachers from the La Grande, North Powder, Richland, Nampa, and Prairie City School Districts also took the class.
Linda Bauck of the Wallowa County ESD wrote the grant for the Annenberg Series. Our very own Chuck Peterson was the instructor. Grant participants got a laptop, software, $1,800 gross for the two week Institute. The idea was for the teachers to get trained in the Annenberg Series and go back to their schools to train other teachers and paraprofessionals.
GO-Math participants have been meeting once a month over VTEL to discuss lessons, problems, etc. It looks as if next year the grant will extend to other area Eastern Oregon schools. Many schools in Eastern Oregon have been comparison schools for the GO-Math Grant.
Molly Smith will be meeting with a group of math teachers from Baker to share a lesson from the Annenberg material. This will take place in the latter part of January.
The North Powder School District is working on mapping their math curriculum/lessons to the Common Curriculum Goals.
Area 10 Cheri Clausen
Six teachers from Annex school, four teachers from Jordan Valley, and eight teachers from Adrian are participating in Go Math staff development sessions from Annenberg.
Oregon's teacher of the year, Steve Wyborney, comes from our region. Steve is a fifth grade teacher at Nyssa Elementary. His use of PowerPoint in teaching math is one of the unique and progressive traits
for which he was chosen as teacher of the year. Steve attended OML last summer, and will hopefully become a regular participant and one of our new math leaders for the state.
Penny Grotting, Curriculum Director at Malheur ESD, is excited about the upcoming summer institute (to be held in Nyssa in August). Linda Holliman, a nationally-known speaker who is affiliated with BER workshops will be presenting sessions on "math literacy centers."
Ontario school district held a staff development day (Nov. 12) for all elementary teachers to share information on math problem solving strategies.
Two of the Ontario elementary schools (Alameda and May Roberts) have math cadres in which teams of teachers and instructional assistants meet weekly to assess students' progress in math and make recommendations to improve math instruction.
Area 11 Nancy Swarat and Betsy Shane
Morrow County is still working on educating our assistants with math/reading/writing to make them better equipped in these subjects.
Morrow County school district has decided to hold a MATH PROBLEM SOLVING contest. Not
all the details have been worked out, but it will happen in the spring.
Multiple SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol) training has taken place around our area to help our teachers and assistants with techniques to better reach our ELL students in math and other subjects.
Several teachers from the area attended the NW math conference in Spokane.
We are still seeking to update building mathematics contacts. There is still not much response from Milton-Freewater.
Nancy thanked the board members for their concerns expressed to her for the loss of a student in August.
Area 13 Marla Baber and Debbie Lindow
Gresham: New adoption this year. Elementary has been having great discussions on differentiation of "circle" and "trapezoid". Otherwise all is well!
Centennial and David Douglas: We are working with these districts to get more involvement.
Reynolds: New adoption is going great. Our district has really supported math with allowing and giving time for dialog K-12. Reynolds is involved in the NSF Leadership $5 million/5 year grant with nine other districts. We are all excited. :-)
Area 14 Linda Parker and Lois Costine
Estacada Junior High has started a Math club that meets once a week for an hour. They are approaching the club as an opportunity to do the FUN stuff that the testing doesn't allow. They are doing hands-on activities with both 7th and 8th graders.
The Oregon Trail District is sponsoring monthly paid meetings for the 3-5 grade teachers in order to implement Everyday Mathematics successfully. Teachers are more able to stay on track, share successes and plan together for the next month during these meetings. Oregon Trail is also putting some time and money into training volunteer math tutors. So far the tutors have been trained in teaching the strategies that may help students master basic facts.