OCTM Board Meeting

January 28, 2006

Sheet Metal Workers Hall

Troutdale, Oregon

 

8:30 - 3:55      Area Rep Support

The Area Representative support meeting took place prior to the Board meeting.  Oregon Math Leaders lists need to be sent to Cherie Haynes ASAP.  Include email addresses because this year invitations will go out by email. It was suggested that we might want to also send out invitations by snail mail in case some people miss the email. Another suggestion was to have the Area Rep send the invitation and carbon copy to Cherie just because some people do not even open an email if they don?t recognize the sender. 

 

Certificates and OCTM pins were given to the Area Reps who had identified their area's 2005-2006 recipients early.  The press release for TOMT is due on March 1 so please submit area forms ASAP.   The remaining Area Regional Award certificates and pins will be prepared and handed out at the next Board meeting. Each area decides how to present the awards which can include a presentation at a special meeting, a regularly scheduled faculty meeting, or simply reading about it in the May edition of The Oregon Mathematics Teacher (TOMT).  Let Winnie know if you would like certificates and pins prior to the May meeting.  It was also suggested that requested letters to Principals be included at the same time as opposed to mailing them out separately.

 

Call to Order:     9:05 a.m.

 

OCTM Members Present:    Winnie Miller, Giny Christensen, Molly Smith, Ross Eells, Jill Sumerlin, Lynn Bonser, Vickie Rooks, Tari Querin, Shawna Dehler, Charlotte Ogle, Stephanie Legard, Nancy Anderson, Kristin Lavy, Marna Knoer, Diane Kinney, Kim Clary, DJ Muller, Sheryl Beverly, Kathi Eisenbeis, Dana Marlia, Cheri Clausen,  Jennifer Cox, Nancy Swarat, Jane Osborne, Janet Echanis, Carli Halligan, Debbie Lindow, Jennifer Bell, Linda Parker, Ralph Schubothe, Jackie Nissen, Phil Bartsch, Mike Gould, Ann McMahon, Leslie Graham, Marge Burak, Laura Lethe, Brent Freeman, Cathy Brown, Jackie Cooke, Cathy Bernhard, Lois Costine, Trudy Mitchell, Patty Sandoz.

 

Guests:  Kathleen Barta, Director of Teacher to Teacher Publications; and Jane Osborne, an Area Rep-in-training.

 

?  Welcome

 

?  Introductions of New Board Members:              Area 2             Vickie Rooks

                                                                                    Area 8             Sheryl Beverly

Area 11           Nancy Swarat

 

?  Approval of Minutes

 

            -  A motion to accept the minutes of the October 15, 2005 Board Meeting was made by Tari Querin, with a second by Molly Smith.  The motion passed.

 

?  Proposed Lunchtime Meetings

            -  Third year math requirement

            -  Math Professional Development Cadre

            -  Verification

            -  Special Education--IEPs

            -  Infinity Softworks

            -  NCTM Affiliate Circle

 

?  Area Representative Reports

            -  Area 1                                                                                 Lynn Bonser

            Five Easy Steps to a Balanced Math Program will be presented in February.

 

            -  Area 2                                                                                 Tari Querin

            An "Expanding Your Horizons  Career Conference for Girls in Grades 6 - 12" will take place March 18, 2006.

 

            -  Area 4                                                                                 Stephanie Legard and Nancy Anderson

            There will be a gathering June 23-24 to focus on elementary reading and math.  The Salem area will be hosting a 24 Challenge Math Tournament April 8 at McKay High School for area fourth and fifth graders.

 

            -  Area 7                                                                                 Kim Clary and Mike Gould

            Fullerton IV Elementary School received an Intel $10,000 grant as an Intel School of Distinction for mathematics achievement.  Kim and Mike shared this good news with a video clip of Fullerton IV Elementary School's students and teachers in action.  For many kids, math was their favorite subject.

 

Discussion Items

 

?  Good to Great (continued)

            -  We took a minute to jot down what we remembered about our discussion of the book Good to Great at our October 2005 Board meeting.

            -  Winnie shared a summary of the Good to Great notes.  These notes of our discussions fell into four categories:

                        *  mission/vision/goals

                        *  people/leadership

                        *  fact finding

                        *  economics

-  We then divided into four groups to develop an action plan, choosing the category that we were passionate about. There was not a separate group for fact finding as they blended into one of the other three categories.

            -  Each of the three groups did a quick 30 second report out.

 

Old Business

 

?  Webmaster Stipend                                                                       Winnie Miller

            -  Winnie researched how much webmasters get paid--$25 to $60 per hour for both non-profit and for-profit organizations.

            -  The OCTM Webmasters, Jackie Cooke and Joe Spooner, documented hours spent on OCTM's   webpage during an identified period of time.  Jackie had 71 hours of work and Joe had 10 hours of work.  Using the $25 per hour rate means that OCTM should have paid $2025 for their work on our behalf.

            - Winnie proposed a one time stipend of $2000 (split evenly so each would receive $1000).

            -  Can we have a Treasurer's report before deciding on this?

            -  Where will this money come from out of the budget?  Ross doesn't yet know.

            -  A motion by Ann McMahon, with a second by Leslie Graham, was made to give a one time stipend of $2000 to be split evenly between Jackie Cooke and Joe Spooner for their work with web issues.  The motion passed.

 

?  Elections                                                                                         Molly Smith

            -  There will be a tear-out ballot in the March/April issue of TOMT.

            -  Molly will write a brief explanation of the reasons for the proposed constitution change.

 

?  PDC                                                                                                            Mike Gould

            -  Mike conducted a math subtraction lesson with us. We privately thought about what subtraction means then shared our ideas with a neighbor. 

                        What is subtraction?

                                    -  What Ross is doing right now!

                                    -  Breaking the whole into parts

                                    -  Moving to left on number line

                                    -  Moving something, removing something, annihilating something

                                    -  Money amount that you charge

            -  We were then charged with finding as many ways as possible to do the following problems:

                        146 - 12                                   272 -  14                                  283 - 275

            -  Mike showed video clips of kids talking about their ideas.  We discussed what we observed about the techniques/protocols in use, the goals of the lesson, and the goals of the teacher.

            -  Each Board member was asked to jot down what they learned, what they liked, and what they'd like to see more of.  These were then given to Mike.

            -  Trudy announced a workshop by Catherine Fostnot called Young Mathematicians at Work, scheduled for July 5-8, 2006.

 

?  Board Member Shirts                                                                   Nancy Swarat

            -  Nancy provided information about the next round of OCTM Board clothing.  These don't have to be a mass order.  They may be purchased separately.  Just contact Nancy Swarat.

 

 

Break:            10:50 - 11:05

 

 

?  Northwest Math Conference Update                                          Phil Bartsch

            -  What do these numbers mean?                     63        74        93                               

            -  Nine years ago, the Northwest Math Conference (NWMC) turned over $63,000 to OCTM.  Six years ago we turned over $74,000.  And three years ago $93,000 was turned over. 

            -  And this year Phil presented Winnie with a large check for . . .  $110,000!!

 

?  Eastern Oregon Math Conference                                               Molly Smith and Patty Sandoz

            -  The eastern Oregon math conference, scheduled for Friday, October 13, 2006, is being modeled after the State of Jefferson math conference chaired by Brent Freeman and many others.

            -  We have many Board members from our neck of the woods working on bringing math and science to K - 12 teachers.  The Dean of the College of Education, Michael Jaeger, will be our keynote speaker.  We will be asking several current Board members to be speakers at our conference with a working title of Making the Most of Math and Science Symposium although we will gladly accept other name proposals.  If someone's idea is accepted, that person will receive a free registration to the conference!

 

?  OML/OCTM Relationship                                                           Winnie Miller 

-  A handout was shared, written by Becky Reed, about the relationship of Oregon Math Leaders (OML) and Oregon Council of Teachers of Mathematics (OCTM). 

-  A copy of this article is included in the Recording Secretary's notebook following the Board minutes.

            -  Disagreement was expressed about the interpretation of this relationship as identified in the handout.

            -  It was clarified that OML is an OCTM function.

            -  This is being brought up to the Board to collect a variety of perspectives of the historical record. More voices/eyes will mean the muddied waters will clear up.

            -  OML is an arm of OCTM, just as Math Professional Development Cadre (PDC) is an arm, and NWMC is another arm yet.  It is preferred to view all of these as a team effort.

            -  It was suggested that OML give a financial accounting after each August's OML.

            -  It was also suggested that a history be compiled from all the previous co-chairs from the different "centuries."

                        -  What were the big pressures and questions each set of co-chairs had to deal with?

                        -  What things went well and what didn't?

                        -  What suggestions were made to improve?

                        -  What were the evolutions during your tenure as chairs?

 

?  Writers' Retreat                                                                             Cathy Bernhard

            -  The Writers' Retreat has been going on for two years now, usually the day after OML concludes, and is funded with OCEPT grant monies. 

            -  One goal is to increase each writer's professional development but it also adds to the body of work to improve education through the readers of TOMT.

            -  How should Writers' Retreat be funded now--through OML, OCTM?

            -  Can the timing of the retreat be looked at because people's brains could be fried if it's held right after OML?

            -  The cost of the retreat was around $4000 last year.

            -  Information for this year's Retreat will go out with the OML information.

 

?  NCTM Membership                                                                      Trudy Mitchell

            -  NCTM Affiliate Leaders Circle information was given.

            -  Membership Secretary, Ralph Schubothe, has emailed the NCTM office the OCTM membership list.  NCTM will then email those people from that list who are not NCTM members.

 

?  Problem Solving Books                                                                 Trudy Mitchell

            -  Since Trudy and her husband are contemplating a move to California, Trudy needs someone to send out the Problem Solving books when the orders come in. There are usually two to three orders per month.

            -  Currently, the Math Learning Center (MLC) has the Problem Solving books in their catalog, and OCTM makes a small profit.  One option is to have MLC be the distributor.

            - However, Charlotte Ogle has offered to take over this responsibility.  Thank you, Charlotte!

 

?  Verification                                                                                     Kathleen Barta

            - Kathleen Barta is with Teacher to Teacher Publications, Inc.  Her company email address is teach@teleport.com if you wish to get an electronic report.  They also have a website at        www.teachertoteacher.com.

            - Kathleen reported that in six other states verification is very clearly identified in their standards. However, none of the states assess for verification.  There will be a lunch meeting for those wanting more information.

 

?  Old TOMTs                                                                                    Ralph Schubothe

            -  Board members were invited to take some old TOMTs that Ralph brought to the meeting.

 

?  Introduction of Infinity Softworks                                              Winnie Miller

            - John Perr and Andrew Jonca, from a Beaverton-based company Infinity Softworks, are seeking   OCTM?s feedback regarding a new math learning environment currently in development for grades 6-12.  They will include a brief presentation of the software to interested folks during lunch and hope to have a discussion that will help them better understand and support the needs of teachers and students.

 

 

Lunch:                       11:55 to  12:50

 

 

?  Motion to Amend Constitution Revisited                                   Jackie Cooke                          

            -  It was suggested that the proposed Constitutional Amendment be reworded to be more consistent with the wording of the other sections in the Constitution.

 

A motion was made by Jackie Cooke, with a second by Molly Smith, to amend the amendment to the Constitution, Article VI, Section 7, to read "Appointed officers shall serve for a period of two years except Area Representatives who shall serve for three years."  The motion passed.

 

?  President's Report                                                                         Winnie Miller

"A huge thank you goes to those who contributed to OCTM?s response to the Oregon State Board of Education?s white paper on graduation requirements and to those that gave kind words of encouragement and support. A special thank you goes to Trudy Mitchell for all her hours of writing and revising and also to DJ Muller and the Southern Oregon Cadre for allowing me to take up so much of their time during one of their V-Tel sessions.

 

You've heard of math and literature, so how about financial literature?  I've attached the proposal from the Oregon State Treasury and have offered OCTM's help in recommending books that could and should be donated to all school libraries in Oregon.  They would like to narrow that list down to 8.  So, in your opinion, which books should definitely be included in this list?  Thanks for your help with this.

 

Some good news to share...Fullerton IV Elementary in Roseburg was the recipient of a $10,000 grant. This is the link to see a video clip of Mike Gould, math coach, teachers and students in action.

 

http://www.edutopia.org/php/article.php?id=Art_1405&key=238

 

 Thank you notes were sent to the Math Learning Center, Camille Wainwright and Oregon Education Association for their ongoing support of TOMT and early career professional development through grants of $3500, $5000 and $1000, respectively.

 

Linda Samek, representing Oregon Math Education Council, and I, on behalf of OCTM, submitted an RFP for an OPAS (Oregon Pre-Engineering and Applied Science) grant proposing a collaboration with others that will enhance available curriculum resources and teacher preparation in order to integrate engineering concepts in math and science courses in elementary, middle and high schools across the state.  Since then, I have been contacted by other organizations that would like to partner with us.  These include the Software Organization of Oregon Foundation and Infinity Softworks, Inc.  We will know more sometime in March.

 

Every time I write or speak about OCTM, I realize how proud I am of this organization and all it has to offer. What an incredible group!"

 

?  Vice President                                                                                Molly Smith

"Our President-elect and Treasurer-elect elections will be occurring this spring.  All of the information was sent to our TOMT editors in December and will be published in our March/April TOMT magazine.  I will be e-mailing out reminders to vote when that issue comes out.  It would be helpful if Area Representatives also sent out reminders to your area people via e-mail reminding them to vote.

 

I found out some information regarding on-line voting.  The computer teacher at my school (Powder Valley Schools) says she can set up on-line voting.  She believes we can run it through our servers and have a link from the OCTM website to access on-line voting.  For the on-line voting to work, my thought is that I would either get an e-mail stating that XXXX e-mail or XXXX membership number voted today so I could cross reference it on my membership list.  I would like to pursue this if the Board feels comfortable with this knowledge.

 

Patty and I have been busy planning a Math/Science, and possibly Reading Conference in La Grande for next October 13th.  We are modeling after the State of Jefferson, and are rallying our Area 10 people to help out in any and all ways.  We even have Nancy Swarat and some John Day area people helping too.  If you are interested in speaking at our conference, please talk to Patty or me."

 

            -  Should we give membership cards?  (Giny wants to be 007!)

            -  The group believes this online voting is worth pursuing for next year's election.

 

?  Past President                                                                                Giny Christensen

            -  Giny was in Washington DC last week in her role as the Presidential Awards for the Excellence in Math and Science Teaching (PAEMST) Coordinator.

            -  Many people responded favorably to the OCTM pin that Giny wore.  They were motivated to create their own for their state's organizations.

 

?  Secretary                                                                                         Patty Sandoz

            - Patty appreciates receiving all Board member reports electronically.

            -  The roster was sent around for attendance and for checking the accuracy of each Board member's address information.

 

?  Treasurer                                                                                        Ross Eells

            - A$1000 donation was made to the Don Fineran Scholarship Fund by Bregante + Company LLP where Don's son, Steve, works.

 

 

"Treasurer?s Report as of Dec. 31, 2005.

The big picture has our finances looking black so far, as in black ink.  You will notice that there is only one red number on the report, and that is a budgeted difference.  You realize that the year is roughly half over, so our expenses should also be half of the budgeted amount.  You can make comparisons between either this year?s expenditures to last year?s or to this year?s budgeted money.  The $3239.34 figure towards the bottom of the Actual 05-06 column represents the difference between total expenditures and total income.

 

The bookkeeping expenses include the cost of our financial review by an accountant which must take place every two years.  I have two copies for your perusal.  The accountant pointed out our loss of income due to attrition.  In November, our annual nonprofit income tax form was also filed, which I will also provide for you.  Not to make you nervous, but this is the first time since college that I have filed a tax return by myself.

 

OCTM income includes the $3500 Math Learning Center grant, the $5000 Pacific University grant and $1285 from NW Conference sales.

 

Our scholarships at the bottom of the report are drawing interest rates between 6.5% and 7.5%."

 

?  Membership                                                                                   Ralph Schubothe

            -  In1983, OCTM had 1283 members.

            -  OCTM's peak membership year was in 1994 with 2211 members.

            -  This year's membership is about 1683.

 

"Membership

As of 1/12/06 OCTM membership is 1677.

 

Current and Expired membership lists were emailed to all area representatives on 1/8/2006.

 

Please look at the Membership Count.xls document and you will see that membership is up this year, but not to the level that it was at in 2000.  The NWMC brought in many new members.

 

Keep up the good work.  Keep those memberships coming in."

 

?  NCTM REP                                                                                   Jackie Nissen

         -  Jackie shared information from the NCTM website about the 2006 Annual Meeting in St. Louis as     well as other NCTM sponsored opportunities coming up in the near future.

         -  Also shared was a short article on deductible education expenses for 2005, an article about teaching to the test, and an article, written by NCTM's President Cathy Seeley, about what it means to       do mathematics.

         -  Copies of these articles are included in the Recording Secretary's notebook following the Board minutes.

 

? NWMC Representative                                                                  Phil Bartsch

            - The 2006 conference will be  at the Victoria Conference Centre at the Fairmont Empress Hotel      October 19-21, 2006.  This is sponsored by the British Columbia Association of Mathematics Teachers.  Jack Showers is the Chair.  For more information, email jackshowers@shaw.ca 

 

 

"Northwest Conference Report (I?m not conference coordinator anymore, I don?t think)

 

I turned over a check of $110,000 to OCTM today.  We still have some funds outstanding so there will probably be an additional transfer coming as soon as we feel comfortable all of the bills are accounted for.

 

We have, for the last few NW conferences,  budgeted for a $250 stipend for conference chairs to attend either national, regional, or outside-of-Oregon NW Conferences.  I am planning on increasing that amount to $400 to account for increased costs.

We are currently in negotiation with the Red Lion Inn on the River for October 9-11, 2008.  The plan right now is to also use facilities at Vancouver?s Red Lion at the Quay.

 

We are always looking for people who would be willing to help with the conference.  Please contact Phil if you are interested.

 

The 45th NW Math Conference, ?Math in Bloom?, will be held Thursday, Oct. 19 through Saturday, Oct. 21, 2006 in Victoria, BC.  Keynote speakers will be David McKillop, Arthur Benjamin, and David Sufrin.  The site will be at the Victoria Conference Centre along with the Empress Hotel.   Information and registration information is available at

 

www.bctf.bc.ca/bcamt/nw2006.

 

There is also a link available for potential speakers:  Call for speakers."

 

?  PDC Coordinator                                                                          Mike Gould

            -  We are trying to set up a V-Tel conference to do our next level of discussion.

            -  The next draft of the brochure is in Mike's hands.  It will go through some minor changes.

 

?  Publicity                                                                                          Ann McMahon and Lois Costine

            -  With our next meeting scheduled for May 6, Ann will need nominations for the awards before then.

            -  The high school awards information, with new logo, will be going out electronically.  Every high            school in the past has received two certificates from OCTM to give to the two top math students at    that high school. 

            -  It was suggested that Lois send out emails to all high schools to nominate their top high school    math students.  Then Lois could print certificates with each student's name and send this to the school.  That way only the schools that do this honoring will respond and Lois can track the responses and the recipients.

 

?  OML                                                                                               Leslie Graham

"Here is my report. I am attaching the book list synopsis and the book study leader sign-up. Jolene and Cherie have the updated invitation letter and registration form. This year, in order to get books out to the attendees before OML, the book order forms will be going directly to me. Then at our spring meeting in Redmond, I will hand out the books to the Area Reps so they can deliver the books through their ESDs. OML this year will focus on the Brain, the multiple intelligences, and differentiated curriculum. We will be doing math in every session.  Book study leaders will use problems from their books and have their groups complete and discuss the problems. During the activity sessions, which will focus on Math and the multiple intelligences, attendees will have the chance to experience math related activities in kinetics

(golfing), language (integrating literature), music, cooking, nature, inter/intra personal (cooperative learning), and spatial reasoning.  We will again have Elaine Jones as a keynote speaker as well as a speaker from NW Labs. We look forward to an outstanding conference."

 

         -  Cathy Brown will talk to the OML leaders after the Board meeting about distributing the books.

       -  A copy of the book list synopsis is included at the end of the minutes.

 

?  Contests                                                                                          Laura Lethe

"The Oregon Invitational Math Tournament for HS students will be held at Portland State University on Saturday, May 13, 2006.  A steering committee headed by representatives from OMEC has met twice to discuss ways to streamline and coordinate the contest.  Topics discussed were eligibility, purpose of the contest, events, awards, and who writes the questions.  A suggestion was made to create an OIMT web page so that each year it can be updated to reflect the new date, host school, and schedule.  A possibility would be for OCTM to host the web page or provide a link to it.  Willamette University created a web page for the event when they hosted two years ago and might be willing to keep it on their site.

 

Pentagames, 2006 will be held at 7 sites throughout Oregon on Friday, April 28.  Once again, numbers are down with only 60 schools registering.  Contest questions are being modified each summer to more accurately reflect the state and national standards.  During summer of 2006, the relay questions will be edited and updated.  Each year, the donation made to Pentagames from OCTM is used to help cover registration costs for schools who do not have the funding to participate.  It also helps defray the costs of awards and printing. "

 

?  Scholarship                                                                                                Brent Freeman

            -  A thank you note from Jennie Courin, a recipient of a scholarship to take a class, was read by Brent.

 

"The Scholarship Committee (volunteers from the October Board Meeting) "met" via email and selected the following teachers to receive OCTM Scholarships to attend the NCTM Annual Meeting in St. Louis this April:                             

                               Giny Christensen, West Intermediate School (Sutherlin)

                               John Hazapiz,  Clatskanie Middle/High School

                               Paul Howard,   Cascade College

                               Erin Matlock,  Evergreen Elementary School  (Redmond)

 

Coming up at the May 6th Board Meeting, will be the evaluation of applications for the Oscar Schaaf-Scott McFadden Scholarship. Applications are due by April 15th."

 

?  ODE                                                                                                Cathy Brown

"1- Item Writing:  If any of the teachers in your area would be interested in professional development around item writing (without pay), let Cathy know.  The items written would NOT be for the state test, but instead be for the teachers to use in classroom assessment.

2- Helping Parents:  A journalist has contacted ODE on behalf of a parent who is extremely frustrated.  The belief is that although "everyone" is telling parents that for their children to be successful, the parents need to be involved in their education --- but that when a parent is willing to be involved, teachers don't have the time to provide guidance.  A specific example is when a grade 2 student is struggling to understand multiplication (and therefore struggling to "learn her facts") the teacher could suggest no materials the parent could use to help.  Cathy requests that each Board member send her a quick email with resources s/he might suggest to the parent --- this week.

3-Mathematics Problem Solving:  Cathy requests that any Board member interested in being on a team that will provide feedback to Jonathan about the development of the revision to the MPS Standards, let her know!  At this time, she was able to share --

 

On January 5, we held a stakeholder?s meeting to discuss mathematical problem solving.  Approximately 40 stakeholders attended.  Representation was fairly evenly divided between elementary, middle, high, district or ESD, business and postsecondary representatives. Responses were kept confidential but where possible the attendant's affiliation (elementary school, business, etc) was noted.  Several issues were discussed:

            1. History of standards and assessments in Oregon

            2. Participant?s definitions of problem solving and mathematical problem solving

3. Discussion about the five NCTM process standards: problems solving, reasoning and proof, communication, representation and connections.

            4. Discussion of the possibility of developing standards which vary by grade.

5. Discussion of possible formats we should use when developing revised problem solving and/or process standards.

 

Results of this meeting:

1.      There was good agreement about the definition of problem solving.  The NCTM  definition: problem solving means engaging in a task for which the solution method is not known in       advance, seemed to have broad agreement.

2.      Participants were asked to look at possible formats and give their impressions:

            a.      About half of the respondents viewed the current format favorably.

            b.      About half of the respondents viewed the NCTM standards or the similar Delaware standards favorably.

c.      Nearly half of the respondents viewed the two examples of standards with some grade-level progression favorably, thought the negative responses were higher here than for options a and b.  Support for grade-level progression was weakest among the Elementary school respondents -- note- there is question about the accuracy of this   statement. 

 

The first draft of these standards uses the grade bands 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12.  In this first draft, you can assume that the grade-level standards would be (nearly) identical for the grades within a specific band.

 

Five new CCGs:

                + Build new mathematical knowledge through problem solving.

                + Recognize reasoning and proof as fundamental aspects of mathematics.

                + Communicate mathematical thinking coherently and clearly to peers, teachers and others.

                + Recognize and use connections among mathematical ideas.

                + Create and use representations to organize, record, and communicate mathematical ideas.

 

Thanks to all for keeping Oregon's mathematics community strong!"

 

?  TOMT                                                                                             Jackie Cooke and Cathy Bernhard

"1.  Lois is doing a great job of getting TOMTs mailed to people who need them.  She has a new method which saves both of us time.

2.  March/April TOMT will be at printers around the first of February with our first attempt at a tear-out ballot.  We'll then begin working on the final issue of the year.

3. We will be having a series of articles from the OMLI people next year.

4. There will not be regular contest articles. A few human interest ones but most of the info about contests will be updated on the web page and dates and contact info can be included on the calendar page.

5. Don't forget the new Area Rep awardees for this year have to be decided by Mar. 1 in order to be included in the May/June issue."

 

 ?  Webmaster                                                                                    Jackie Cooke

"? The board minutes that were corrected due to a small error, have been revised and uploaded along with the August Board Minutes.

? The most current revisions to Area Reps & Officers contact information has been uploaded. Please make sure you have noted any changes on the roster at the board meeting as that is what the webmaster and editor uses to update the webpage and back cover of TOMT.

? TOMT article extensions have been added including the newest Internet Bookmarks articles, Kasey Anderson's graphics, Laurie Burton's Math History game cards, and the Hurklequest extended articles. There may be an error on one of Kasey's graphic organizers. We are looking into it.

? Contest info and dates have been revised. We are undecided whether we will create more detailed contest pages on our web site or link with another organization who plans to share up-to-date contest details.

? The PAESMT page is now linked to the new NSF page address (http://www.paemst.org/) and I've added Giny as the contact person for anyone who wants more info.

? The Math Ed awards recipients have been completely updated.

? The OML pages have been updated with accurate information and the nomination form for next Aug.

? Don't forget the new Area Rep awardees for this year have to be decided by March 1 in order to be included in the May/June issue."

 

?  Mailing Clerk                                                                                 Lois Costine

            - 500 extra copies of TOMT had to be printed to accommodate the increased membership.

            -  In the future, more is better in terms of the number of TOMTs printed because if there is an additional printing we are charged for the set up again.

            -  There are nine addresses that cannot be mailed with our postal permit because of being out of the country.

 

"All current back issues of  TOMT have been sent and the extra copies have been delivered to Ralph.  Expenses so far are $76.93.  Ralph and I had a discussion about the extra costs to send out international issues and it appears that we have been subsidizing this for years.  Only one big trip to the Main Post Office so far."

 

 

 

 

 

?  For our next Board meeting in May in Redmond:

            -  We will try to get a block of motel rooms.

            -  There will be a social before the board meeting and a social after!

 

?  Thank you to Carli Halligan and Debbie Lindow for hosting today's meeting.

 

?  Meeting adjourned at 2:15.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

Patty Sandoz

Recording Secretary

 

 

Area Representative Reports

 

Area 2                                                                                                 Tari Querin and Vickie Rooks

 

Family Math training continues with the focus around Number, Algebra, and Geometry. Geometry training with 10 schools participating was done early January. It went very well.

 

Building Reps meet with our TOSAs for business but also to do some math. The last session dealt with questioning strategies. What makes a good math question was the focus.

 

This year our elementary NSF groups have been split into 3 groups: Content, Instructional Practice, and Book Study. The books that will be the focus this semester at the participating schools are the Thomas Carpentar books: Cognitive Guided Instruction and Thinking Mathematically. Last semester schools got to choose either between books that focused on parents and community: Getting Your Math Message Out to Parents and Schools and Families: Creating a Math Partnership or a book that emphasized developing productive math conversations in the classroom; Classroom Discussions: Using Math Talk to Help Students Learn. The School facilitators that participated in these book studies shared that their staff thought the book studies from the first semester went very well and enjoyed the discussions about the various topics.

 

The content group has focused on the Developing Mathematical Ideas ( DMI) modules this year. We have 4 schools participating in the first DMI module: Building A System of Tens and one school participating in the second module: Making Meaning for Operations. Like the book study, there is on-going training for the facilitators so that they may conduct these meetings with their staff.

 

The Instructional Practice group have a menu of activities to choose from each time they meet. Facilitators decide what is the need for their staff and attend the appropriate session that will help their staff in their understanding of mathematics and the curriculum. Sessions are on the various strands in the curriculum looking at the development of those strands K-5 as well as establishing a professional learning community at their school, classroom observations, and assessments.

 

Area 3                                                                                                 Shawna Dehler and Charlotte Ogle

Hillsboro School District high school and middle school math teachers have had a series of inservice

trainings during December and January.  Shannon McCaw, from Newberg, was hired as a consultant to help

teachers with the state standards and gave some excellent training on how to improve state test scores.

 

Several teachers in the Hillsboro District are involved in a Lesson Study grant with Pacific University.  We are in the 2nd year of the grant, training grade 6-8 teachers in the Japanese model.   This spring (April) we will begin a process identifying Power Standards – or the most critical math standards identified by teachers K-12, where we should focus instruction.  We will be completing a K-12 project this spring.

 

Area 4                                                                                                 Nancy Anderson and Stephanie Legard

Newberg:  from Jackie Nissen and Kayda Mitchell

We offered a course through extended studies at WOU on differentiation and the algebra strand focusing on the Annenberg algebra course and SIOP.  This quarter we are using the Annenberg measuring course and assorted differentiation techniques.  I am co-teaching it with Juana McDonald, our ELL coordinator for the district.  We had 38 participants last quarter.  Tonight is our first class of this quarter and we expect enrollment to be down just because people are busy.  The reading, writing, and math TOSAs are teaming up to do elementary grade level workshops for the district to lend support to the teachers especially in the areas of assessment and blending the 3 areas so each are not taught in isolation.