12:45 Lunch Meetings Report Out 

• Nominations committees

­      We have a list of nominees and Molly will be contacting them to see if they are willing to  become a candidate.

• NWMC

­     Web page

 

Family Math Night / Advocacy                                                                        Gail Gerdemann

• Gail shared information about her1^st/2^nd grade program in Bellevue.  She is going to be showing us her brand new 3^rd/4^th grade show.
• Science Education Partnerships

­      Different from traditional family math night

­      Ways to get parents involved in math.

­      Kids share their thinking on how they solved problems in front of the whole group

-   Features of shows
§          Kids thinking
§          Visual representations of numbers especially with grades 1-2 show
§          Games works on number sense grades 1-2 add/subtract and grades 3-4 multiplication/division
§          Share ways to extend the information
§          Games can be played with very few manipulatives – paper, pencil or deck of cards

 

Board Member Reports 

Board members have been asked to submit their Board reports electronically and Jennifer sent those out to all Board members. So at this time please only share new information or highlight an important piece.

            AREA REPORTS

·      Area 1                                          Theresa Trotter & Lynn Bonser

–      Lynn has done 2 family math game nights this fall (Rainier and Seaside)  and has 3 more scheduled for this school year (Clatskanie, Vernonia, and another in Rainier)

–      A math science partnership grant for Columbia County was denied. We are looking into getting some help from a person in Tillamook (Jill Sumerlin knows and recommends him) to reapply again for next year, if funds are available. Member of Columbia and Clatsop County “math academies” have been reviewing the latest drafts of the proposed new math standards documents at their meeting this fall – and providing feedback to Lynn to take to the Panel Meetings.

–      There is a lot of work going on in our counties through our ESD on the subjects of  Power Standards, Unwrapping the Standards,  Data Driven Decision Making, Formative (and common formative)Assessment,  and Effective Teaching Strategies.  These are all related to a series of trainings offered though the “Leadership and Learning Center” based in Englewood Colorado.  Lynn has received training on all of these topics and is working on making all of this work as accessible to teachers of math in the region as possible, by tying the components of these trainings to Oregon and NCTM standards and materials.

 

·      Area 2                                          Tari Querin

–      This year at the elementary level there is one instead of two Math Building Reps that attends 5 meetings during the year. OCTM has the opportunity to promote our organization and up coming conferences at these meetings. There have also been some changes in the after school classes that had previously been offered to support our math adoption. The elementary math and literacy TOSAs are teaming together to offer monthly grade level instructional support classes which cover both literacy and  math; these are optional, 2 1/2 hour meetings on Thursdays after school and teachers are paid  their hourly rate to attend. Due to the new reading adoption, the first classes this year were weighted about 2 hours literacy and 1/2 hour math, but that is
changing as the year progress. 

–      TOSAs Rose Pamer, Cheryl Ogburn and Nancy Low Cheryl have done some parent math information nights and some  "Math & Muffins" meetings during the day.

–       Peninsula Elementary recently did a Family Game Night which offered a
variety of familiar (some commercial, some not) games including a large number
of math-related games. Toni Mendenhall, their Title 1 coordinator who organized
the event, reports that it was a huge success.

–      In secondary (6-12), the building rep is called an "Instructional Facilitator". Each middle and high school engages in two deep lesson design cycles a year that includes collaborative analysis of student work artifacts as well as in many schools, a collegial observation piece. The Instruction Facilitators
meets monthly to get support for their role as a facilitator. The work builds on the efforts from the Urban Systemic Grant that finished last year. The goals are to increase student achievement, close, achievement gaps, and increase the number of students enrolled and successful in higher
levels of mathematics.

–      The Math Science Partnership grant Portland received will focus on Science at the Middle School not Math.

 

 

·      Area 3                                               Shawna Dehler & Charlotte Ogle

–      Hillsboro school district has hired Shannon McCaw to consult with the math teachers in the district.  All high school and middle school math teachers have met twice in an in-service this year, once all together (a milestone).  Shannon is meeting with math representatives from each elementary school and they will discuss the Focal Points and new standards as well as communication with middle school teachers.  The district math teachers are working on a draft document that outlines our three year plan which includes; common assessments, curriculum and aligning standards, addressing needs of students above and below grade level, articulation k-12, and communication.

–      Beaverton School District has decided to eliminate the positions of math facilitators at the elementary level.  Last year they funded one facilitator at each elementary.  This year at the district level, they have chosen to put their full support behind the new reading adoption.  

 

·      Area 4                                                Stephanie Legard & Marie Cramer

–      Nancy Anderson spent November 7 at Eagle Creek Elementary in Estacada doing both 4^th and 6^th grade model lessons from Bridges.  She was videotaped and watched by 3 other teachers.  She used the Bridges “money” pieces for both lessons. At the end of the day, Nancy did a 90 minute training for 6^th grade teachers on fraction operations using pattern blocks.  Back in October, Nancy did a 2^nd grade model lesson on Fact Families at Clackamas River Elementary and Hands On Equations with the 6-12^th grade teachers.

–      Nancy just started working with the Salem Education Foundation on their Enrichment Academy which is being extended to after school sites in January and Saturdays in February.  Nancy is writing the probability curriculum for grades 3 through 8.

–      Newberg- Kayda Mitchell and Jennifer Schneider

–      The Newberg School District is continuing the process of Curriculum Mapping this year.  Mathematics was the first curricular area mapped last year and is being updated this year, while Writing is being mapped this year.  Newberg’s K-12 math alignment team met to focus on issues relating to the draft of Oregon’s new mathematics standards, the importance of place value, and mathematics vocabulary.  At this meeting, treats were given out from the NW Math Conference in Bellevue that took place in October.  Additionally, Dundee Elementary School is partnering with George Fox University to offer four Family Math Nights this year. The first was held in September and the next is coming up in November.  Fox mathematics education students work in pairs to host a table event at these Family Math Nights. 

–      McMinnville- Stephanie Legard

–      McMinnville School District’s K-12 Math Leadership Cadre will be meeting at the end of November to discuss the revised Oregon math standards.  Teams of teachers from the cadre are carrying out their action plans to facilitate mathematics professional development with the staff at their schools.  Beginning in January, the Teacher’s Development Group will be training a group of K-12 teachers from McMinnville in “Best Practices in Teaching Mathematics”.

–      Teachers at the K-2 level are using our newly created math assessment kits to assess where their students are related to the math standards and make decisions about their teaching.  We are collecting information and feedback to make these kits as helpful and valuable as possible.

 

·      Area 5                                                  Gail Gerdemann & Marge Burak

–      Kristin Takano Becker is now a co-chair for OML and I am Area 5 Rep with Gail

–      On Nov 29th Ann McMahon facilitated a P^3 in Newport hosted by Marge Burak and Kristin Takano Becker. There were ten teachers that attended and it went very well.

 

·      Area 6                                          Theresa Hilkey & Inga Perham

–      We worked very hard in the summer recruiting our new teachers to become OCTM members as well as many who had not renewed. I hope our numbers were good.

–      I also have sent out the introduction letter and I am working on updating my contact list, which I think is going to be an ongoing process!

–      We have also set a date for our first Pizza, Pop, and Problem Solving.  It will be on November 29^th at Lane ESD.

–      We have a date set for a Family Math Night.  It will be at Kennedy Middle School on January 28^th.

–      We as a district, Eugene, have also created a district wide math leaders group to work towards textbook adoption and new standards adoption.

 

·      Area 7                                          Karen Ashcraft & Kim Clary

–      Millicoma Intermediate School has just completed a fun week of Pumpkin Exploration.  Classes were divided into groups of four and each group was given a pumpkin.  These are some of the activities the groups completed:

–      After reading a book about Archimedes, we measured the water displacement of each pumpkin.

–      We also measured its height, circumference, mass, thickness of the meat, and amount of seeds.  We then plotted each of these items against the mass of the pumpkin and made conclusions about the correlations between mass and height, mass and circumference, mass and water displacement etc. 

–      Students also drew the continents on their pumpkin making a pumpkin globe.  Some groups cut the pumpkin into continents and attempted to project the pumpkin into a flat map.  Very challenging.  

 

·      Area 8                                          DJ Muller & Ron Baker.

–      Nancy Rogers  and Ron Baker from Area 8B were presenters at the Jefferson State Math Conference in October

 

·      Area 9                                          Andrea Lane & Diane Randgaard

–      At this time I have nothing to report. I have made attempts to get a P^3 scheduled here and in Burns but do to different circumstances it has been difficult.

 

·      Area 10                                          Dana Marlia & Cheri Clausen

–      Cheri is inviting local OCTM people to her P^3 and at the end of the P^3 they are sharing focal points information with the group.

–      Dr. Jim Tooke, EOU professor, has been out to various rural schools to observe teachers who took part in the GO MATH grant this summer.  As part of the grant, Dr. Tooke will observe teachers using a variety of questioning techniques.

–      There is a new math teacher from Burnt River who is interested in OCTM.  He accessed the rep's email address via the website.  :)  I have touched base with him again and awaiting a return email.

–      Disappointingly, response was poor from multiple attempts to contact new teachers in the Baker and Union counties. The Ontario area seems to have a pretty high staff turnover.  Consequently, we have a lot of names that have been submitted for free membership to OCTM.

–      Ontario area teachers have written school improvement action plans and personal goals around their learning from the week long Teachers Development Group workshop presented at the ESD summer institute last July.  

–      We have two P^3 sessions planned for November - one in Ontario and one in Vale.  The Ontario district superintendent signed up to attend the Ontario event - we're thinking this is a positive reflection on the reputation of our work!  Local members of the ODE math content panel have volunteered to attend the ESD event.  Time will be dedicated to learning about the curriculum focal points and how these have affected our state standards (similar to the panel discussion held at OML).  Our ESD has shown its support by emailing the fliers to area teachers and by agreeing to provide pizza and pop for both events.

–      One of our area's MET grant recipients, Michelle Ellis, is a 3rd year teacher teaching 3rd grade in Ontario.  She is a member of her school's math cadre and has been an active participant in past workshops, such as P^3 sessions, Boyd Henry's class, and the TDG summer institute.  The other MET grant recipient, Nanette Lehman, is from Baker School District.  New to the classroom, Nanette has been very involved with a grant through Boise State involving best practices. She is eager to be involved with OCTM and provide math leadership in the Baker School District. 

–      Other Important Info:

(Copy of Linda Bauck’s email)

EOU is making major cuts. Here is the plan.

The science/mathematics department is being ravaged (Math, Physics, and Geology majors are being cut , English and Writing are being decimated (a reduction of -4 FTE), while Art, Theatre, Native American program, Gender studies remain basically untouched. Part of their mission statement says " We will bring higher education to rural Oregon, where access to high-quality education can make a significant contribution to people's lives.

They give lip service to serving rural eastern Oregon. Math teachers are becoming rare. How can a university call themselves an "Institution of Higher Learning" without a Math program. What happened to core content!!!

If you would like to respond to this proposal please send your comments to president@eou.edu. Put Budget Planning Suggestion in the Subject Line.

The draft plan is a 50 page (most pages high sounding rhetoric) document to be found on EOU President web page.

Linda Bauck

 

·      Area 11                                            Nancy Swarat & Susan Fisher-Alexander

–      Susan Fisher Alexander is working with BMCC, TOTOM member Gary Fowler on a family math night tradition that we want to start for our children's school.  We are tentatively planning for mid January.

–      Susan Fisher-Alexander and Sue Talbot met to organize a family math night, details to follow at a later time. 

–      State testing is underway. 

–      Buildings were contacted to get first year teachers and memberships were sent in. 

 

·      Area 12                                                  Jane Osborne

–      No Report

 

·      Area 13                                          Sarah Savage & Marla Barber

–       

 

·      Area 14                                          Jennifer Bell & Elizabeth Warren

–      On November 14th (hence the late report), we had a successful Pizza, Pop, and Problems event at Round Table in West Linn.  Aleta Kandle provided a fun get to know each other BINGO activity to open.  Cindy Kuzmanich checked people in and ordered the pizza.  Round Table donated the pop.  Caroline Skaug read about Sir Cumference and the Knights of the Round Table to introduce our Pricing Pizzas Problem.  We had each group come up with as many solutions as possible.  We had lots of great proportional thinking using area, price per square inch, slices, area without the crust, and more!  Each person made a mini poster to share.  We discussed the role of the "teacher" in promoting discourse.  Sarah Savage presented tips on how to host a Parent Partnership Night and Winnie Miller demonstrated the new TI n-spire calculator.  The Math Learning Center donated some great prizes including an OCTM membership (arranged by Leslie Steele).  Evaluations were all positive and everyone would come to another one!

–      Sally Wood and Elizabeth Warren presented their Family Math Night tips and activities in Bellevue at the NWMC.  We had 5 Lake Oswego Teachers attend the conference with a few others from our area.

 

• ODE:  Curriculum                                                                        Jon Wiens

­      The revised K-8 math standards went before the Board this fall in a two-part process.  In September I gave the Board an update and outlined the purpose of the NCTM Focal Points and how we are interpreting them in Oregon.  I also presented examples of focal points at grades 3 and 4 and the detailed standards under one of the focal points.  The Board seemed very please with the work.

­      In October I sent the Board the final (we hope!) draft of the K-8 standards for a First Reading. (The Board docket item can be found at www.ode.state.or.us/go/math as the “K-8 Final Draft”).  It included an analysis of the differences between the new and old standards, a description of the sequencing of topics, a comparison to international standards and a preview of how we are going to present the “connections.”  The Board was once again very enthusiastic about the work.  I think they appreciate the clarity of the focal points and the idea of depth versus breadth.  Several Board advisors also voiced strong support of the work.  All-in-all, the presentation was very well received.

­      There are still a few details to work out with the assessment office. They want paragraph descriptors to accompany the standards under each core standards (these are for purposes of Federal review of our tests), so I don’t yet know if the standards will be adopted in December, or whether we will hold off until January.

­      The high school standards are still under discussion.  I don’t think we have arrived yet at the best set of “core standards” for high school, and I think the content standards need to be presented with richer language and in a more coherent way than is the case now.  I held a focus group (of Salem, Portland and Beaverton high school math teachers) on Nov 1 to review the hs standards and give recommendation on what the core standards should be.  I will be holding another focus group at Southern Oregon ESD on Dec 7.  I would like to have more around the state – any assistance you might give me in this endeavor would be greatly appreciated.  One problem is that my budget did not include money for these focus groups, so I am trying to work with districts or ESDs to share some of the substitute costs. 

­      The diploma work is moving forward, albeit slowly.  The Essential skills task force has been working on the descriptions of the essential skills.  At the moment the “indicators” for the “Apply math in a variety of settings” essential skill are essentially the current problem solving standards. There is some push to retain the current state work sample system (for all subjects), and make them required for the new diploma.  If so, it is likely that the problem solving work sample will be a primary means of demonstrating proficiency in the math essential skill.

­      I have attached draft 2.5 of the high school standards and draft 2. The “connections” are still in very rough form and have not been edited.  Changes here incorporate some of the suggestions of the Nov 1 focus group.  In particular, two core standards (the old H.1 and H.2) have been combined into the new H.1.  “Solve equations and inequalities” was expanded and moved after the standards for exponential, quadratic and linear functions.  The three geometry focal points were also revised to incorporate some of the thinking of the focus group.  I think these are all improvements, but the standards still need work before they can be adopted.

­      I would really appreciate any thoughts that you have.

**Jon included the high school core standards information.  This will be included as a separate attachment to these Board minutes.

 

• ODE:  Assessment                                                                        Jim Leigh

 

• OML                                                            Theresa Trotter, Theresa Hilkey, & Kristin Takano Becker

­      They are looking for a 4^th chairperson

­      The dates are August 3 -5, 2007

 

• Mailing Clerk                                                                                    Lois Costine

­      The back mailings of the September and October/November issues have been sent.  Ralph was able to include barcodes on the labels to allow us to get the lower rate on our bulk mailings.  Thank you Ralph.  We currently have $450 in our postal account. A deposit of $1,000 will be made before our January issues are sent.

 

• Past President                                                                                    Winnie Miller

­      Winnie is a member of the high school standards and assessment task force.  She attended a meeting yesterday that focused on how to assess high school learning skills. There was lots of discussion at that meeting about using performance assessments.  Also discussion about what exactly the work sample requirements and scoring should look like.  There was an idea that ODE creates an administration manual.

­      Another meeting of the task forces will be in January before the State Board of Education meets.

 

• President                                                                                    Patty Sandoz

­      September saw the inauguration of the monthly OCTM e-newsletter.  My goal is to reach out to the membership, to encourage members to "poke around" in their TOMTs and on the OCTM website, and to share time-sensitive information such as Pizza, Pop, and Problems events and scholarship application deadlines.  I've heard from members from many states including our own!

­      Writing letters and grants requesting money has been the theme for the fall.  A grant request to Washington Mutual to kick-start the Professional Development Cadre's efforts to roll out the new math standards (the Dog and Pony Show) has been in the works for a few weeks.  We are just in need of some financial information from our most recent tax filing to complete this process.  Letters requesting funds to support TOMT and its related Writers' Retreat have been sent to Oregon Education Association and Math Learning Center.  Included in each letter was an extra plea for even more money to fund the Dog and Pony Show development. 

­      A resolution proposal was recently sent to NCTM's Delegate Assembly requesting the NCTM Annual Meeting work to become a greener conference.  Many thanks to Sara Normington for her encouragement and help with the writing of this proposal.  I began this quest last March at the Annual Meeting and continued at the Affiliate Leadership Conference as I was both appalled and saddened at the amount of waste and lack of recycling evidenced at these gatherings.  Answers to my questions were not satisfactory but this resolution process provides an opportunity to make a positive change.

­      Another inauguration is the issuance of the Issues document that will be sent just prior to each Board meeting.  The Issues document is a compilation of the expected actionable items with pertinent background information, pros, and cons.  Just like in our classrooms, everyone will have some private think time about the different problems!

 

• Vice President                                                                                    Molly Smith

­      This fall our Go-Math activities have continued.  We have a professor from Eastern Oregon University that has been in our classrooms to observe our teaching.  He comes as part of the grant is to see if our teaching has any “Annenberg” style to it. 

­      I would like to thank all of the people who helped out at the Northwest Math Conference in Bellevue at the OCTM table.  Thanks to Casey Dunn for toting up our “sale” items from Ralph’s garage.  And, a thanks to the workers:  Marna Knoer, Phil Bartsch, Lynn Bonser, Patty Sandoz, Dana Marlia, Gail Gerdemann, Jennifer Bell and her fellow teachers, and Andrea Lane. 

­      Area reps if you have not updated your building contact list please do so and send to Jennifer and Patty.  Make sure to reach out to private schools.

 

• Treasurer                                                                                    Ross Eells

­      You will notice some changes in the budget worksheet that were approved at the May Board meeting.  At the top we have added a reimbursement line item for PDC income.  This is money coming in and going out.  It makes it easier to keep track of money.  Previously this was contributions.  In 06-07 this line item was not there so the budgeted and actual show 0.  We also approved adding expenses for the NCTM Affiliate Conference in the Executive Board line items.  We have been consistently sending people to this conference and would like to keep closer track of those expenses.  We have paid for one scholarship out of the Don Fineran scholarship fund.  The Sunrise Scholarship Fund is in a CD at Washington Mutual.  In September that CD was reinvested in a 7 month CD with an APY of 4.70%.  The interest from the previous 13 month CD, $507, was used to create a checking account which will be used to pay for scholarships to the Oregon Northwest Math Conference next year.  By next October there will be more interest earned for another scholarship when that CD matures. 

 

• Secretary                                                                                    Jennifer Cox

­      I attended the NWMC in Bellevue and presented for the first time as well as worked the OCTM booth.

­      I am planning a family math night in Boardman in January for my school, Windy River Elementary.

­      I have been asked to be on a Math Curriculum committee for my district.

­      I am surprised and concerned about the lack of knowledge about the new standards. I have talked to several teachers and administrators who did not know about them.  I am not sure what else we can do to get the word out.

­      If your report is not sent in electronically, then it will not be included in the minutes.

­      Your Board report will be due one week prior to the board meeting.  So Jennifer can compile them and get them to you ahead of time.  If your report is late please send it just to Jennifer. 

 

• Membership                                                                                    Ralph Schubothe

­      We have 1300 members.

 

• NCTM Rep                                                                                    Jill Sumerlin

­      Patty Sandoz and I sent in a proposal for a resolution for the rep assembly that the conferences be "green".

­      I have also been working with Patty on a possible source for grant
funding through Washington Mutual for the PDC.

­      Information:

­      STEM funding bill is approved by both houses of congress and going to Bush for approval. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) No action on NCLB reauthorization for this year. --Ted Kennedy Proposals in congress for pay for teachers include these ideas:
1) pay for performance; 2) pay for knowledge and skills; 3) career ladder programs; 4) pay for teaching in high needs subjects; and 5) pay for teaching in high needs schools. She noted that all five policies aim to improve teacher performance and attract and retain teachers by
compensating them in part for improvements in student achievement. Baratz-Snowden said that the notion of pay for performance is the most contentious and how reformers frame these proposals is key to their success. One major problem for most states and districts she noted, is
linking specific student achievement to a specific teacher. When asked about essential elements to implement differential compensation policies, Baratz-Snowden noted that six key elements were necessary: sufficient and stable funding; communication and teacher buy-in; skilled leadership; targeting high-need schools and subjects; program evaluation and monitoring systems; and integrating and aligning other systems to compensation systems.

 

• Grants                                                                                                Nancy Rogers

 

• PDC Coordinator                                                                        Lynn Bonser

 

• NWMC Coordinator                                                                        Phil Bartsch

­      The 47th NW Mathematics Conference will be held October 9-11, 2008 at the Red Lion on the River in Jantzen Beach and at the Red Lion in at the Quay in Vancouver, Washington.   The theme of the conference is “Reaching New Heights in Mathematics”.   Running concurrently will be a Regional Texas Instruments T3 conference.  Our opening keynote speaker will be Greg Tang and Jerry Johnson will be the Saturday breakfast speaker.

­      The registration for the full conference will be $125 for teaching members of the affiliated groups, $150 for non-members, and $40 for those still in pre-service.

­      Jennifer has done a good job of recruiting new committee members, but we are always looking for volunteers to help with the planning or help at the conference itself.  Anyone interested in helping out should contact Phil or Jennifer.  Those interested in being speakers can find a speaker application link on the OCTM web page or they can contact Jackie Nissen.

­      We will continue to promote the conference throughout the year.  Today we are making fliers available to OCTM board members.  We also are preparing a mailing to all school district administrators to help them think about budgeting for next fall's conference.

­      The first NW Math Conference link is up on the OCTM web page.

 

• OMEC                                                                                                Ann McMahon

­      OMEC met in Salem on October 20^th. A report was given by Jon Wiens, ODE representative to our committee. There are five task forces that are independently working to report back to the State Board. This board will put out a white paper called “leanings,” based on what they hear from these task forces. It appears that no one from ODE is looking at the whole picture because they all have their own issues to complete by the deadline. The two main task forces are essential skills and standards and assessments. Essential skills people are concerned with what skills students need to demonstrate in order to graduate. How do you measure them. At what proficiency? There seems to be no requirement for anyone to be on this task force. OMEC will draft a letter to Ed Dennis and Susan Castillo, asking them to slow down the process. We feel that the NCTM Focal Points for high school should be published first before a state draft can be written. But spring of ’08 is the earliest that the NCTM draft would be available. Jon would like a new high school team, but there is no money left. He wants a team using NCTM standards for guidance, a team that knows the content standards but one that is also concerned about the process. Discussion followed about how to implement a new team. Laura Lethe is forming a committee in Salem to write high school power standards for her district.

­      The other critical task force is the Standards and Assessments Task Force. These people oversee the creation of the core standards. What are policies around the science credit? What does three years of math actually mean? How does the state assessment system need to change? Every 10^th grader will need to take the PSAT test in addition to the State multiple choice test. So OMEC is thinking that the State assessment test should be moved to 11^th grade now that three years of math and science are required. These are critical issues that OCTM will most likely be discussing as well.

­      The state math contest can be accessed at: www.willamette.edu/cla/math/oimt

­      It is an Oregon invitational math tournament. Algebra 1 is not part of this contest. The questions revolved around Geometry, Algebra II, Pre-Calculus and above.

­      OMLI people are done with their summers together, but they have two more years left of this grant. There will be four site visits this year and one next year. They are writing new grant proposals to extend work with the same group.

­      Priorities of OMEC this year are:

§          high school diploma requirements
§          elementary math specialist endorsement
§          Does OMEC need to re-present themselves to other organizations? We want people throughout the state to know what we represent.
§          Position paper on funding. If you’re going to do anything, make sure you have the funding.

 

• TOTOM                                                                                    Nancy Drickey

­      The annual meeting of TOTOM was held September 7-8, 2007 on the campus of Central Oregon Community College in Bend. The agenda included the following:

·       New state standards and high school diploma requirements – report from Jon Wiens

·       Discussion – how do we help teachers meet the new standards, what are the implications of standards based curriculums on teacher education 

·       Goin' Postal Activity – Irv Lubliner and Scott Fallstrom

·       Using Videocases and other Practice-based Strategies in Courses for Prospective Teachers – Nicole Rigelman

·       Electronic Filing Cabinets and uses of a Wiki in teaching math – Dave Moursund

·       Research interests, and current projects - let us know what you are doing

·       OMLI-teacher panel – Janet McLain, Molly Knievel, Melinda Knapp and Kathie Quick

·       Business meeting and proposed constitution: becoming an AMTE affiliate-Martha Van Cleave

·       Math for Elementary Teachers Discussion – content, textbook and methods

Following the discussion by Jon Wiens about the new state standards, the TOTOM members became concerned about the timeline for the development of the secondary standards prior to the release of the NCTM High School Curriculum Focal Points. The following response came from an email sent to NCTM president Skip Fennell asking him about the timeline of the release of the high school curriculum focal points:

-----Original Message-----
From: ffennell@mcdaniel.edu [mailto:ffennell@mcdaniel.edu]
Sent: Friday, September 07, 2007 7:10 PM
To: Nancy Drickey
Cc: Tracy Cullen
Subject: Re: High School Curriculum Focal Points

 

Hi Nancy,

The status of our High School Curriculum Project is that a very rough first draft of the manuscript has been written.  The absolute EARLIEST we will be talking about this will be early in 2008.  The published manuscript should be ready in October, 2008. 

 

If you can ask Jon to hold on for a few months, he (or you) may see a draft on the web. 

Thanks for the inquiry. 

Sincerely,

Skip

Francis (Skip) Fennell, President

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and

Professor of Education

McDaniel College

Westminster, MD

 

----- Original Message -----

From: "Nancy Drickey" <ndricke@linfield.edu>

To: inquiries@nctm.org, ffennell@mcdaniel.edu

Sent: Friday, September 7, 2007 12:59:27 PM (GMT-0500) America/New_York

Subject: High School Curriculum Focal Points

 

What is the status of writing the high school curriculum focal points? Is there a draft version available to states? Oregon is currently revising standards and would be very interested in seeing the work in progress for the high school focal points. I am sitting in a meeting of the Oregon Teachers of Teachers of Math listening to a presentation by Jon Weins (math specialist for the Oregon Department of Education). He is in charge of writing new standards for Oregon and has followed the NCTM focal points for the revision of the K-8 standards. As he works on the high school standards, he would benefit from any information NCTM can share on the high school focal points. What can you share at this point?

 

Nancy Drickey

Education Department Chair

Linfield College

900 SE Baker #A474

McMinnville, Oregon 97128

503.883.2201

 

TOTOM members drafted a letter to Supt. Castillo to voice concerns about the timeline for the proposed new standards. The letter was sent by email, fax, and hard copy to Supt. Castillo on Sept. 19, 2007. Her office acknowledged receipt of the letter and stated that a response would be coming soon.  So far, no response has been sent.

Here is a copy of the letter:

September 8, 2007

Susan Castillo

Superintendent of Public Instruction

Oregon Department of Education

255 Capitol Street NE

Salem, OR 97310-0203

 

Dear Supt. Castillo,

 

Dr. Jon Wiens presented a session September 7, 2007 at the annual conference of the Teachers of Teachers of Mathematics (TOTOM). He shared drafts of the Mathematics Academic Content Standards Revision K-8 Draft 5 and the Mathematics Content Standards Revision High School Draft 2. He also described the adoption schedule for the approval of the new mathematics standards.  As members of TOTOM, we want you to know that we are concerned about the timeline for the adoption of the high school mathematics standards.

 

We are aware of the development of the Curriculum Focal Points for Pre-kindergarten through Grade 8 Mathematics: A Quest for Coherence by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) in September 2006.  One of the strengths of the draft Oregon K-8 mathematics standards is that they are closely aligned with the NCTM prek-8 curriculum focal points.  We would like to see the new high school mathematics standards aligned to NCTM focal points. However, the high school focal points are not ready. In an email response from current NCTM President Skip Fennell, he states “The status of our High School Curriculum Project is that a very rough first draft of the manuscript has been written. The absolute EARLIEST we will be talking about this will be early in 2008. The published manuscript should be ready in October, 2008. If you can ask Jon [Wiens] to hold on for a few months, he (or you) may see a draft on the web.” We are concerned about the timeline in that the Oregon high school mathematics standards are to be adopted before NCTM has a chance to release the high school curriculum focal points.

 

If standards are adopted without the benefit of input from NCTM’s high school curriculum focal points, we fear that the Oregon Content Standards for High School will need to be revised almost immediately. By waiting, Oregon can actually save both time and money by linking their new High School Content Standards to the NCTM High School Focal Points. Further, as the NCTM releases the Focal Points (at elementary through high school levels, the textbook publishers will need to use this new information to refocus curriculum and textbook content. By not waiting for the NCTM, Oregon risks adopting new curriculum and textbooks which, by the time they are adopted, may be out of touch with the NCTM standards and the textbook revision process would have to occur again. This could be extremely costly to districts across Oregon.

 

We urge you to revise the adoption schedule, giving more time for the mathematics standards writing team to consider input from work emerging from the national standards writing team at NCTM, as well as for the textbook publishers to incorporate the new focal points into the curriculum.

 

Sincerely,

 

Scott Fallstrom

TOTOM President

 

cc: Dr. Jon Wiens

 

• Historian                                                                                    Judy Johnson

 

• Contest                                                                                    Laura Lethe

­      OCTM was contacted by Bryan Sullivan, organizer for the ARML (American Regions Math Leagues) Mathematics Competition, in an effort to promote the contest.  He has a 9 minute video about the competition he would like shown at the November board meeting.  North Salem HS fielded a team in the past, but stopped the program when it became difficult to fund the trip to the competition (California?).

­      The Oregon Invitational Math Tournament will be held at Willamette University in May 2008.  The exact date has not been posted.   The website for more information about the contest is:  http://www.willamette.edu/cla/math/OIMT/ .  It has not been updated for 2008.

­      Pentagames, a 7^th and 8^th grade math competition, will be held throughout Oregon on April 25, 2008.  Sites will be determined in January.  Pentagames is celebrating their 25^th year.

 

• Scholarship                                                                                    Brent Freeman

­      We have one application to attend the NCTM Conference in Salt Lake City. I am recommending that we say yes to the applicant's request for $1125 (registration = $225, airfare = $300, and hotel(five nights) = $600). The 5 nights are necessary because the applicant intends to attend the pre-sessions as well, focusing on language and linguistics issues around learning mathematics. No other expenses are requested and the applicant's school will cover the sub. Please give me any input you might have via email by Nov. 24th, and I'll use it in determining a final amount to submit to Ross and the applicant.

­      The next round of scholarships available will be the Fineran Scholarship to attend OML ($100 each) and the Schaaf-McFadden Scholarship for summer college coursework. Both have April 15th due dates and will be reviewed at the April 26th Board Meeting. Look for applications on the website and in the March/April issue of TOMT. No scholarship applications are due to be reviewed at the Jan. 26th Board Meeting.

 

• Publicity                                                                                    Francie Bostwick

­      The articles for the math education awards have been written and submitted to our TOMT editors for the January edition of the TOMT.  I have also forwarded these articles for publication in the award recipient’s alma maters alumni publications.  I am still following up with the news release portion for the math ed awards and will report on that more fully at our November meeting.

• TOMT                                                                                                Jackie Cooke & Cathy Bernhard

­      The December issue is at the printers and should arrive in your mailboxes around December 1. It has an introductory editorial by Jim Leigh along with some articles and ideas from the Swap at OML and the Writers' Retreat. Since there are no PAESMT candidates this year, we have included an article written by several past awardees and encouraging elementary teachers to apply. It also has a nice tribute to Spike Spooner, Joe's brother, who was a valued proofreader and who is greatly missed!

­      We are currently working on the January/February issue.

­      Start thinking about the Student Cover Contest. It will be advertised in the Jan/Feb issue.

­      This year we have been featuring articles from the book A Guide to Oregon’s New K-5 Math Focal Points recently published by PSU's CEED. We will bring a copy of this book to share at the Board Meeting.

­      Joe Spooner's latest book, N is for Nostril has just arrived at the bookstores.  We will bring a copy of this book to the Board Meeting, also.

­       

• WebMaestro                                                                                    Jackie Cooke

­      As webmaster, I'm often the front line person who receives messages for the organization and then decides who they should be directed to. Here's an example of the kind of message I receive that I thought might be of interest to the board:

"Tanya S." <shybe07@q.com> writes:

Hello,

 I am interested in possibly purchasing some of your publications, but I noticed on your website you only have the problem solving book 2 available, I would also like to know if you have book 1 still available.  I was given a complementary membership to the Oregon Council of Math Teachers when I was still working on my Teaching License at Western Oregon University that was back in 2001 I think. I didn’t realize at that time what a valuable resource your journal The Oregon Math Teacher was until this year. After subbing for three and a half years in Oregon I finally got full-time teaching position unfortunately it is in Idaho and I have not seen anything like your journal here for educators. I have been very thankful that I kept some of the journals I had received because my fifth grade team is using the problem solving section quite frequently. One of the people on my team has been teaching in Idaho for years and she absolutely loved the story problems I gave her out of the journal.

My fifth graders struggle a lot with problem solving and I have found that I have to walk through them with all my students if you have any other suggestions of what products you have that might help my students build skills I would be greatly appreciative. I teach 5_th grade and we use Everyday Mathematics as our curriculum.

 I am also wondering if I could purchase previous journal issues or join as a member even though I am currently teaching in Idaho?  

Thanks for your help,

 Tanya Scheibe

1193 S. Sharons Ct #101

Nampa, ID  83686

503-522-8333

• Webpage updates currently completed:

­      October/November, December, and January/February Investigation BackPack files uploaded

­      New contact info on Contest Page

­      New board dates, contest dates, conferences on Calendar page

­      Contact info on Representative and Officer Pages

­      Biographies for each officer and area rep linked to the appropriate pages

­      Uploaded TOY speeches

­      Uploaded Number and Strategy Club article and fixed the link to the SEPS site on the TOMT webpage

­      Uploaded the most current Internet Bookmarks file and cleaned out the archives to only have two years posted. Links go bad fairly quickly.

• Work for the future. We are in the process of getting the NW Math Conf pages up and running. We're discussing a web design person from the NW Conference committee design the pages and then link to the OCTM page.
• Updating the publicity

 

Thanks to Marie Cramer for hosting both PDC and Board Meeting.

 

Meeting Adjourned at 2:45