January 26, 2008
OCTM Board Meeting Highlights
Greetings from La Grande, smothered with 57 cm of snow! Our winter Board meeting concluded in short order so that travelers could hit the road for the long, slow, safe drive home. Everyone arrived without incident although some arrived home the day after the meeting!
We will be printing a new Elementary Problem Box book with a targeted publication date of early August 2008. The new book will contain elementary problem boxes from 1993 to 2008 with a bonus section of primary problem boxes. Start saving your pennies now for this wonderful addition to your professional library.
The State of Jefferson Math Conference was held last October with over 20 sessions provided by 17 presenters including Cathy Brown, Jon Wiens, and Mike Gould. This was a very successful event on many levels with 150 in-service and pre-service teachers in attendance. Thank you to Brent Freeman, Francie Bostwick, DJ Muller, as well as many others, for their work to provide a high quality professional development opportunity for teachers in southern Oregon.
Late last fall, Oregon Council of Teachers of Mathematics sent a resolution to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics recommending that the Annual Meeting strive to be a greener conference. NCTM responded with a pledge to implement greener actions such as asking hotels to reduce, reuse, and recycle paper, plastic, and glass. As well, a recycling program for program booklets, badge holders, and newspapers will be made available at the conference. The conference decorator has a policy to hire vendors who demonstrate green practices. NCTM has also stated that it will redouble its efforts to find new ways to "honor the planet, its resources, and its people." This is a start. It's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for . . . !
The annual Oregon Math Leaders Conference (OML) includes a wonderful awards ceremony to honor special people who've given much to the math community. Two of these awards are named after giants in Oregon's elementary and secondary math education: Mildred Bennett and Oscar Schaaf. This last August the Mildred Bennett Elementary Math Education Award was presented to Giny Christensen, a sixth grade teacher at West Intermediate School in Sutherlin. The Oscar Schaaf Secondary Mathematics Education Award was given to Linda Samek, provost and professor of teacher education at Corban College in Salem. Our final award is the Oregon Hall of Fame Award which recognizes an individual who has served math education long and well. This year's Hall of Fame Award recipient is Cathy Brown. I invite you to read all about each of these wonderful, deserving women on the OCTM Awards page at http://www.octm.org/awards.html.
The Oregon Math Leaders Co-Chairs of Kristin Takano Becker, Theresa Hilkey, and Theresa Trotter are busily preparing for the August 3-5, 2008 conference. The theme of Diving Deep Into Mathematics will emphasize professional learning communities to "dive deep into using student data for instructional planning, tapping into each others’ strengths, and building a collaborative community that lends itself to discussions about best practices." More information can be found at http://www.octm.org/oml.html.
The Fifth Annual Writers' Retreat will immediately follow OML. The Writers' Retreat is the final step for participants as they polish articles about successful classroom activities for publication in The Oregon Mathematics Teacher (TOMT). Experienced writing coaches and a retreat facilitator will be in attendance. Selection to Writers' Retreat can fund a person's way to OML as there is a stipend once the article is complete as well as reimbursement of the early registration fee for OML.
Every summer NCTM offers an Affiliate Leadership Conference (ALC) to interested and key members of each Affiliate. It is designed to strengthen organizations by identifying and sharing leadership strategies, connecting with the NCTM President and Executive Director, and networking with leaders from other Affiliates just as our own OML Conference develops leadership capacity within our state. The OCTM Board will increase funding to send 4 to 6 Board members to ALC, depending on location and following established selection criteria. It is important to note that a person may choose to attend this leadership conference on their own. This year's conference will be in Seattle, June 27-29.
The winter Board meeting was held at the Sheet Metal Training Center (SMTC), thanks to arrangements made by Marla Baber and Sarah Savage. The SMTC has been wonderfully generous to OCTM for many years, providing a room for our Saturday meetings free of charge. The Sheet Metal Training Center at 2379 NE 178 Avenue, Portland, http://www.sheetmetal-16.org/, is also a great place to take your students to see math in action!
The next Board meeting will be Saturday, April 26, 2008. At this time, we do not have a location identified. Anyone with a location idea or an offer may contact Winnier Miller (millerw1@comcast.net) or Lois Costine (w.costine@att.net).
Respectfully submitted,
Patty Sandoz, President
Oregon Council of Teachers of Mathematics