Meeting of the Mathematical Minds

November 9^th the PUHSD  Math Team Leaders had their second gathering of "Mathematical Minds". We started the session with "accountability time" and the team leaders did not disappoint!!  Each Team Leader brought evidence of assessments from the August Team Leader training (See August blog for details on the assessment homework). 

The Algebra, Geometry and Algebra II team leaders shared samples of assessments and strategies for engaging students in self-reflection on their assessments.  They shared ideas on how to identify what the students know versus what they do not know on each assessment and, more importantly, how teachers engage students in the process.  They also shared strategies of how their PLCs are working to implement  immediate, specific, and corrective feedback for students as part of a Formative Assessment cycle for learning.

The example below models the quality, "Be specific so students are aware of the point value assigned to  each question." 



Maryvale Algebra Team


The example below models the quality, "Establish common grading rubric." 

Metro Tech Algebra 3-4

I posted a folder on SharePoint where you can find the artifacts that were shared from each team (Algebra, Geometry, Algebra 3-4). 

The second half of the training was dedicated to defining relevant versus meaningful mathematics and a crucial component to lesson design: Mathematical Task selection.  Specifically, what is the difference between a low and a high cognitive demand task? How do these tasks affect student achievement?   

Course level teachers participated in a  Task Development activity. A team of 3-4 teachers identified a standard and created a low cognitive demand task. 

Then, they composed a high cognitive demand task that would assess the same standard. After creating the high cognitive task, teams were asked to develop questions that either 1) assist students to get “unstuck” (assessing questions)  or 2)  challenge students to think more in depth about the task (advancing questions). 
Teams shared their tasks and we collected all of the examples into one document (Click HERE for the examples). 

The team leaders' Homework for the January meeting is:

• Bring evidence of a high cognitive demand task (common task) that your team has created. 
• We will focus on designing lessons for 2
  nd Semester and using a planning template that will help you to achieve the goals of the CCSS Mathematical Practices.

Dr. Kanold also summarized the meeting on his blog. Please view the PowerPoint for the Team leader meeting for details of the session. 

Happy December!