GCCTM Awards Banquet - Ideas to Share form the Keynote

On Monday, I had the honors of presenting two of the 2015-2016 Outstanding Educator Awards from the Greater Cleveland Council of Teachers of Mathematics (GCCTM).  There are so many talented teachers doing great work in mathematics in Northeastern Ohio so I'm incredibly glad we have the organization in place to give teachers much deserved recognition.

The GCCTM is also a special evening because the key note speakers are excellent.  This year I had the pleasure of seeing Steve Leinwand give (most of) his Discussion with 3 Titles.  I think he is a very energetic and entertaining speaker and he shared lots of great and achievable ideas.

He shared with us, some lessons and strategies he has observed in his travels of coaching and team teaching across the country.  He also shared some easily digestible ideas.  Please read his presentation if you want all the details but here's the biggest takeaways I plan to incorporate into my teaching and planning:

2-4-2 Homework Policy I love this idea SOOOO much I put it first on my list in case you don't get through this entire post.  I have been trying to think of a consistent way to limit my assignments to a reasonable load but also incorporate spiral review more than I have been.  The 2-4-2 HW policy essentially says that for each lesson, you assign two problems to practice new material, four problems from last week, last unit, last month, last year.  The last two questions are writing questions; another area of assignment I strive to be more consistent in implementing.  I felt validated in wanting to do more focused assignments.  I often feel like teachers who give longer homework may secretly judge me for giving less.

10% Change
More that 10% is overwhelming, less than 10% is probably not enough considering how much new, great material is out there. From his slides:

Consider 10%:

  - 6 minutes in every lesson

  - 18 days

  - one unit

  - and 50% in 5 years!

It could be a simple exit slip each day, a change in HW policy, or revamping one unit. 

For me, this change will likely be with my HW policy as per the 2-4-2 approach above. My school is also incorporating more project based learning so I'll probably be changing more than 10%!


Exciting Times
Seriously, these are exciting times to be a math teacher.  So much technology is starting to be available and focused for math ed so that it adds to the instruction rather than just being "because we can" technology. NCTM Illuminations and tool kit, GeoGebra, Desmos, and others. There's so much to explore and draw from!

Working with One Another
Steven Leinwand also talked about the immense value of observing and coteaching with one another (actually, it was more like a scolding that not enough of us do this) because the feedback and experience is mutually beneficial and results in more useful reflections that what often results from administrator observations. 


And as is often the case with attending these events, you leave partly invigorated and partly feeling bad about yourself.  But mostly invigorated.  :)  This summer I will definitely be spending some time on Stevens Leinwand's website watching and reading through these materials. I hope you find this source as intriguing as I did!