Mathematics Content Courses for Elementary and Special Education Teachers

Framingham State College4/3/08

Meeting Schedule

8:30 / Coffee/tea/registration
9:00 / Eileen Lee,
Mass. Department of Higher Education / Opening remarks and general discussion about the Guidelines and MTEL motivation
9:15 / Suzanne Chapin,
Boston University / Suzanne will describe BU’s mathematics courses for students preparing for licenses in elementary, special education, and bilingual education.Her talk will focus on how to incorporate some methods into the content and the role of discourse in helping students learn this important mathematics.
10:00 / Sybilla Beckmann,
University of Georgia, Athens / This presentation will describe and give examples from mathematics content courses for prospective elementary and middle grades teachers that deepen teachers’ understanding of the mathematics they will teach by focusing on explaining why the standard procedures and formulas of elementary mathematics are valid, why non-standard ways of solving problems or reasoning can also be correct, and why some seemingly plausible but incorrect approaches are not valid.
10:45 / Questions and Answers/Discussion
11:15 / Richard Bisk,
Worcester State College / This talk will describe the new three semester sequence for elementary majors at Worcester State College. Discussion will include rationale for the change, sample test questions and challenges as we move forward.
12:00 / Stan Dick,
University of Massachusetts Boston / Stan will discuss:
1) The Content, Format and prospects of success of two content/methods courses for graduate and undergraduate Elementary School Teacher Candidates at UMass Boston,
2) The difficulties of fitting these courses, and the many other DESE requirements into our teacher programs,
3) Our attempts to include a third course,
4) How we accommodate Special Education Teachers and Teachers of the Visually Impaired in these courses,
5) An online programmed instruction course we hope will provide additional support for our students.
12:30 / Lunch and discussion
1:15 / Carol Hay,
Middlesex Community College / Carol will share her experiences since 2003 developing their two math content courses for pre-service elementary teachers, based on the guidelines in the Massachusetts Elementary Education Transfer Compact (This is a transfer articulation agreement between state community colleges and state colleges and universities.). Carol will talk about course content, joint work with science colleagues, and building a learning community for pre-service teachers at Middlesex CC.
1:45 / Tom Fortmann,
Mass Board of Elementary and Secondary Education / Closing Remarks
2:00 / Optional meeting for representatives from Public Institutions of Higher Education / Discussion about the implications on the Elementary Education Transfer Compact