Principal Meeting Notes

2/23/12

Paola Stzajn – Math Educator from NCSU, discussed Project AIM
Partnership between NCSU, Horizon Research, and WCPSS
Project focus is on math discourse
Working with 2nd grade teachers working on subtraction
8 Math Coaches were selected to continue to work with AIM and 26 2nd grade teachers from 7 schools – total of 40 hours of PD during the summer and on-going sessions throughout the year
12-13 school year – 8 coaches will create 4 teams to work with 80 teachers who come in teams from their schools, teachers working with ELL students will have priority
Application form will be available shortly and Michelle will send out the information by April 30
Teachers will be notified by May 31
Must commit to Summer Institute on August 13-15 (Michelle is working on the possibility of funding for subs for year round) and 7 meetings from 4:30 – 7:45
Teachers will receive 4 CEUs and $800 stipend for research and time

Michelle shared the feedback from the last session – shared website with free videos – shows an entire 45 minute lesson instead of the clips that were shared last time that would have to be purchased
Using Today’s Meet to facilitate a back channel discussion throughout the meeting – you can also access the archive after the meeting –
Overview of the Common Core State Standards for Math – last month was focused on the Practice Standards (how the students were learning) and today is focused on the Content Standards (the what)

Content Standards made up of standards, clusters, and domains
Standards are the “old objectives”, wordier with better descriptors
Clusters are groups of standards lumped together that are similar
Domain is the big heading that is similar to the “strands” – Operations and Algebraic Thinking, Number and Operations in Base Ten, Measurement and Data, and Geometry (K-5), Counting and Cardinality is found in Kindergarten
Nomenclature – 4 (grade level). G (domain).1 (standard) – 1st standard listed under the Geometry domain in grade 4
Grade level overviews are also given – domains are listed with the big ideas and include the Mathematical Practices
Each grade level also has critical areas – found in a document format with the critical areas listed followed by a description of the critical area

Critical Areas – a closer look –activity where they had standards and they had to put them in the grade that they are taught – then they received the critical areas and revisited their arrangement

Big changes in the curriculum include K-2 curriculum increasing demands, teachers will have to have conceptual mathematical understanding, curriculum lends itself to math talk, completing this activity at school with K-5 so that everyone can see what they are going to do
Video clip of K classroom on decomposing numbers – teacher questioning and open-mindedness to a variety of student responses
As students are working on problems they need to be able to discuss their reasoning – any one of the 8 practices
Kindergarten Activities – importance of modeling and math talk, way we are doing Geometry is different – relationship between shapes, description, difference is way students are asked to represent the information and learning
First Grade Activities – place value, modeling and making use of structures, CC is more explicit
Second Grade Activities – need procedures in place to support the hands-on discovery and exploration,
Third Grade Activities – good activity to bring in a variety of standards,
Fourth Grade Activities –concepts build over the years
Fifth Grade Activities –volume is new to 5th grade, teachers will have to provide time for exploration

Curriculum Development
Grade level Focus Groups met to delve into the standards and unpack to increase understanding – members included teachers, IRTs, and Math Coaches
Reviewed current resources –Math Expressions – to identify gaps
Now working with curriculum writers – creating daily Learning and Teaching Guides and alignment lessons
Some changes in how Math Expressions is being used – as a resource while the CC Standards are the curriculum
Teachers should use C-MAPP as the resource for instruction and use the alignment lessons
Practice standards are a part of the lesson
Bulk of instructional days will fall into the critical areas
Timeline – Quarter 1 – April 1, Quarter 2 – April 30, Quarter 3 – May 31, and Quarter 4 – June 30 – look at one quarter at a time to focus on content
Resources available now (all documents are posted to the Principal and IRT Wikis
Grade level overviews
Scope and sequence documents
Changes … at a Glance (Identified gaps that are not in the current standards so that the teacher might focus on that standard after the EOG and having content that is needed)
Math Expressions SIOP Correlation (on C-MAPP)

Miscellaneous
Daily Routines – critical to do both Math Expressions and those in the lessons
Calendar Time – no CC Standard that relates to calendar time, great opportunity to review spiraling mathematical concepts, focused on a learning outcome, Morning Meeting might be an option for including calendar
Daily Routines and calendar should be no more than 15 minutes
Assessments – 2012-2013 – State assessment aligned to the CC with the national assessment coming in 2013-2014 (assess both Content Standards and Practice Standards)
multiple choice paper and pencil,
Grade 5 and above will be a grid-in answer (like bubbling in your name) with a maximum of 8 items
Grade Level Videos – creating one for each grade level – goal is to have them ready March 1 and posted to C-MAPP
Learning Trajectory Posters were distributed to IRTs at the last meeting – ordering information is available in the power point that is posted on the Principal Wiki
Shifts in Mathematics – Focus, Coherence, Procedural Fluency, Deep Conceptual Understanding, Applications (modeling) and
Start talking about the Practice Standards Now, focus on the Content Standards Later
IRTs are receiving training in the afternoon on how to facilitate the unpacking of the standards