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By Math Teachers, For Math Teachers: Helping Students Succeed in Math Conferences

November 15, 2012 by 1 Comment

Helping Students Succeed in Math: Conference for Third, Fourth and Fifth Grade Teachers
I’m so excited, I’ve been asked to be a part of a new series of conferences for the Bureau of Education and Research (BER). We will be visiting:

This conference is going to be a doozey.  My sessions during each two-day conference include:

From “Chore” to “More!” – Mastering Complex Problem Solving with Bar Modeling from Singapore (2 hours 40 minutes)
Start solving multi-step word problems with your students tomorrow using the bar model drawing methods popularized in Singapore, the nation that produces the world’s top math students. You’ll see the power of this innovative approach and receive the tools to enable your students – at all skill levels – to see, manipulate and understand how math works.

Unlock the Secret to Mastering Fraction, Ratio and Proportion Concepts with Bar Modeling from Singapore (75 minutes)
The Common Core is loaded with standards that begin, “Solve real world problems involving …” Model drawing from Singapore provides a powerful method to demystify fraction, ratio and percentage problems. In this lively interactive session, you’ll learn to use a signature feature of math from Singapore to help your students work with these higher‑level concepts with ease. Freaked by Teaching Fractions to Third, Fourth and Fifth Graders? Here are the Keys to Success

Using the Best Technology Resources to Enhance Your Math Instruction in Grades 3‑5  (75 minutes)
Looking for some outstanding resources to supplement your math instruction? Cassy cuts through the Web’s clutter and shares some gems – student‑friendly websites that promote math comprehension above all else. You’ll leave this session with more than a dozen time‑tested websites that Cassy enthusiastically recommends for their positive impact on students’ math skills.

Make it Easier to Master Math Concepts with Motivating Math Games for Third, Fourth and Fifth Graders (75 minutes)
Hands‑on activities enhance math comprehension by giving your students visual reinforcement of key concepts. Join Cassy as she shares games that you can easily play with materials you already have in your classroom! You’ll leave this dynamic session with “use them tomorrow” ideas for games and activities to support number sense, place value and mental math with the four operations.

Freaked by Teaching Fractions to Third, Fourth and Fifth Graders? Here are the Keys to Success!  (75 minutes)
The Common Core is loaded with standards that begin, “Solve real world problems involving …” Model drawing from Singapore provides a powerful method to demystify fraction, ratio and percentage problems. In this lively interactive session, you’ll learn to use a signature feature of math from Singapore to help your students work with these higher‑level concepts with ease.

Key Strategies to Empower Your Third, Fourth and Fifth Graders’ Mental Math Abilities  (75 minutes)
In this fast‑paced session, Cassy will share tools you can immediately use to teach students to master mental math. Working with sample addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems, you’ll learn methods to enable your students to develop strong mental math skills, number sense and life‑long confidence with these best strategies for manipulating numbers.

Here They Are: The Best iPad Apps for Teaching Math in Third, Fourth and Fifth Grades!  (75 minutes)
More and more people are turning to iPads as motivating teaching tools. With thousands of math applications available, how do you choose the right ones to support and strengthen your classroom teaching? Discover the best, most valuable math apps currently available. Your students will love practicing number sense, fractions and problem solving in an engaging new way, and they’ll love you for introducing them to these outstanding apps.

But that’s not all, my co-presenters Dr. Barbara Blanke, Dr Nicki Newton, and Mary Peterson will also have sessions on the Common Core, Storytelling in Math and more. Better click the nearest city links above to see all the great sessions offered!

Be sure to check out my other seminars for BER

 

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Alii from the Republic of Palau: Singapore Math Training in the South Pacific

July 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I’ve been out of touch for a few weeks, here’s the scoop….

The Republic of Palau is now using Primary Mathematics, U.S. Edition! Earlier this year the Republic’s Ministry of Education (MOE) released a request seeking the services of a Singapore Math Trainer to work with teachers and MOE staff.  I submitted a bid and was honored to be awarded the contract.

The last 2 1/2 weeks found me in Koror, Palau, working with the teachers on the Singapore materials and elementary school content knowledge. One week was focused on Grades 4-6, which will begin using Primary Mathematics this fall. A second week was spent with teachers of Grades 1-3. They used the materials last year, so we spent time analyzing successes and addressing challenges they found.

It was enlightening and so much fun working with them for two weeks on content and the Singapore strategies. Sulang!

 

Melanie and I are playing Salute! – Squared. A third person is squaring our numbers and adding them together. They give us the sum and based on seeing the other card, we need to figure out what card we are each holding to out foreheads.

Currently, I am attending the International Conference on Mathematics Education (ICME-12) learning about current education research and sharing experiences with educators from around the world.

Included as part of the conference is the Mathematical Carnival with activities for students. How often do you see this in the U.S. –  Math Face Painting!

More on the ICME-12 to come…

 

 

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Quick thought from NCTM conference

May 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment

 

Tweet from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics conference regarding a discussion of number lines.

Archived twitter conversations from last week’s conference can be found by searching #NCTM12 or #NCTM2012.

 

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NCTM 2012 Conference Singapore Math Sessions

March 29, 2012 by 1 Comment

If you’re like me, you’re already excitedly paging through the NCTM Conference program book, choosing which workshops and sessions to attend.  With over 700 sessions this year, planning your days can be quite a challenge.  If you’re  looking to check out some Singapore Math sessions, there’s good news and bad.

Good news? There are 11 sessions on Singapore Math this year and they are much more diverse than in the past. (Though the number of choices is down from the 14 offered last year)

Bad news? Anything listed below in pink is an overlapping session.  Below are my thoughts on which session to choose, if you have a conflict.

The best news! I’m presenting a  session on Friday, April 27 at 11 AM with Lauri Susi entitled, “Technology + Singapore Strategies = Number Sense.” (More on this below)

FYI – Four of the eleven sessions are Exhibitor’s Workshops:

Exhibitor Workshops (60 minutes) are set theatre style for at least 115 people. Exhibitors showcase their products and services away from the Exhibit Hall.

Thursday, April 26: 8:30 AM-9:30 AM – No conflict

EW – Differentiating Singapore Math Lessons with Yeap Ban Har
Exhibitor Workshop: Marshall Cavendish International

 Understand how Singapore Math is designed to provide learners, especially struggling ones, with adequate scaffold. Suitable for educators teaching Grades 2-7.

Thursday, April 26: 9:30 AM-10:30 AM – No conflict (but you’ll need to hustle from the Convention Center to the Marriott)

79 – Let’s Mix Drinks: Ratio in Japanese and Singapore Textbooks
Lead Speaker: William Jackson

The Common Core State Standards have students learn about unit rate and equivalent ratios in grade 6. See how to bring to these ideas to life using Asian textbooks, bar models, and lesson study.

Thursday, April 26 12:30 PM – 01:30 PM

166 – Using Primary School Classroom Computer Gaming for Number Sense
Lead Speaker: Ashish Amresh
Co-Speaker: Tricia Salerno

Enhancing classroom math using video games develops number sense. Involving gaming keeps students’ engagement and motivation high. The speakers created the games from Singapore Math, because of its alignment to the Common Core State Standards. They will demonstrate social media that promote students’ success further motivation. Designed for teachers working with grades preK – 2.

Thursday, April 26 1:00 PM – 02:30 PM

207 – Model Drawing for Challenging Word Problems, the Singapore Way
Lead Speaker: Anni Elizabeth Stipek

Come on a tour of how to successfully solve challenging word problems using model drawing. This revolutionary tool will help students understand word problems by first drawing a picture and eventually move to the equation. Designed for teachers working with grades 6 – 8.

196 – Singapore Math Strategies You Can Count On!
Lead Speaker: Char Forsten

 Come see specific Singapore Math strategies that will deepen and improve students’ number sense and problem solving skills. Learn practical, technology-friendly strategies that align with and support the Common Core Standards. Designed for teachers working with grades 3 – 5.

The first session will spotlight Rocket Solvers, a number sense app based on Singapore Math.  Both Anni Stipek and Char Forsten work for Staff Development for Educators. All three are knowledgeable presenters, so you won’t make a mistake if you  head to the grade strand that you teach.

Recommendations:

-> Need preK – 2 Number Sense ideas? Head to the first session.
-> If you’re  looking for grades 6 – 8 content, head to Model Drawing.
-> Seeking grades 3 – 5 CCSS aligned material? Head to Char’s session
*Personally, I’ll be attending this one: Using Students’ Misunderstanding to Deepen Teachers’ Understanding

Friday, April 27 11:00 AM – 012:00 PM No conflict – Woohoo! -This is a session I’m presenting with Lauri Susi.

470 – Technology + Singapore Strategies = Number Sense
Lead Speaker: Cassandra Turner
Co-Speaker: Lauri Susi

Visual reasoning is a powerful tool for making sense of mathematics. Learn successful visual strategies and instructional methods from Singapore that allow students to develop a deeper understanding of number concepts using hands-on manipulatives and software. Walk away with strategies for guiding students’ learning that you can use tomorrow.

Friday, April 27 1:00 PM – 02:00 PM

EW – Math Buddies – The Singapore Online Math Program for CCSS
Exhibitor Workshop: Marshall Cavendish International

Math Buddies adopts the same pedagogical principles of our Singapore mathematics textbooks and combines multimedia technologies and instructional strategies to make teaching and learning Math easier. Gain insight into its various components and how these can help you transition to CCSS and an effective online teaching and learning environment.

Friday, April 27 1:00 PM – 02:30 PM

509 – Singapore Math: Building Blocks to Learning Volume
Lead Speaker: Katherine de la Garza

Learn how to bring hands-on Singapore Math to life in your classroom. Use blocks to build solids, share your strategies, and then watch classroom footage of students to understand how this concrete-pictorial-abstract approach can deepen students’ understanding of volume and encourage inquiry. Hands-on session designed for teachers working with grades 3 – 5.

The first session is an Exhibitor Workshop, meaning that you can find more information about their company on the exhibit floor.

Recommendation:
-> Interested in Singapore Math in an online environment, go to the first session.
-> Looking for “use it tomorrow” ideas? Head to the volume session.
-> Leave early to get to the next session with Dr. Yeap. This one will fill up fast!

Friday, April 27 2:30 PM – 03:30 PM – No conflict

EW – Intervention Strategies with Singapore Math with Yeap Ban Har
Exhibitor Workshop: Marshall Cavendish International

How does Singapore schools deal with middle school students who struggle with mathematics? This session includes a discussion on how curriculum design and teaching strategies can help such students recover enough to be able to cope with mathematics at the secondary level. Suitable for educators teaching Grades 5 – 8

Friday, April 27 4:00 PM – 05:00 PM – No conflict

EW – Singapore Math Is for Middle School Too!
Exhibitor Workshop: SingaporeMath.com

The international success of Singaporean students has led many elementary schools to use Singapore Math® textbooks. But Singapore’s students also perform at the top of the world in middle school. Come see how new Singaporean textbooks, aligned to the Common Core State Standards,can help students learn mathematics in powerful and meaningful ways.

Saturday, April 28: 11:00 AM-12:00 PM – No conflict

688 – Intriguing Lessons about Teaching and Assessing Math around the World
Lead Speaker: Steven J. Leinwand

It’s really not an accident that countries like Singapore and Hong Kong significantly outperform the United States. Take a look at some of the features, instructional approaches, and assessment items that can guide our own efforts to improve U.S mathematics teaching and learning.

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NCTM Conference Singapore Math Sessions

March 31, 2011 by 1 Comment

Heading to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Conference in Indianapolis this year? Looking to check out some Singapore Math sessions? Well, there’s good news and bad.

Good news? there are 14 sessions on Singapore Math this year! (Two more than last year.)

Bad news? Anything listed below in pink is an overlapping session.  Here are my thoughts on which session to choose, if you have a conflict.

Click to enlarge.

Thursday, April 14, 2011: 8:30 AM-9:30 AM

36.1- Making Mathematics Accessible: The Singapore Method
Exhibitor Workshop: Marshall Cavendish International

Participants will learn the basic principles in making mathematics accessible to average and struggling students while challenging the advanced students. Learn a few Singapore Math strategies from Dr Yeap Ban Har along the way.

36.15- Singapore Math and the New Common Core-It’s a Beautiful Thing
Exhibitor Workshop: SMARTTraining

The creators of the New Common Core Standards looked to the high performing countries, one of which was Singapore. This workshop will illustrate how the Singapore Math curriculum is uniquely positioned to support American Teachers in having students meet the new standards.

These are both Exhibitor Workshops, meaning that you can find more information about their companies on the Exhibit floor. And it’s a tough call; Dr. Yeap is always awesome. Singapore Math and the Common Core are well-correlated, so this session should be informative. (Disclaimer, I was a co-founder of  SMARTTraining and a partner until 2009)

Recommendation:
-> If you’re totally new to Singapore Math, go to the first session.
-> If you’re familiar with the curriculum, go for the Common Core session.

Thursday, April 14, 2011: 9:30 AM-10:30 AM – No conflict (Yeah! Robyn’s great.)

71- Bar Diagrams: Draw Your Way to Problem-Solving Success
Lead Speaker: Robyn Silbey

This highly interactive presentation will teach bar diagramming, a powerful, visual-logical problem-solving strategy focused on thinking and comprehension. Using this enhanced version of Singapore’s bar modeling, you’ll draw bar diagrams to analyze, draw, and solve several word problems. Add this critical-thinking strategy to your problem-solving toolbox.

Thursday, April 14, 2011: 9:30 AM-10:30 AM

151- Math Talk: Teaching Concepts and Skills through Illustrations and Stories
Lead Speaker: Char Forsten

A young child’s understanding of the world is enlightened and expanded through stories and illustrations, so it makes sense to use these resources when teaching mathematics. You will learn to use “math talk,” an approach based on a method used in Singapore, as a powerful way to provide purposeful practice through nursery rhymes, fairy tales, illustrations, and photographs.

164- Singapore Lessons: Visual Models to Move from Arithmetic to Algebra
Lead Speaker: Andy Clark

Singapore’s success in math is in part a result of carefully designed lessons that enable students to represent and visualize mathematical relationships. These models begin with the four operations and then connect  to complex problems and then to algebra. This workshop will demonstrate why their students succeed in algebra at such a high level.

Both of these sessions have the same name as sessions the presenters gave last year, with very similar descriptions.

Recommendation:
-> If you’re working with lower elementary go to the first session.
-> Upper elementary and middle school, go for the Common Core session.

Thursday, April 14, 2011: 2:30 PM-3:30 PM

240.3- Singapore Math: Bar Model Method
Exhibitor Workshop: Marshall Cavendish International

Learn to use the bar model method in solving basic and not-so-basic problems from the Singapore classrooms. Dr Yeap Ban Har will model good questioning teachniques used to help students solve word problems involving whole numbers, fractions, ratio and percent.

Thursday, April 14, 2011: 3:00 PM-4:30 PM

246- Paradigm Shift in Problem Solving: A Singapore Approach
Lead Speaker: Robert J. Hogan
Co-Speaker: Sarah A. Schaefer

With this method of solving word problems, students develop a pictorial representation, allowing them to see the big picture. Plan to learn the Singapore method first-hand from teachers and students interacting and solving problems. Algebra and pictures connect naturally unites, and any battle between students and word problems becomes a thing of the past.

254- Models for Challenging Word Problems: Finding Solutions the Singapore Way
Lead Speaker: Anni Elizabeth Stipek

You know the basics of model drawing. Now let’s kick things up a notch! You’ll learn how to solve challenging multistep and before-and-after problems, then move on to prealgebra, algebra, and more. Get ready for some high-intensity learning!

Thursday, April 14, 2011: 3:30 PM-4:30 PM

277- Singapore Math: Constructing with Cubes to Understand Volume
Lead Speaker: Katherine de la Garza

Join us as we explore how a problem-solving lesson on volume encourages students’ inquiry, communication, and metacognition. When students are given the opportunity to explore volume by building figures with cubes, they not only construct meaning and the formula for volume, but also have fun and gain confidence as mathematicians.

278- Hands-On Equations® and Singapore Math: Word Problems Using Icons
Lead Speaker: Linda Bailey
Co-Speaker: Kendra Jensen

This session will see show how using physical or pictorial icons helps students visualize both the representation and the conditions of a word problem. Comparing the approaches used in Hands-On Equations with the bar model of Singapore math in representing and solving five word problems, including one involving fractional relations.

Wow! Five sessions that all overlap! Once again, Dr. Yeap is always puts on an insightful session. Tip: you might want to get there early as I’ve lines beforehand and people turned away at the door. Then you could sprint over to the 3:30 sessions!

Recommendation:
-> New to Bar Model Drawing? Aim for Dr. Yeap, with session by Robert Hogan as a backup.
-> Familiar with model drawing and want to extend your skills, head to Anni Stipek’s session at 3:00

Friday, April 15, 2011: 2:00 PM-3:00 PM – No conflict

510- Singapore Math: An Implementation Case Study
Lead Speaker: Kevin T. Mahoney

What happened when an American grades pre-K–6 school adopted Singapore’s math program? Based on three years of research, the presenter’s story will give you a unique view into the process and outcomes for teachers and students. Leave with a realistic picture of this powerful program in action.

Friday, April 15, 2011: 4:00 PM-5:00 PM – No conflict

589.2- Singapore Math: A Digital Curriculum Approach
Exhibitor Workshop: Marshall Cavendish International

The Singapore Math Digital Curriculum aims to help educators teach, and students acquire math concepts with interactive tutorials using content and methods proven effective in Singapore. Discover how the Singapore Math Digital Curriculum introduces activities and games for users to apply their conceptual knowledge and reinforce skills in real-world problem solving strategies.

Can’t make it to this one? Head to the EAI Education booth (2116-2117)  on the Exhibit Floor at 4:00pm when I’ll be presenting a short demo on Mental Math Activities.

Saturday, April 16, 2011: 8:30 AM-9:30 AM

609.2- Singapore Math Demystified
Exhibitor Workshop: SingaporeMath.com Inc.

What is Singapore Math all about, really? In this session, Bill Jackson will share the big ideas behind Singapore Math, including the Concrete>Pictorial>Abstract Approach, Problem Solving, and important consideration for implementation and professional development. Bill will also debunk common misconceptions that people have about Singapore Math.

Saturday, April 16, 2011: 8:30 AM-10:00 AM

613- Fact Fluency the Singapore Math Way
Lead Speaker: Johnette Roberts

Help students build a strong foundation in fact fluency and number sense based on Singapore Math strategies. Fact fluency strengthens conceptual understanding, critical-thinking skills, and efficient problem-solving skills. Participants will learn how to teach fact fluency in a fun, engaging way. Activities will be provided.

Recommendation:
-> Bill Jackson has been writing some interesting articles about Singapore Math for the Daily Riff online.

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