Monterey, March 7 by Greg Tang
   Helpful or Harmful? 10 Common Teaching Practices that Backfire
 

The normal fee is $140 plus $40 for the Banquet and Keynote address. More details can be found at Registration for Central Symposia. You can register on-site for $160 starting at 3 on Friday and 7:30 on Saturday. Please bring check, cash, credit card, or purcahse order.

The Symposium is located at the Embassy Suites, 1441 Canyon Del Rey, Seaside.
For room reservations call the Embassy Suites: 831-393-1115.
A complimentary breakfast is included with reservations.
Check Monterey Hotels for additional hotel listings – rates will vary.

Complimentary shuttle service to and from the Monterey Peninsula Airport.
Driving: The Embassy Suites is located just east of CA Hwy 1, Seaside/Del Rey Oaks exit.
Call the hotel for additional directions.

One semester unit of professional development credit for $50 is available through CSU Fresno. Course requirements include attendance at the Symposium Banquet; a description of the course and additional requirements will be available at registration.

Symposium Registration includes the President’s Welcome, sessions, lunch, raffle, and a one year subscription to the California Mathematics Council's quarterly journal, The ComMuniCator.

Affiliate memberships and $60 of the registration fee are non-refundable. Written cancellation must be emailed or postmarked by February 20. Send to Mike Contino or to
Mike Contino, CMC-C, PO Box 880, Clayton CA 94517-08810

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Schedule

Friday, March 7

Saturday, March 8

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This workshop will focus on strategies and activities to entice the early learner into a mathematical thinker. We will use a variety of techniques in incorporating manipulatives, literature, communication, and a tie into their own personal lives. Most importantly we will find opportunities to develop consistent mathematical language. Come prepared to share with one another!

Algebraic Thinking can and does begin in the early grades. Come and explore ways to extend learning beyond patterns.  Be prepared to leave with activities to use Monday to teach equivalence, equality, variables, and even graphing!

"Mathematics at its core is the constant search for patterns and relationships." Explore the logical patterns that are a regular occurrence in mathematics and the world around us. Patterns are found in physical and geometric situations as well as in numbers. Visual models and various representations such as diagrams, charts and graphs, and open number lines  can be used to illustrate mathematical situations and relationships which develop strategic thinking. These models will help your students conceptualize ideas and solve problems.

Research shows our students have misconceptions about the equals sign. This session will use hands-on materials to explore the understanding of equality—an essential idea for developing algebraic reasoning. In addition, participants will learn strategies for increasing rigor and engaging all learners

So which is harder, place value or algebra?  Place value is more abstract, and in many ways more difficult. In this session we’ll examine our own understanding of this critical concept, and explore ways to teach it more effectively. Understanding place value is the key to traditional algorithms and the key to working with big numbers. Teaching it well may be the key to developing algebraic thinking. This session is for any teacher who wants to improve their own number sense, understanding, and ability to think abstractly.

Participants will engage in sample workshop activities taken from an online workshop freely available from the Math Forum and Drexel. This professional development provides opportunities for teachers to build their understanding of algebraic concepts and thinking in ways that they can create similar experiences for their students. The activities will involve exploration, reflection, discussion, and revision.

We will look at problem solving using algebraic methods and academic language. We will pursue an investigation into multiple solution methods for various types of word problems.

“Math is boring” often translates to “I don’t understand math—especially algebra!” Students will often change their attitudes and grades as they experience the victory in “doing” math they once thought impossible. We will look at a variety of ideas, games, concepts, and activities that help students enjoy and understand the transitions toward and into algebra.

Spend the morning with Wendy York and find out about her successful plan for building success in algebra for incoming 8th grade students. You will leave with ideas of how to set up your own Algebra Academy—including research-based ideas on best instructional practices and effective strategies to ensure student learning of algebra.

The information shared in this session is related directly to the instructional strategies that were employed so successfully in the Algebra Academy modeled by Wendy York. Find out more about the instructional strategies that reflect the current research on best practice in mathematics. We will be taking a look at balancing instruction in the area of conceptual understanding, computational fluency, and problem solving.

Hand-held Computer Algebra Systems have been a fact of life since 1987 when Hewlett-Packard introduced the HP-28.  After two decades, algebra-capable devices are available from a variety of manufacturers in a variety of formats and are accepted as normal tools on SAT and AP examinations. They have matured from electronic curiosities into a variety of pedagogical tools. We will explore the ways these beasts can be tamed for use in teaching Algebra:  Introductory, Advanced, and Applied as well as Math Analysis (and Calculus).

Too many students see each function family studied in algebra as completely different from the others. When they have this view, they try to memorize a series of facts about each new function they encounter. In this session we will investigate transformations as a unifying theme in the study of functions, their graphs, uses, and properties. Studied in this way, each new function becomes an extension of the others with the only difference being the development of a parent graph, which can be accomplished by plotting points. This approach provides a deeper understanding of the properties and graphs of functions and greater student success in algebra. Hand-held technology will be featured and all functions studied in algebra courses, including a mystery function, will be included. 

We will work with quadratic equations, solving them by graphing, factoring, quadratic formula, and completing the square. We will use algebra tiles to connect to the area model the students used to learn to multiply and divide. We will also investigate how the solution methods connect to the graph of the parabola.

NCTM's Principles and Standards for School Mathematics states that students should recognize and use connections among mathematical ideas and understand how mathematical ideas interconnect and build on one another to produce a coherent whole. Let's look at ways to make our algebra course more than a study of isolated topics and skills. Let's make connections!

Monterey, March 7 by Greg Tang
   Helpful or Harmful? 10 Common Teaching Practices that Backfire
 

The normal fee is $140 plus $40 for the Banquet and Keynote address. More details can be found at Registration for Central Symposia. You can register on-site for $160 starting at 3 on Friday and 7:30 on Saturday. Please bring check, cash, credit card, or purcahse order.

The Symposium is located at the Embassy Suites, 1441 Canyon Del Rey, Seaside.
For room reservations call the Embassy Suites: 831-393-1115.
A complimentary breakfast is included with reservations.
Check Monterey Hotels for additional hotel listings – rates will vary.

Complimentary shuttle service to and from the Monterey Peninsula Airport.
Driving: The Embassy Suites is located just east of CA Hwy 1, Seaside/Del Rey Oaks exit.
Call the hotel for additional directions.

One semester unit of professional development credit for $50 is available through CSU Fresno. Course requirements include attendance at the Symposium Banquet; a description of the course and additional requirements will be available at registration.

Symposium Registration includes the President’s Welcome, sessions, lunch, raffle, and a one year subscription to the California Mathematics Council's quarterly journal, The ComMuniCator.

Affiliate memberships and $60 of the registration fee are non-refundable. Written cancellation must be emailed or postmarked by February 20. Send to Mike Contino or to
Mike Contino, CMC-C, PO Box 880, Clayton CA 94517-08810

Back to Top of Page

---

Schedule

Friday, March 7 (OLD INFO FROM 2008 for reference only.)

Saturday, March 8  (OLD INFO FROM 2008 for reference only.)

Back to Top of Page

This workshop will focus on strategies and activities to entice the early learner into a mathematical thinker. We will use a variety of techniques in incorporating manipulatives, literature, communication, and a tie into their own personal lives. Most importantly we will find opportunities to develop consistent mathematical language. Come prepared to share with one another!

Algebraic Thinking can and does begin in the early grades. Come and explore ways to extend learning beyond patterns.  Be prepared to leave with activities to use Monday to teach equivalence, equality, variables, and even graphing!

"Mathematics at its core is the constant search for patterns and relationships." Explore the logical patterns that are a regular occurrence in mathematics and the world around us. Patterns are found in physical and geometric situations as well as in numbers. Visual models and various representations such as diagrams, charts and graphs, and open number lines  can be used to illustrate mathematical situations and relationships which develop strategic thinking. These models will help your students conceptualize ideas and solve problems.

Research shows our students have misconceptions about the equals sign. This session will use hands-on materials to explore the understanding of equality—an essential idea for developing algebraic reasoning. In addition, participants will learn strategies for increasing rigor and engaging all learners

So which is harder, place value or algebra?  Place value is more abstract, and in many ways more difficult. In this session we’ll examine our own understanding of this critical concept, and explore ways to teach it more effectively. Understanding place value is the key to traditional algorithms and the key to working with big numbers. Teaching it well may be the key to developing algebraic thinking. This session is for any teacher who wants to improve their own number sense, understanding, and ability to think abstractly.

Participants will engage in sample workshop activities taken from an online workshop freely available from the Math Forum and Drexel. This professional development provides opportunities for teachers to build their understanding of algebraic concepts and thinking in ways that they can create similar experiences for their students. The activities will involve exploration, reflection, discussion, and revision.

We will look at problem solving using algebraic methods and academic language. We will pursue an investigation into multiple solution methods for various types of word problems.

“Math is boring” often translates to “I don’t understand math—especially algebra!” Students will often change their attitudes and grades as they experience the victory in “doing” math they once thought impossible. We will look at a variety of ideas, games, concepts, and activities that help students enjoy and understand the transitions toward and into algebra.

Spend the morning with Wendy York and find out about her successful plan for building success in algebra for incoming 8th grade students. You will leave with ideas of how to set up your own Algebra Academy—including research-based ideas on best instructional practices and effective strategies to ensure student learning of algebra.

The information shared in this session is related directly to the instructional strategies that were employed so successfully in the Algebra Academy modeled by Wendy York. Find out more about the instructional strategies that reflect the current research on best practice in mathematics. We will be taking a look at balancing instruction in the area of conceptual understanding, computational fluency, and problem solving.

Hand-held Computer Algebra Systems have been a fact of life since 1987 when Hewlett-Packard introduced the HP-28.  After two decades, algebra-capable devices are available from a variety of manufacturers in a variety of formats and are accepted as normal tools on SAT and AP examinations. They have matured from electronic curiosities into a variety of pedagogical tools. We will explore the ways these beasts can be tamed for use in teaching Algebra:  Introductory, Advanced, and Applied as well as Math Analysis (and Calculus).

Too many students see each function family studied in algebra as completely different from the others. When they have this view, they try to memorize a series of facts about each new function they encounter. In this session we will investigate transformations as a unifying theme in the study of functions, their graphs, uses, and properties. Studied in this way, each new function becomes an extension of the others with the only difference being the development of a parent graph, which can be accomplished by plotting points. This approach provides a deeper understanding of the properties and graphs of functions and greater student success in algebra. Hand-held technology will be featured and all functions studied in algebra courses, including a mystery function, will be included. 

We will work with quadratic equations, solving them by graphing, factoring, quadratic formula, and completing the square. We will use algebra tiles to connect to the area model the students used to learn to multiply and divide. We will also investigate how the solution methods connect to the graph of the parabola.

NCTM's Principles and Standards for School Mathematics states that students should recognize and use connections among mathematical ideas and understand how mathematical ideas interconnect and build on one another to produce a coherent whole. Let's look at ways to make our algebra course more than a study of isolated topics and skills. Let's make connections!