Three Perspectives on Online Professional Development in Mathematics: Reflections on an Improving Te

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Three Perspectives on Online Professional
Development in Mathematics Reflections on an
Improving Teacher Quality Project

• Marty Bonsangue, Victoria Costa, Harris Shultz,
  Vivian Goldschmidt, and Mark Ellis

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Agenda

• Teacher Educator Perspective Overview of PD-ROM
  and Aligning with Professional Standards (15
  minutes)
• LEA Perspective Recruiting Participants and
  Training Facilitators (15 minutes)
• Math Educator Perspective
• A Look at the Math Content (15 minutes)
• A Look at the Instructional Strategies Content
  (15 minutes)
• Additional Accomplishments (15 minutes)
• Questions and Discussion (15 minutes)

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What is PD-ROM?
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• Professional DevelopmentResources Online for
  Middle School Mathematics
• An Improving Teacher Quality Project
• A California-wide collaboration

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• Consider the following CAHSEE problem
• 11/12 - (1/3 1/4)
• a.  1/3 b.  3/4
• c.  5/6 d.  9/5
• This problem was missed by more than 60 of high
  school juniors and seniors who took the 2002
  version of the exam.
• It is part of the 6th grade mathematics content
  standards
• Number Sense (6th) 2.0 Students calculate and
  solve problems involving addition, subtraction,
  multiplication, and division.

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• The goal of PD-ROM is to help teachers develop
  their ability to engage and support students in
  solving these kinds of mathematics problems
• Highly missed CAHSEE problems
• Multi-step problems
• Problems not well represented in textbooks
• Word problems with difficult vocabulary and math
  concepts
• Problems with representations that are not
  traditionally found in the math classroom

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• The professional development experience is
  provided in an online environment and includes
• An outstanding professional development
  experience
• Anytime, anyplace professional development with
  just-in-time feedback and support
• A focus on 6th, 7th, PreAlgebra, and Algebra
  topics
• Participation in activities developed by experts
  in the fields of mathematics education, middle
  school education, teaching English Learners, and
  teaching special education students
• Review of videoclips of California middle school
  math teachers addressing the problems review of
  teacher explanations for why they made the
  instructional choices they did

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• Multiple ways to engage in learning
• Independent work that requires completion of
  content and instructional questions for which
  participants are given immediate feedback
• Interactive experiences that include Discussion
  Board activities and lesson plan sharing and peer
  review
• An ongoing Lesson Plan Project that moves
  participants from novice lesson developers to
  advanced lesson implementers and evaluators of
  student learning
• Access to additional resources
• Consideration of appropriate use of textbook and
  publisher resources
• Access to a developing list of web-based
  resources and mathematics lesson plans
• Access to teacher-created materials for case
  study and shared lessons

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• Currency WRT NCLB, Teacher Preparation, and
  Teacher Induction Standards
• Focus on math content as well as pedagogy
• Alignment with the language, content, and
  philosophy of the
• California Teaching Performance Expectations
  (preservice teacher standards)
• California Standards for the Teaching Profession
  (standards for a teacher who has completed
  induction and will be granted tenure)
• Attention to the concerns facing California
  teachers, including modifications of instruction
  and assessment for English Learners, struggling
  readers, and special populations
• Support, Incentives, and Accountability
• Accountability for the participant teacher and
  his/her professional development coordinator
• An online facilitator who encourages and supports
  the participant
• Financial, technology, and classroom resource
  incentives, the latter of which becomes part of
  the learning experience

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• Structured professional development experiences
  organized by units
• In each unit, participants are introduced to a
  highly-missed CAHSEE problem and challenged to
  develop expertise in engaging and supporting
  students in solving problems like the one that
  motives the unit.
• Participants then move through a series of
  strands, focusing first on math content and them
  on instructional strategies represented in the
  video case studies.
• At the end of each unit, participants are asked
  to reflect on what they have learned by
  re-considering the CAHSEE problem and how they
  might now engage and support students in solving
  the problem.

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Looking at PD-ROM
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The LEA Perspective Recruiting Participants,
Training Facilitators
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OUR ORIGINAL GOALS

• 3 Cohorts, 100 Teachers per Cohort
• Title 1 Middle Schools in Orange County, Monterey
  County and LAUSD
• Online instruction with facilitation

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ONLINE FACILITATORS

• Qualifications
• 3 years experience as secondary math teacher
• Expertise in effective teaching strategies
• Experience in conducting effective professional
  development for math teachers
• NCLB Qualified designation in math teaching
• Proficient use of email, Internet/WWW, other
  technology tools

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FACILITATOR RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide ongoing support for PTs
• Grade assessments and lesson plans
• Keep Participating Teachers (PTs) on track
• Encourage active participation in Discussion
  Forums
• Participate in monthly videoconferences
• Attend periodic 2-Day hands-on training

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FACILITATOR OUTCOMES

• TURNOVER
• September 2004 4 Facilitators
• February 2005 4 new Facilitators
• September 2005 2 strong Facilitators
• PROVIDE FEEDBACK TO PD-ROM TEAM
• Resulted in complete revision of content
• New ideas generated

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PARTICIPATING TEACHERS

• RECRUITMENT
• September 2004
• February 2005
• Revised to 60 Teachers in two Cohorts

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OBSTACLES

• Required multiple calls, emails, visits, other
  follow up
• Beginning of school year
• Other Math programs competing for participants
  (OC/Monterey)
• Professional Development required to meet AB 466
  Commitment (Monterey)
• District Math leaders not involved (LAUSD)

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OUTCOMES

• Launched Cohort 1 with 54 PTs (October 2004)
• Cohort 2 began with 56 PTs (February 2005)
• Southern California teachers self-recruited for
  Cohort 2
• AB 466 issue resolved for Monterey

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PARTICIPATING TEACHERS

• RETENTION
• Face to Face hands-on training
• Provide Facilitators PD-ROM team support
• Ongoing, regular communication by Facilitators
• RECOGNITION
• Kickoff party for each Module
• Incentives (stipends, awards, honorariums,
  classroom materials)
• Continuing education credit
• Letters to Principals
• Certificate of Completion

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OUTCOMES

• HIGH ATTRITION RATE - CAUSES
• Mandatory attendance at training required
• Attended training to check out curriculum
• Over committed
• More work than expected
• Technology issues
• STATISTICS/FINDINGS
• June 2005 30 PTs (47 retention)
• September 2005 29 PTs (3 restarted 4 dropped)
  
• January 2006 25 PTs (86 retention,
  estimated)
• HIGHER STICK RATE WHERE TEACHERS SELF RECRUITED
• Camaraderie forming over time

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WHATS NEXT?

• Complete curriculum (6 Modules)
• Special Ed teachers interested in participating
• Possible 1 year extension (transition)
• Develop plan to rollout to all California counties

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The Math Educators Perspective A Look at the
Mathematics Content
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The Math Educators Perspective A Look at the
Instructional Strategies Content
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Promote Teacher Reflection

• View exemplars from PD-ROM teachers lessons
• Read research syntheses
• Relate to California and NCTM Standards
• Write responses to prompts oriented to connect
  theory to practice

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Theoretical Grounding

• Instructional strategies in PD-ROM are aligned
  with a view that learning mathematics is best
  supported by
• The co-development of procedural and conceptual
  knowledge (Rittle-Johnson, Siegler, Alibali,
  2001)
• The development of a positive disposition
  (Kilpatrick, Swafford, Findell, 2001)
• The active, meaningful engagement of students in
  the learning process (NCTM, 2000)

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Overview of Strategies

• Using advance organizers and Cornell notes to
  structure student note-taking
• Using white boards for in class progress
  monitoring
• Showing students how to effectively use their
  textbook
• Providing substantive feedback on formative
  assessments
• Using real-life examples to facilitate student
  understanding
• Designing and implementing higher-level
  mathematical tasks
• Having students work with multiple
  representations of mathematical relationships to
  help build connections
• Creating opportunities for students to
  communicate with and about mathematical ideas
• Implementing culturally relevant pedagogy to make
  learning meaningful for all students

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Stacking Cups Designing Mathematical Tasks

• Reading Learning to Pose Mathematical Problems
  (Crespo, 2003)
• Closed, rote tasks vs. open, mathematically rich
  tasks
• Examples of teacher-made tasks
• Prompt Share two closed, low level mathematics
  problems from your textbook in their original
  format, then modify them such that they require
  higher level thinking.

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Example of Participant Response

• Textbook problem Graph the equation y2x 5.
• Modified problem Describe two situations that
  could be modeled by the equation y 2x 5, then
  make a graph to represent the model.

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Stacking Cups Introducing a Mathematical Task

• Ensure that students understand the context and
  the goal of the activity.
• VIDEO LINK
• Note how Ms. England goes from presenting a
  context that students understand (stacking cups)
  to soliciting their ideas regarding a
  mathematical task (how many cups will it take to
  reach the ceiling?).
• Have students share strategies that they might
  use once they begin working on the task.
• VIDEO LINK
• Students will be better able to focus on the
  mathematical purpose of the activity and how they
  might move toward that goal.

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Stacking Cups Mathematical Communication

• Read the NCTM Communication standard and take
  note of the emphasis placed on students active
  use of mathematical language.
• Standards for School Mathematics Communication
• In the Stacking Cups task, students must bring
  their understanding to the entire class. Note how
  all group members contribute to the exchanges.
• VIDEO LINK
• Prompt What role does communication play in your
  mathematics classroom? Provide three examples of
  opportunities students in your classes have had
  to communicate their mathematical thinking and/or
  evaluate the thinking of others.

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Discussion Forums and Lesson Plan Builder

• Following participants completion of the
  activities in a unit, they are required to
• reflect publicly through online discussion
  forums, and
• apply what was learned in a practical manner
  using the Lesson Plan Builder.

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Additional Accomplishments
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1. Enhancement of Preservice and Inservice
Programs at CSUF

• Innovative approach to aligning professional
  development experiences with multiple sets of
  standards, including K-12 Math and the High
  School Exit Exam TPEs and CSTPs.
• Videocase study allows teachers to explore what
  goes on in other mathematics classrooms and to
  use these observations to improve their own
  practice.
• Helped shape the delivery and philosophy of CSUF
  faculty teaching methods courses, especially
  regarding the use of an online environment to
  expand instruction and to bring together novice
  and experienced teachers.

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2. Expanded Capacity of CoursePath

• Through this unique partnership, the Center for
  Distributed Learning was tasked with introducing
  dynamic, new instructional tools to their
  existing CoursePath learning management system.
• Embedded assessment items allow a learner to
  respond to context sensitive questions as they
  proceed through coursework some
  "community-based"
• Video Case Study tool allows video segments to be
  paused, manipulated and commented upon by both
  learner and program authors as a way to provide
  interactive analysis of the teaching practice
  being demonstrated.

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3. Increased Capacity of County Offices of
Education and School Districts to Provide
Teachers with Professional Development

• LAUSD utilized PD-ROM to prepare special
  educators in mathematics content and general
  educators in strategies to reach students with
  disabilities in math classrooms.
• PD-ROM reaches math teachers in Monterey County,
  with a large area and two mountain ranges that
  isolate teachers.
• One participating teachers lives at remote
  Pinnacles National Monument. Traditional
  inservices meant a four-hour round trip. PD-ROM
  allowed her to hone teaching strategies and build
  content knowledge, resulting in her selection as
  a district math lead and county-level workshop
  presenter.
• A PD-ROM videotaped teacher was recognized for
  her expertise beyond her classroom and became a
  lead in district math initiatives.
• A group of novice teachers participated in the
  project as a team. Having this level of
  collegiality both online and at school deepened
  their engagement level and learning more than
  they would experience with traditional
  professional development.

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4. Increased Capacity and Knowledge of Video
Production

• PD-ROM has enhanced collaborative media
  production for Orange, Butte and Monterey County
  Offices of Education and CSUMB. 
• Working together, the four organizations are
  breaking new ground in developing techniques in
  the capturing of student and teacher interaction
  in the classroom, useful for both online and
  classroom based professional development. 

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References

• California Department of Education (2000).
  Mathematics framework for California public
  schools. Sacramento, CA Author.
• Carlson, M., Oehrtman, M. (2005). Key aspects
  of knowing and learning the concept of function.
  Research Sampler, 9. Mathematics Association of
  America. Retrieved Dec. 12, 2005 from
  http//www.maa.org/t_and_l/sampler/rs_9.html
• Crespo, S. (2003). Learning to pose mathematical
  problems. Educational Studies in Mathematics,
  52, 243-270.
• Kilpatrick, J., Swafford, J., Findell, B.
  (Eds.) (2001). Adding it up Helping children
  learn mathematics. Washington, D.C. National
  Academy Press.
• National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
  (2000). Principles and standards for school
  mathematics. Reston, VA Author.
• Rittle-Johnson, B., Siegler, R. S., Alibali, M.
  W. (2001). Developing conceptual understanding
  and procedural skill in mathematics An iterative
  process. Journal of Educational Psychology,
  93(2), 346-362.