Casey at the Math Forum

After working at the Math Forum for 6 short months, it’s finally time to say goodbye. Today is my last day of Co-op and I can’t believe it! I’m going to miss walking in to work every day saying good morning to Tracey and discussing the latest Orange is the New Black drama with her. I loved working with Suzanne on packets for the Problems of the week and think it’s great how she made me go to the health center when I was sick (even though I didn’t want to) and bought us Ben and Jerry’s for a PoW video scenario. She was like our honorary mother at the Math Forum. I was able to us my iMovie skills to help Max create videos for his new book and was given the opportunity to go into classrooms and and learn about how math is being taught in schools today. I was able to work with my best friend Brianna for the last few months and became great friends with Gina, who was also a Co-op. We have so much fun hanging out together and I will miss getting chicken katsu with them every week from our favorite food truck. I feel like the Math Forum is my own version of “The Office,” full of colorful characters who all offer something different to this small company. I really hope that I can continue to work here part time during the school year because the Math Forum has become my second home and the staff is like family to me. Either way, I will definitely be back to drop in and say hello and use all that the Math Forum staff has taught me as a tool to succeed in school and my future classroom one day. I feel very lucky to have completed my Co-op at the Math Forum!

While working at The Math Forum, I am taking night classes at Drexel for my Math Education major. This summer I am taking Education 528, The Cultural and Historical Significance of Mathematics, where I am learning about how math reflects and influences the ideas and movements in culture, history, biography, and philosophy. My teacher has introduced me to many math topics that originated in ancient cultures and developed over thousands of years into what our modern math is today. She shows us how we can take these ancient math topics, such as magic squares and the Mayan number system, and teach them to our students in the classroom as introductions to higher math topics. I was also able to research a famous mathematician for my biography project and I chose Grace Murray Hopper, one of the world’s first computer programmers. She was a remarkable woman who was both a beloved teacher and a Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy. She was daring, curious, determined, and confident, and an inspiration to all women who are pursing a career in math or science.

Being a part of The Math Forum has been very beneficial to me as I have been completing this course over the past few weeks. As one of our final projects, Gina, another Co-op at The Math Forum, and I are required to present a lesson on an ancient math topic and provide an activity for our classmates to complete. I remember coming across Tangrams one time while perusing through some of the Problems of the Week on The Math Forum website. I stumbled upon this topic again when I was looking through Suzanne’s Mathematics Lessons on the site and read a little bit of history on this Chinese puzzle game. The Tangram is a dissection puzzle consisting of seven shapes: two large, one medium, and two small triangles, one square, and one parallelogram. These shapes are called tans and are put together to form pictures and shapes. Suzanne’s website contained numerous lessons on how to use Tangrams to introduce geometric shapes, symmetry, congruency, and even area to ones students. Gina and I were able to take ideas from these lessons and create a PowerPoint that teaches about the history of Tangrams, as well as three activities in which our classmates will solve tangrams, create them, and find the area of their puzzles. Suzanne even gave us plastic tans so that we would have manipulatives to use for our lesson. Having The Math Forum as a resource for school and my future classroom is definitely one of the best parts about working for this excellent educational website. I know I will be leaving here with a more open mind on how to teach math to my students!

Last week, I was able to experience the EnCoMPASS Summer Institute with the Math Forum and members from the School of Education at Drexel University. What is EnCoMPASS you ask? Well, I didn’t really know what it was either until I walked in on the first day with the Math Forum Staff, Drexel Staff, and 24 teachers from all over the United States. I was told that it was a project used for “developing an online professional teaching community of mathematics educators focused on understanding and improving mathematical thinking through work with formative assessment rubrics and feedback to student problem solving.” After hearing this, I still wasn’t too sure what would be happening over the next three days, but it turned out to be an amazing learning experience.

On the first day, I began by walking around and listening to the different teachers notice and wonder about rubrics they each had submitted prior to the institute beginning. I noticed they each had a different style of grading students and had many opinions to share with one another. What I found most interesting was how all the teachers seemed to click with one another. A few hours ago they were all strangers, but they were not afraid to talk to each other about their ideas and teaching styles. It was a real friendly group!

Later that day, I was given my task for the rest of the week of making sure Sue, one of the teachers who was unable to make it to the institute, was able to video chat with the rest of the group. I made sure everyone could hear her, got her some speakers, carried her around the room, I was Sue’s personal chauffeur for the rest of the week! It was pretty funny and also awesome how she was able to be a part of the EnCoMPASS Institute without physically being there. It was a successful experiment! I think the funniest part about the whole thing was that Sue’s luggage managed to make the trip to Philly twice without her!

Over the next few days, I listened in to the different teachers conversations as they discussed rubrics, student work, video scenarios, using iPads in the classroom, and more. The Math Forum even introduced a new software program where teachers can upload student work to the site and tag or highlight the work they think will be most useful for them later, whether its for grading or showing other teachers. While the software consisted of a few bugs at first, it’s slowly becoming this huge project that the Math Forum staff and the EnCoMPASS teachers are working on together as a collaborative effort. They’ve been sharing ideas and building connections over Facebook, Twitter, Email, and blogging to stay in touch with one other. It’ amazing how many online resources there are for teachers to use to share their ideas and I think this new software the Math Forum is creating will be an excellent addition!

One of the most interesting aspects of the Institute was that many people didn’t know what they were exactly doing until the very last hours they were there. During connections, each person was allowed to say one thing without anyone interrupting or responding to them and I could sense some confusion from around the room. That’s when Suzanne told them that it’s okay to not know exactly what they should be doing. She went through the same experience many years ago at a professional development seminar. What I got out of the whole institute was that they were bringing these teachers together to build relationships and connections between everyone to bring better math practices to schools. They were there to help develop this new EnCoMPASS software and bring their ideas to the table. I can see now that sharing feedback between teachers is so crucial to developing good math teaching practices. One person can not simply do it alone. I think by the end of the week, everyone gained something from the EnCoMPASS Institute, even Sue who was all the way in Chicago. I know I did.

Here is a picture of Suzanne and I from the EnCoMPASS Institute in front of the Math Forum!

When I was a kid, I always loved games and puzzles! I had numerous puzzle books full of word searches, crossword puzzles, brain teasers, and more. I loved Sudoku puzzles and had a whole book of them that I would spend hours doing every day. I also would open up the newspaper every morning when I ate breakfast and complete the daily Sudoku puzzle. My teacher introduced them to me when I was in the seventh grade. She would pass out different puzzles each day for us to complete when we were finished with our work. I was instantly addicted! Recently, I think I spent about 4 hours on one puzzle with my friend because we were so determined to finish it!

Recently, I came across a new puzzle game on The Math Forum Facebook page called KenKen. It’s a mixture of Sudoku and math all in one. It was discovered in 2007 by Robert Fuhrer, a toy inventor, who came across the puzzles published in Japanese books. Fuhrer’s toy company and chess International Master David Levy brought these puzzles to the attention of The Times in London and the puzzles were published in the newspaper in 2008. The New York Times and hundreds of other papers followed by publishing these fun, educational puzzles years later.

I was really confused when I came across my first KenKen puzzle, but was able to pick up the rules quickly. The object of the puzzle is similar to Sudoku – fill in the grid with different numbers without repeating a number twice in the same column or row - but now there is a math element involved, in which the numbers must combine to form a target number using a specific operation.

I haven’t played too many KenKen puzzles yet, but when my brain needs a break at work, I like to go on my KenKen App on my iPad and practice some puzzles. Just as I loved to complete Sudoku puzzles every day in school, I think students would enjoy completing these fun puzzles in the classroom.  They would be helping them improve their calculation skills, logical thinking, and persistence. I think they’re the perfect way for kids to master new math concepts and practice with different operations!

As you already know, the Math Forum staff taped at Christopher Columbus Charter School in May to get footage to go along with the new book Max wrote. They wanted to show how different methods highlighted in each chapter of the book are implemented into different grades and classroom settings in schools. They tried different activities with the students like “Forget the question,” “What do you see/hear?,” and my favorite think-pair-share, in which students think about the question on their own, share what they noticed and wondered with a partner, and then share with the class. As I was going through all the video footage, I realized that when the students were given manipulatives to use to solve the problems, they became really engaged in the activities and were having fun. They would argue their ideas with one another and would even take the questions one step farther by wondering what would happen in a different scenario. For example, Annie did a problem with a class called Trapezoid Teatime, in which they had to figure out how many seats you could have if you connected five trapezoid-shaped tables together.

With the manipulatives given, the students figured out the problem, but they also began to form new shapes with the trapezoids to figure how many seats they could fit if the tables were placed in a different formation.

I loved how creative the students were and how eager they were to answer the problems using the manipulatives!

This week we began taping the Math Forum staff working with students at Christopher Columbus Charter School in Philadelphia. Suzanne, Annie, Max, Val, and Steve have been presenting the students with different PoWs from the website and asking them what they notice and wonder. It amazing to see how much the students noticed about the problem as they generated long lists on the chalk board. They also had a long list of wonderings and decided if they were opinion questions or could be solved using math. Then they would look at the problems that required mathematical computation and come up with different strategies of how to solve them: use manipulatives, draw a picture, paper and pencil, guess and test, etc. If there was enough time left, the students would get a chance to solve one of the wonderings they thought their teacher might put on a test. This was exciting to watch yesterday in a 5th grade classroom as I taped two girls working together with Suzanne on the problem Eating Grapes. They drew out on a piece of paper how many grapes they thought Angela from the problem ate each day and used a guess and test method. When they finally got the right answer they high-fived Suzanne and were able to explain to the whole class their method. It’s really fun to go into the classroom and observe the “I Notice, I Wonder” method in action. It’s even funnier when the students learn your name and all start shouting it at the same time every time they see you! Going into the classroom really affirms the idea of me wanting to become a teacher because when you see students finally understand a concept and succeed, it just makes you happy knowing you were a part of that.

P.S. I was finally able to wear my new Geometry Toms too! My Math shoes!

This week I think I finally figured out what task I’m the best at: Packets. I completed about 8 or 9 Primary PoW Teacher Packets over the past 5 days and I now have a system of how I create them. First, I use the template to add in the title, the problem, and the answer to the question. Then I use my iPad to draw a picture that goes along with the problem and take a screenshot of the picture, which goes directly onto my computer through Photo Stream. It’s super convenient and easy! Then I add the graphics and any other text I need to explain the problem. I think the best part about making these packets is that I have to put myself in the place of a 1st or 2nd grader in order to see how they would approach the problem. This is helping me as a future teacher because when I am in the classroom, I am going to have to think like my students and try to see situations from their different viewpoints in order to help them better understand the learning material. I can not expect my students to know everything and have math come easy to them like it does for me. Each student has a different learning style and a different capacity to take in information. My job is to make sure I give them the tools to grasp this information in a fun, safe environment. Each week, I think I am beginning to see how difficult it can be to create lesson plans and be creative in the methods we use to teach. Being a teacher is going to be really hard and I won’t always succeed in everything I do, but I am definitely up for the challenge!

This week everyone was out of the office for a conference in Denver. Gina, A.J., and I worked on numerous teacher packets, so I think I finally have a feel for how they are made and how much work goes into each one. However, this week I feel like I was able to experiment with technology and social media in the office. After reading one of Suzanne’s blogs, I came across an awesome app called AirSketch Free that allows me to draw on my iPad and what I drew will show up on my computer in my Internet browser window! This would be great technology for students to use in the classroom because the teacher could pass around the iPad and have the students write their work or answers to math problems in the app. Then their work could be shown to everyone in the class through a projector or smart board. Any excuse to let kids use technology in the classroom will definitely make them more active and engaged in the lesson. Another thing I got to experiment with this week was social media. We created an Ask Dr. Math Facebook page and I was added as an admin so that I can help manage the page and post on behalf of the Math Forum and Dr. Math. I also created a math forum twitter account so that I could tweet my “noticings” and “wonderings” about different problems for the conference in Denver. I love how open the Math Forum staff is to technology and social media in the classroom because many teachers are against it and stick to traditional ways of teaching and lecturing. Technology is the future of education and we should begin to expose children to the different resources available to them to expand their knowledge.

This week was very busy! I accomplished numerous tasks, such as working with Dr. Math, creating video scenarios for the different PoWs, completing this week’s Problems of the Week in Math Fundamentals, Algebra, and Trig & Calc, posted my “noticings” and “wonderings” on the PoW Blog, and navigated through the Math Tools website to look for broken links. However, the most exciting task I took on this week was creating the Primary PoW Teacher Packets! I worked on my first packet called Goldfish Galore and was able to add the problem to the word document with its picture, fill in the “Answer Check” portion of the packet with the answer to the question and suggestions of why or why not a student may have gotten the problem wrong or right, and come up with up to five methods of how to solve the problem. Some of the methods included writing out a number sentence, drawing a picture, using manipulatives, acting it out, and using I notice, I wonder. I was able to draw pictures for some of the methods on my iPad as well and add them to the packets which was really fun! I really enjoy making the packets and I think it is great practice for me as a future teacher because it is very similar to creating lesson plans. I think it also helps me to be more open to using more than one method to teach students math and stray away from the traditional method of just lecturing. I always thought math was the one of the most difficult subjects to teach because of the way I was taught at a young age. I always had the material and formulas lectured to me and then I was given worksheets to work on. I was lucky enough to be one of those students who really understood the material, but many of my classmates just couldn’t get it. However, creating these teacher packets has shown me how relating math to real world situations and subjects that the students can relate too, like sports and food, can really help the students to grasp the information better. I think math is one of those things you either get or don’t get, but if teachers open their eyes to new methods of teaching and use technology and manipulatives in the classroom, they may be able to get through to more of their students.

I began my first week of work at the Math Forum this past week! Besides missing the last two days of work because I was sick, I learned a lot about the Math Forum and what it has to offer teachers and students. I find that the most important aspect of this educational website is the Problems of the Week, or PoWs. Each week, various problems are put out in six different types of math: Primary, Math Fundamentals, Pre-Algebra, Algebra, Geometry, and Trig & Calc. Anyone who is a member of the Math Forum can answer these questions, revise their answers, and receive feedback on their work. I think this is a great activity for students, as I am always learning about how to integrate technology into the classroom in my education classes and this does exactly that. I think this is also a great way for students to get a little extra math work in and maybe recall certain math concepts they’ve learned in the past. I even enjoy doing the problems and sometimes find them challenging! The most important part of these PoWs is helping students gain the ability to communicate how they got their answers and what steps they took to solve the problems. As a future teacher, this is a great skill that I even need to acquire to help translate learning material to my students, so I find that doing these problems myself is very helpful in developing my communication skills. What I also like about the PoWs is that there are video scenarios that students can create and send in to the Math Forum to make math a little more fun and interactive. Not many videos are sent in, but I find that if teachers encourages their students to do this, the students would be a lot more engaged in problems and get a better sense of what the problems are asking. The other Co-ops and I were given the opportunity to make one of these scenarios for a problem and found it to be fun to get out of the office and take math into the real world. After all, math applies to everything in life and really can be fun!