MLT's teacher learning initiatives recognize the pivotal role of teacher education and are based
on these core principles:
- Effective professional
development improves teachers' content knowledge, instructional decision
making, professional judgment, and leadership skills.
- Teachers must be
actively engaged in their own content learning.
- Effective professional
development is closely connected to classroom practice.
- Teachers benefit
from work with colleagues who can question, challenge, support, and
provide a network of resources for each other.
Our work includes research
to identify factors that foster teacher learning; the design, production,
and evaluation of professional development materials; and helping educators
to become effective staff developers.
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This month's selections of MLT teacher
learning projects, Web sites, and publications
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TITLE
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DESCRIPTION
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Connecting with Mathematics
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Many curricula now give mathematical investigations a central
role, which adds an element of unpredictability to the directions
that a lesson might take. Students discover something unexpected,
or fail to understand something that is essential to the lesson.
This places new demands on a teacher's flexibility and mathematical
knowledge.
With Connecting
with Mathematics, teachers learn novel material through
investigative problem-solving. The materials help teachers
learn new mathematical content directly relevant to the mathematics
they are teaching, and let them revisit familiar content approached
in a new way.
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Finding a Mathematical Voice
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In traditional math teaching, says Deborah Schifter, teachers
often could "almost relax and rely on the lesson plan
and the answers in the textbook." In her professional development
program, Developing
Mathematical Ideas, Schifter urges teachers to move away
from the textbook and instead concentrate on responding to
students' mathematical ideas. DMI provides teachers with a
wealth of examples of what they might expect from students--and
how to prepare for the unexpected. Read
the interview with Deborah Schifter, "Finding a Mathematical
Voice". |
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Fostering Algebraic Thinking: A Guide
for Teachers of Grades 6-10
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Mark Driscoll wrote this
book for teachers who want to reflect on the learning
and teaching of pre-algebra and algebra, in light of the movement
toward standards for base curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
You can order
the book from Heinemann.
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Planning Professional Development
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The K-12 Mathematics Curriculum Center Web site's Planning
Professional Development pages offers an introduction
to professional development for standards-based mathematics
programs.
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Exploring Classroom Assessment in Mathematics:
A Guide for Professional Development
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Written by Deborah Bryant and Mark Driscoll, this book presents
an assessment framework that helps teachers obtain accurate
and relevant data about what students know and can do in mathematics.
It guides teachers through steps such as deciding the purpose
of the assessment, gathering evidence of student learning,
interpreting evidence to analyze the validity of the task,
and using data about students' learning to decide on appropriate
instructional interventions. You can order
the book from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
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