Teaching

[UPDATE: I was awarded the PAEMST!  Read about it here.]

I am proud and excited to announce that I am a finalist for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST)!

The PAEMST is a national award given annually to at most two teachers from each state in the US.  The awards alternate each year between K-6 teachers and 7-12 teachers.

I have been named a finalist for New York state, along with three other mathematics teachers.  Decisions at the national level will be made later this year, and the award carries with it a Presidential Certificate and a trip to Washington, D.C. for meetings and professional development.

It is a great honor to be named a finalist.  The application process was intense and comprehensive, but it was a worthy professional experience, and I’m glad that the selection panel saw the value in my work.  I also know two of the other finalists from New York and have great respect for them, so I know our state will be well-represented.

You can read the announcement at the New York State Education website, and find out more about the PAEMST here.

Here is another installment in my series reviewing the NY State Regents exams in mathematics.

An all-too-common pastime among math teachers is laughing at the absurd, contrived contexts employed by textbook and exam writers to make problems real-world and engaging.  Here are two examples from the June 2013 New York math Regents exams.

Years ago, thinking of the triangle as a garden or corral was enough to make finding its area sufficiently real-world.  But I guess now it needs to be kicked-up a notch, say, by taking it to the Australian Outback!

Here’s another classic example.

You know what really gets students engaged in math problems?  The word RAP.  The best part is that the set A isn’t even used in the question.

In October, I will be running a workshop through Math for America titled “Professional Development Through Social Media”.  The goal of this two-hour workshop is to provide an overview of the opportunities for professional growth, collaboration, and reflection that teachers can find on various social networks.

As part of the workshop, participants will be invited to peruse interactions–posts, comments, exchanges, conversations–that highlight the nature and strengths of the various digital professional communities.  I have a number of good starting points in mind, but I’d love to have more.

I invite you to leave a suggestion in the comments.  Provide a link to something great and give a brief description of what this highlights about the online professional world.  The workshop will include both math and science teachers, so links to non-math resources are definitely welcome.  And please feel free to suggest your own work!

Thanks in advance for your help.  Assuming this is successful, this post itself will become an example of the value of being connected!