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OCR for page 1
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As representatives of the co-sponsor-
ing organizations and the education
community, we would like the Convoca-
tion to be viewed as the first step in a
continuing dialogue. In particular, we
hope that the essence of the Convocation
wall be replicated by states and regional
groups affiliate(1 with the parent organi-
zations. To support such state and
regional groups, the thinking anti struc-
ture we used to design the program is
described below. The intent was to
contrast the perspectives brought by
each of the sponsoring organizations and
their constituencies, to raise issues about
these perspectives, to promote interac-
tion, and, through small discussion
groups, to engage participants in renect-
ing on their own role in middle grades
mathematics education. To reinforce the
points illustrated by the plenary speak-
ers, the small group discussions involved
participants in an analysis of a "site of
practice," grounding the conversation in
what teachers and students actually do in
classrooms. Discussion group leaders
were given instruction and direction for
working with their groups fohow~ng the
opening plenary session and were
provided with complete packets of
materials for use with their groups over
the two days. Before the conference,
participants were given materials as
background reading and to help them
begin to focus on the issues framing the
Convocation. (See page 5.)
The Convocation began with speakers
who presented teaching mi(l(lle school
mathematics from two points of view:
teaching mathematics with a focus on the
subject matter content or teaching math-
ematics with a focus on the whole child
and whole curriculum. The purpose of
this session was to set the stage for
thinking about mi(l(lle gra(les mathemat-
ics classrooms from these two perspec-
tives and to stimulate thinking throughout
the rest of the Convocation about teaching
and learning mathematics through these
(lifferent lenses. Within this framework,
the Convocation was organize(1 around
three central themes with a set of organiz-
ing questions for each theme:
· content and learning in mi(l(lle gra(les
mathematics;
· mi(ldle gra(les mathematics teaching; and
· organization of mi(l(lle gra(les instruc-
tional programs and their impact on
mathematics teaching anti learning.
OCR for page 2
Each of these themes was introduced
with a plenary session, where individual
speakers or a pane} described some part
of the landscape. Discussion groups that
addressed the issues in terms of an
activity selected from the actual practice
of teaching followed the first two plenary
sessions. The discussion groups were
composed of ten or fewer participants
that by design represented a mix of three
groups: classroom teachers, teacher
educators and university representatives,
and those in some way responsible for a
system including administrators, repre-
sentatives from state and local systemic
initiatives, and curriculum supervisors.
In addition, time was provided for district
teams to meet and address their con-
cerns in light of the Convocation conver-
sation. The teams were configured
differently depending on the needs of the
system they represented, with some
team members from a given school
district while other teams were a blend of
teachers and university mathematics
educators with common goals for a
district.
THE CONVOCATION THEMES
Middle Grades Content and
Learning Issues
The plenary session on content and
learning mathematics in the middle
grades focused on the questions:
.
What developmental considerations
are important in thinking about
middle school students as learners?
as learners of mathematics? Are
these compatible?
· What do we know about middle
school students' capacity for learning?
for learning mathematics?
· What are important ideas in math-
ematics for the middle grades and
how are these related to (levelopmen-
tal learning considerations?
There were two speakers, one
presenting a middle grades perspective
about learning, including comments
about thematic units and integrated
curricula, and the second addressing
how students learn certain mathemat-
ics concepts in the middle grades from
the perspective of mathematics educa-
tion research. The discussion group
participants worked through Marcy's
Dots (see page 58), an algebraic rea-
soning problem from the 1992 National
Assessment of Educational Progress,
then reflected on student strategies
(Appendix 4, page 240) in light of their
own thinking. This was followed by a
discussion about learning mathematics
based on the middle grades algebra
section from the 1998 National Council
of Teachers of Mathematics Principles
and Standards for School Mathematics:
Discussion Draft using the lens of the
child and the lens of content.
MATHEMATICS EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE GRADES
OCR for page 3
MicIcIle GracIes Teaching Issues
Two videos about the practice of
teaching were the focus of the plenary
session on teaching. In the first video,
students discussed the nature of
mathematics teaching and how they
had learned mathematics through the
actions and beliefs of their teacher.
The second featured an eighth grade
class during a lesson on algebraic
thinking. The audience was asked to
view the videos in light of the following
questions:
.
· What are the important characteris-
tics of effective teaching in the
middle grades? of effective teaching
of mathematics in the middle
gra(les?
How can instruction in middle grades
classrooms be organized to maximize
learning? How can we tell when
learning is happening?
· What tools and strategies wait make a
difference in how middle grades
students learn mathematics?
Following each video a pane}
composed of a middle grades teacher,
a mathematician, and a mathematics
educator reacted to the three ques-
tions. The comments and reactions
of the pane} within the framework of
the focus questions were used to
shape the participant discussion
sessions.
PROGRAM STE E Rl NO COMMITTE E
MicIcIle GracIes School
Organizational Issues
How middle grades are organized and
the impact of that organization on the
teaching and learning of mathematics
was the theme of a pane} discussion in
this plenary session. Panelists were
asked to consider:
· What are the important characteris-
tics of school organization and math-
ematics programs that support
teaching and learning meaningful
mathematics in the middle grades?
· How can the schedules of teachers and
students be organized to implement
what we know about effective teaching
and learning in the middle grades?
· What are the issues surrounding
specialists vs. generalists? What kind
of teaching assignments maximize
program effectiveness in mathematics?
Following the pane} presentation, the
panelists were asked to address specific
questions raised during the Convocation
with questions and reaction from the
audience. The chair of the Steering
Committee gave a closing summary of
the issues anti challenges raise(1 (luring
the Convocation.
It is our hope that this overview will
be useful for the rea(ler to both un(ler-
stand the nature of the Convocation and
to think about the (resign as one that
might energize other communities to
structure a similar venture.
OCR for page 4
Representative terms from entire chapter:
plenary session
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