Math 647 Unit: Early Number and Operations concepts

Introduction: Standards and About this Class

Content goals: The goals this week are for you to

• understand the format and structure of the math standards
• gain an introductory undertanding of the process standards
• have an overview of the scope and structure of this class

Format and structure of the math standards:

Videos to watch:

Introduction to the NCTM Standards
Introduction to the Common Core State Standards
Content Standards*
Process Standards*

*These two videos were made back before the Wisconsin standards were replaced by the Common Core standards, so you'll see some references to the previous standards in these.

Readings: Summary of things to know about Math Standards

Assignment 1:Worksheet about the Standards. (type your answers in, and upload your assignment to the appropriate drop box in D2L) May25

Resources: Links to Standards documents

Process standards: Note that I am using the NCTM standards as my reference when talking about process standards. This is because all the process standards are covered in somewhat more detail in the NCTM standards than in the Wisconsin standards, so that makes the NCTM standards a good place to learn about what the goals and ideas are of the process standards.

Videos to watch:

First watch The Wheel Problem which is # 14 in the Teaching Math Video Library K-4 at http://learner.org/resources/series32.html You will be asked to sign up for a free membership to be able to watch videos on this site. 

Readings: Then read my commentary on the process standards and the Wheel Problem (I tried to record videos, really I did, but it all sadly failed...)

Assignment 2: May 25

Either watch the video lesson: # 16: This Small House in the Teaching Math Video Library K-4 at http://learner.org/resources/series32.html

OR

Read the lesson Exploring Halves from the Math Solutions issue 29 newsletter

Then write an analysis of the lesson telling what process standards are used in the lesson. (Upload your assignment to the appropriate drop box in D2L).

• I have hand-picked these lessons to be ones that meet some process standards.
• You don't have to address every standard or claim that the lesson meets every standard (the Wheels Problem was unusual in that way).
• You should find at least two process standards that are met in the lesson.
• You should tell me not only what process standards are met, but which sub-goals of those standards are met, and what children are doing in the lesson that fits with that sub-goal of the standard.

Things to know about this course:

• The content we will be covering and our schedule
• The assignments, tests and grading structure
• The technology tools you will need to be able to use

Content and schedule:

We will be looking at number and operations topics from Kindergarten through grade 5 or 6--We will start with a quick look at counting, and then really dig into finding out how children think about and come to understand addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. We'll also take those basic ideas and look at how they show up in some algebraic thinking contexts (Unit 1). Then we'll build up some of the basic ideas in our base 10 number system, and look at ways to add subtract, multiply and divide with multi-digit numbers (and ways to approach these when teaching) (Unit 2). In Unit 3, we'll look at those same ideas of numbers and operations with fractions. Finally, we'll finish with looking at decimals, percents and ratios (Unit 4).

There is a lot of work, and a lot of assignments in this course. I'm providing tentative due dates for each of these assignments and units. These are not mandatory due dates, they are recommended due dates. You will learn more, and be less stressed if you spread this course out rather than trying to do it all very quickly. If you are devoted to the idea of doing it quickly, make sure that you allow yourself a minimum of 1 week per unit.

Tests and grades

Assignments:

• Everything called an assignment (with an assignment number) will be graded. 
  
• Unless it is a D2L quiz, you should be turning something in for each assignment to the appropriate D2L Dropbox
• For each assignment it is your responsibility to:

• Format the problems and answers so that you have sufficient space to answer each problem appropriately.  This may sometimes involve changing my formatting to include more white-space.
• Choose an appropriate program/file type to submit your work.  Except for the occasional assignment where I specify a file type (such as videos) you may choose whichever of the following is most conventient for you.  Please submit work in one of these forms:
• A Microsoft Word document
• A SMART Notebook file
• A handwritten, scanned in, picture which has been inserted into a Microsoft Word document or is a single file .pdf
• A link to a video on the web, where the link has been pasted into a Word document.
• A video uploaded in .swf format (other formats may also be acceptable--check with me first)
• If for some reason you can't use one of these file formats (for example, if you can't insert your scanned documents into Word), you need to contact me and work something out individually

Technology tools

I'm going to embed these into the to-do's for the first several weeks as we go along, but here's the overview:

• You need to be able to type into a Word document and upload it to D2L to turn in typed assignments
• You need to be able to scan hand-written work into your computer and turn it in. When you are turning in hand-written work, I will accept it as a .pdf or as a picture embedded into a Word document. If you have a smart phone, you might want to check out these apps (iPhone, Android) for using your phone as a scanner. If you don't have a scanner, you can probably pick up a simple flatbed scanner for not very much money, or you can plan on going in to a computer lab or library to do your scanning on a regular basis.
• You'll be installing SMART Notebook on your computer (unless I quick come up with something else for you to use instead)
• You'll be recording audio of you explaining stuff, so you will need a microphone for your computer. You can get a headset with microphone for your computer from ShopKo/Walmart/Target etc.
• You'll be installing Jing on your computer, so you can make videos of your screen (with your voice overs). You can also use Jing for screen captures of pictures you have on your screen if you don't already have a favorite screen capture tool.

More tech notes, and some useful links can be found here