Services

Standards-based Instruction Training

Time: 3-5 Full Days
Audience: Teachers, Interventionists, Coaches, SPED teachers

This interactive workshop provides the foundation for integrating standards-based instruction into teacher classroom practice. Strategies for developing rigorous problems and activities for grades PreK-12 are discussed, reviewed, and practiced with students. This includes the use, modification, and supplementation of standard textbook-based approaches, state standard curricular resources, site and culture-based resources, and Common Core modules. Teacher content knowledge is expanded and developed around alternative algorithms, invented procedures, and non-standard mathematical reasoning, along with techniques for open ended inquiry.

Culturally Responsive Strategies for Mathematics Instruction

Time: 60-90 Minutes
Audience: Teachers, tutors, support staff, administrators
Handouts: Yes
Video: No

This presentation highlights the connection between recent instructional reform efforts and Native American pedagogy. How do community-based teaching principles compare to research-based instructional strategies? For example, most tribes in the United States have rich oral traditions that still affect how children learn. Consequently, many Native American children are auditory learners who understand math concepts better when they are presented indirectly, in interesting and engaging contexts. Direct, textbook-based instruction that emphasizes procedure and practice is often ineffective with Native American children as a result. Reform-based efforts to improve teaching like Cognitively Guided Instruction, NCTM’s Process Standards, and Common Core’s Standards of Mathematical Practice are consistent with Native American pedagogy and are therefore culturally responsive.

Integrating Standards of Mathematical Practice

Time: 60-75 Minutes
Audience: Teachers (including Special Education), Paraprofessionals
Handouts: Yes
Video: Yes

For teachers in states that have adopted Common Core State Standards, there is still much confusion about how these learning objectives differ from previous versions. More importantly, school districts across the country are faced with the problem of implementing Standards of Mathematical Practice into classroom instruction. This workshop examines the integration of practice standards through video footage and student work. Participants analyze student misconceptions and how these influence instructional decisions. Participants also discuss the effects of essential questions, small and whole group instruction, and high order reasoning on mathematics achievement. Strategies for integrating practice standards in K-12 classrooms are presented along with information about further professional learning opportunities for teachers.

Wigwametry: Culturally Responsive Curriculum

Time: 90-120 minutes
Audience: Math Teachers, Elementary Teachers, Math Tutors
Video: Yes
Handouts: Yes

This session focuses on the development, assessment, and analysis of community-based curricular materials. Participants will discuss modules for culturally appropriate and rigorous projects, lessons, and activities. These modules are demonstrated as participants build scale structures of traditional Ojibwe homes and explore the geometric concepts of circumference, pi, circular area, and spherical volume. Culturally responsive curriculum increases student engagement and learner understanding through hands-on and tactile learning tasks. Community-based curriculum also promotes relevant and purposeful contexts for students to explore otherwise-abstract concepts.