"Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics.

I can assure you that mine are still greater." -Albert Einstein

Research shows that teachers with degrees in the subjects they teach are more successful. That's the reason behind teacher-certification requirements in the federal No Child Left Behind education law.    Helping Children Learn Mathematics… most important, we know that teachers’ knowledge of the mathematical content to be taught is absolutely crucial. Judith Ramaley, of the National Science Foundation, “It’s not enough to know math”, teachers "also need to understand how the minds of young people work, and how to diagnose… the kinds of tangles kids get into,”. ( The Key to a Good Math Teacher? Insight on Error )

Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is "the largest, most comprehensive, and most rigorous international comparison of education ever undertaken." Study of Three Culture is an overview of the” TIMSS Case Study Project”.  The focus of the article was on four predetermined topics:

National standards

Teacher training and teachers' working conditions

Attitudes toward dealing with differences in ability

The place of school in adolescents' lives

National Math Standards

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) is a public voice of mathematics education, providing vision, leadership and professional development to support teachers in ensuring equitable mathematics learning of the highest quality for all students. The NCTM’s  Principles and Standards for School Mathematics describes a future in which all students have access to rigorous, high-quality mathematics instruction, including four years of high school mathematics. Effective mathematics teaching requires understanding what students know and need to learn and then challenging and supporting them to learn it well. Students must learn mathematics with understanding, actively building new knowledge from experience and prior knowledge. Assessment should support the learning of important mathematics and furnish useful information to both teachers and students. Assessments are learning opportunities as well as opportunities for students to demonstrate what they know and can do. Portfolio Assessment in Mathematics Education. The state standards in Math for Georgia are the Georgia Performance Standards ( GPS) for Mathematics .

What does "DOING MATH" mean?

"Doing math" involves all kinds of mental capacities: numerical reasoning, quantitative reasoning, linguistic reasoning, symbolic reasoning, spatial reasoning, logical reasoning, diagrammatic reasoning, reasoning about causality, the ability to handle abstractions, and maybe some others I have overlooked. And for success, all those need to be topped off with a dose of raw creativity and a desire - for some of us an inner need - to pursue the subject and do well at it.” Mathematician Keith Devlin : Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford University and The Math Guy on NPR's Weekend Edition.

The most basic idea in mathematics is that math makes sense!

 NCTM : Illuminations Lessons & Balanced Assessment Tasks are great lesson plans & performance task for authentic learning.  PBS Math Standards Based Resources & Problem-Based Classroom also provide teachers with additional math curriculum support in this area.

Across the curriculum in Math & Writing and Math provide ideas in which students can express their ideas and understanding related to math and other subject areas.  In her book Writing to Learn Mathematics , Joan Countryman  explores the relationship between math and writing and provides a comprehensive description of the approach she takes to teaching math.

Activating student’s prior knowledge through the use of mini-lessons can support the learning of new concepts.

Math – Intermediate

 Math – Elementary

 Pre-Algebra & Algebra

The Shodor Foundation is a non-profit research and education organization dedicated to the advancement of science and math education, specifically through the use of modeling and simulation technologies, select Math Interactive lessons.

A well planned mathematics lesson should always consider the varying abilities, interest, and needs of each child in the class.

Differentiated Math Lessons

Exceptionalities and Special Education

  Cultural Relevance Model

 Multicultural lesson Plans and Resources

More Math Resources

Math Puzzles

 World of Math Online

 McREL Resources: Mathematics

 NYTimes Lesson Plans

 SCORE Mathematics Lessons

 Thirteen Ed Online - Lesson Plans

This is dedicated to those who want to incorporate the “Arts” in their lesson plans and my artist friend- Mr. Proctor.

What Are the Standards for Arts Education?

"Standards" in American education define what students should know and be able to do in any given academic discipline. National standards in the arts (dance, music, theater, visual arts) have been developed to provide a guide and resource to states and school districts that want to develop their own standards.

National Standards for Arts Education  were developed in 1994 by experts in education and the arts. They describe what a child with a complete, sequential education in the arts should know and be able to do at various grade levels in each artistic discipline. The 1997 National Assessment for Educational Progress was developed in coordination with these national standards.

ARTSEDGE — the National Arts and Education Network — supports the placement of the arts at the center of the curriculum and advocates creative use of technology to enhance the K-12 educational experience. ARTSEDGE empowers educators to teach in, through, and about the arts by providing the tools to develop interdisciplinary curricula that fully integrate the arts with other academic subjects.

ARTSEDGE offers free, standards-based teaching materials for use in and out of the classroom, as well as professional development resources, student materials, and guidelines for arts-based instruction and assessment.

In 1999, ARTSEDGE joined MarcoPolo, a consortium that offers free, standards-based, discipline-specific educational Web sites for K-12 teachers and students.

May I suggest some music? Click here!

·                         National Standards for Arts Education were developed in 1994 by experts in education and the arts. They describe what a child with a complete, sequential education in the arts should know and be able to do at various grade levels in each artistic discipline.  National Assessment for Educational Progress was developed in coordination with these national standards.

Georgia Standards for Arts Education

Visual Arts

National Visual Arts Standards (9-12)

Across the Curriculum  Visual Arts Lesson plans

Rubric ( Bloom Taxonomy)

Effective foreign language instruction includes direct teaching, systematic practice involving rules and grammar, and plenty of opportunities for conversation. It should be aimed at having students express and understand fully formed ideas and phrases, as well as learn the language’s structure. Teacher should use Best Practices:

Teachers should:

·                     communicate in the target language.

·                     create meaningful, real-life opportunities for communicative activities

·                     make language comprehensible with body language and linguistic modifications

·                     maintain a classroom environment to support the target language and culture, where students feel comfortable taking risks

·                     maintain a safe learning climate in which cultural diversity, equity, and high expectations for all are honored

·                     plan activities that differentiate instruction to meet the individual needs of learners

·                     plan lesson that respond to the National and State expectations

·                     integrate cultural information with language and core curriculum of other disciplines

·                     design tasks and ask questions that reflect a range of thinking skills

·                     assess students' language abilities and content knowledge by using performance tasks and open-response questions

·                     be up-to-date on and deliver current instructional practices

Students should:

·                     communicate in the target language

·                     be active in the classroom- moving, doing, talking, and collaborating

·                     read authentic materials from the target language

·                     have choices in performing language or cultural tasks

·                     share, discuss, and reflect on what they are learning

·                     experience the language and culture with minds-on and hands-on learning

·                     take part in target-culture language and cultural activities outside of the classroom

Below are numerous resources for teaching Spanish and other foreign languages:

Your complete Spanish resource for printable materials at Edhelper.com
www.edhelper.com/Spanish.htm

Lesson Plans For Spanish teachers! ... Spanish Lesson 2- Instead of getting a pronunciation of a particular word, you select the audio clip.www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/languages/sp

The Language Bank 

Students practice reading, listening to, and writing in a foreign language by making Internet excursions to foreign language web sites.

National Endowment for the Humanities has a great website called: EDSITEment. It  contains a variety of links to other websites and references to resources available through government, nonprofit, and commercial entities. The lesson plans and resources are great!

The Lesson Plans Page is a collection of over 3,000 lesson plans from Preschool through High School and beyond, that were developed by Kyle Yamnitz, students and faculty at The University of Missouri. It contains Hot Chalk Spanish Lesson plans.

Clip Art Collection for Foreign/Second Language Instruction. A series of hand-drawn pictures illustrating verbs, adjectives, and common nouns that teachers can print out and use in the classroom.

Education Index: Language Resources. Language resources include: Spanish, French, Japanese, Chinese, English, German and Welsh.

American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) is the professional association that represents teachers of all languages at all educational levels. The ACTFL site contains information on a variety of topics, including professional development programs, proficiency testing publications, and job opportunities.