Current Goals, Projects, and Initiatives (Fall 2012)
Refine dissertation plans and successfully complete proposal.
Launch and lead video series for Teaching with Technologies, with dual purpose of piloting ideas for dissertation and establishing a system for collecting and organizing artifacts.
Survive travels.
Submit for publication.
Goal Summary (Summer 2012)
Academic Goals
Submit a draft outlining my initial
thinking/planning for dissertation study.
Demonstrate readiness to proceed to the
dissertation phase of the doctoral program with successful completion of the
comprehensive portfolio in August 2012.
Enroll in Proposal class in Fall 2012.
Mathematics Education
Collaborate with professors to revisit
submitted projects or prepare new manuscripts to submit for publication.
Serve as an instructor for Project in July 2012, while also collecting data to further
investigate the impact of lesson study.
Diversify professional experiences
by submitting to present for at least one new venue.
Instructional
Technology
Complete implementation guides for the revised
e-examples, available as beta-apps at www.nctm.org/betaapps,
in order to field test them with teachers and students as soon as school begins,
before undergoing another cycle of revisions.
Continue as a content specialist to collaborate
with a team of developers to have a working ‘create’ version of Mouse in a Math
Lab, NCTM’s first ipad app, by Fall 2012, and a collection of challenges before
the end of the year.
Research Interests
DESIGN --- DEVELOP,
RESEARCH, PRACTICE
Bridge Disconnect between Design and Development
Design by Teachers
Design-Based Research
Informed by Learners
TEACH ---SELECT,
IMPLEMENT, IMPROVE, SHARE
Professional Development, particularly Lesson
Study
Tech -Knowledgy
Pedagogy
Mathematics Content: & Process
LEARN --- beyond Engagement --- INTERACT, CREATE,
COLLABORATE, CONQUER
Opportunity for EACH, ALL, WHOLE
Scope: Access, Equity, Diversity
Discourse – Interact for Impact
Multiple Representations
Reasoning, Sense-Making, Strategizing
Inherently Differentiates Instruction
Teach & Learn - Assess
Original Goal Statement (Summer 2008)
Most agree that the greatest challenge of teaching mathematics is communicating technical ideas effectively. Excellent mathematics instructors are those that can master both the task of explaining and transmitting conceptual understanding to their students, and arguably more importantly, the task of being receptors of their students’ abilities and misconceptions.
Although this may sound cliché, the best communication is two-sided. My goal as a math instructor is to recognize the individual differences between my students and be able to communicate uniquely with each in order to promote the most engaging learning environment. More specifically, I will not only have to be able to learn to communicate with each as an individual, but I will also expect my students to be growing in their own communication abilities. I will value their growth in communicating mathematical ideas, and also value their communication of how I might change my teaching style or methods to best accommodate their learning preferences.
Throughout the several math classes that I have taught, I have formed the belief that the best way to improve communication is to require it. Generally, students are primarily concerned with getting the correct answers. Some are somewhat concerned about the solutions but usually only because they are worried that there will be a similar problem on the exam. Almost none are concerned about why the solution method works conceptually or how to articulate the ideas and thoughts behind choosing such a solution method. It is commonplace for college mathematics students to pass classes and even earn good grades by learning how to attain right answers but still not be able to communicate understanding of the main concepts of the class.
My goal enrolling in a PhD program is to become more informed and aware of the cutting-edge research in the field of mathematics education, and also become a part of it! From what I have learned and read about so far, I ascribe to a discovery mastery-focused learning style. I want my students’ purpose for doing class work to be to learn new things and gain deeper understanding, even if it means making more mistakes. I also want them feel like they are competent in forming mathematical ideas through innovation, instead of transferring knowledge through lecture. I hope that the PhD program in Mathematics Education Leadership will allow me to form ideas of how to reach out to other mathematics instructors and share research and best practices to help them in their own classrooms.
Currently, I am working for NCTM. A survey that members voluntarily responded to indicated that the resources put out by NCTM helped them in many ways. They thought deeper about lesson planning, gained a better understanding about how to teach to the Standards, and were happy with the ideas for activities they could use in their classrooms, but they did not think that the resources saved them any time. As a leader in math education, I hope that I can work to provide resources that will save teachers time. I am interested in secondary teachers, especially pre-service teachers, who are learning to balance all aspects of teaching mathematics. I know that I do not make up all of my own activities as a teacher. I also believe that students appreciate projects that deviate from traditional learning styles. In the PhD program, I hope to learn about more tools to develop more engaging instructional materials that can be shared with secondary teachers.
Besides learning about how to accomplish this goal by taking additional coursework as I work toward a PhD, I hope to learn from discussions with other members of the cohort about their experiences and opinions, continue to value feedback from my own students and feedback that I may have access to at work, and also conduct some original research to investigate questions that remain unanswered for me.
My research interests include, but are not limited to, collaborative learning in the collegiate and secondary mathematics classroom, motivation, more specifically avoidance behaviors versus help-seeking behaviors among mathematics students, and equity. In regards to equity, I studied the performance of adopted students in the mathematics classroom, and am interested in extending research to study second-language learners’ performance.
As a PhD student, I hope to research these ideas, and other ideas that become appealing along the process, in more depth. My goal is to be able to publish, and be marketable as a Teaching Specialist in a mathematics department in a university. I also have interest working with TAs – hiring, orientations, and bettering the experience both for the TA’s and their students. So far, I enjoy working with the NCTM team, and am excited that the goals at NCTM are so closely related to the goals of this program. I see myself being able to apply everything I learn! !