Day 2—Critical Issues in Mathematics Education (MSRI 2016)

This is a photograph of the reserved parking spaces next to the bus stop for the Hill line.  The Hill line takes you up to MSRI.  I have heard that UC Berkeley is running out of parking space for their Nobel Laureates.

The morning schedule:

• 8:30 AM–8:40 AM. Shifting focus from learning to observe to using observing to learn—Mark Hoover (University of Michigan)


• 8:40 AM –9:45 AM. Structuring the practice and use of observation to improve developmental mathematics courses in a mathematics department—Dawn Berk (University of Delaware), James Hiebert (University of Delaware). One of the key points was the evaluation of lessons and not teachers. They are doing coordinated lesson plans for the number and operations courses for K–6 preservice teachers as well as the foundational math courses leading up to calculus.  They are emphasizing longterm planning and development (20+ years).  The scripted lesson question arose.  It sounds like this lesson plans are more scripted than most. The Q&A session is worth watching. Watch the MSRI video stream.  They give an evolving protocol for facilitating video clubs during the last 10 minutes.


• 9:45 AM–10:45 AM. Preparing secondary mathematics teachers to facilitate video clubs—  Michael Driskill (Math for America), Kristen Smith (Math for America).   They have a protocol for facilitating video clubs. They showed video of teachers watching video.  The facilitator views and edits the teacher's video ahead of the video club session. The video club focused on student thinking, but the facilitator focused on teacher thinking.


• 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM Parallel Sessions 2.
  
  
  • Parallel session 2.a: Advancing quality teaching: Using video to support professional development in the Community College Pathways network—Ann Edwards (Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching)
  
  
  • Parallel session 2.b: Teaching Triads: Enhancing teaching through the use of Cognitive Coaching—Scott Peterson (Oregon State University)
  
  
  • Parallel session 2.c: Key ideas for effective professional development: Purposeful classroom observation and non judgmental data collection—Hyman Bass (University of Michigan), Akihiko Takahashi (DePaul University). I attended this session.  It was in the Baker Boardroom, so it was not recorded, but slides are available.  The major forms of PD in Japan are lesson study, observing demonstration lessons, and lectures/workshops (often during summer). A key idea is the difference between lesson study and demonstration lessons. Demonstration lessons (and their associated videos) capture the complete story of the lesson as opposed to "video club" clips which are usually 2–5 minutes.  Lesson Note http://lessonnote.com) is an app for taking notes while observing lessons and is available for the iPad. This is a VERY slick app!

The afternoon schedule:

• 1:00 PM—2:00 PM. Parallel Sessions 3.
  
  
  • Parallel session 3.a: Reflecting on one’s own classroom video to enhance classroom interactions—William Day (Math for America DC), Julia Penn (Math for America DC)
  
  
  • Parallel session 3.b: Lessons learned from Lesson Study—Travis Lemon (MfA - Utah)
  
  
  • Parallel session 3.c: Observing across communities: Learning to observe undergraduate mathematics classes by supervising student teachers—Cody Patterson (University of Arizona)
  
  
  • Parallel session 3.d: Leading mathematics observations: An observational tool for providing feedback—Nicole Garcia (University of Michigan), Meghan Shaughnessy (University of Michigan)
  
  
  
  
• 2:00 PM–3:00 PM.   Observing and talking about teaching: Departmental leadership—Deborah Hughes Hallett (University of Arizona), Wayne Raskind (Wayne State University), Ayse Sahin (Wright State University), Douglas Ulmer (Georgia Institute of Technology).  A discussion of the views and concerns of department chairs, deans, etc.


• 3:30 PM–4:30 PM. A conversation about practical next steps—Deborah Ball (University of Michigan).  There were five breakout groups to discuss questions such as different ways to observe teaching, the use of different lenses in observation, access to shared materials and video beyond the CIME workshop, what did we learn at the CIME workshop, and what structures could support observation and the improvement of teaching.  Watch the video.


• 4:30 PM–5:00 PM. Closing session: Reflections on ideas discussed at the workshop—James Hiebert (University of Delaware), Anna Sfard (The University of Haifa)

The CIME workshop has been very productive, but I am exhausted after two and a half days.  Heading home early tomorrow.