Five local teachers and four students were selected to present to several hundred Vermont educators at the annual Dynamic Landscapes conference this month.  Learn more about the conference and the workshops shared by Aimee Randall and Jericho students, Joanne Finnegan, Joyce Babbit, David Baroody and Beth Redford! 

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On Monday, May 7th, CESU held its Annual Meeting at Camels Hump Middle School. A very special dinner was served by the student chefs and cafe personnel! Part of the evening was devoted to honoring volunteers with a Golden Apple from each of the buildings. Their years of service, dedication to children and warm and caring community spirit is greatly appreciated!  


In addition, retiring board members Rich Miller of Bolton, Becca Golden of Huntington, Karen Glitman of Jericho, Julie Waite of Richmond, Derek Bellin of Underhill Center, Robert Letovsky of Underhill ID, Jeff Forward of MMUSD and Robert Robbins of MMUSD were honored.     Three administrators who are moving onto other adventures or retiring were also recognized.  They were Cindy Mackin, Principal of Underhill ID, Nancy Guyette, Principal of Browns River Middle School and Lauren Wooden, Assistant Superintendent of Chittenden East.

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 Our final mathematical practice standard is #8  "Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning".  A mathematically proficient student will look for general methods and shortcuts to math problems presented to them. They simultaneously look at the overall problem while working on the details. This keeps them thinking about the viability of their intermediate results as they progress through the problem.  For more information on Practice #8 ,
CLICK HERE.  

 The 7th Math Practice standard is "Look for and make use of structure."  This practice allows students to identify and evaluate efficient strategies for solution.  In the early grades it might look like understanding the efficiency of 'adding on' when counting, or a middle level student understanding patterns in a function table to 'guess my rule'. Geometry relies on processes of exploring patterns and proofs.  To learn more about this Math practice -     CLICK HERE.

 Next, we will explore Mathematical Practice Standard #6 - Attend to precision. This is a standard that makes sense to us in the area of mathematics. It is important to communicate precisely to others when explaining the process/procedure used.  Mathematically proficient students use clear definitions in discussion, are careful about specifying units of measure and labeling axes, calculate accurately and efficiently and can examine claims and make explicit use of definitions.  

To learn more about Attending to Precision,   CLICK HERE.

 

 Now, let's look at Math Practice #5 - Use appropriate tools strategically.  When a mathematically proficient student has mastered Practice Standard #5 - they are able to identify relevant external mathematical resources, such as digital content located on a website or rulers in the classroom, and use them to pose or solve problems.

They might use pencil and paper, concrete models, a ruler or computer algebra system to explore and deepen their understanding of concepts. 

To learn more about Practice Standard #5,   CLICK HERE.

 The 4th Common Core Mathematical Practice Standard is:  Model with Mathematics.  Students who are mathematically proficient are able to write math equations to solve problems, apply proportional reasoning to analyze a problem they are faced with or feel comfortable making assumptions and approximations to simplify a complicated situation.  This might look like a high school student using what they know about geometry, for example, to solve a design problem they are working on.  They use math as a model to help them work through problems.  To learn more about this....  CLICK HERE.

 The third mathematical practice standard is:  Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.  A student who is mathematically proficient understands and uses stated assumptions, definitions, and previously established results in constructing arguments.  They analyze situations, justify their conclusions, reason inductively about data and compare the effectiveness of two arguments.  To learn more about Practice Standard #3 -  click HERE!  

 The second mathematics practice standard is to 'reason abstractly and quantitatively".  A student who is mathematically proficient can make sense of quantities and their relationships in problem situations.  These students can represent a problem with symbols and manipulate those symbols to determine a solution. Additionally, they can quantitatively consider the problem so that they can determine what different properties of operations and objects to use to represent the problem coherently.  

Click here to learn more about reasoning abstractly and quantitatively.

 Our K12 Common Core Mathematics Implementation Committee is currently part of a regional training with Bob and Judi Laird of the Vermont Mathematics Initiative.  Through this 5 part series we are examining the meaning of coherence and rigor in mathematics education and learning about the Standards of Mathematical Practice and how to integrate them into our daily math instruction.  This team will help design professional development opportunities for the staff of CESU around this new learning.

These Standards of Mathematical Practice describe the skills and habits of mind that students need to be mathematically proficient.  They are:

1.  Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
3.  Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
4. Model with mathematics.
5. Use appropriate tools strategically.
6. Attend to precision.
7. Look for and make use of structure.
8. Look for and express regularlity in repeated reasoning.

For the next several weeks we will explore each of these practices more deeply.  We begin with #1.

Click here to learn more about "making sense of problems and persevering in solving them".

 Curriculum work has been ongoing through the summer and throughout the school year as we continuously improve instruction through rigorous tasks and common assessments that inform instruction.  Click  here   to get to the Curriculum Page to see what we've been up to!