Week+1+Introduction+to+the+course

Thanks for your interesting introductions to the class. Our aim - for we all share this responsibility - will be to make the class safe, relevant, useful and enjoyable to all. Together we shall create new understandings, new colleagues and quality materials that we shall all be able to use in our teaching. Remember that everything you create for your portfolio shall be of value to you - there's no wasted or "busy-work" in this class! Please engage your colleagues, the mathematics, and its teaching and learning with an open heart and open mind, because like parachutes and umbrellas, they tend to work better that way!
 * Week 1 Reflections:**


 * Please read the notes on the **Guidelines for Group Discussion**. It's important that we establish a comfortable and safe environment to discuss our concerns openly. These guidelines just lay some ground rules for us all to think about.

The stories we tell about ourselves in relation to our experiences are a powerful way to understand how we view the world. We would like you to create a mathematics narrative as a means to introduce yourself in relation to your experiences of mathematics. Your mathematics narrative should include a) your view of mathematics; b) your experiences of learning mathematics, and c) your experiences of teaching math. Try to describe memorable teachers and events and how they changed or challenged your views of mathematics, its learning and teaching. Please submit your Math Narratives in soft copy.
 * Details for the **__Math Narrative #1__** submission are in the course handout and so too is the rubric, albeit very simple. To reiterate:


 * Several of you have emailed me questions about __**Problem Set #1.**__ There was a drawing error on the geoboards (thanks Hazel) - instead of a 5 x 5 grid, I drew a 5 x 6 grid instead. I have made the changes (see website). Each board is a 5 x 5 grid for a total area of 16 sq. units. OK? So work on the solutions so that you'll be ready to discuss them in groups next week. For this there is no rubric or mark.
 * Some of you may elect to take your own solutions and (with additional discussion from your colleagues) write these up for your portfolio. In which case, start to think about how to connect each problem to the curriculum (grade, strand, expectations, math processes, etc.). You may find that the problems span several grades (just like the in class geoboard activity) so consider this development as well.
 * **Don't worry too much about this now**.... we'll discuss this in class and I'll provide the rubric for submission of the problem set to your portfolios. So, get ready to discuss your solutions with the class for next week.


 * Read the curriculum documents front matter, the NCTM Executive Summary and Introduction and Chapter 1 of the Jo Boaler book. As you are thinking about the readings, keep the following thoughts and questions in mind for discussions next class. Curricula not only define what mathematics content should be taught in classrooms but also what mathematical activity should be taking place
 * 1) How do these various readings present the role of the mathematics teacher?
 * 2) How do these various readings present the role of the mathematics learner?
 * 3) What are the messages in the curriculum about what mathematical activity should be taking place?
 * 4) What are the messages in NCTM about mathematics content and mathematical activity?
 * 5) What are the messages in the Boaler/Humphries book?