Fall 1999 |
Spring 1999 |
Fall 1998 |
Spring 1998 |
The annual fall DIME meeting was held Friday October 1st at the Anita Purves Nature Center in Urbana and on Saturday October 2nd at the Channing Murray Foundation.
Our appreciation extends to Chip and Susan Bruce and Bob and Bernadine Stake for hosting the evening meals at their homes. As always the dialogues begun during the day continued to be discussed during the evening hours.
As promised at the 1999 Spring Meeting, Susan Bruce had compiled a complete set of Jack Easley's Network News newsletters. Copies were distributed to those who had ordered them, and if you did not receive your order, please let Susan know.
Bernadine shared Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher's First Year by Esme Codell, a first year teacher. The importance of knowledgeable administrators in the guidance of new teachers lies at the heart of the book. Or in this case the lack of such. Would Esme have written the book if support and guidance had been given?
Lynn Carter spoke of the Assessment and Quality Review process currently underway in St. Joe. Week long training which looks at teaching and learning, student progress and achievement, and school/community relations was targeted. Lynn is hopeful that the process will be useful not only to St. Joe, but will become a model for other Illinois school districts involved in the Quality Review process.
Elizabeth Easley having talked to Marta Civil brought us up to date. Marta is currently administrating two grants in the Tucson area, including one focusing on parental involvement which she spoke of at the Spring meeting.
Concern for James Kau and his family was expressed in view of the recent earthquake in Taiwan. Communication had not yet been completely re-established.
Elizabeth also presented the problem found in the box at the left. Why does it work? Will it work next year in 2000?
Christy Brinkley updated the group relative to the Astronomy Lab Project at Dr. Howard. Student and parental involvement was greater than anticipated and the desire to continue the project was a pleasant bonus. She also talked of Dr. Howard's involvement with the Math Olympiad.
David Brown who spent his sabbatical in England at Cambridge's Queens' College in Reading recently returned and was working on a book with a working title of Merging Dynamics with the New Common Sense. It focuses on one of the on-going question of DIME members: Why is inquiry teaching so difficult? Is it due to individual orientation or our past experience? Science teaching remains largely one of Òdragging people from a to b.Ó He had hoped to work with Roz Driver, who succumbed to cancer shortly before his arrival, requiring his study to be more solitary than he had hoped. Teaching and learning is not linear, but is messy continued the
discussion. Virtually all models/metaphors for teaching and learning
are linear: ÒjourneysÓ, Òfilling vesselsÓ, Òleading to discoverÓ, Òthe scientific methodÓ.
Nancy Fehr reminded the group of our emphasis upon dialogue. She quoted David Bohm, dialogue occurs Òwhen a group accesses a larger Ôpool of common meaning' which cannot be accessed individually.Ó Other dynamics systems at work include class make up, state and district expectations, parental desires, and the education profession in general. Pre-service teachers and inservice teachers are still generally taught using linear systems. The United States regularly focuses attention on illogical wars as individual constructivism vs. social constructivism, use of calculators at the exclusion of all paper/pencil processes vs. only paper/pencil processes, whether using one's subject content precedes or follows skill acquisition.
Aki Takahashi brought a copy of The Teaching Gap by Stigler and Hiebert. Based on the tapes collected by the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, the book highlights differences between instruction in the United States and those countries which routinely score higher than the US. Both the book and the tapes clearly indicate the highest scoring countries involve students in problem solving and dialogue. Feedback from DIME members has supported these findings for the past 15 years. Change is surely difficult.
Nancy Fehr talked about the use of Reading Recovery techniques in a regular first grade classroom. Admittedly she has the support of a reading grant and is working with the Title I teacher, but what strategies and how are they modified from one on one to small group interactions could assist teachers in making instructional decisions. We look forward to hearing more of this project at the 2000 Spring meeting.
Rhonda Priest continues to work with problem solving regularly in her second grade classroom. Rhonda has consistently used the process in the various grades she has taught, has facilitated cross grade adaptations, speaks for its usage at both local and state settings, and can show its effectiveness.
Dick Elsholz working with Doris Sperling shared a draft of their work that combines problem solving, critical thinking, and questioning strategies across all content areas. They contend that a major player largely left out of the teaching/learning cycle is the student. Helping students take charge/responsibility for their learning can be accomplished by providing models for these three areas. Creating rubrics for these topics with the students produces positive effects.
Jennifer Hamilton continues working in the first grade. She continues to believe that building community and friendship, developing trust and efficacy are the principal goals of the primary grades. If effective dialogue is to take place in the classroom built around important content learnings, these attributes must be instilled and observable. Lynn Elsholz reiterated these thoughts, but is not sure how this is played out in districts that more and more often stress attainment of academic benchmarks and standards. In Educating Hearts and Minds: Reflections on Japanese Preschool and Elementary Education by C. Lewis, the first year of school for the Japanese goals are speaking up so all can hear, helping your classmates, etc. The academics in Japan do not seem to suffer.
Olga Jarrett drove in from Georgia. She is still being sought out for her research on recess. In addition she is conducting research on bullying or was it anti-bulling. The playground is a ripe arena for research projects.
Olga brought with her Mizrap Bulunuz from Turkey. Mizrap is a teaching assistant in Science Education at Uludag University in Bursa, Turkey, who is now working on his master thesis. He spent the fall semester working with Olga with hands on science techniques. In Turkey science is generally taught with few labs, primarily lecture with virtually no science being taught in primary grades. Needless to say he found an excellent mentor.
George Shirk and Mary Mather discussed their continuing work with the Investigations in Number, Data, and Space program in southeastern Michigan and northwest Ohio. They have combined a methods course with immediate practice by meeting with students in the morning and having the students deliver mathematics lessons in the afternoon.
Dick Elsholz who also is implementing Investigations in Number, Data, and Space in Waterford shared a series of weekly homework assignments he developed to augment the program entitled Soaring Through Mathematics. The elementary teachers had expressed concerns that if students focused on 8 to 10 topics a year, how would one maintain skills that had been learned earlier.
Deb Gilman invited her undergraduate students to the Saturday morning session. We were delightfully surprised with about 25 students, as we recalled our undergraduate days with Saturday morning classes and our attendance. A number of topics related to math expectations, resources, and directions (NCTM and TIMSS) were discussed. A number of the students were able to find grade level counterparts among us to carry on the dialogues over lunch. Many thanks to Deb for gathering a terrific group of new teachers and starting them on their way with dialoguing.
Chip Bruce provided some additional resources or references relative
to classroom discourse: Ball, C., Dice, L., & Bartholomae, D. (1990)
Telling sercrets: Student readers and disciplinary authorities. In
R. Beach & S. Hynds (Eds.), Developing discourse practices in adolescence
and adulthood (pp (337-357). Norwood, NJ: Ablex and Cazden, C.B. (1988).
Classroom discourse: the language of teaching and learning. Portsmouth,
NH: Heinemann.
The Spring DIME meeting was held in Champaign March 26th and 27th. We are grateful to Christy Brinkley for allowing us to use her home as Margie Lerch had a family emergency and we were unable to use the Learning Location. We sincerely hope all works well for Margie.
Deb Gilman shared her current project: Art as Language. Her project deals with PreK - Grade 3 students, focusing upon a multicultural perspective rather than the developmental approach with which she is more comfortable. Using observations and interviews, two initial conclusions were shared: drawing precedes written work and the current climate in schools tends to drive aesthetics out. She suggested we read Aesthetic Education in Early Childhood by ÉMary Renck Jalongo and Laurie Nicolson Stamp (1997.) Chip also suggested Representation in Scientific Practice edited by Michael Lynch and Steve Woolgar (1990). He referred to an article by Bruno Latour within.
Elizabeth Easley brought us up-to-date with DIME members unable to attend.
• Olga Jarrett's research on the importance of recess is a current hot button. Many schools are ÒdroppingÓ recess to gain more academic time; yet her research concludes time taken from recess is not gained in more academic time but rather in more off task behaviors. She was attending a board meeting of the American Association for the Child's Right to Play the same weekend as DIME.
• Kazuo Ishizaka is now the dean and president of the Japan Association of American Studies.
• Carol and Larry McGehe have moved to Florida and may be reached at:
3333 S. Atlantic #1206
Daytona Beach, FL 32118
carolserve@aol.com
• Sherry Sullivan has moved to the University of Michigan where she is Director of Field Research for the Engagement Project, a middle childhood network. She may be reached by e-mail ssulli@umich.edu
Susan Bruce has put together a complete collection of Jack's Science Newsletters. She is willing to make copies available at the October 99 DIME meeting. The cost would be about $40. If you are interested in a copy and did not give your name at the DIME meeting, send your request by e-mail to Chip or to Chip and Susan at 1501 N. Coler, Urbana, IL 61801.
Marta Civil is on sabbatical from Arizona State. She is interested in parental involvement, which has been an ongoing topic of DIME meetings over the years. She and her colleagues are pursing an NSF grant for a parental involvement project. One aspect is the Fund of Knowledge concept in which all people and occupations are recognized for the knowledge necessary to succeed in their unique settings. Gender issues, bringing to light the necessary mathematics, and connecting the learnings to math reform are components of the project. Marta was leaving the DIME meeting for Boston to speak with TERC and other professionals in the Boston area regarding parental involvement. We look forward to a summary at the Fall meeting.
Akihiko Takahashi shared an open ended approach to problem solving. Using NCTM's Open Ended Approach, he shared 3 examples. The first the broken calculator key; secondly, determining which shape covered the most area using pattern blocks, and lastly a table showing forested regions and populations of Japan, France, and the US - which country had the most forest area? Aki again reminded us that a typical lesson in Japan begins with the teacher giving a challenging problem, then time for the individual to work, followed by whole class discussion, and completed with the teacher summarizing. This compared to the US model of providing skill/drill
and someday the student will be able to pull it together. Today in the US, teachers attempting to implement the model used in Japan are oft times faced with the demand to return to a skill driven approach as Òthe methodÓ to improve test scores.
Rhonda Priest reported on Carlinville's attempt to promote parental involvement with reading skills and young children. On six different nights throughout the school year, parents with their son/daughter came to a session in which they were immersed in reading skills. Although the attendance was high initially, it has tapered off significantly. This tied to Marta's question of how to keep parental involvement level high. Others shared their experience. The results are similar, poor participation. What can be done? What models or organizational schemes work? Parental involvement leads to greater support in the schools, which we all desire, so collect activities or arrangements which gather parents.
Thanks to the St. Joseph staff for allowing us to visit Friday afternoon. We saw evidence of pattern block lessons, discussed in the morning, displayed in the halls. It is remarkable how quickly elementary teachers bond to share ideas and mutual issues of importance.
Aki has moved the DIME website. The new address is:
www.mste.uiuc.edu/dime/
How can we use it to promote open ended questions? What can we do to make the site more interactive?
Chip Bruce brought us up-to-date with his Ethical and Policy Issues in Informational Technology class. This class was conducted primarily by internet linkages. An imaginary teen named Suzie has provided a number of problematic scenarios, albeit by accident, which lead school and community people to address. Suzie has linked to hate sites, hacked into school programs, etc. leading to discussions on race/gender issues, privacy/censorship issues, etc. Chip had volunteers take the part of a superintendent, principals, parents, and community members throughout the interchanges. The site is not accessible to the public, unfortunately, as the issues raised are being faced by all in schools.
Trudy Morritz spoke of a joint project between UIUC and Purdue titled Inquiry Teaching and Learning. This project is attempting to assist teachers in inquiry teaching by providing activities, templates, and linkages among faculties. The example shared asked the question ÒHow much space does a person need?Ó in terms of personal space, but also space needed to support food, clean water, etc. Is an Inquiry classroom difficult for teachers to install because they are a partner in the learning and not a disseminator of knowledge? What are your thoughts?
George Shirk continued his discussion from the Fall meeting concerning the University of Toledo's Math Methods course. Students teach daily in actual classrooms in the morning and return in the afternoon for their coursework for a period of four weeks. George feels that process although heavily concentrated, provides essential feedback to perspective teachers who are attempting to implement standards based programs. Investigations in Number, Data, and Space is the principal program for both student teachers and elementary students. Part of the student teacher's requirement is the construction of a portfolio. Should it consist of math? math teaching? math learning? At issue is the purpose: are portfolios collections or presentations? Any ideas - might be an interesting carry over discussion for the Fall Meeting.
Dick Elsholz brought a collection of rubrics he and Doris Sperling have developed. Most often rubrics are created by teachers and rarely shared with students. Their belief is the essentialness of beginning rubrics with students - it is student efforts we are seeking to improve. Behavioral rubrics, content rubrics, NCA rubrics were among those shared.
Marci Vancil has received her National Board Certification in Early Childhood Education. She is one of 30 Illinois teachers to have accomplished it. Was it worth it? Neither Illinois nor Urbana provides remuneration for receiving it as do some states and districts. In answer to this question posed last spring, Marci is still reflecting.
Much of Saturday afternoon was spent in creating a newspaper geodesic dome. With about 100 sheets of newspaper, 3 rolls of tape, and cooperation, we constructed a dome in Christy's family room that almost became a permanent fixture - it wouldn't go out the door. We had lots of suggestions for Christy as to its continued use in her house.
For your reading list, Marta suggested The Universe and the Teacup: The Mathematics of Truth and Beauty by K. C. Cole and George suggested Beyond Arithmetic by Jan Makros, Susan Jo Russell, and Karen Economopoulas. Chip has also become a regular contributor to Reading Online's Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. Try his site at www.ed.uiuc.edu/facstaff/chip/JAAL/
Dues were set at $15 per year. Please send your 1998-99 dues to Christy Brinkley at: 2606 Rachel Road, Champaign, IL 61821.
Mark your calendar for the Fall 1999 DIME Meeting: October 1st and 2nd, 1999 in the Champaign/Urbana area. The location will be forwarded in late August to members and will also be posted on the DIME website.
Looking forward to the dialogue.
An impromptu fall DIME meeting was held in Champaign September 26th. Regretfully the meeting scheduled for Ypsilanti was cancelled.
Deb Gilman, having moved from Florida to U of I, brought one of her pre-service students, Jinny Ahn. Deb is working toward a doctoral degree in fine arts. Deb spoke of her current assignment of working with pre-service teachers. Later sending e-mail messages quoting brain development and the impact of Mozart's music. If music is a replication of brain wave patterns - wouldn't some math problem solving activities also follow similar patterns?
Jinny Ahn talked of comparisons between Korea and the US in preschool and early childhood classes. Emphasis upon directed, whole class activities were quite surprising to her. Jinny felt the US developed content, while Korea stressed play and the development of the child,
Dick Elsholz reported Waterford had about 70 teachers in grades 3, 4, and 5 using Investigations in Number, Data, and Space. The middle school is piloting Math In Context. He hopes to gather information from George Shirk or others using either of these NSF projects. One concern is methods of monitoring or studying the teacher change necessary to move toward reform type materials. Unlike Champaign/ Urbana, graduate students are not readily available to record classroom actions and interactions.
Akihiko Takahashi returned to U of I and is working on advanced degrees. He brought a second book on pattern blocks he authored. This book is for elementary students and consists of a series of taskcards across the levels. The book stresses relationships among the various blocks and the impact upon area, symmetry, and pattern extension.
Elizabeth Easley brought everyone up to date on Susan Shadid, who moved from Kankakee to Elgin, IL and is working as the educational leader for her church in Barrington.
Elizabeth also was in the process of trying to tie prior DIME meetings and minutes which she had saved over the years. Due to her diligence we have records back to 1982. Bernadine then tried to fill in the earlier years when she, Jack and Linda Brandau instituted a study group to look at mathematics through the eyes of the practitioner. DIME as most of us recollect began upon Jack and Elizabeth's return from Japan and Kitameano School in 1982. And the US thinks TIMSS is new information!
Aki is attempting to create a website for DIME before the end of the year. History of DIME he intends to include. If anyone has any documents or other artifacts from any years of DIME, Aki or Elizabeth would be interested in receiving. Also what other "hot buttons" might be appropriate?
Trudy Morritz discussed her research proposal paralleling Science Education and Health Education. Changing behaviors is a common, and expected behavior in science, but not in health. Why? Facts and theories can be taught as "factual" in science class but not health ed. Why? She suggested a book entitled Education for Intelligent Beliefs and Unbeliefs.
Chip Bruce elaborated upon his Inquiry Project. Chickscope, which
is available on the web at:
chickscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/
continues to be used by both graduate and undergraduate students. The focus
is on embryology, math and MRI imaging. Chip is in the process of writing
an article focusing upon inquiry for publication.
Mary Ellen Sronce joined after completing work with the Urbana Herbal Society. She spoke of efforts maintaining gardens and supporting historical sites in the Urbana community.
The traditional Chinese dinner was held Saturday evening at Elizabeth's.
Lynn Carter moved from Carlinville to St. Joseph, where she is the new elementary principal. Although she was not in attendance, something about moving into a new house, having family and friends lugging furniture and building shelves, etc., DIME members wishing her new address: 404 Sherwood St., St. Joseph, IL 61873. If you know of new addresses of other DIME members, please contact Christy Brinkley at: 2606 Rachel Road, Champaign, IL 61821 or e-mail her at: brinklch@cmi.k12.il.us
Mark your calendar for the "Spring 1999 DIME Meeting": March 26 and 27, 1999 at Margie Learch's Learning Location in Thomasboro, Il. For those needing accommodations contact Bernadine Stake or Elizabeth Easley. See you there! And looking forward to the dialogue.
The annual fall DIME meeting was held at Margie Lercli's Learning Location 24th and 25th. In true southern hospitality we gathered on the porch, soaked in the sunshine, smelled mid-illinois spring, and began the conversation on the veranda. Our thanks to Margie and Mary Ellen Sronce for making the two day fest go smoothly.
Our appreciation extends to Christy Brinkley and to Bob and Bernadine
Stake for hosting the evening meals at their homes. As 
always the dialogues
begun during the day continued to be developed during the evening hours.
Lynn Carter talked about the Toyota Tapestry Grant received by Bobble Klaus, a fifth grade teacher at West School. This grant will enable her students to further study mine subsidence. Her students will have an opportunity to take daily readings on a venting mine shaft near (tie school and send the reading to a scientist at the Illinois Abandoned Mines Office. As file scientist looks for a solution to this problem, her students will also analyze the Information and suggest possible solutions to this problem-
George Shirk discussed the current standing of Investigations in Number, Date, and Space by. TERC in the Toledo area. Four classroom teachers were released to facilitate the-adoption. progress he their schools. George reports the linpler-nente0on process to have been very successful. Dick also reported on the progress he had in grades 3-5 treating the Material in Water-ford.
Margie asked the group for feedback on how one might make the Learning Location more useable to school and community groups. This led to a historical discussion of Thomasboro; former uses of the school building and almost to a journey under the building and over the ceilings to see the unique architectural features of her building.
Bernadine Stake talked about her latest project of being a court appointed special advocate for children in the court system. She shared the training she had had the expectations of the court, and x? I the necessity of making reasonable decisions. Much discussion followed not only clarifying the role, but what legal and ethical ramifications such a position might entail. At the fall meeting we hope to hear more.
Elizabeth Easley brought everyone up to date on our overseas members. James Kau and his wife Joanna have been Involved in the publication of a bimonthly journal "Our Education" - a forum for teachers, parents, and professors concerned with the Improvement of education in Taiwan. James is also involved with an action research project with 15 elementary teachers. Aki Takahasi is seeking to return to the US and finish his doctorate at U of 1, Southern Illinois University, or University of-Wisconsin at Madison.
Christy Brinkley informed us of the Champaign-School District's move to integrate the elementary schools, schools or choice, and the designation of "focus" schools. Dr. Howard, of which Christy is principal, has elected to center upon math and science. Her focus now is to assist the staff in aligning these contents with national standards, IGAP, and new instructional forms.
Christy also reported upon a problem she encountered when trying to set an official weather site at Dr. Howard for the weather bureau. How do we as a profession explain to our communities the importance of involving students in the inquiry process of creating and reporting information, rather than simply teaching them to be users of information.
Lynn Carter spoke of the NCA process she is involved with in Carlinville which opened a K-12 dialogue with teachers. After the staff had survived the Quality Review process a few years ago, this process was a breath of fresh air. Cariinville is one of the Illinois schools piloting the transition endorsement.
The district committee wanted the staff to answer the following questions: What is it we truly want our students to know, do and be like? What data do we have which illustrate what our student can and cannot do? What steps can be taken which will enhance more student success across all levels? The process stressed that this was a working document, one that will be annually reviewed. The discussion will be ongoing and the document will change as our needs change. The answer to these questions we all seek and look forward to the next report from Carlinville.
Those of you on the DIME list serve, have received numerous articles relative to standards, TIMMS, California, etc. from Jerry Becker at Southern Illinois. Cecil and Jane Rousseau began the conversation about standards.
What is essential mathematics for all?
Where does computation and algorithmic procedures fit?
What does ft mean to think logically?
What does the ability to write in mathematics look like?
NCTM is currently reviewing its standard documents. Jane reports that students she works with still see little relevance between mathematics and their world. Don't see a use, don't see as a challenge, don't see a rich field worth studying, and don't like! Mathematics is perceived as a series of mindless drills, iii issue of algorithmic practice.
Cecil voiced the opinion that problem solving is elemental to the field; yet most teachers see it as a bag of tricks that one has when confronted with tasks - a sort of medicine bag filled with fixes. He reported concerns from the MAA Task Force and SIAM (Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics) related to the NCTM standards and spoke of the necessity of obtaining a broader consensus from the entire math community.
Cecil provided the group with the following problem. If you have a regular pentagon ABCDE, with the area of section ABC =l; what is the area of the Pentagon?
Lynn Eisholz stated that standards and changing practices is also the heart of the reading debate. Whole language/phonics arguments often cause one to stray from the focal point of teaching children to read, comprehend, and have meaningful discussions upon a topic.
An update of the Chickscope project was, reported by Chip. MRI pictures of embryo growth are now available. Ethical issues of whether or not to destroy eggs to study growth was heated in class. This site can be visited at
Margie Lerch revisited the Portable Museum Exhibit from the Exploratorium by playing with colors and the effect of using various lights. How do we get more lessons in classrooms which involve students with stuff? With problem posing? With on-going or sustained projects which are relevant to the field and not always supported by IGAP? Are standards driving us toward small snippets of factual information or toward a deeper understanding of a content as math or science or social studies?
Celia Rousseau is working on her doctorate at the University of Wisconsin in math education. She is working this summer with high school students from several states, trying to entice them to pursue higher education and mathematics. We hope she is successful for the field need more Jacks and Bobs.
Marcy Vancil reported on her experience with the National Board Certification in Early Childhood Education. She brought her portfolio as deemed by the Board. Marcy's portfolio was, as one would expect from Marcy, thick, filled with letters, photos, and student artifacts. The current cost is approximately $2000, which has so far been paid by grants or school districts from which candidates have been selected. Other questions and concerns expressed by those in attendance:
Did the effort improve one's professional growth or was it more hoop jumping?
What support did mentors provide, or more aptly what background did the mentors have in being named a mentor?
Nationally only district's best and brightest have applied, yet a significant percentage of applicants have not been certified why?
Once certified what has been the recipients standing in their district? among their peers?
What is the overall value or advantage of Board Certification?