GECDSB Professional Learning Sessions
Jump to Professional Learning Sessions:
Wednesday May 24th, 2017 – School Based Learning (SBL) Day
Great learning with the Herman Academy staff today! Please find some resources below:
The GECDSB Mathematics Strategy
The full GECDSB Mathematics Vision is here.
Warm-Up: How Do You See the Dots?
We did a quick Dot-Card warm-up asking you to visualize how you saw a series of dots on the screen. We went around the table and it seemed that everyone had a different perspective.
Here’s some of the ways you might have visualized the dots:
Paying Attention to Spatial Reasoning
We explored some quotes from the Paying Attention to Spatial Reasoning document. Download it in PDF form below:
We then explored a task called “The Airplane Problem” to introduce the idea of arrays and multiplication:
What Do You Notice and Wonder?
We explored this image:
After taking some time to notice and wonder in your groups, participants shared out what they noticed and wondered. Quite a bit of excitement filled the room.
We then let you see this image:
These images are from Daniel Finkel’s Prime Climb game from his website, LoveforMath.com.
Daniel Finkel’s TED Talk: Five Principles of Extraordinary Math Teaching
We watched Daniel Finkel’s TED Talk:
Tiny Polka Dots
We then shared Daniel Finkel‘s game, Tiny Polka Dots. We made some connections between the counting and quantity principles and the different card decks in this game. Visit the site to buy the game from Amazon or purchase the $5 downloadable PDFs.
Rich & Open Tasks
Teams had an opportunity to discuss the tasks they brought to the table in an attempt to have an open discussion around how one might make the task more rich by using visuals, making it more open, or using some of the other “look-fors” explored during the session.
We then heard from mathematics education leaders Jo Boaler and Marian Small about their thoughts on open tasks and making tasks rich:
I had a blast learning with the entire Herman Academy staff today! Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if I can be of any help!