Mental Health Break

Math Studio Visit

Dr. Ruth Heaton has arranged for you for visit schools that are using Math Studio. This is a fine and rare opportunity to see cutting-edge mathematics education and teacher professional development up-close and that is firmly aligned with your math methods class. 

There are 2 schools in the Omaha Public Schools for these visits. This will involve half the cohort visiting one school, the other half visiting another, for 2 consecutive afternoons 12:30-3:30 PM half-days. The dates are Oct. 28-29 and Nov. 4-5 respectively. 

What you need to do.  Consult your schedule and speak with your CT. Determine which of the 2 days is better for you apropos any field assignments you are doing at your internship site. After your course field assignments, anything else is a secondary concern at this point (TEAC 894 is not full-time student teaching, but a deliberately flexible practicum to take advantage of opportunities like Math Studio). If there are major conflicts with any assignments let me know.

I would like you to do this ASAP (today) so that when you arrive at your TEAC 808 class tomorrow, you and Dr. Heaton can finalize the plan. This will involve a commute and you should plan on leaving Lincoln 11-11:30 AM (think about car pooling). This will still permit you to be at your internship site in the AM. 

Have a great week!

Supermoon

LiveText, Hold On!

If you have not purchased a LiveText account yet, please do not do so. Wait to hear from Jess.

Substitute Teaching in LPS

There have been a few questions and comments about substitute teaching.  Here are the things to keep in mind apropos the MAet.

• Substitute teaching cannot be considered a form of income. CEHS student teachers are allowed to sub a maximum of 10 5 times.
• In order become a certified local substitute teacher, a school system must request the certification. LPS will only recommend issuing a certificate if you have gone through a complete application process.
• A complete application process requires completing a formal “orientation”. The orientation sessions are always scheduled on a Friday, early in the month, from 8:00 am – 1 pm.
• Given that your TEAC 811A class is scheduled 10:30 am-1:20 pm on Friday until Dec. 11, and that the instructor has clear expectations for “professional commitment and class participation,” the earliest orientation you could attend is Jan. 15.
• You can begin your application today, and you should, but it will not be compete until you do the orientation and take the TeacherInsight test.
• Here are some salient points about that Gallup TeacherInsight test. 

• You only get to take it once per school district. No “re-takes” in the short-term.
• You will never learn your score. Hard cheese.
• Like many districts, LPS uses it as a screen for applicants and it sets a cut-score for whether an application is reviewed for an interview (this is the right of a school district to screen applicants the way it wants).
• The score you get when you take it for a sub application is the same score that will be used for an application for any other certified teaching position in a district.
• It is a timed, forced-choice test with multiple choice and Likert scale questions. No time for reflection.
• You can prepare for it only by knowing what it is about. There is no way to “study” for it since it is not about content (subject matter), teaching or curriculum. It is a “values inventory.”
• You can read one of the only published scholarly articles on the TI here.

I will offer a small information workshop in December for those who are interested. 

Note from Melanie Kellogg re: LiveText

Good news about LiveText

I have some good news. The CEHS Dean and the Chair of TLTE have advocated for you to receive donated funds that will cover the cost of your LiveText account.  We are all sensitive to the out of pocket expense of LiveText, especially for students like you who are here for only one year.

Next week you will hear from Jess Hustad about how these funds will be processed. You will also be hearing from Melanie Kellogg in the Dean’s office about your writing thank you notes to the College benefactors who have donated the funds so you can have the LiveText account at no cost.

Mental Health Break

LiveText

By now you have gotten the letter from Dean Kostelnik about LiveText.  Please look it over and let me know if you have any questions.

Great Story About Student Teaching

Matthew Dicks is a legendary storyteller and Moth story slam champion. He tells a great story about why it is important to know the kids.

 

Teachers on the Common Core

Miriam Hall has a nice blog called Schooled. She has been reporting on what teachers think of the Common Core. She has gathered some thoughtful reflections about how they have encountered the Common Core, how it has changed their work (for the better), and the biggest misconceptions.

There is a consistent theme running through their comments: 

There's a conflation of the standards and standardized testing...what they're really pushing back against is an increase in standardized testing, which is not in the Common Core at all. Common Core is a set of standards.

I think that people are confused...It’s a completely different thing than the set of standards.

In its heart it's just trying to elevate the standards across the U.S. I don't think the government's trying to take over our lives and rule who we are through the world of education...That said, I'd be remiss to not talk about the testing. And the testing is the worst thing ever.

Common Core...is based off of the same math principles that have allowed people to be successful at math for a long time. It's just actually expecting students to understand underlying principles.

The Common Core standards are what teachers are required to teach and what students should be able to do independently. The standardized tests are supposed to evaluate the Common Core standards. When people are protesting against standardized tests, I 100 percent support that.

I think the biggest issue that causes the political hullabaloo about the Common Core is that people think that testing mechanisms are the Common Core.

Read more here and here.

Feel bad at math?

Here is one reason why. Chase Felker writes:

It seems that the origin of math phobia is not the content of math itself; it cannot rest solely on someone’s inability to sit through logic puzzles, because people exercise careful abstract reasoning in every other field without the same sort of fear. Instead, I think the form is largely to blame. All of high school math is basically a one-way linear staircase that leads to calculus. If you fall off at any point, you’re doomed.

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