July 2020
Welcome Susan!
It is with great pleasure that we announce Susan Kirk has been hired as the new Director of Elementary Mathematics Education at the Oklahoma State Department of Education.
A longtime resident of Oklahoma, Susan first became part of public education in a rural K-8 school. She then transitioned to an urban high school, followed by five years at a community college, where she taught various math courses. These experiences led to an opportunity to teach undergraduate elementary assessment and math strategy courses to education majors at a state university. A couple of Susan’s state committee experiences include serving on the Oklahoma Math Pathways Task Force and the Mathematics to Excellence committee.
Susan is a strong advocate for math education who loves engaging others in collaborative, inquiry-based math activities and building math literacy. She will be continue to be a wonderful contributor to the OKMath Community in this new role; she is excited for this opportunity to serve OKMath educators across the state.
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Welcome, Kurt!
In addition to Susan joining our OSDE family, we have a new Director of Mathematics Assessments and Monitoring in the Office of Assessment. Kurt comes to us from the OSDE Office of Special Education, where he was a Program Specialist-Alternate Assessment. Prior to that experience, Kurt taught math and special education courses.
We are thrilled to welcome Susan to the Office of Curriculum and Instruction, Kurt to the Office of Assessment, and both to OSDE and the math team. Please join us in welcoming both Susan and Kurt to their positions!
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Coming soon: Free Access to Imagine Math for all Districts!
Imagine Math, a comprehensive, supplemental, skills-based online math program, will be free to all fifth grade and pre-algebra students during the 2020-2021 academic year. This program includes Oklahoma Academic Standards for Mathematics aligned content, authentic assessment, adaptive learning pathways, embedded scaffolds, and actionable data. When students need extra support, they can receive live, 1:1 differentiated instruction from certified math teachers in English or Spanish.
As we have more information about providing this program for your students, we will send updates through the OKMath Newsletter, the Administrators’ Newsletter, and update the OSDE Mathematics Website.
The Oklahoma State Department of Education has published a framework for Oklahoma school districts as they plan for the 2020-21 school year. Return to Learn Oklahoma: A Framework for Reopening Schools includes a host of considerations for how districts can plan for a variety of contingencies that may impact the upcoming school year amid continued incidence of COVID-19.
Planning for and starting the 2020-21 school year will be far different than the start of any school year in the past.
Math Instructional Support and Guidance begins on page 28 of the document, starting with general guidance and moving into specific math guidance on page 34.
As the nation and world learn more about COVID-19 and the many issues surrounding it, this guidance and the planning of districts are expected to evolve throughout the summer.
What would you like to see included in future math instructional guidance? After reading the initial document, please submit your recommendations using this survey.
The Oklahoma State Department of Education’s annual summer education conference, EngageOK on the Road, has been transformed into EngageOK in the Cloud!
Mark your calendars for July 15-17 to join us for free online professional development, which will include topics such as meeting the needs of at-risk students, grading for equity, dyslexia frameworks, using the OKMath Framework to increase student engagement, literacy in early childhood, trauma-informed instruction, and more.
There will be two math sessions during this event, and there are many others that you may be interested in!
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July 15th, 1:00 P.M. - Using the OKMath Framework to Increase Student Engagement in Secondary Classrooms- Learn about new resources aligned to the Oklahoma Academic Standards for Mathematics and updates to the OKMath Framework. With a focus on grade-level exploration and reflection, learn how to use the framework to increase student engagement and achievement.
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July 17th, 8:30 A.M. - Using the OKMath Framework to Increase Student Engagement in Elementary Classrooms- Learn about new resources aligned to the Oklahoma Academic Standards for Mathematics and updates to the OKMath Framework. With a focus on grade-level exploration and reflection, learn how to use the framework to increase student engagement and achievement.
Registration is open, so don't forget to claim your spot! Registering allows you to network with each other within the Whova app, connect with speakers, and receive communication from us before, during, and after the event. OSDE looks forward to spending this summer with you in the cloud. Access the agenda here!
Looking for learning opportunities on utilizing technology in your classroom? Join Karen Leonard, the Director of Education Technology and Computer Science, for Tech Tool Tuesdays! All sessions are on Tuesdays at 12pm and will cover the following topics:
- July 14th - Kahoot
- July 21st - Screencastify
- July 28th - EduPuzzle
- August 4th - Seesaw
Please register for the sessions you would like to attend. All sessions will be recorded and housed on the OSDE Education Technology webpage.
Please share your takeaways with the OKMath Community! Submit your reflections on this form for a chance to be featured in a future OKMath Newsletter and on okmathteachers.com!
The Oklahoma Council of Teachers of Mathematics (OCTM) is a community of mathematics teachers and educators. They are a state affiliate of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). The members of OCTM promote effective teaching of mathematics by providing teachers with resources, publishing newsletters and a journal, providing professional development opportunities through their annual conference, and connecting members to each other and to information beyond our state. Elementary teachers, you belong on this site as well, check it out! Learn more and join OCTM here!
 If you have ever wondered what happens during a Math Teachers' Circle event, make sure to join the fun July 13-17 for the Math Teachers’ Circle Network Virtual Workshop.
This free workshop will offer stand-alone sessions throughout the week of July 13 to 17. The daily program includes math sessions, “Teachers’ Lounge” seminars, and social time to connect with math friends near and far. Join the workshop for as many sessions as you’d like! All sessions are listed in the image above. Click on the image to access session details or click here.
This workshop is sponsored by the Math Teachers’ Circle Network of the American Institute of Mathematics (AIM) and organized by:
- Chris Bolognese (Columbus MTC and Columbus Academy)
- Nathan Borchelt and Sloan Despeaux (Smoky Mountain MTC, North Carolina Network of MTCs, and Western Carolina University)
- Anne Ho (Tennessee Eastern & Appalachian MTC and The University of Tennessee, Knoxville)
- Brianna Donaldson and Spencer Bowen (American Institute of Mathematics)
To see more details, visit the Math Communities website.
Register using this form.
The understanding and implementation of the Oklahoma Academic Standards throughout the PK-12 mathematics experience for students is based on three guiding principles, the first being: Excellence in mathematics education requires equity—high expectations and strong support for all students. But how do we achieve equity in mathematics education?
From NCTM's Access and Equity Position Statement:
Creating, supporting, and sustaining a culture of access and equity requires being responsive to students’ backgrounds, experiences, cultural perspectives, traditions, and knowledge when designing and implementing a mathematics program and assessing its effectiveness. Acknowledging and addressing factors that contribute to different outcomes among groups of students are critical to ensuring that all students routinely have opportunities to experience high quality mathematics instruction, learn challenging mathematics content, and receive the support necessary to be successful. Addressing equity and access includes both ensuring that all students attain mathematics proficiency and increasing the numbers of students from all racial, ethnic, linguistic, gender, and socioeconomic groups who attain the highest levels of mathematics achievement. Read the full position statement here.
As you read, what do you notice? What do you wonder? Add your thoughts to this Desmos activity so that you can share and see other Oklahoma educators’ noticings, wonderings, and ideas.
To see all of the latest professional development opportunities, visit the OSDE Math Professional Learning Opportunities webpage. There you will find a calendar of events, details about the upcoming professional learning opportunities, online learning modules, and more.
Join the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) as they celebrate their Centennial with 100 Days of Professional Learning. They will have a series of live 60-minute webinars presented by selected speakers from the NCTM Centennial Annual Meeting & Exposition program that was to take place in Chicago.
Each webinar will be held at 6:00 p.m. on 100 selected days from April 1 leading up to the October NCTM 2020 Annual Meeting & Exposition in St. Louis. A variety of speakers and topics are geared to meet all grade bands and interests. Webinars will be recorded and available until the St. Louis Annual Meeting. Register for each webinar by visiting the OSDE Mathematics website and clicking on the links in the Professional Learning Calendar or by visiting www.nctm.org/100.
In the event that the virtual rooms reach capacity and you are unable to enter the session, you can watch the session on Facebook Live or view the recording on www.nctm.org/100. The recording will be posted the day after the live event.
Excerpt from The Plano Star Courier:
Aishwarya Sudarshan and Navya Ramakrishnan are both passionate about bringing in girls and women into the STEM workforce. Their podcast, “STEM Time Podcast With Navya and Aishwarya,” focuses on computer science basics and STEM historical figures.
“We aim to engage the community by introducing STEM-related topics in a simple and engaging manner,” Ramakrishnan said.
The science-lovers nodded to the culture surrounding the field of STEM as a trigger for the two to get more people involved. Sudarshan said she hopes the podcast will help listeners “overcome the barriers” of the male-dominated field.
“We truly believe that we can allow for more diversity in the workforce,” she said.
Listeners can find the podcast on several platforms including Spotify.
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