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Oregon Math Educator Update - February/March 2023
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“Education is not memorization. It is the activation of the imagination and a path towards liberation.” – Dr. Christopher Emdin
In this issue of the Math Educator Update, we celebrate both Black History Month (February) and Women’s History Month (March). The contributions of both Black and female experts are underrepresented in the STEM fields – even more so those of Black female STEM experts. How can you incorporate the important and lasting work of these brilliant scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and innovators into your classroom and school culture? How do their stories impact your students?
One engaging way to draw your students to the work of Black mathematicians throughout the year is to invite guest speakers from within the Black community to share their culture, work, and insight. One great resource for introducing yourself and your students to Black Mathematicians is the Mathematically Gifted and Black website. Their resources site lists several interesting and useful programs, books, and other resources on Black mathematicians and math education for Black students. |
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This blog post at JFY Networks highlights five Black mathematicians including Dr. Robert Moses, who passed away in 2021. Winner of the MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant, Moses founded The Algebra Project to elevate equity in mathematics. In their words, The Algebra Project “uses mathematics literacy as an organizing tool to guarantee quality public school education for all children in the United States of America.” Video: We the People: Math Literacy for All |
An expert in STEM/STEAM education and pedagogy, Dr. Christopher Emdin has written several acclaimed books for educators on centering equity in STEM/STEAM teaching, such as For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood… and the Rest of Y’all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education; STEM, STEAM, Make, Dream; and other acclaimed books. Emdin started the #HipHopEd movement that shares resources on conferences, curriculum, professional development, training, and youth development. |
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In honor of Women’s History Month we would also like to highlight the organization Black Girls Code (BGC). BGC builds pathways for young women of color to embrace the current tech marketplace as builders and creators by introducing them to skills in computer programming and technology. They aim to create stronger economies and more equitable societies through education, and their site has a number of resources, including video tutorials on coding. |
Finally, the U.S. Department of Education has published Encouraging Girls in Math and Science. This guide provides teachers with specific recommendations that can be carried out in the classroom.
In what ways do you celebrate Black and/or female experts in the STEM fields and their contributions? Drop us a line at ODE.MathProject@ode.oregon.gov to share.
As work continues to update the Oregon Mathways guidance documents, ODE has received almost a hundred comments through the feedback form. These comments will be used to update the guidance document. Look for updated guidance documents to be posted on the ODE website in the coming months. Educators are encouraged to continue to use the guidance documents feedback form to help continually improve this resource over time.
The next phase of the K-12 and higher education alignment work will be to facilitate the connection of high school course options to college options. This “11-14” Guidance document will connect the work of the K-12 math standards with the work of the Common Course Numbering project occurring in higher education. The guidance document will start with a focus on Precalculus content, which now can be found within the content expectations for MTH 111z & 112z.
While this work is ongoing this winter and spring, we will be able to add more educators virtually to review documents. Please use the Launch Years Precalculus Guidance Interest Form to indicate your interest.
Photo by Jeswin Thomas on Unsplash
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Smarter Balanced is recruiting educators from Oregon to participate in a Data Review event on April 26-27, 2023. Educators will review field-tested items that have statistical flags to determine if the items are appropriate for inclusion in the Smarter Balanced item bank. This event will be fully virtual. There will be approximately 2 hours of asynchronous training to be completed before the event. Each workday will be synchronous and approximately 6 hours long. Substitute teacher reimbursements will be provided. Please visit the Smarter Balanced Recruitment website for more information and to apply. Contact Andrew Byerley, ODE Math Assessment Specialist, with any questions. |
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Registration opens March 13 for this winter's course designed for PreK-8 teachers and teacher leaders: CI 517 Developing Concepts of Data Analysis: Representing and Modeling Data. See the flier for details.
The class meets on Tuesdays from 4:30 to 7:30 pm and you have your choice about format: face-to-face, online synchronous (Zoom), or a combination of the two.
These courses are part of the Deepening Understanding of Mathematics Teaching and Learning Series at Portland State University; they can be used for the Mathematics Instructional Leader Specialization from TSPC or a certificate of completion from PSU. Click here for program application information and scholarship options. Contact Dr. Nicole Rigelman with questions about the program or courses.
Engaging young children in math can build a lifelong love of numbers and learning. Mid-Valley STEM-CTE Hub (MVSCH) has been a leader in training elementary teachers and students to program with Bee-Bots, small programmable robots designed for kids. MVSCH has chosen to highlight mathematics in many of their activities. Recently MVSCH Program Coordinator Chris Singer has been training pre-school and elementary educators and other Hub personnel throughout Oregon’s Regional STEM Hub Network to engage children in mathematics via computer programming with Bee-Bots, having them get their Bots to different numbers, and learning to program them to dance. You can see Chris’ work with preschoolers here, and be sure to check out other great STEM/STEAM/CTE programming at MVSCH here.
This month we want to reiterate something we wrote last Fall about the importance of integrating math in STEM/STEAM, not just for science teachers, but for math teachers, as well. STEM and STEAM are highly engaging for students, so everyone benefits by bringing experiential, applied, and relevant math-in-STEM to the classroom by trained math educators. The National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics issued this joint position statement on STEM that you might find useful. We also want to remind you that Oregon Open Learning also has a STEM education and STEM Hub resources Group. One of our goals this year is to curate and expand the number of culturally responsive STEM/STEAM resources on the site with an eye to relevant math standards. Stay tuned!
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The Oregon Math Leaders Network is a community of math practitioners who work together to implement and support math teaching and learning in Oregon. Participants include teacher leaders, TOSAs, program administrators, college faculty, and math community partners. If you identify as a math leader, you are invited!
During the 2022-23 school year, the network will meet virtually on the third Thursday of each month, with both morning (8:30-9:30 am PT) and afternoon (3:30-4:30 pm PT) options. To receive a calendar invitation and Zoom link, please join the Oregon Math Leaders Google Group. If you’re already a member, you don’t need to sign up again -- you’ll get the invite and link.
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If you have an opportunity or announcement to share statewide, please contact the ODE Math Team. Our goal is to publish the Math Educator Update around the middle of every month throughout the academic year. As always, we appreciate your participation as Oregon’s mathematics community!
The materials contained in the Department of Education’s Oregon Math Educator Update are drawn from both internal and external sources and inclusion of external materials does not necessarily indicate Oregon Department of Education endorsement.
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