oh... the challenges...

It has been just over a year now... I have been working as a math facilitator at the secondary level. To be frank, I miss the excitement and energy of having my own class of students. I miss planning for a specific group with their own unique needs. I miss knowing my students so well that planning was a pleasure.

Working with teachers is also great! It is exciting to share new ideas/strategies with teachers. Better than that, it is great when they share back their positive experiences in the classroom.

Sharing is great. Co-teaching is even better. Learning together... De-briefing the lesson... Planning next steps...

I look forward to returning to the classroom at some point. For now, I will continue to avail myself to those teachers who strive to do more and learn more for the benefit of their students.

Assessment... the SMART way

More and more technology is making its way into our math classrooms! Yay! I have had the opportunity to work extensively with teachers planning lessons and assessments using SMART technologies. Currently, teachers are eager to explore the SMART Response clicker system. I have to say that I love SMART Response and I have had experience with other classroom performance systems. Students become actively involved with the lesson - clickers allow opportunities not only for multiple choice or numeric answers, but can also provide feedback about the timing of the lesson (traffic light pages), the students' understanding during the lesson (thumbs up, thumbs down pages) and student opinions on any topic.
Data management students can collect their data with the use of the clickers!
Even better... since smarttech makes these clickers - naturally they work in harmony with the notebook software for the SMARTboard! What a great pair!
Thanks to all our willing and eager teachers! Thanks to SMART Technologies!

co-planning and co-teaching

I have had a very exciting week co-planning with numerous teachers in our district. I am continually impressed with the variety of directions that these planning sessions take. Teachers really seem to appreciate the time to get together and come up with a lesson that utilizes some "new" or different strategies. I am particularly excited that I have the opportunity to work with them so that they may feel more comfortable taking on a new approach.

Stations, learning centres, SMARTboards, laptops, software, internet, web2.0, concrete manipulatives, etc, etc.
Together we are investigating lots of engaging opportunities for our students with the hope that student learning and student engagement will improve.

I have to say that at first I was apprehensive about the position of "math facilitator". Now that I have had a few months in the role - I am excited about where our math teachers are willing to go if given the time and resources!

More later.... :)

Working on webinars...

I have had the opportunity to work on various webinars over the last few months. It is my hope that teachers will make use of activities to differentiate their math classrooms. The wiki, onmath.wikispaces.com, serves as a web document of all of the resources/activities I have collated. Please go as often as you like. Feel free to make comments or suggestions in this blog.
I look forward to hearing from you.

Differentiated instruction

Welcome to all of those following the onmath wikispace!
You have chosen to come to the "Life in Education" Blog. I look forward to your comments and queries. Right now, a series of webinars is being offered in HWDSB that covers Differentiated Instruction in math. At onmath.wikispaces.com, you will find resources that will help you to differentiate your math curriculum. Let's build a professional learning community here!

Life in Education

I am a secondary teacher and am continuing my quest for lifelong learning. This blogging idea is a new concept for me -so I want to try it out.