Common Core State Standards Initiative

The Common Core State Standards Initiative defines what students should understand and be able to do in mathematic and English language. It determines what you will teach, but not how you should teach it. There is still a lot you need to think about in your teaching.

The key shifts called for in mathematics education are
1) greater focus on fewer topics,
2) coherence, linking topics and thinking across grades and
3) rigor, pursuing conceptual understanding, procedural skills and fluency, and application with equal intensity.

Illinois adopted the Common Core in 2010, beginning full implementation during the 2013-2014 school year. These standards are high and emphasize depth over breadth to improve student success and preparedness for college and careers. For example, according to the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, "some of the highest priority content for college and career readiness comes from Grades 6-8". [p. 84]

There are many consequences to these changes. Number 3 above is a great shift. I remember when I took an undergraduate stats class in college - a long time ago - before there were hand-held calculators in general use. There was much emphasis on computation and not much opportunity for real application. It is different now with the tools of computation. Teaching the important application of probability and statistics is now possible, allowing the calculator to crunch the data. Having the opportunity to discuss and analyze results is important.

This past year I tutored two students in college-level elementary statistics. Both colleges required purchase of a TI-84 graphics calculator which has powerful statistics and probability tools. These two students, however, experienced very different situations.

One teacher embraced the tools of the calculator. He showed the mathematics and how to use the calculator tools. With the calculator he was able to use real applications which led to more discussion and better understanding. The other teacher never got past the computations. After students had already purchased it, she told them they didn't really need that calculator. Any calculator that would do the arithmetic would do. She was unwilling or unable to exploit the tools of the calculator. I showed the student how to use the calculator to build the tables that she had to copy to her paper and how to use the calculator functions to check her computation answers. That student had to worry more about memorizing formulas and writing a lot of intermediate arithmetic steps. I don't think most students in that class really understood why stats was valuable for them to learn.

There are great resources for learning about and applying Common Core standards to your teaching.

The official site of Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) includes standards adopted state by state and information for parents. http://www.corestandards.org/

Illinois State Board of Education Common Core: http://www.isbe.net/common_core/default.htm

Illinois Common Core Standards Resources: http://www.isbe.net/common_core/htmls/resources.htm

At the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics site enter  free common core in the search box to find online resources without cost. You can also go to the their Core Math Tools homepage for downloadable pdf documents of sample lessons and Java-based tools. http://www.nctm.org and http://www.nctm.org/resources/content.aspx?id=32702

The Mathematics Common Core Toolbox site is "a resource designed to support districts working to meet the challenge and the opportunity of the new standards. It includes tools and instructional materials that help you to better understand and to implement the CCSSM [Common Core State Standards for Mathematics]. http://www.ccsstoolbox.org/

Happy Teaching!

Mathematics Illuminated

Do you know how many riffle shuffles it takes to get an ordered deck of cards into a random order, or that it has something to do with symmetry? (I know - what is a riffle shuffle?)

Do you know how/why Neptune was discovered? Do you know to what the phrase "sensitive dependence on initial conditions" refers or what Jules Henri Poincare discovered in the late 19th century that influences our weather forecasting today?

I enjoy looking at different selections of free online courses from Open Culture, The Best Free Cultural and Educational Media on the Web.

Today I was browsing through some of their math options (under the Sciences heading, look for Mathematics). One that looked interesting was Mathematics Illuminated, a 13-part series looking at the big picture and how mathematics has influenced our knowledge. Before I left the web site, I had watched the videos on Symmetry and Chaos - where you can find the answers to those questions I posed at the start of this post.

The site suggests this course is for adult learners and high school teachers, and graduate credit is available. However, I can't help but think it might be great for those high school students who are motivated by relevant content in their classes. The videos are informative and interesting, with accompanying online textbook, interactive activities, participant and presenter documents. It's all very well done and very accessible.

This course is part of the Annenberg Learner, whose "mission is to advance excellent teaching in American schools through the development and distribution of multimedia resources for teaching and learning." Their course videos exemplify excellent teaching. They focus on the teacher and students both as a learners, such an important concept in our today's educational environment.

http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses
http://www.learner.org/courses/mathilluminated/
http://www.learner.org