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NPRIME NewsOctober 2002 Education students from UW-Whitewater, Edgewood College, Caroll College, Mount Mary College, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Eau Claire, and UW-Platteville who are taking their field study methods classes have joined the online discussions of NPRIME and WECB Online. Throughout the semester they will be sharing their observations and questions with each other and the veteran teachers already online. September, 2002 Elementary and secondary mathematics education majors enrolled in Wisconsin’s institutions of higher learning hope there will be a mentor around the corner to quell the queasiness that accompanies the thought of facing 25 students the first day of teaching. As part of their course work, they now have the opportunity to ask their “burning” questions and get supportive, nurturing responses from many teachers. Two WECB Online projects have joined forces to address a critical need as students about to embark on their teaching careers. Teachers from Wisconsin Mathline and college professors from NPRIME (Networking Project for the Improvement of Mathematics Education) are providing a venue for students to ask questions and get answers - teachers sharing their background knowledge of standards-based teaching. It provides another sort of “field experience” - rather than physically travel to observe a teacher in the classroom, the preservice students can have daily access to master teachers. UW-Whitewater graduate and current Hartford Union High School mathematics teacher Jennifer Foley says her NPRIME preservice student experience gave her the opportunity to ask questions and seek advice from those who have several years in the teaching field. “It is a great way to communicate with other professionals about common topics,” she says. Her NPRIME professor from UW-Whitewater, Phil Makurat, believes every preservice student in the state should have online access to master teachers. Michelle Hayes, a UW-Milwaukee undergraduate student, goes online with her FirstClass software that connects to the Educational Communications Board server and poses a question looking for information about how a particular math curriculum can best supplement the needs of non-English speaking students. She’s one of 144 preservice teachers representing seven Wisconsin campuses connecting online to the master teachers this fall semester. The response comes from Joan Grampp, a former Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) resource teacher and curriculum specialist now teaching at UW-Milwaukee, giving her tips on where to get resources within MPS. Grampp says she enjoys the online interaction with the students, “especially when the issues are ones for which I think that I can make a useful contribution, especially issues that affect classroom environment and student understanding.” Another discussion generated by MPS teacher Rosann Hollinger brought a flurry of responses both from students and teachers. A simple question: “If you had to name ONE aspect of REFORM in the mathematics classroom you thought most important to start working on, WHAT WOULD IT BE (and why)?” that inspired reflective responses like this originating from another UW-Milwaukee student Andrea Barber: “As a student of a traditional math classroom, I was fairly unsuccessful and created a VERY negative attitude towards math. It wasn't until college when I was introduced to the Investigations curriculum, that math really began to make sense to me. I was able to work towards my solutions with manipulatives, drawings and talking it out with others, and I TRULY think this is what make math make sense to me. I am able to communicate with others and that proved to be a very valuable resource for helping me reach a solution. When my eyes were reopened to math, I was able to understand that math isn't just about paper and pencils...it's about talking and working out solutions!” The NPRIME/MATHLINE project uses a new technology that addresses an awareness of what has been and what will be - by tomorrow’s teachers. For more on the student NPRIME project, see: http://www.ecb.org/nprime/np-article-1.htm
Linda Uselmann, the mathematics educations specialist at Edgewood College, has joined the NPRIME Leadership Team. One goal Linda is working toward at Edgewood is to integrate methods and content for Edgewood's entire elementary math sequence.
Students of Phil Makurat - UW-Whitewater, Linda Uselmann - Edgewood College, and Karen Thomas - UW-Platteville, attended the WMC Green Lake Math conference where several gave presentations to other members of NPRIME. April 2002 Education students from UW-Whitewater, Edgewood College, and UW-Platteville who are taking their field study methods classes have joined the online discussions of NPRIME and WECB Online. Throughout the semester they will be sharing their observations and questions with each other and the veteran teachers already online. |
