Pasadena ISD educators are partnering with the math
department at Texas A&M University to create a program that trains
teachers to better prepare intermediate and high school students for
future math courses.
The Texas Education Agency recently awarded Pasadena ISD $155,000 to
fund the Teaching of Ongoing Learning Strategies (TOOLS) program.
TOOLS is a year-long program designed to train teachers to use
standardized math vocabulary and operational techniques in an effort
to correlate math instruction throughout all grade levels.
Pasadena schools participating in the program include Pasadena High
School, South Houston High School, Jackson Intermediate, Miller
Intermediate, Park View Intermediate, Queens Intermediate, San
Jacinto Intermediate, South Houston Intermediate and Southmore
Intermediate.
“Our philosophy is that as teachers improve instructional
strategies, student achievement improves. We want to work on
standardizing instruction from grade to grade and campus to campus
so instruction isn’t lost along the way,” said Pasadena ISD’s
Secondary Mathematics Instructional Specialist Susan Metcalfe.
With expert professors and a wide variety of resources on technology
and teacher training, the math department at A&M will play a large
role in the TOOLS program. A&M professors will provide professional
staff development material on proportions, measurements and
fractions, and on critical math operations that students must master
in order to be successful at the next math level.
“Teachers will be better informed on how the mathematics they’re
teaching is vertically aligned throughout grade levels,” said A&M’s
Director of Technology Assisted Instruction and math professor
Donald Allen. “This, in turn, will allow the teachers to create more
relative lesson plans. They also will have improved skills in
creating experiential and inquiry-based learning in an environment
conducive to learning and retaining what is learned.”
A&M also will be responsible for the TOOLS website that will house
the results of the program including instructional strategies,
teacher resources and technology applications for secondary math
instruction.
Metcalfe formed a focus group combined of 12 master teachers and
administrators from each eligible campus to help write the grant.
Surveys were sent to teachers and administrators at each campus to
determine the experience level of the teachers and the appropriate
staff development model for the grant.
The 5E Instructional Model will be used to teach the curriculum in
the classrooms. Metcalfe said this lesson model ensures that
students are actively engaged in learning as well as reflecting upon
their learning to make sense of their activities and provides
opportunities to use, extend and apply what is learned.
“We will all be structuring our lessons using the 5E Model,” said a
Jackson Intermediate School eighth grade teacher and TOOLS peer
coach Sondra Cano. “We will be able to direct more attention to
classroom delivery and will be meeting the needs of our teachers as
we utilize research as the engine that drives our classroom.”
Survey results indicated that staff development is most effective
when teachers are able to work with peers, collaborate lesson plans
and perform peer observations. Metcalfe said the number one request
for new staff development, beyond working with peers, was for
training on technology. A&M professors will be providing teachers
instruction on how to incorporate technology into their classrooms.
Allen said technology provides students with a stronger
visualization of mathematics. He also said technology will make room
for students to explore what-if type questions in a context and
speed that allows them to see patterns often difficult to recognize
when the work is done by hand.
“Our world today is more visually stimulating than ever before,”
Cano said. “The technological advancements are astounding. We need
to be preparing our students in an environment that matches our
world outside the classroom.”
Eligible campuses will have a designated peer coach for every grade
level that will be trained by the university professors, and peer
coaches will then train their campus cohorts. The staff development
within each cohort can be custom designed to meet the individual
needs of each campus.
“Pasadena ISD is so diverse,” Metcalfe said. “The 5E Model and
campus cohorts are designed so the needs of each campus can be met.
We will also be bringing in professional mathematicians into the
classroom to show students how math is used in the field.”
Cano said teachers will be better prepared to meet the challenges
they face in the classroom today through the TOOLS program.
Pasadena teachers and students aren’t the only ones who will benefit
from TOOLS. Allen said this program is also essential to the
university’s math program. “We benefit directly by getting students
better prepared for the rigors of collegiate math courses,” he said.
“We benefit indirectly by helping assure students are properly
prepared for college. But we also benefit by gaining a better
understanding of K-12 education as a precursor to further
mathematics study.”
Pasadena teachers will be making a trip to A&M during the year to
work with professors in an effort to get a better understanding of
what is expected from students on a college level.
“Because of this grant awarded to the district by TEA, we will be
able to work around limitations that are normally present in staff
development,” said Metcalfe. “Every teacher will benefit from this
staff development, and that’s what is so exciting about this
program. We hope to give teachers a broader vision as to what
possibilities are available to them.”
|
|
