Enhancing Math Instruction: A Professional Development Project for Elementary Teachers
This project aimed to deepen teachers' understanding of division, fractions, and decimals while training them on the use of a Livescribe pen for formative assessment. Thirteen teachers from grades 1-5, along with three math support teachers from Columbia, Maryland elementary schools, participated in engaging café-style sessions. Each two-hour session featured discussions and hands-on activities with manipulatives and NCTM readings. Surveys measured comfort levels with the Livescribe pen. Results showed increased content understanding, especially in decimals, and improved feedback capacity for teachers.
Enhancing Math Instruction: A Professional Development Project for Elementary Teachers
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Presentation Transcript
ems&tl Math Cafes SorshaMulroe Jennifer Stairs Joan Tellish
Purpose of Project… *Deepen teachers’ understanding of division, fractions, and decimals. *Train teachers on the use of a Livescribe pen for formative assessment.
Project Description… • Participants • 13 teachers (Grades 1-5 and GT) • 3 Math Support Teachers • Location • Bryant Woods, Longfellow, Stevens Forest Elementary Schools all located in Columbia, Maryland
Project Description cont’d… • Sessions • 2 hours • Café style (food + pd = math fun!) • 3 on the topic of Division, Fractions, and Decimals • Livescribe training and pencast assignments • Engaging lessons, NCTM readings, manipulatives
Evaluation… • At the end of each session, participants completed an electronic survey using Google Docs.
Conclusion • Grant provided professional development in three challenging instructional topics in mathematics: Division, Fractions, and Decimals. • Teacher content understanding increased in all 3 content areas, however, decimals had highest increase. • Increase in teacher capacity to provide feedback to students with use of the Livescribe pen.
