Lifelong Learning

I spent some time this weekend reflecting on the first week of school. This is always an exciting and emotional time of year for teachers and students. Last week our teachers were learners themselves in professional development workshops and training sessions. They had tons to do to prepare for the arrival of their students, but they gave each presenter their undivided attention and were engaged learners themselves.  The literacy coach and I both presented on Thursday and we had the privilege of hearing from Sandra Goff, of JSquared Mathematics Consulting Group on Friday.  You can click here for more information http://www.jsquaredmcr.com/.  The website is very helpful in contacting her and is also a resource for teachers. She really made us think about teaching math through problem solving.  I hope to post more about this later after I've had more time to wrap my mind around it.  We also looked deeper at strategies for teaching conceptually rather than just teaching procedures.  We know through learning more about the new standards that teaching mathematical  procedures without any knowledge of why you're doing what your doing is not creating a student that is a "thinker," much less college or career ready.  Recently Warren Berger the author of A More Beautiful Question commented that "knowing the answers will help you in school, but knowing how to question will help you in life."  My goal is for our mathematicians at Oakland Elementary School to question and think through mathematical problems not just follow procedures.

Chelsea, Brandy, Lexa, Stacey, teachers from BSES, and Sandra Goff having a discussion.

Sandra Goff is talking with our teachers about combining like things.

Teachers from BSES were asking Sandra Goff about fluency practice. 

Teachers playing a fluency game.

Teacher were given time to "Mingle and Talk" about their learning.

Here we were using playing cards for math fluency.

Mrs. Goff demonstrated how the concept of Addition is the same when dealing with whole numbers, fractions, and decimals.

Enjoy the journey,

Ashley



Welcome Aboard

Happy Start of the 2014-2015 School Year!

I am not really sure how to make my grand entrance into the blogging world, but I guess you start blogging like you start most things in life, with an introduction.  So here goes…  I am Ashley McKelvey, the Math-Science Coach at Oakland Elementary School, and I am beginning this blog for several different reasons. First of all, I was inspired by the great blogs created by teachers right here at Oakland Elementary.  I love going to their blogs and getting a "sneak peek" into their classrooms.  I wanted to create a blog that gave that same glimpse into the math and science world here at Oakland.  The second reason for creating this blog is my desire to connect with other educators with an interest in the math and science fields.  I hope that I will find other professionals that want to share teaching and learning ideas.  Then, last but not least I hope to open dialog with parents and community members about what's current in the world of math and science in education.  Blogging appears to be an avenue where I can accomplish these things and more, so I’m exploring.  After all the timing is perfect as we “Set Sail for Learning” this year at Oakland.  

Enjoy the journey,

Ashley