THIS MONTH’S ISSUE
Teacher Spotlight
UEN Resources
Major Works
Tech Tales from the Field
TEACHER SPOTLIGHT
This month’s teacher spotlight is PAEMST awardee Natalie Darrington! The PAEMST Website provides a lovely biography for Natalie, “Natalie Darrington has been an educator for 19 years. Currently, Natalie teaches seventh and eighth grade mathematics at Juab Junior High School. In addition to her role as a full-time mathematics teacher, she serves as an instructional coach. Previously, she spent two years teaching at Washington Elementary, three years at LaVerkin Elementary, one year at Hurricane Intermediate school, six years at Enterprise Elementary, and two years at Red Cliffs Elementary. Natalie uses a personalized approach in her classroom. Each student works at their own pace with their own specific goals. Her effectiveness in the classroom is well known in the state of Utah and by many across the nation. State legislators, Members of Congress, and the Lieutenant Governor have visited Natalie's classroom to observe how she provides a personalized learning experience. Natalie has testified on behalf of personalized learning and STEM initiatives multiple times at the State Capitol. Natalie promotes mathematics instruction through professional development across the state of Utah. As a Utah core academy facilitator, she supported the implementation of the comprehensive math instruction model. In her classroom, Natalie focuses on the implementation of mathematical practices that encourage student development as independent thinkers and assessment capable learners. She believes that as students improve using critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity, they will develop a deep love and understanding of mathematics. Natalie earned a B.A. in elementary education and a M.Ed. from Southern Utah University. She is certified in elementary curriculum and secondary mathematics”.
“Every teacher wants to make a difference in our students’ lives. We work hard each and every second of each day to help students recognize their potential. The Presidential Award validates all the recipients’ efforts to make a positive difference in our students’ lives. Personally, the Presidential Award provides a platform to advocate for my students and the realization that mathematics is not something to endure, but something that helps us all to know and communicate with the world around us.”
—Natalie Darrington
Resources
We are thrilled to share some new mathematics resources that are available as a result of a collaboration between the USBE Mathematics Team, Utah teachers, and the Utah Education Network (UEN). In addition to a one-stop place to find the Utah State Core Standards for K-12 Mathe-matics, you will find some new resources sorted by K-12 grade level including:
· Core Guides
· Online Educational Resources (OER) Curriculum
· Instructional Tasks
· Review Activities
The website can be accessed here (https://www.uen.org/core/math/resource.shtml) and a short tutorial on how to find the resources and what is available can be found here (https://youtu.be/3U0UrsdDuyc). Please let Lindsey or Shannon know if you have any questions!
Major Works
The purpose of this document is to provide a brief overview of the most essential content in the grade level along with a progression of how the content was addressed in the prior grade level and will prepare students for content in the future grade level. This is not a comprehensive list of content in the grade level as defined in the Utah Core Standards, but rather highlights the major work of the grade level. These documents were developed by Utah teachers, coaches, and mathematics specialists in 2018-19. They are particularly helpful in the 2020-21 school year as instructional time may be limited. They may be used to understand the big ideas of mathematics in a grade band, essential concepts in a grade level, and progressions between grade levels.
You can find the major works for grade levels K– Mathematics III on our Mathematics Website
Tech Tales from the Field
Teacher: Anand Bernard
School: Clearfield High School
Digital Tool: Nearpod, Gimkit, Teacher Desmos, Flipgrid
Nearpod was an effective tool at addressing two of my biggest struggles with remote learning, mainly: 1) How can I get students engaged in thinking about questions that push them to reason mathematically in a remote setting? 2) How do I assess student thinking in a remote setting. With Nearpod I could have students interact with videos, images, other web-sites all in one tool that pushed them to notice, wonder, and justify about mathematics and with their open-ended ques-tions, Flipgrid, and draw it features
I could see/hear their thinking quickly and efficiently!
I use Desmos now for the same reasons as Nearpod they have open-ended questions, drawing modes, a dynamic geome-try mode, and a bunch more. What I especially like about Desmos lately is that I can have students do multiple activities on the same screen such as draw, explain, and fill out a table. I think it is a lot more adaptable.
Another big issue for that came when our district moved to fully remote learning last Spring was the loss of community I and my students were feeling while not being in the classroom. My students wanted to see me and see each other so I would do at least a weekly synchronous meeting where we do some math, but the focus was more on community.
One of my students' favorite activities was Gimkit, an engaging game that I use for students to practicing procedural skills. The game is low stress for students, and it allows my students and me to talk, joke, and even do some math.