Talk:Teaching Mathematics for Understanding

Instructor comments on your draft units -- Jz833665 10:23, 30 November 2011 (EST)

Hi Jenna, I read your mini-course overview and unit 1 and found your design to be clear, engaging, and effective. Please continue to finish the whole course. A few suggestions for you to think about to refine the path of learning and thinking in each unit.

In your unit 1, you may break down the task you've designed in two phases. The beginning phase will help the participants generate initial thoughts and ideas. For example they may be given a topic and asked to come up strategies to detect the depth of understanding achieved by students about this topic, and suggest how a teacher might help students to achieve a deeper understanding. After they have read the articles, they will rework on the same task with a better informed perspective.
In the end of each unit, you may briefly highlight/summarize the key points addressed.
There have been a few mini-courses created related to your topic. Feel free to add links to the existing resources so the participants will have extended resources to use, and you do not need to create everything.

I'm looking forward to reading your whole mini-course.

Peer Review

Hi Jenna, I think you have a nice start here to your final project. Perhaps you can also provide with each unit an introduction (mini-lesson), in which you introduce the concepts that are to be learned in each unit. That way, I feel, there will be more direction and guidance in each reading. (Serafina)

Jenna, You present a very applicable mini-course for math teachers- it touches on many of the issues we face with the shallow curriculum and linear, traditional teaching style that is still more prominent than it should be. I like the break-down of teaching for understanding into the smaller components you have created. It's also nicely organized and easy to follow. Great work! Jackie