Inside this issue
Lindsey Rodgers—Student
teacher award winner
Algebra Contest Winners
Informs workshop
MATHEMATICS COUNCIL OF WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
Fall 2006
Message from the president
Hello All,
I hope you are off to a great start to a new school year. We have some exciting events to look forward to mathematically.
The PCTM conference will be hosted by MCWP and Laurel Highlands at beautiful Seven Springs, October 25-27,
2006. If you have not received a program booklet, please go to pctm.org to view the wonderful selections. There is
even a sortable database available for the conference. There are several wonderful keynote speakers including Glenda
Lappan, Ron Larson, Harold Asturias, Dean Vaughn, Jim Bohan, Ed Laughbaum, and Tom Reardon.
Mary Lou Metz and Janet Walker have done a wonderful job filling the program. Nina Girard and Peter Skoner are
general co-chairs. Special needs are being addressed by Ann Massey. Cathy Schloemer and John Uccellini are taking
care of evaluation. Tom Short is keeping the news up to date. Brian Sharp is in charge of exhibits. Thanks to these
MCWP members as well as those who are serving on committees and presenting sessions. The PCTM conference continues to depend on volunteers to run this professional conference. These people put in countless hours over and beyond their normally full schedules. Again, a big thank you in advance.
At the conference on Wednesday October 25, there will be an Oktoberfest meal and social. We invite MCWP members to come and get acquainted with other members. We will have a short business meeting within this social time.
We are always looking for more people to contribute to the organization. We are open to new ideas and new personalities. Your president is finding her energy is waning and would welcome a president-elect to move this organization forward.
We will need to say good-bye and best wishes to Jamie Liptock who has been our webmaster. She has taken a position at the Berkley County School System teaching mathematics. (A little too far away to continue with MCWP). We are
delighted for her, but sad because we are now looking for another person to manage our website and keep us current.
We wish Jamie the best in this new chapter of her life.
Inside this newsletter, you will find a free homework helper website to explore with students. Discussing homework is
such an important role of our classroom to correct mistakes before they escalate, but I am sure most of us would welcome an opportunity to make it less time consuming and more meaningful for all. I understand for those students unable
to access a calculator at home that calculator.com gives students a working online calculator.
Also Inside you will also find information about several contests. There is information about a workshop for November 7 (Tuesday-election day) dealing with real life mathematics connections. If you attend this workshop, please let us
know. We are considering asking for a shortened version in January or February for MCWP members as we continue to
uncover new resources. I realize some of you may be able to attend due to a district in-service day on November 7. I
would appreciate the feedback.
We continue to have mathematics interests at heart. So I hope to see old friends and meet new ones at the Oktoberfest Meal and Social (6:30-8:30 at Seven Springs on October 25). Until we next talk,
Barbara MacDonald
President MCWP
[email protected]
Check it out!
Whenever you publish the address for a web site, there is always the danger that the very next day, it may turn into
another type of site… MCWP is not responsible for the content of any of the following addresses, but you may find
something helpful in a few of these.
www.artofproblemsolving.com
http://www.academicleagues.com/math.asp
http://www.ams.org/
http://www.usamts.org/
http://www.scholarships-ar-us.org/scholarships/math-students.htm
An Exciting
Connection for the Classroom
MCWP Golf Classic
The 16th Annual Golf Classic was August 8, 2006, at the
Shamrock Golf Course in Slippery Rock. It was a beautiful
summer day void of the hot weather we were having at the
time. Everyone seemed to have a good time. The participants were active mathematics teachers including MCWP
president Barb MacDonald and some retired ones. We were
pleased to see Chuck Ramsey who has been a long time
member from Erie attending along with Lin, Ginger, and Jon
from the same area.
The low score using the MCWP handicap system was
Barb. John Katshir and his friend Bill Greenberg shot the
overall low score without the handicap. They each got first
choice of the prizes being offered.
We would like to thank our host Garry Quast acting for
making the arrangements with the golf course and the
Camelot Restaurant. The catered lunch always hits the spot
when we finish the round. Chicken breast, salads, and cherry
pie were the highlight of the meal.
Anyone who would like to play next year should contact:
Charlie Fleming, [email protected] to be put on the
mailing list. It will be the second Tuesday of August in 2007.
TI is partnering with CBS to lead the "We All Use Math
Every Day" math education initiative based on the hit television show, "NUMB3RS." In association with the National
Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), TI has created classroom activities for weekly use. TI has also developed other program elements promoting the many uses of
mathematics and supporting mathematics teaching.
Classroom Activities
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/numb3rs/ti/activities.shtml
Teacher Kit
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/numb3rs/ti/registration.shtml
And meet the stars all at CBS.com
Algebra Contest/Integrated 2
This contest is open to anyone enrolled in Algebra I or
a second year Integrated Mathematics Program. The
Preliminary Test is April 14 at open of the regional sites.
Students will need to arrive by 9:45. The test takes one
and one-half hours and should students be on there way
by 11:45 A.M. The preliminary test has multiple choice
type questions. There is no penalty for guessing. Calculators which are non-graphing and non-programmable will
be permitted.
Regional winners will become eligible for the final
Exam on May 12. This test will NOT be multiple choice.
This final exam will occur at Derry Area Middle School.
The first place winner will receive the Helen B. Malter Memorial Prize of $100 and a plaque. Second and third
place will receive $75 and $50 respectively and a plaque
for recognition.
Registration is due by approximately March 10, 2007.
Information packets will be mailed to middle and high
schools in our area in January. Contact Bob Blamick at
412-751-8330 for more information.
Hot off the Press:
NCTM has just released Curriculum Focal Points for
Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 8 Mathematics at
www.nctm.org/focalpoints. Based on the Principles and
Standards as the comprehensive reference on developing
mathematical knowledge, the Focal Points present a focus
on a small number of significant targets for each grade
level. The document discusses each focal point and connects each to the appropriate content standard in the Principles and Standards. I urge you to read the Focal Points
and share them with your colleagues.
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57 Delegate Assembly
April 27, 2006
St. Louis, Missouri
th
NCTM Annual Meeting
The Delegate Assembly in St. Louis was very informative although not many changes were made.
Resolutions passed by NCTM in 2005 include:
¾ Curriculum
o NCTM felt that key areas of emphasis needed to be identified k-8. Connections to other
content areas need to be made. A full report is to be released in September 2006.
¾ Professional Development
o NCTM reported that over 50 professional development E-workshops, including NCATE
training and mixed delivery lesson study, have been offered in the past year.
¾ Linking Research and Practice
o Offered “Learn and Reflect” sessions at regional and affiliate conferences
¾ Advocacy and Outreach
NCTM has been involved with:
o Senate STEM caucuses
o U.S. Department of Education plans and has launched a Title 1 section on the NCTM
homepage
¾ Membership
o More than 5% membership increase in the past year
o Designation of Leadership Circle Affiliates – those affiliates that have 65% of its members
belonging to NCTM
o Begun a Canadian outreach effort
o NCTM plans to develop beginning leadership programs and would like input from the
membership
o It was noted that the average NCTM member is 54 years old
Recommendations made at the Delegate Assembly:
NCTM should institute the policy of accepting, at most, one resolution adopted by each caucus and
presented at the Delegate Assembly.
A discussion was held regarding sharing the membership list.
Officers of MCWP
President—Barbara [email protected]
Recording Secretary—
Sharon Volpe
Corresponding Secretary—
Cathy Schleomer
Treasurer—
Marjory Maher
NCTM Representative—
Chris Czapelski
Board MembersJudy Werner, Joyce Hoellein, John Uccellini, Andrea Wicks
MembershipColen S. Yong
NewsletterSharon Volpe and Barb MacDonald
Please check your mailing label.
Those with 05-06 need to renew
now.
If your renewal is not received
within 30 days you will be removed
from the MCWP list.
Wanted—
A
webmaster
Update your membership by sending a check to:
to keep MCWP.org as a
Yong S. Colen
viable web site.
623 Oak St.
Indiana, PA 15701
[email protected]
See the membership form included for
fees and to update information.
Please respond to
[email protected].
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Lindsey Rodgers wins student teaching award
The Earle F. Myers Mathematics Student Teaching Award for Spring 2006 has been awarded to Lindsey Rodgers, a
spring graduate of Washington and Jefferson College. Lindsey is from Aliquippa, Pa, and did her student teaching at
Jefferson Middle School in Mt. Lebanon under Anita Schuler. Her university supervisor was James Longo.
Lindsey is now teaching 7th grade mathematics at Pleasant Hills Middle School in the Jefferson Hills School District.
The DVD that Lindsey submitted with the application for the student teaching award was made in a 7th grade classroom.
The title of that mathematics lesson was "Flattening a Box" and the boxes given to each group of 4 students were cereal
boxes. The beauty of the lesson was the expertise with which Lindsey wrote the lesson plan and executed it in the
classroom. Both the Pennsylvania Academic Standards and Anchors were addressed.
Lindsey’s questioning techniques were excellent. She would ask a question, patiently listen to the answer, and then,
if the student’s answer was not exactly on target, Lindsey would ask another question rather than give an answer.
Lindsey closed the lesson by using a very clever short assessment strategy. She instructed the students to put their
heads down and close their eyes. They were to raise their hands to agree with any of the following statements; namely,
(1) "I understand how to create a flat pattern of a rectangular prism," (2) "I understand how to calculate surface area,"
and (3) "I’m am having some trouble finding the surface area." Lindsey exhibited the poise and professionalism of an
experienced teacher. We wish Lindsey Rodgers continued success in career in mathematics education
Mathematics Council of Western Pennsylvania
Announces
The Earle F. Myers Mathematics Student Teaching Awards
Purpose: To promote excellence in teaching mathematics at the elementary and secondary levels. The Mathematics
Council of Western Pennsylvania has established two awards to be given semiannually to an outstanding student
teacher at each level.
Requirements:Each student teacher applying for the Earle F. Myers Mathematics Student Teaching Award must
1. Be enrolled in a student teaching clinical during the term in which he/she applies for the award.
2. Be supervised by a faculty member of a teacher-training institution in Western Pennsylvania.
3. Submit a video tape of the mathematics lesson while it is being taught in the regular classroom setting.
(The video tape will be returned. If the district requires a waiver, make certain you get the proper
clearances.)
4. Submit a detail lesson plan describing the mathematical concept taught in the videotaped lesson and a
reflection on the lesson taught.
5. Submit a letter describing why he/she chose teaching as a profession and ways he/she intends to improve
the mathematics education of students.
6. Submit letters of recommendations from two of the following: his/her cooperating teacher, university
supervisor, or mathematics professor.
Each applicant should submit all materials to:
Dr. Ann Massey
6035 Bunker Hill St.
Pittsburgh, PA. 15206
Phone 412-362-7324 or email at: [email protected]
Important Dates:
Applications for the fall semester of 2005 are due on December 15, 2006
Awards will be made by January 30, 2007.
Applications for the spring semester of 2007 are due on May 15, 2007.
Awards will be made by June 30, 2007.
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MCWP
MATHEMATICS COUNCIL OF WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION 2006-07
Name __________________________________
Phone (
)_____________________
Address ________________________________________________________________________
City ______________________________State _______ Zip Code________
County ______________ Email address ____________________________
School Name ______________________
Address _______________ City __________ State ____ Zip Code _______
Position: _______Student _______Teacher ______Dept Chair _____other (_____________)
Level: _____K-6 ____7-9 _____10-12 ____Jr. College ____College
Member also of _______NCTM
Annual Dues:
_______PCTM
______$10 for one year
______$5 for student
______Three Year membership $25
______ Lifetime retiree fee of $35
______ Institutional Membership of $25 per year
Please return the top portion of this form with a check payable to MCWP to
Yong S. Colen
623 Oak St.
Indiana, PA 15701
[email protected]
*****************************************************************************************************************
Why join Math Council of Western PA.?
• Get the latest information to our area via newsletters. Find out about contests, awards, conferences, and information for western Pa.
• MCWP will be co- hosting the PCTM Meeting at Seven Springs during Fall 2006
• Mini-grants are offered to practicing teachers for on the job research
• An Outstanding Student Teacher Award is given each year for outstanding performance during
elementary and secondary student teaching.
• First Year Algebra Contests are sponsored each spring.
• The Senior High Mathematics League is operated by MCWP throughout the year.
• Contests are supported with certificates and trophies.
• Opportunity to provide additional ACT 48 training. Ask your district to support MCWP, PCTM,
and NCTM events.
• Meetings and Newletters throughout the year.
• Belonging to a professional organization makes you a mathematics professional.
Become a Member and Be Involved in Local Mathematics!!!
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Algebra Contest Winners
Clockwise starting with upper left—Photo 1—2006 Algebra I / Integrated Math II 3rd place winner, Andrew
Kharma of the Valley School of Ligonier; 2nd place Adam Warburton of Mt. Pleasant Jr/Sr HS.; 1st place Zachary Ssemakula of Shady Side Academy MS with Barb MacDonald, MCWP president. Photos 2, 3 and 4—Barb
presents the individual winners with their awards. Photo 5—2006 Winners in the Algebra contest: Leah
Koenig of Riverview Jr/Sr HS, Allegheny County winner; Thomas Allen Snee of Trinity MS, Washington– Greene
County winner; Garrett Covalt of Hopewell Memorial Jr HS, Beaver-Butler-Lawrence Country winner; Kaitlyn
Davis of Christ the Divine Teacher and Jeremy Rich of Albert Gallatin South MS, Westmoreland-Fayette County
co-winners; with Barb MacDonald. Photo 8—Barb with one of the individual winners, Jeremy Rich.
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Top four photos—Barb presents more of the individual awards. Bottom photo—Barb presents Dave Sroka,
Principal of Derry Area Middle School, with a plaque to thank the school for hosting the Algebra Contest final
round.
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something must, of course, be conceded to the
If people do not believe that mathematics is
simple, it is only because they do not realize how laws of metre. ~Charles Babbage, letter to Alfred, Lord Tennyson, about a couplet in his "The
complicated life is. ~John Louis von Neumann
Vision of Sin"
[A mathematician is a] scientist who can figure
out anything except such simple things as squar- Math is radical! ~Bumper Sticker
ing the circle and trisecting an angle. ~Evan
If you think dogs can't count, try putting three
Esar, Esar's Comic Dictionary
dog biscuits in your pocket and then giving Fido
only two of them. ~Phil Pastoret
Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of
logical ideas. ~Albert Einstein
There was a blithe certainty that came from first
Mathematics are well and good but nature keeps comprehending the full Einstein field equations,
arabesques of Greek letters clinging tenuously to
dragging us around by the nose. ~Albert Einthe page, a gossamer web. They seemed insubstein
stantial when you first saw them, a string of
Black holes result from God dividing the universe squiggles. Yet to follow the delicate tensors as
they contracted, as the superscripts paired with
by zero. ~Author Unknown
subscripts, collapsing mathematically into concrete classical entities - potential; mass; forces
Mathematics - the unshaken Foundation of Scivectoring in a curved geometry - that was a subences, and the plentiful Fountain of Advantage
lime experience. The iron fist of the real, inside
to human affairs. ~Isaac Barrow
the velvet glove of airy mathematics. ~Gregory
Benford, Timescape
I never did very well in math - I could never
seem to persuade the teacher that I hadn't
It is a mathematical fact that fifty percent of all
meant my answers literally. ~Calvin Trillin
doctors graduate in the bottom half of their
class. ~Author Unknown
I don't agree with mathematics; the sum total of
zeros is a frightening figure. ~Stanislaw J. Lec,
If two wrongs don't make a right, try
More Unkempt Thoughts
three. ~Author Unknown
"Every minute dies a man, Every minute one is
Arithmetic is where numbers fly like pigeons in
born;" I need hardly point out to you that this
and out of your head. ~Carl Sandburg,
calculation would tend to keep the sum total of
"Arithmetic"
the world's population in a state of perpetual
equipoise, whereas it is a well-known fact that
Arithmetic is numbers you squeeze from your
the said sum total is constantly on the increase. I would therefore take the liberty of sug- head to your hand to your pencil to your paper till
you get the answer. ~Carl Sandburg,
gesting that in the next edition of your excellent
"Arithmetic"
poem the erroneous calculation to which I refer
should be corrected as follows: "Every moment
If equations are trains threading the landscape of
dies a man, And one and a sixteenth is born." I
numbers, then no train stops at pi. ~Richard
may add that the exact figures are 1.067, but
Sharon Volpe
North Allegheny Senior High School
10375 Perry Hwy
Wexford, PA 15090
12
Preston
Even stranger things have happened; and perhaps the strangest of all is the marvel that
mathematics should be possible to a race akin to
the apes. ~Eric T. Bell, The Development of
Mathematics
So if a man's wit be wandering, let him study the
mathematics; for in demonstrations, if his wit be
called away never so little, he must begin
again. ~Francis Bacon, "Of Studies"
The essence of mathematics is not to make
simple things complicated, but to make complicated things simple. ~S. Gudder
The human mind has never invented a laborsaving machine equal to algebra. ~Author Unknown
Go down deep enough into anything and you will
find mathematics. ~Dean Schlicter
It is not the job of mathematicians... to do correct
arithmetical operations. It is the job of bank
accountants. ~Samuil Shchatunovski
Trigonometry is a sine of the times. ~Author
Unknown
Mathematics is not a careful march down a wellcleared highway, but a journey into a strange
wilderness, where the explorers often get
lost. Rigour should be a signal to the historian
that the maps have been made, and the real
explorers have gone elsewhere. ~W.S. Anglin
A mathematician is a device for turning coffee
into theorems. ~Paul Erdos