It would be great if you would post a comment with your thoughts and suggestions for this Math Lead group.

I think our focus really needs to be on helping teachers throughout the division implement math.  This can be done by providing them with collaborative planning time for each of the strands in the math curriculum.

Hello

I know for me I first would like to be clear on what my job is as a math team lead....some specific examples.

Do I coordinate meetings to talk about potential  unit plans, activities, assessment strategies?

Other than that I think it would be good to share teaching strategies for how we approach it, manipulatives to use and potential unit planning for the strands as well.

I am new at this so I guess I am trying to figure out my job first and foremost.

Thank you.

Larissa 

I think that if the lead teachers meet and establish a format for meetings that could be consistent ie) goals, format... we, the lead teachers, could have a consistent way of organizing ourselves to facilitate the PD that would go on in our schools/division. I do think that our school is already working towards this as we have PLC meetings each week where we discuss exactly this. If we could share our format perhaps schools could start there.

*Number 1 the math lead teachers need 1 more meeting where we could set a direction for something we can all take back to our school and begin implementing. If we start at the school level perhaps we can then expand it in subsequent months/ years. As for being an island I understand the pain but I am working with the grade ahead which is still helpful, it is better than nothing.

A thought that I had to use sub days in all schools is that the division set up the sub days for us to say that we want to collaborate with others from different schools.  We extend an invitation to all teachers of a specific grade with an agenda of what will be happening.  Then we fill out a form to the division saying who will be participating and what we will be doing.  Will it work?

Hello:

I think the most important priority is getting time together. For those who have already implemented and been trained on the new curriculum I wonder if the Dec 10th day would be more advantageous. I just wonder should the teachers use a sub day for that instead of first meeting with their team to discuss the new curriculum. I am speaking for those like me who have not met as a team yet. I would like to first meet as a team to discuss the curriculum, I can statements and manipulative ideas. Maybe by Sept. we can plan a unit or one small part to start with.

For next year maybe we can work with the division to schedule some common PD days where we can have the same PD days to have more options. But what about this year - - I know our grade will have completed the training with David in Jan. and I would like to see all grade 3 teachers meet before spring....

So options:

1. Schedule a day with your team this year? See if school will cover subs?

Then go to division wide and have other grade teachers sign up if they choose to come.

Then maybe next year we can meet as a whole...through the division like Candace mentioned.

It almost seems like the division needs to back us up with sub funds of PD days to give incentive for teachers to want and be encouraged to do this.

Lead teachers can talk with their schools PD committee to have some team time set aside.

Maybe the division could ensure all schools have the same PD days next year. I think in Lethbridge that is what is going on this year.

Larissa

I agree that we should meet at least once more as a committee to establish a format of what each Grade level is hoping to accomplish during our Division-wide meeting times.  Depending on the grade and what stage they are already at, this may vary, but the end product - understanding and successfully implementing the new math curriculum - will remain constant.

Also, some schools are already working toward this goal in their School-based PLC time this year.  Asking for sub days division-wide and/or being creative in structuring time during the already established PD days will encourage teachers division-wide to share their "best practices" (extending to "I can..." statements, vocabulary lists, literature, use of manipulatives, etc) that other teachers/schools can take back and implement.  Our role would be as facilitators, not experts.

I feel that if we ask for a little built in time, we will get less, therefore, with a solid plan in place, if we ask for more sub days, we MAY get a few!!

Here are Brett's ideas from the last meeting:

I just thought maybe a group could meet at convention in Feb, also maybe meeting during PD days for half a day might be an idea.

We will see you Thursday in Cardston.

On Dec. 10th it will be nice to see each other face-to-face again and have a discussion. I'm thinking that we need to set a focus - call it our vision, mission statement, whatever. I'm sorry that I had to miss the first half of our last meeting, and maybe we already did this. Have we decided what the end result we want to see in the division is? I have to admit that I am linear-sequential to a fault, and I'm feeling a little confused as to where we're going. It would be great to narrow our focus.