Dispatches from the Circles

Local updates from across the country

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California

Derek Mulkey’s lesson on Farey Fractions, developed during the 2015 AIM MTC summer workshop, was published in the January/February issue of the Oregon Mathematics Teacher magazine.

– Contributed by Hana Silverstein

The San Francisco MTC thanks Proof School and Desmos for generously hosting its sessions this academic year! We had 75 total participants, averaging over two dozen each session, and folks seemed to have a great experience. Doing the math, we can estimate that with the cost of coffee, bagels, potstickers, and noodles we are able to bring cool escape-the-textbook mathematics to over 2000 students.

– Contributed by Paul Zeitz

Colorado

The Northern Colorado MTC has been running concurrent sessions for teachers and students. Teachers’ sessions run from 5:30 to 8:00, and the students’ sessions run from 5:30 to 7:00. Both groups work on a very similar problem for the first hour in separate classrooms, and then, over dinner together, they share solutions and problem-solving strategies. We believe this structure helps teachers see what students are capable of in term of problem solving.

– Contributed by Gulden Karakok

Illinois

The Southwest Chicago MTC was awarded $500 from the Enterprise Foundation for the 2017-18 school year.

– Contributed by Amanda Harsy

New York

NYC Community of Adult Math Instructors members E. Appleton, S. Farina, T. Holzer, U. Kotelawala, and M. Trushkowsky published an article in the Spring 2017 issue of the Coalition on Adult Basic Education’s Journal of Research and Practice for Adult Literacy, Secondary, and Basic Education (http://nyccami.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Problem-Posing-and-Problem-Solving-in-a-Math-Teachers-Circle.pdf). The article, titled “Problem-Posing and Problem-Solving in a Math Teachers’ Circle,” describes the influence that one of our early meetings had on our work with both visual patterns and adding problem formulation to the math we want our students to do.

In October 2016, NYC CAMI founding members E. Appleton, S. Farina, T. Holzer, and M. Trushkowsky presented a workshop titled “Teacher-Driven Learning Circles” at the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Regional Conference in Philadelphia. In April 2017, E. Appleton and M. Trushkowsky presented workshops on mathematical modeling at the National COABE Conference and at the NYC Adult Basic Education Conference.

— Contributed by Mark Trushkowsky

Oklahoma

The Tulsa MTC hosted its fourth annual summer immersion workshop in June 2017 for 37 middle school teachers at the scenic Post Oak Lodge. Nationally recognized math circle leaders Tatiana Shubin and Bob Klein came to facilitate many of our sessions. The 22 teachers new to our summer immersion program gave very positive feedback. Returning teachers thought this summer was the best one yet!

In February 2017, TMTC partnered with Circle Cinema, Tulsa Girls’ Math Circle, and The University of Tulsa for a free public screening of the documentary Navajo Math Circles. Tatiana Shubin led a Q&A session after the screening, and a Native American chef provided food for a reception. We packed a 200-seat theater at Circle Cinema with an audience of math administrators, parents, community education partners, and Native American and Minority Education communities. The event was a great success!

Both of these events were made possible through the generous support from NSF, NSA, The University of Tulsa, and local foundations.

– Contributed by Marilyn Howard

This article originally appeared in the Summer/Autumn 2017 MTCircular.