There’s more than one way to look at algebra, according to
Philip Gonsalves, and a group of Morgan Hill Unified School
District teachers and principals who gathered this summer for an
intensive math workshop.
Morgan Hill – There’s more than one way to look at algebra, according to Philip Gonsalves, and a group of Morgan Hill Unified School District teachers and principals who gathered this summer for an intensive math workshop.
Participants spent their days immersed in discussions and lesson planning, but also actually working math problems and learning new ways of performing traditional functions, such as reducing fractions.
The program is designed to strengthen the math comprehension of all who participate, to learn new ways to use textbooks effectively and learn strategies and how to improve lesson plans.
The group either rediscovered, renewed or found for the first time their love of math.
Comments from those who attended the five-day workshop at the end of June were overwhelmingly positive, Gonsalves told trustees during the July 25 school board meeting.
Gonsalves is a math coordinator with the Alameda County Office of Education, and he presented the Alameda County Collaborative for Learning and Instruction in Mathematics (ACCLAIM) Transition to Algebra Institute.
Britton math teacher Richard Punches said he thought the training was valuable and that he would like to participate in similar training in the future.
“One of the things we came up with in our discussion was that kids need to hear the same things from different teachers, and we’re looking for ways to do that,” he said.
Punches said he and other teachers have copies of the classroom scripts created by ACCLAIM and are working on adapting them to fit their needs.
A scripted curriculum is something some teachers resist, Gonsalves said, until they understand that the script is used to describe a way to teach a concept and to describe common terms used.
“You should never hear from a child, ‘That’s not how I learned it last year,’ ” Gonsalves said.
The idea is to keep Morgan Hill students using the same math terminology throughout their school career.
“The state is talking about coherent curriculum … How can we make sure we have not just the equity piece but coherent and coupling,” District Superintendent Alan Nishino said.
There have been inconsistencies among math programs at different sites, even within the same school site, Nishino said.
Using a “scripted” curriculum will ensure that students have access to the same quality of teaching and the same terminology so that as they progress from level to level, students coming from one school or classroom are not disadvantaged, Assistant Superintendent Michael Johnson added.
Johnson, who oversees curriculum for the district, said he had seen the potential for success with ACCLAIM in Alameda Unified School District and he was glad the district could bring the program to Morgan Hill. He said there was also a Gilroy teacher participating in the training.
“Teachers and classified staff need staff development, they need to be able to collaborate,” Nishino said. “You must provide people with tools if you expect them to have an outcome … We have to provide our teachers and staff with tools to make a difference in what kids learn; if kids are not learning, we’re not teaching, we’re not doing our job.”
The program was an eye-opener for most participants.
“In the past few days, I’ve come to realize that I love math,” one of the participants commented. “I had no idea. It is an excellent idea to see where we are going while teaching the basics to fourth graders.”
Gonsalves said several summer school teachers were “so excited” about the program they immediately tried it in their classes.
Some of the teachers commented that they couldn’t wait to get back into the classroom to put what they had learned into practice.
Gonsalves noted that the terms the teachers had learned during their training could be used at all levels of math.
“It’s like learning any language, it’s much better to learn it earlier in life,” he said. “We want to make algebra, calculus, accessible at any level.”
