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WI-AMTE is now on Facebook.  To join our group, visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/174332136616938/.   The group will serve as a place for WI-AMTE announcements as well as discussion of key ideas in math education.

April 17, 2018 • Mid-States Technical College, Stevens Point • 9am-3pm

The Wisconsin Mathematics Council (WMC) and Wisconsin Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (WI-AMTE) recently released a joint statement describing what college readiness in mathematics looks like for all students.
In addition, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics is set to release Catalyzing Change in High School Mathematics: Initiating Critical Conversations, a document which has the potentially to meaningfully reshape the landscape of high school mathematics.

Join us for a day-long dialogue about college and career readiness, designed to answer the following questions:
• What does effective mathematics teaching that supports college and career readiness look like in high schools?
• What innovations are being implemented in entry-level university mathematics teaching that supports reasoning and sense making?
• How can high schools be thinking about coherent mathematics pathways for students to support college and career readiness for all students?

We will engage in example mathematical activities from entry-level university mathematics courses, discuss innovative practices in high school course design, and identify questions for further discussion and study to be presented to state leadership at the WMC Annual Meeting in May.

Middle and high school teachers, curriculum directors and specialists, coaches, and university mathematics educators are all welcome to attend!

To RSVP, please fill out the following form no later than April 10th:
http://bit.ly/ccr041718
Registration is free. Lunch will be provided at a $5 cash cost.

As many of you are aware, a number of changes are being made and/or proposed to licensure in the State of Wisconsin. In response to those changes and proposals, the Wisconsin Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators puts forward the following white paper regarding implementation of new state licensure regulations.

White Paper on Licensure Guidance (pdf)

On December 6th, WI AMTE hosted a statewide webinar to continue the discussion about college readiness.  You can find the recording of that webinar below.

College Readiness December 17 from Mike Steele on Vimeo.

Additional relevant resources:

• The Role of Calculus in the Transition from High School to College Mathematics (MAA report)
• Wisconsin Early Mathematics Placement Tool

Thank you to everyone who participated in our 2017-2018 election.  We were electing six WI AMTE board positions this year, for 1-, 2-, and 3-year terms.  Going forward, we will elect two members of the board each year to 3-year terms.  I’d like to thank all the candidates that ran and everyone who voted in the election.

Hi folks – Mike Steele here from the leadership team.  The recent AMTE Standards for Preparing Teachers of Mathematics have sparked a lot of conversation and debate recently.  There are a number of ideas that I find to be intriguing and have sparked additional thinking on my part about how I organize my mathematics methods courses.  In particular, candidate standard C.4 on the Social Contexts of Mathematics, and Indicator C.3.3, Anticipate and Attend to Students’ Mathematical Dispositions stand out for me as areas in which I could personally strengthen my methods repertoire.  I wondered what messages I am (or am not) sending to my students about what it means to know and do mathematics, how we structure the learning opportunities with respect to mathematics and the teaching and learning of mathematics in our methods courses, and what changes I might consider making to provide a more transparent and coherent message.  When we discussed this matter as a leadership team, it was suggested that we perhaps take a look at our syllabi as a starting point for this work.  As such, I’m providing the syllabus for my fall course – essentially the ‘middle’ course in a three-course methods sequence at UWM – as sacrificial analytic fodder.  I’ll reflect a little bit about what I notice in this syllabus with the lenses of the Standards, as well as some comments about edTPA and state licensure.  I invite you all to comment and engage in further discussion using my syllabus as a starting point. Continue reading “Thinking about our Methods syllabi…”

WI AMTE is pleased to announce a track devoted to mathematics teacher education at the WMC Annual Meeting in Green Lake, WI on May 5th, 2017.  Please see the flyer below for session information.

We are also pleased to announce the first annual Preservice and Early Career Teacher Poster Session!  Please encourage your preservice teachers and early-career colleagues to showcase their work at this relaxed, informal poster session on Thursday prior to Celebrate WMC.  Submit your poster proposal here!

2017 Green Lake Sessions

A DPI-commissioned task force (the Leadership Group on School Staffing Challenges) has proposed significant and sweeping changes to state licensure. Among these changes include the consolidation of licenses into two categories: Grades PK-9 generalist, and Grades 4-12 content specialist.  This move would eliminate a specific license for Early Childhood Education (no coverage for birth-PK) and significantly change the scope of the secondary mathematics education EAA license.

You can read a summary of the recommendations here. There is currently no mechanism for providing feedback to DPI on this matter.  WI AMTE’s voice was represented in letters that have gone forward from UW System institutions with stakes in teacher preparation, and from the Wisconsin Mathematics Council. We encourage WI AMTE members to make their voices heard by emailing Sheila Briggs directly.

Embedded below is a partial screencast of the WI AMTE webinar discussing the AMTE mathematics teacher preparation draft standards.  The portion captured features our discussion of the implications of the work for Wisconsin.  The full slides for the presentation are also included.