Wisconsin Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators

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.

Please join us for a webinar to discuss AMTE’s new Mathematics Teacher Preparation Standards on January 4, 2017 at 4pm CST.  AMTE has recently released a draft of standards for mathematics teacher preparation, including information on the knowledge and beliefs that well-prepared beginning teachers need, the experiences that teacher preparation programs should provide, the nature of clinical placements, and how teacher candidates should be assessed.  If you are a faculty member in a teacher education program, a mentor teacher to beginning teachers in the state, or a district that hires beginning teachers from Wisconsin institutions, this webinar is for you!  We will discuss the document and what the implications of these standards are for teacher preparation and professional development in Wisconsin.  Click here to read the AMTE mathematics teacher preparation standards, and register for the webinar at this link.

Welcome to the website for the Wisconsin Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators.