EDMS 474 READINGS & ASSIGNMENTS

Each week in EDMS 474 you will complete both a reading and a written assignment.

Writing Expectations and Assignment Grades: Each weekly assignment will be evaluated on a 5-point scale. A top score indicates a successful demonstration of your work as you develop as a teacher. Your assignments should draw upon specific examples from your readings, classwork, fieldwork, and virtual observations of experienced teachers via the internet. Some assignments take the form of a traditional paper. Such papers are typically 3 - 4 pages long double-spaced, often with additional artifacts attached. They must be carefully edited for grammar, spelling, and style. For other assignments, you will be asked to make notes, write lesson plans, reflect on your practice, or evaluate student work. For these assignments you will often be given a specific form on which to complete your task. Assignments receiving a 3, 2, or 1 may be revised and resubmitted for reconsideration within two weeks from the date they are returned to you. Late assignments may not receive a score higher than 4 and they may not be revised for resubmission.

Week 1 / Week 2 / Week 3 / Week 4 / Week 5 / Week 6 / Week 7 / Week 8 / Week 9 / Week 10 / Week 11 / Week 12 / Week 13 / Week 14
Monday 1:00-3:40 & 4:00-6:40
sections 1 & 2 / 8/29 / 9/12 / 9/19 / 9/26 / 10/3 / 10/10 / 10/17 / 10/24 / 10/31 / 11/7 / 11/14 / 11/21 / 11/28 / 12/5
Wednesday 7:00-9:40 section 5 / 8/24 / 8/31 / 9/7 / 9/14 / 9/21 / 9/28 / 10/5 / 10/12 / 10/19 / 10/26* / 11/9* / 11/16 / 11/30 / 12/7
Thursday 1:00-3:40 section 3 / 8/25 / 9/1 / 9/8 / 9/15 / 9/22 / 9/29 / 10/6* / 10/20* / 10/27 / 11/3 / 11/10 / 11/17 / 12/1 / 12/8
Thursday 4:00-6:40 section 4 / 8/25 / 9/1 / 9/8 / 9/15 / 9/22 / 9/29 / 10/6 / 10/13* / 10/27 / 11/3 / 11/10 / 11/17 / 12/1 / 12/8

* Note: in each section except Mondays, there will be a date when your section does not meet. Section 3 – no class on 10/13. Section 4 – no class on 10/20. Section 5 – no class on 11/2.

Weekly Topics

/ Readings to prepare for week / Written Assignments due this week
Week 1
Grades K-8
•Course Intro
•A Vision of Math Teaching & Learning
•Proportional Reasoning
•Communication
Week 2
Grades K-1
•Process Standards
•Beginning Number Concepts
•Centers / PSSM: Vision
PSSM: Principles
PSSM: Pre-K–2 Overview, Pre-K–2 Number & Operations (in Ch. 4)
CD: 3-21: Overview & Tools of Classroom Talk
Article: ‘They look at you in absolute horror’: Women writing and talking about mathematics. / Assignment #1 — 474, & YOU!
Part 1: Compare how you experienced mathematics teaching and learning in our first day of EDMS 474 (e.g., Gulliver, solving the 9x24 problem…) with your early mathematics experiences in school. What are some similarities and differences and why might these matter?
Part 2: Consider your initial experiences in EDMS 474 and goals for the course in light of the readings. Things you might want to consider include the idea of “productive talk moves” and “productive talk formats” (from CD text), PSSM’s six Principles, and the implications of the Absolute Horror article for your own teaching.
Week 3
Grades K-2
•Observing a Math Class
•Numbers to 20
•Beginning Operations
•More Centers & Math Games / PSSM Content Standards: Number & Operations, Algebra, Geometry, Measurement, Data Analysis & Probability PSSM Process Standards: Problem Solving, Reasoning & Proof, Communication, Connections, and Representations
LTP: The Pizza Problem Story & A Closer Look, pp. 2-24
CD: 22-42 Four Cases of Classroom Talk & Integrating
Talk
ATM: Beginning Number Concepts, pp. 161-172 / Assignment #2 — Virtual Observation of Mary Hurley’s Class
Observe veteran teacher Mary Hurley’s engage her class in a classroom routine for math practice. Go to: Click on Archive and then in 11/16/04 click on Warm Up & Debrief. While you watch the lesson, complete your observation notes on the LSEE Observation form. Pause or rewind the video as needed. Record your observations on the left; your thoughts, questions, interpretations, ideas go on the right. While observing, attend to the following four aspects of the elementary school mathematics. Also, after observing the lesson, make some notes about what you are curious about.
1. The Math: What is the math that the children are studying? What do you think they already know? What does this task give them the opportunity to work on?
2. Classroom Routines/Norms: What kinds of norms are evident? What does the teacher do to reinforce them?
3. Classroom Talk: Who talks during this lesson? With whom? What do they talk about? What kinds of questions does the teacher ask? What kinds of things do children have the opportunity to say? What kinds of recordings, representations or mathematical models support that talk? Who makes/uses the representations or models?
4. Praise and being right: Who gets praised/corrected during this lesson? For what? How does this teacher praise/correct her students? What counts as right/wrong in this class? How are right/wrong answers handled?
If feasible, you should also observe your own placement classroom with respect to these aspects of mathematics teaching/learning.
Week 4
Grades 1-2
•Textbooks
•Place Value
•Numbers to 100 / ATM: Place Value, pp. 173-182
LTP: Getting Started & Toward a New Approach, pp. 26-55
YM: The Landscape of Learning, pp. 1-31
PSSM: Pre-K–2 Algebra / Assignment #3 — Plan, Teach, & Reflect (pt. 1)
Plan and teach a mini-lesson on a basic-facts game to 2-4 students. (Note: do not teach the game to all of your students as you will be re-teaching the same game the next week). Your plan should include giving instructions, playing the game, and questioning your students about their strategies and understandings. Be sure to consider materials you will need and how much time you have. Write a brief description of what happened including reflections on your teaching and the students’ thinking and learning. Collect any scratch paper or recording sheets your students use. You’ll probably want to take a few photos too. Games for various grade levels include: Tens, Cross Out Singles, Circles & Stars, Reckon, Factor Game, or Quotient Cross Out. Some will be distributed in class, others are in ATM.
Week 5
Grades 1-2
•More Place Value
•Addition & Subtraction
•Computational Strategies
•Student Work / ATM: Addition & Subtraction, pp. 183-193 (be sure to play Cross Out Singles)
LTP: A Teaching Plan & Children’s Computational Strategies pp. 57-72
LTP: Using Tools — Base 10 & 100’s, Standard Algorithms charts, 96-110
PSSM: Strand Readings: You will be assigned to a strand group: Geometry, Data Analysis/Stat, or Measurement.
Read the section on your strand in PSSM Ch. 3, 4, 5, & 6
*note that data analysis/statistics is combined with probability / Assignment #4 — Reflect, Plan, Teach, & Reflect (pt. 2)
Part 1— Goal Setting: Based on your reflections, in-class discussions, and the Questioning handout set goals for what you want to improve in your lesson. Observe Olga Torres’ Place Value Game lesson. Go to:
What aspects of her lesson inform your goals?
Part 2—Lesson Plan: Based on the LSEE Learning Plan, rewrite a lesson plan incorporating your goals. Be sure to include specifics about your expectations for student learning. In most cases, plans will be more detailed this second time around.
Part 3— Reteach & Reflect: Reteach the same game to a different small group of students or to the whole class. Write a reflection addressing your learning and the students learning. Be sure to address your specific improvement goals and how (or to what extent) your revisions helped you approach them. Turn in your goals, annotated versions of both lesson plans, and your reflections. Ideally, also include some artifact of your practice such as a photo or some student work.
Week 6
Grades K-8
•Measurement, Geometry, & Statistics
•Instructional Resources including Websites / PSSM: Grade 3-5 Overview, Number & Operations, & Algebra pp. 143-15
YM: Developing Multiplication Strategies & Big Ideas, pp. 33-49
ATM: Multiplication, pp. 194-203 (be sure to play the Factor Game)
ATM: Strand-related Activities and Content
Activities / Content Discussion
Geometry / pp. 79-99 / p. 255 & pp. 272-283
Measurement / pp. 46-58 / pp. 255-260
Statistics* / pp. 59-78 / p. 255, pp. 261-271
*note that the “statistics” activities are combined with probability activities / Assignment #5 — Finding a Mathematical Focus — Investigating Instructional Resources
Investigate curriculum materials for your strand in order to work with your unit planning group to make initial decisions. For this assignment, you will be bringing in both your thoughts (in the form of notes) and curriculum resources you want your group to consider. •Based on the tasks and instructional resources you discover, make notes on what you might like to be the mathematicalfocus of your unit. What mathematical topics within your strand seem most interesting? Which topics might fit together well in a coherent unit? What themes might fit well with your unit?
Note: On the one hand, your unit won’t address every standard in your strand at your grade level. You will need to find a focus. On the other hand, the standards for your grade level don’t necessary include everything in your strand that children should/could appropriately study, as the standards primarily focus on the skills/concepts that children should master by a particular grade. Thus, you will find ideas/tasks in other grade levels that fit with your mathematical topic and you might choose to include them in your unit and you will find tasks that don’t exactly fit any specific standards may still be viable in your unit as they provide review, preview, and/or connections.
•Start by talking with your mentor teacher about how he/she teaches this strand. Ask about favorite math tasks and curriculum resources. Investigate the school’s textbook. Look for supplemental curriculum such as AIMS, Family Math, Marilyn Burns Math By All Means units, MathLand, Investigations, children’s literature, etc. Also investigate web-based resources including the National library of Virtual Manipulatives ( and the Math Forum ( Bring in a collection of ideas and actual materials to share with your peers.
•Be prepared to discuss your ideas with your group in order to reach consensus about focus, grade level, theme, etc.. Although your initial ideas may not be those that eventually form the basis of your group’s unit, you be prepared to grapple with these issues
Week 7
Grades 3-4
•Multiplication
•Basic Facts & Memorization
•Textbooks & Other Instructional Resources / YM: Connecting Mult. & Div. and Devel. Mathematical Models, pp. 51-89
ATM: Division & Extending Multiplication & Division pp. 204-222 (be sure to play Leftover from 100 and Remainder of Zero)
CACS: Read Content Standards for the grade-span and content area of your Unit / Assignment #6 — Student Work Analysis
Part 1—What do they know?: Using a collection of student work, describe what this selection of papers tell you about both what the class as a whole knows and can do, as well as what individual students know and can do. What strategies are children using?
Part 2— What are they struggling with?: Reanalyze the same student work, this time focusing on what the class and individual students are struggling with. Can you differentiate between procedural errors and misconceptions in the students’ work? How might these analyses inform planning for future instruction?
Part 3 — Item Analysis:Complete an item analysis table for the students. (Details provided in class.)
Week 8
Grades 3-4
•Multiplication
•Properties
•Representations
•Lesson Planning
•Assessment Intro / YM: Algorithms vs. Number Sense pp. 91-103
(YM: Dev. Efficient Computation with Minilessons, pp. 105-123, is optional)
YM: Assessment, pp. 125-143
CD: Section 1, pp. 3-42 (be sure to stop and solve the math problem on p. 31 before reading on) / Assignment #7— Planning Lessons that promote Student Thinking
Observe Mary Hurley’s lesson on an intriguing problem called the Horse Problem. Go to: Click on Archive and then in 3/30/05 click on Word Problem.
Part 1 — Observing Student Thinking: Carefully observe the lesson. Take notes on the students’ thinking while they are working in their small groups. What mathematical knowledge and strategies do they demonstrate? What prior knowledge do they seem to be drawing upon? What knowledge and strategies seem fragile? What are they struggling with? What misconceptions and errors are evident in their thinking? What is the nature of the communications? What kinds of representations/models do they use?
Part 2 — Observing Teacher Moves that Support Student Thinking: What does the teach do to elicit student thinking? In particular, what kinds of questions do Mary and her student teacher use to nurture and draw out student thinking? Which questions seem most fruitful and why? How could you incorporate these questions into your own teaching?
Part 3 — Backwards lesson planning: Based on your observation of this lesson, consider all of the categories that are in the LSEE lesson planning form. What does Mary do? What do her students do? What materials are prepared ahead of time? What kind of student work is generated? How long does each phase of the lesson take? How are students grouped? Etc. Using the LSEE lesson plan format (or other approved format) create a comprehensive lesson plan based on the lesson you have observed. Be sure your lesson plan includes explicit details for managing the classroom discourse, including questioning and discussion in whole and small groups.
Week 9
Grades 3-5
•Fractions: Naming & Equivalences
•ELD & SDAIE
•Assessment: Rubrics / CD: Section 2, pp. 43 – 101 (be sure to stop and solve the math problems on p. 74, p. 80, and p. 83 before reading on).
ATM: Fractions, 223-237 / Assignment #8 — Draft Lesson Plan Due
Create Lesson plan for your lesson in your Unit Plan. Bring in copies of your lesson for everyone in your group, and one for your instructor. Share the lesson with your instructor on LiveText if instructed to do so.
Week 10
Grades 5-6
•Fractions: Operations & Proportional Reasoning
•Assessment: Portfolios / CD: Section 3, pp. 105-164
“Adapting Mathematics Instruction in the General Education Classroom for Students with Mathematics Disabilities” —Download article at:
“Math Learning Disabilities” —Download article at:
/ Assignment #9 — Observing a Student with Special Needs
Observe a student with special needs (or a struggling student). Has the students already been identified for services? Has there been an SST or IEP meeting? If there is an IEP, what is suggested on the plan? (Note that while these documents are confidential, you should be able to talk with your mentor and/or the resource specialist at your school and arrange to read the IEP. You will probably not be able to make a copy of it.) How do the child’s abilities/disabilities affect his/her performance in math? What accommodations or modifications are made by the teacher? How does the student interact with other students? materials? the math? the teacher? What affect do the accommodations/modifications have on other students? What other kinds of support might help this student? Etc.
Week 11
Grades 5-6
•Decimals & Percents
•Special Needs
•Calculators / ATM: Decimals & Percents, pp. 238-252 (be sure to do Multiplication Puzzlers and What Percent is Shaded)
ATM: Managing the Classroom for Problem Solving, pp. 29-42 / No Assignment — Work on Unit Plan & Presentation
Week 12
Grades K-2
•K-2 Presentations
•Course Evaluations / No Readings this Week — Prepare your Units, Lessons, and Presentations / Collaborative Unit Plan and Individual Lesson Plan Due
Week 13
Grades 3-6
•3-6 Presentations
•Cooperative Logic / CD: Case Study — Looking at the Shape of the Data, pp.167-187
YM: Teachers as Mathematicians (handshake problem) pp. 145-159
NCTM President’s Message: “Pushing Down Algebra” — Download article at: / Assignment #10 — Synthesize a Principle: Curriculum, Assessment, Teaching, Learning or Equity
Review the Principles in PSSM. Draw upon everything we’ve done so far in this course in order to articulate and illustrate your understanding of these Principles. Explain how you envision yourself incorporating them into your mathematics teaching practice and why. You must cite our course texts, class activities/discussion, and your field experiences explicitly in order to demonstrate how you are making connections between theory and practice in these areas. This is place to make a coherent argument about what you’ve learned.
Week 14
Grades K-6
•Probability
•Family Math
•Homework
• Mathematics Teaching Philosophy / CD: Case Study — Fair or Unfair, pp. 188-204
NCTM President’s Message: “Being the Best Teacher You Can Be in 2005” — Download article at:
Sonoma County Office of Education “Math at Home” — Download this booklet at / Assignment #11: Parent Letter & Philosophy
Write a letter to the parents of the students you will student teach outlining your philosophy for teaching mathematics. You might want to include topics such as: your goals for their children; the ways you will structure math instruction and why; the kinds of homework they should anticipate; your approach to teaching skills and concepts…. This should not exceed one page and it should be in “parent friendly” language, avoiding educational jargon as much as possible.

EDMS 474 Fall 2005Morris, Easterday, Sealy