Hands-On Equations Instructor Kendra Jensen just completed conducting a Day1 and Day2 workshop in Hot Springs, AR.
The comments below, submitted by the instructor, are typical of the high value that workshop participants place on this training.
Hot Springs, AR
Day 1
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Thank you for sending me to Arkansas! I learned about it's geography by driving into Hot Springs on a winding, mountainous highway for the last 2 hours of the drive! Beautiful scenery, challenging drive. All was fine.
Participants:
Our participants readily volunteered. Their teaching experience ranged from 10 years to 28 years and they were just as eager to learn as an educator with less experience. Great group.
From Bryant, Carol taught 7th grade; Heather 8th; Jaime was a special ed teacher who teaches with them. Elisabeth was also a special ed teacher.
Our two participants not from Bryant were Shannon who teaches K-6 gifted and Kittena who is a K-12 Math Coordinator.
Day 1 teacher quotes and conversations:
Carol wanted to know early on if there were worksheets and teacher manuals. Heather was excited about the smartboard application.
"This is so cool ... When I saw the demonstration at my school, it was too fast."
Lesson 7: "I've always done the numbers first. I guess you get stuck in your ways. I like that HOE teaches the removal of pawns first." Heather repeated this when asked what the highlight of the morning session was for her.
Shannon knows of a school who uses HOE and has Level l taught in 3rd grade, Level ll in 4th and Level lll in 5th grade. They like it.
Shannon especially liked the fact that we're reaching so many learning styles with this approach!
Kittena loved both days! "I have a monthly math focus for various grades. I demonstrate or model teach on that focus topic. I'll use HOE for this! I'm going to buy a kit for each school (or teacher?)." Kittena took such detailed notes because she plans to present this to the many teachers she helps. I told her to enquire about overheads from our office.
Day 2
Lesson 7: "I've always done the numbers first. I guess you get stuck in your ways. I like that HOE teaches the removal of pawns first." Heather repeated this when asked what the highlight of the morning session was for her.
Shannon knows of a school who uses HOE and has Level l taught in 3rd grade, Level ll in 4th and Level lll in 5th grade. They like it.
Shannon especially liked the fact that we're reaching so many learning styles with this approach!
Kittena loved both days! "I have a monthly math focus for various grades. I demonstrate or model teach on that focus topic. I'll use HOE for this! I'm going to buy a kit for each school (or teacher?)." Kittena took such detailed notes because she plans to present this to the many teachers she helps. I told her to enquire about overheads from our office.
Day 2
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Additional Participants:
For Day 2, Michelle joined us and teaches 6,7, and 8th grades.
Corrie and Laurie were 3rd and 4th grade teachers from the same school. They said they registered for the half day. They were a little concerned about the level of math necessary but were encouraged to find their 3rd and 4th graders could do many of our verbal problems.
Day 2 teacher quotes and conversations:
The Arkansas Benchmark test was mentioned several times. "Oh, if our kids had HOE before that test, they would have aced it!"
Kittena, the Math Coordinator, expressed a concern about open response questions on the Benchmark. There are two people grading a student's answer to the open response. Each grader has 4 points to give for a total of 8 points. "How would individual graders view the pictoral solution. Is there enough there to earn a full 4 points?" Heather, an 8th grade teacher responded enthusiastically, "The student has to solve and then verify the answer. For word problems, there's also the full sentence answer to show understanding. I definitely think there's enough here to earn each grader's 4 points."
When asked what they liked most about this approach, the participants replied:
"I like setting game pieces on the scale phrase by phrase through the word problem." It makes sense.
"This makes fractions more meaninful."
"I love the fact there's so much going on here. There are so many topics buried in this program!"
Kittena, the Math Coordinator, expressed a concern about open response questions on the Benchmark. There are two people grading a student's answer to the open response. Each grader has 4 points to give for a total of 8 points. "How would individual graders view the pictoral solution. Is there enough there to earn a full 4 points?" Heather, an 8th grade teacher responded enthusiastically, "The student has to solve and then verify the answer. For word problems, there's also the full sentence answer to show understanding. I definitely think there's enough here to earn each grader's 4 points."
When asked what they liked most about this approach, the participants replied:
"I like setting game pieces on the scale phrase by phrase through the word problem." It makes sense.
"This makes fractions more meaninful."
"I love the fact there's so much going on here. There are so many topics buried in this program!"
The highlight of Day 2 for me personally was bringing volunteers up to demonstrate the travelling scooters and trains. These participants loved it and fully participated. I heard several "This is good!" "They'll understand this." - type comments.
Observations:
I used the Effective Learning transparency #13 from Day 1 to help in the review for Day 2.
These participants noticed two minor discrepancies on the transparencies. On transparency # 32, the verbal problem is actually number 6 not 5 on VPB page 42. and on transparency #37, the verbal problem is number 10 not 9 on VPB page 57.
The Velda Rose Hotel was a grand hotel in its day. My room was nice. The meeting room showed signs of age ... with worn trim and scratched doors, even a broken window down the hall from it. The hotel smelled of smoke when you walked in the front door. I asked Kittena Bell, a participant who stayed overnight there, what she thought just in case I was being too picky ... maybe it was a local attraction. She told me she actually called a friend to come stay with her because she wouldn't stay in such a place by herself. She also said "it wasn't a positive draw for such an awesome workshop."
Respectfully,
Kendra Jensen
