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TRANSCRIPT
The mission of ATOMIM is to promote and support
improved student learning of mathematics and
professional development of teachers of mathemat-
ics. Permission is granted to reproduce any part of
this publication for instructional use or for inclusion
in an NCTM affiliate publication provided that
material is duplicated with full credit to the author
(s) and the ATOMIM Newsletter. Comments and
suggestions can be sent to the Editor, Ellen Greeke,
at:
Newsletter Back to School Issue
September 2012
District I: Aroostook, Northern Penobscot
District II: Hancock, Southern Penobscot,
Piscataquis, Washington
District III: Franklin, Oxford, Somerset
District IV: Androscoggin, Kennebec
District V: Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc, Waldo
District VI: Cumberland, York
On the web at:
www.atomim.net
President’s Message In this issue…
2012 ATOMIM Spring Conference
Wrap-Up!
Save the Date for ATOMIM’s
2013 Spring Conference
Call for Nominations for the ATO-
MIM Board
Article by Jenny Jorgensen, 2012
ATOMIM Grant Recipient
Maine DOE Updates
Shawn Towle, President
Ellen Greeke, Secretary/Newsletter Editor
David Sturm, Treasurer
Pam Rawson, Membership Chair/Pres. Elect
Robert McCully, ATMNE Representative
Cynthia Hillman-Forbush, NCTM Rep.
Luke Shorty, District I Representative
Darlene Ulrickson, District II Representative
Nancy Philbrick, District III Representative
Carolyn Arline, District IV Representative
Donna Hardt, District V Representative
Mary Belisle, Nancy Germani & Louise Moses
District VI Representatives
Michele Mailhot, Department of Education
Norma Bisulca, Higher Education
Amy Yankee, MMSA Representative
Jacqueline Mitchell, Historian
ATOMIM Board
ATOMIM President’s Message
September 2012
Welcome back to a new school year!
I hope that you found time to enjoy our glorious Maine summer this year, or that you enjoyed
travels with family and friends. We are very fortunate to live in "Vacationland."
Many of us use the summer break as a time to relax and unwind from a busy school year and
gain back some of our personal lives and interests, others of us use the time to think about
next years' opportunities and engage in professional learning to help us to improve our mathe-
matics instruction and the resulting student learning of mathematics. I suspect most of us try
to strike a healthy balance between the two!
As we embark on a new school year, here are some questions I think are worthy of exploring
as we move closer to the implementation deadlines for the Common Core State Standards in
Mathematics:
How will we be sure we help ALL students learn deep and important mathematical con-
cepts?
What types of assessments will we use to help students during the learning process and
not simply at the end of a unit?
What new rich tasks might we use with students in our classrooms?
What work remains to be done to move your classroom, school, district, and our state
forward in the implementation of the common core state standards?
I hope you will give thought to how to help students make the mathematical practices in the
common core standards come alive as part of their own practices as "mathematically profi-
cient students." These three words, mathematically proficient students..., are the first words
of each of the eight mathematical practices. It is up to us to work to make these a reality for
all Maine students as the normal part of doing business in our mathematics classrooms. We
must design our instruction and assessments in ways that give students the opportunity to live
the practices in their daily mathematical work.
The ATOMIM board met for our summer planning retreat in August and we have some excit-
ing plans for the coming year to serve you, our members. In addition to our Spring confer-
ence on April 5, 2013 in Augusta (with a keynote by Steve Leinwand), we are making plans
for statewide dine and discuss sessions on the Smarter Balanced Assessments, continuing our
GIFT program and working on a possible mathematics leaders’ conference to be held on
April 4 as a lead-in to the April 5 conference. Stay tuned as our plans unfold. Our website
will have the most up to date information at: http://atomim.net
As always, if you have a great idea or suggestion for how we can better serve our member-
ship, don’t hesitate to contact me ([email protected]) or your regional representa-
tive.
Have you already marked your calendar for our annual spring conference at the University of
Maine at Augusta on Friday, April 5, 2013?
Best wishes for a mathematically rich school year for you and your students!
Shawn Towle, ATOMIM President
ATOMIM 2012 Conference Wrap-Up!
By Pam Rawson
Our keynote speaker, Dan Hupp, gave us an update about the Smarter Balance assessments headed our way in a
couple of years. Dan's talk was informative and let us know that the information is in constant motion. We can
stay updated by checking out the Smarter Balance website. ( http://smarterbalance.org)
192 conference attendees participated in 24 sessions and visited with 20 exhibitors
The first ever Swap-it room was a terrific success
Jenny Jorgenson was presented with both the Jackie Mitchell Award and ATOMIM's first GIFT (Grant Incentives
for Teachers).
Our theme, "Math and Technology: Get Connected," was well-represented throughout the day. There were a variety
of approaches to getting connected from ideas for incorporating iPad apps in the classroom to using GeoGebra to
"flipping the classroom." According to our evaluation results, conference attendees thought the program was worthy
of their time. We will continue to look at your feedback as we plan for next year's conference.
Prior to the conference, we sent an electronic "Meet the Candidates" brochure and encouraged those members who
could not attend the conference to email their votes to Secretary, Ellen Greeke. Those who attended the conference
had the opportunity to vote in person. Here are the election results:
President-elect: Pam Rawson
Treasurer: Bil Bowdish
NCTM Rep: Cynthia Hillman-Forbush
District 3 Representative: Nancy Philbrick
District 6 Representatives: Mary Belisle, Nancy Germani, and Louise Moses
Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance Rep (appointed): Amy Yankee
Nominations for next year's elections will open around the middle of October. If you're interested in
running for a seat on the ATOMIM Board, keep your eyes open for the nominations announcements.
Next year's conference will be held on April 5, 2013 at the University of Maine, Augusta. Submit your proposal to
present now. Next year's theme is "Reasoning & Proof: Is it true? Convince me!" We are also looking at adjusting the
session times, as some of you suggested, to allow you some time to visit with exhibitors more throughout the day and
to alleviate some of the lunch difficulties we encountered. If you have any other suggestions or would like to volun-
teer during next year's conference, contact your regional rep.
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Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) Update:
There has been a lot of activity going on from the recruitment and selection of item writers and reviewers to
the development of support resources and training. Some links below of interest for you to find materials to
help keep you up to date with SBAC!
Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium webpage: http://www.smarterbalanced.org/
Frequently asked questions about the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium:
http://www.smarterbalanced.org/resources-events/faqs/#2298
Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium Timeline: http://www.smarterbalanced.org/timeline/
Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium assessment information and sample tasks:
http://www.smarterbalanced.org/smarter-balanced-assessments/
Scroll down to the Item Specifications and look for the subject (Math or ELA) and select the grade span with
the (ZIP) label next to it. You can then download the file and save it on your desktop to access the sample
tasks and the information regarding the Claims that are being addressed.
Maine Department of Education Mathematics update: Michele Mailhot
Welcome back all! I hope you had an enjoyable and restful summer and you are re-energized for the new
school year! I have been busily working away at updating resources on my professional development web-
page: http://maine.gov/education/lres/math/ccss_pd.html
I have also finally completed my newest project! This would be my NoteShare Notebooks for the Common
Core State Standards for Mathematics! These are set up by grade spans (K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and High School). This
is an interactive notebook, which can be run from either a Mac or a PC, with links at your fingertips embed-
ded within the standards document to help deepen your understanding and support your work in building a
curriculum! These will be updated as new materials, information, and resources are identified and/or created.
You can find this resource on my webpage under the Math Standards for Common Core or the Resources
(Learn More box) soon!
I am currently working with MLTI to develop and present full day workshops on integrating technology into
instruction to help deepen student understanding. We are looking at programs on the MLTI image and using
these to help support student learning aligned to the Common Core State Standards. Resources from the SAT,
NECAP, SBAC and Illustrative Mathematics Project will be used during these workshops! Keep an eye out
for the dates and locations!
Secretary, Association of State Supervisors of Mathematics Mathematics Specialist/Penquis Regional Representative Maine Department of Education 23 State House Station Augusta, Maine 04333
[email protected] phone: (207)624-6829 http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/math/index.html Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching
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National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics
The National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics (NCSM) is a mathematics leadership organization
for educational leaders that provides professional learning opportunities necessary to support and sus-
tain improved student achievement.
If you are a mathematics teacher, leader of mathematics teachers, a mathematics coach, a consultant, a
curriculum director or simply someone who is interested in keeping up to date with the latest in mathe-
matics education, please consider joining NCSM.
Here are three great new resources to check out on the NCSM website at:
http://www.mathedleadership.org/
1. Coaching Corner: Resources for Mathematics Coaches and Coaching Leaders
This section includes resources for math coaches, coaching leaders, professional
learning opportunities and links to many other great, vetted resources for math leaders
2. Illustrating the Standards for Mathematical Practice
Currently linked from the home page of the website (and eventually in the CCSS
section). This is a series of professional development modules one can use in work with teach-
ers in unpacking the standards for mathematical practice and seeing how these might appear in
classrooms at the K-12 level. Handouts, video modules, and powerpoints are ready for you to
use!
3. An opportunity to view the keynote address by Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski, III from the
2012 NCSM Convention in Philadelphia this past April. It is about 49 minutes long, but if you
are looking for some inspiration prior to the school year, I invite you to check this out:
http://www.mathedleadership.org/events/conferences/CO/video.html
Why join? For only $85 per year (an investment in your professional learning), much more
exists in the “My NCSM” members’ only section. As an NCSM member, you will have access to:
Full access to the NCSM Journal, NCSM newsletters, NCSM position papers and podcasts.
Marshall Memos, a weekly newsletter published by Kim Marshall who subscribes to 44 care-
fully chosen publications and selects 5-10 articles each week that have the greatest potential to
improve teaching, leadership and learning and summarizes the most current research and best
practices in the field.
Discounts on professional learning opportunities and the PRIME leadership framework.
Access to the NCSM career center where employers post job opportunities and connect with job
seekers.
Shawn Towle, NCSM Web-Editor
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"Using an iPad as Part of the RTI Process to Support Students who Struggle in Math"
by Jenny Jorgensen, Harrison Middle School, Yarmouth, ME
2012 ATOMIM Grant Recipient
It was an exciting day when I read the email stating the I had been awarded the grant that allowed
me to see my goal come to fruition. As the Math Lead Teacher at Harrison Middle School, I am responsible
for providing Tier 2 instruction for students who receive RTI support in mathematics. Last year I began
thinking about increasing how I support these students and considered using iPad math apps as an engaging
strategy. After spending several months learning about the iPad (with RTI students in mind) I completed the
application for the ATOMIM GIFT program. I became a regular visitor to the computer lab, asking for ad-
vice, help, and sharing my excitement about what students were saying about the apps that we were explor-
ing. Throughout the year I researched and applied new learning. There are some great apps for the iPad and
that I wanted my students to have access to them.
Next, I created a blog http:// jennyjorgensen.posterous.com/ where I commented on the apps I’d pur-
chased and tried with students. If you go to the blog, you will find that I am particularly excited about the
free app, Show Me, which I used with students last spring and will continue to do so this year. Fortunately, I
was awarded the ATOMIM grant to purchase the iPad.
As the new school year begins, I am planning how to make the best use of the iPad. I will continue
having students use the Show Me app as a way for them to record their mathematical thinking both verbally
and visually. Students are engaged as they work through a problem, often creating more than one recording
of their thinking. I am able to listen to their recordings and plan future lessons based on their demonstrated
understanding. It’s amazing to listen to a student’s recording and hear their voice depicting either unsureness
or confidence. Students can then share their recording with their mathematics teacher, their parents, as well
as upload it to their account to use as a reference for the future. This app has been particularly beneficial for
the students and for me as a way to gather insight about their mathematical knowledge and disposition.
This fall I’ve learned about another free app, Educreations, which I will explore and add my thoughts to my
blog. I’m grateful to our state’s math association (ATOMIM) and for the grant opportunities available to its
members. I encourage other teachers to apply for the grant as a way to support a vision they have that would
enhance their students’ math experience or increase their teaching practice.
With the maine-math listserv, it’s so easy to find out what’s going on!
Sign on to the MMSA maine-math listserv professional development opportunities
mathematics research
what Maine math teachers are doing in their classrooms
mathematics news updates Go to : www.mmsa.org and click on the “Join the listserv” button on the right. This elec-
tronic forum is a great source of the information you are looking for. If you are not already a
member, join today!
Check us out at: https://sites.google.com/a/falmouthschools.org/
casco-bay-math-teachers-circle/
or
http://bit.ly/grXr7I
Now seeking middle school mathematics teachers...
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Deadline November 30, 2012
The ATOMIM board is seeking nominations for the following board posi-tions due for election on April 5, 2013 at our Annual Conference:
Secretary (2 year term)
ATMNE Representative (3 year term)
District 1 Representative (3 year term) Aroostook and Northern Penob-scot Counties
District 4 Representative (3 year term) Androscoggin and Kennebec
Counties
We welcome nominations of any current ATOMIM member in good standing for these positions. You may self nominate.
Nomination Form
Deadline for Nominations is November 30, 2012.For more information on the positions and their responsibilities please refer to our ATOMIM Consti-tution and Bylaws.
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District I: Aroostook, Northern Penobscot; District II: Hancock, Southern Penobscot,
Piscataquis, Washington; District III: Franklin, Oxford, Somerset; District IV: An-
droscoggin, Kennebec; District V: Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc, Waldo; District VI:
Cumberland, York
Shawn Towle, President
Ellen Greeke
Secretary & Newsletter Editor
David Sturm
Treasurer
Pam Rawson
Membership Chair/President Elect
Robert McCully
ATMNE Representative
Cynthia Hillman-Forbush
NCTM Representative
Luke Shorty
District I Representative
Darlene Ulrickson
District II Representative
Nancy Philbrick
District III Representative
Carolyn Arline
District IV Representative
Donna Hardt
District V Representative
Mary Belisle
District VI Representative
Nancy Germani
District VI Representative [email protected]
Louise Moses
District VI Representative
Jacqueline Mitchell, Historian
Norma Bisulca
Higher Ed Representative
Amy Yankee
MMSA Rep
Michele Mailhot
Math Specialist - DOE
Contact Information for ATOMIM Board Members
ATOMIM is the state affiliate of NCTM, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. ATOMIM mem-
bers are eligible for the ATOMIM Grant Program, receive the ATOMIM Newsletter and other mailings. AT-
OMIM members are automatically members of ATMNE (the Association of Teachers of Mathematics in New
England) and receive the ATMNE journal and newsletter. Every fall, a different ATMNE affiliate hosts the
regional conference. As a member, you are also supporting the work of ATOMIM: holding the annual con-
ference, the Standards dissemination team, serving as a voice to NCTM and governmental bodies and other
activities supporting math education in Maine.