Students from Katie Baker's Math 2080 and Erin Hone’s EDU 4200 courses showcased their passion for mathematics education at the North Carolina Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCCTM) annual conference in November.
Teacher candidates in Math 2080 Number & Algebra for K-8 Teachers, taught by Katie Baker, associate professor of education and associate chair of the department of education and wellness, along with teacher candidates in EDU 4200 Mathematics Methods, taught by Erin Hone, senior lecturer in education, attended the North Carolina Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCCTM) annual conference in November.
Teacher candidates in Math 2080 presented at the conference and their conference experience was supported by the Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education Dean’s fund. Similarly, teacher candidates in EDU 4200 were supported through funding from CATL.
While at the conference, teacher candidates attended sessions like Dr. Deborah Ball’s keynote on “Making Mathematics Teaching Work: Raising the Power of Discretionary Spaces to Disrupt Injustice” and topics like using meaningful fractions and decimals models in Grades 3-5.
Another topic of interest included facilitating discussion in mathematics through rich problem choices, as presented by Baker. The presentation titled, “Engaging in K-12 Discussions with Open Middle Problems” was co-presented by Lauren Huntley, instructor from the North Carolina School of Science and Math. Participants explored strategic talk moves to facilitate discussion between students and highlight student brilliance in open-ended problems with multiple strategies.
Additionally, teacher candidates in Math 2080 presented their mathematics tasks in the session “Preservice Teacher Power Hour: Fresh Lesson Ideas”. Prospective math teachers from across the state presented fresh ideas for high quality math tasks (elementary, middle, and high school) that focus on developing students’ conceptual math understanding.
Baker organized and facilitated the session through her role as President of the North Carolina affiliate of the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators. The session was poster-style, and many conference attendees stopped in to support the future teachers, offered feedback, and left with a fresh lesson idea.