Abstract
In this chapter, we describe our experience running the Northern Colorado Math Teachers’ Circle (NoCOMTC), founded in 2011. The goal of the NoCOMTC is to improve middle school mathematics teachers’ mathematical and pedagogical content knowledge through interactive mathematical problem-solving professional development sessions. Our leadership team is an effective collaboration between university mathematics and mathematics education professors and middle and high school mathematics teachers. In this chapter, we describe our leadership team’s journey from founding the NoCOMTC through four academic years of monthly evening mathematics teachers’ circle sessions and three residential summer immersion workshops. We also discuss our recently initiated student circle program. We focus on aspects that were essential to forming and sustaining our program. In addition, we highlight lessons we have learned while planning and facilitating both mathematical problem-solving sessions and activities designed to help teachers’ implementation of problem solving.
MSC Codes
97B50
97D50
97A99
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Carlson, M. P., & Bloom, I. (2005). The cyclic nature of problem solving: An emergent multidimensional problem-solving framework. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 58(1), 45–75.
Driscoll, M. (1999). Fostering algebraic thinking: A guide for teachers grades 6–10. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Krause, E. F. (1987). Taxicab geometry: An adventure in non-Euclidean geometry. New York: Dover Publications.
Liljedahl, P., Chernoff, E., & Zazkis, R. (2007). Interweaving mathematics and pedagogy in task design: A tale of one task. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 10(4-6), 239–249.
Math Teachers’ Circles. (n.d.). Math Teachers’ Circle Network. Retrieved Mar 1, 2016, from http://www.mathteacherscircle.org/about.
National Governors Association. (2010). Common core state standards for mathematics. Retrieved Jun 26, 2016, from http://www.corestandards.org/wp-content/uploads/Math_Standards1.pdf.
NCTM. (2014). Principles to actions: Ensuring mathematical success for all. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Posamentier, A. P., & Schulz, W. (Eds.). (1996). The art of problem solving: A resource for the mathematics teacher (pp. 188–189). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Smith, M. S., & Stein, M. K. (1998). Selecting and creating mathematical tasks: From research to practice. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, 3(5), 344–350.
Stein, M. K., Engle, R. A., Smith, M. S., & Hughes, E. K. (2008). Orchestrating productive mathematical discussions: Five practices for helping teachers move beyond show and tell. Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 10(4), 313–340.
Tanton, J. (n.d.). Curriculum inspirations. Retrieved March 1, 2016, from http://www.maa.org/node/129058/.
Zeitz, P. (1999). The art and craft of problem solving. New York: John Wiley.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Appendix
Appendix
The following table gives examples of problems used in the MTC sessions falling into three different categories, namely those focused on content , advanced content and problem-solving strategies .
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Karakok, G., Morrison, K., Craviotto, C. (2016). Lessons Learned from a Math Teachers’ Circle. In: Dewar, J., Hsu, Ps., Pollatsek, H. (eds) Mathematics Education. Association for Women in Mathematics Series, vol 7. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44950-0_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44950-0_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-44949-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-44950-0
eBook Packages: Mathematics and StatisticsMathematics and Statistics (R0)