HS+Math

Minutes of meeting Sept 14, 2009 Jen showed a novel way of gathering student responses (informal assessment) using text messaging. Jen sited a website that shows a graph of the responses and had the math teachers respond to a practice question. Nice job, Jen. Thanks for your help and time! Unless pre-empted and if the Technology gods are smiling on us, Mike Greco will be our next "Teacher Feature" and show us his use of his special overhead and smartboard. We will also share our "favorite apple computer tricks" with each other (email to follow).
 * Teacher Spotlight**

Norms from the common planning exercise last spring makes sense for our meetings: Email to inform the purpose of meeting, meeting and ending on time, keep conversation "on task"and minimize "venting". As a personal favor to me, I ask that all cellphone calls and laptop/ grading activities be taken care of prior to our meeting so that you can fully contribute to our meeting. Teachers have noted that they prefer to have dept. meetings be dedicated to pedagogy and minimize time spent on paperwork and surveys (which means people have to READ and perhaps RESPOND to my "task" emails in a timely manner!).
 * Norms and Objectives**

Teachers seemed to agree that technology (especially on-going Apple training) would be welcomed and having conversations about common teaching "language" regarding skills that carry over from year to year.

Teachers were given course partner sheets. In the interest of time, pairs were selected, they were: Tim and Dave, Mike and Carla, Jen and Kathy, Jaime and Anita, Sue and Anthony. Chris doesn't have common planning time for Geometry available this semester. Sheets are due to your CTL on Sept. 25th.
 * Common planning:**

Offering students a choice of maybe three suggested reading would be nice. Titles offered were: Fermat's Last Theorem, Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous idea, Flatland and How to Lie with Statistics. If multiple readings are offered, new assessments would need to be created and teachers of seniors would have to read all three books in order to assess the students. No decisions were made on this issue.
 * Summer Reading**