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Visit Henri Picciotto's Math Education Page. Send me e-mail .

Summer Workshops
for Math Teachers

with Henri Picciotto

I direct the Center for Innovative Teaching (CIT) at the Urban School of San Francisco. In the summer of 2008, we offered seven workshops for teachers, in five disciplines, and a symposium for school leaders, on integrating technology and education.

I led two workshops, outlined below, and participated in the symposium. Handouts and SmartBoards from the workshops, discounts on some Key Curriculum materials, and a video of my presentation to the symposium are available to the participants on the (private) CIT wiki.


Visual Algebra

August 4-6, 2008

sqrt 20

In this three-day workshop for middle and high school teachers, I will present a wealth of visual approaches to the teaching of algebra, including:

  • Lab Gear manipulatives for basic symbol manipulation
  • geoboard lattices for slope and radicals
  • a powerful parallel axes representation for functions
  • intelligent use of technology
  • three distinct visual paths to the quadratic formula

(This is the same course I taught in 2007 as "The Geometry of Algebra", renamed to avoid confusion with the one below.)

Links


Hands-On Geometry

August 7-8, 2008

flagpole

In this two-day workshop for middle and high school teachers, I will present hands-on tools and activities to preview, review or extend key concepts in geometry, as well as some enrichment lessons. This work is intended to complement, not replace, related work in paper-pencil and electronic environments.

  • The tools include manipulatives (such as pattern blocks and geoboards) and puzzles (such as tangrams, pentominoes, and supertangrams)
  • The activities include "walking geometry," "soccer angles," "tile design," and "slicing a cube"

I will also present an authentic approach to proof, which tries to navigate a middle course between the too-abstract traditional curriculum and the insufficiently rigorous nature of some reform programs.

Links


Philosophy

In both courses, participants will learn techniques that will allow them to serve the whole range of students better by offering:

  • greater access, because of addressing multiple intelligences
  • greater challenge, because of expecting multi-dimensional understanding
  • greater variety, because of using manipulative and electronic tools

In addition, participants will work on teacher-level problems rooted in high school subject matter, and strengthen their understanding of the underlying mathematics.


More details:

Presenter: more info about me

Registration, time, place, logistics:
Urban School Center for Innovative Teaching

Past Workshops: 2007

Questions? Send me e-mail

Visit Henri Picciotto's Math Education Page. Send me e-mail .