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Math Teachers Go Back to School at UA Fort Smith
(Posted: June 11, 2004) (Printable Version)
It’s back-to-school time for a group of area fifth and sixth grade math teachers who are “in class” at the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith as part of an effort to increase their students’ mathematics knowledge.
Dr. Tim Martin, assistant professor and director of secondary education at the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith, is project director for the university’s Math and Science Education Partnership, under which the math classes for teachers are being held.
“We have 80 teachers who are working with our faculty to upgrade their own math skills.” Dr. Martin said. “These teachers will return to their classrooms with additional knowledge and new methods. The ultimate goal of these activities is to improve student achievement in mathematics.”
Dr. Martin said the focus of the $100,000 grant UA Fort Smith received from the Arkansas Department of Education is three-fold — to create a nurturing learning environment for teachers through these summer workshops, to create a mentoring structure and to provide follow-up training. The grant is under the umbrella of the Center for Math and Science Education at the UA Fort Smith campus.
“The summer workshops have been designed around the concept that teachers will gain a deeper understanding of mathematics and algebraic reasoning themselves in order to expect a greater mathematics understanding from their students,” Dr. Martin said.
Martin said the notice about the grant came out and had a short turn-around time. Since several school districts already have representatives working with UA Fort Smith on its Teacher Education Council and in other capacities, Dr. Martin said it was easy to include those in this particular project.
Dr. Martin said both UA Fort Smith and the school districts looked at test scores and collectively decided agreed on a common issue needing improvement — proportional reasoning, which is the foundation for algebraic reasoning.
“We wrote a grant which has the main thrust of using various strategies and content to increase students’ proportional reasoning abilities,” Dr. Martin said. “In the future, we will continue to build on these concepts and offer more related activities with these at the center.”
Heading up instruction for the math teachers is Dr. Bruce Caselman, who has 17 years of public school experience and 10 years of mathematics education at UA Fort Smith. Working with Caselman are Carol Warner, who has taught math for 12 years at the university level; Dr. Jean Krows, who has 29 years of public school experience in mathematics; and Dr. Mike Reynolds, assistant professor of engineering at UA Fort Smith, who will provide hands-on learning activities during the sessions.
Teachers involved in the workshops are from school districts in Fort Smith, Alma, Van Buren, Greenwood, Greenland and Mansfield. Forty teachers came for the first week’s workshop, with another 40 scheduled to be on campus later in June, with a follow-up session in July.
Participants and their school districts include:
Alma Intermediate: Josephine McClain, Nita Pierson and Staci Whitley.
Alma Middle School: Carolyn Godwin, Tammy Hargis, Melissa Phillips and Paul Wahman.
Fort Smith - Albert Pike: Ruth Skelton and Pamela Watlington.
Fort Smith - Ballman: Audrey Lowrey and Rebecca Shipman.
Fort Smith - Beard: Laura Boone, Linda Davis, Jan Honeycutt and Kathryn Orler.
Fort Smith - Bonneville: Valerie Hill, Cherie Stevenson and Nan Thompson.
Fort Smith - Carnall: Jeanene Godwin and Patricia Taylor.
Fort Smith: Cavanaugh: Sandra Rogers.
Fort Smith - Cook: Crystal Evans.
Fort Smith - Euper Lane: Shannon Carter, Paula Combs and Kathryn Duncan.
Fort Smith - Fairview: Kim Goode.
Fort Smith - Howard: Lyle Lorenson and Ruby Palmer.
Fort Smith - Orr: Gloria Dye and Susan Etzkorn.
Fort Smith - Spradling: Carolyn Johnson.
Fort Smith: Sunnymede: Carolyn Douglas, Britt Humphries and Amanda Ming.
Fort Smith: Sutton: Ruth Collyar and Janet Fretheim.
Fort Smith: Tilles: Rebecca Macy and Dora Solomon.
Fort Smith: Trusty: Sandra McKeown and Laura Whitson.
Fort Smith: Woods: Deborah Thomas.
Greenland: Alan Barton.
Greenwood - North Main: Sherry Andrews, Pam Bailey, Fran Cecil, Jimmy Cook, Deana Hefflin, Mary Alice Jones, Camille Monchamp, Trisha Moore and Joe Svetlecic.
Mansfield Middle School: Terry Godwin, Faith Short and Elizabeth Weed.
Van Buren - Central Middle School: Doris Actkinson, Cindi Carter, Erika Crabtree, Georgia Faldon, Laura Gladden, Susan Holt, Lisa Mayfield, Sherrie Mooney, Tammy Sangster, Melissa Smith and Cathy Winn.
Van Buren - Northridge Middle School: Brad Ball, Sheryl Boen, Sarah Buckalew, Terry Freeman, Martha Hurst, Teresa Maxey, Amy Wesson and Mary Wilmot.
| Article by: Sondra LaMar, Director of Public Relations | |
| Photo(s) by: Sondra LaMar |
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