Department+Chair+September+2010

= ** Department Chair Feedback ** =

Feedback session: Teacher feedback was solicited on Mathematics Course Blueprint documents that are being developed for community awareness and will be available to the public on the parent portal. Also, feedback and suggestions for improvement were solicited on current documents produced by the Secondary Mathematics department.

= ** Leadership Connections ** =

The Leadership Connection segment focused on differentiated instruction. We began with a video that displayed a child calling 911 to ask for help with his math. The video lead to a discussion about teachers answering our student’s distress calls. One way we provide help for our distressed students is by providing differentiated instruction within the classroom. The participants read an article on what the research says about differentiated instruction highlighted the critical points in the article. We modeled how to differentiate activities for a selected TEKS objective in the HAPG documents for the ELL, GT, Grade level and Special education students. Participants were then placed in cooperative groups to select a TEKS and illustrate how they would differentiate for the different types of learners by reporting out and using a gallery walk.

Participants were informed of upcoming professional development within the curriculum department, PDS, Region IV, and UTMB math & science trainings. The links were provided for participants to search for trainings that will suffice the need for themselves or teachers on their campus.

Professional development survey was conducted using [|www.polleverywhere.com]

The link to the 911 video is **// [|Jay Leno: Curiosity in Math, 911] //**

= ** Description Math Science Connections Balancing Chemical Equations ** =

= // Session consists of balancing chemical equations using three strategies: Guess and Check (Chemistry Method), Systems of Equations (Algebra I/Algebra II), and Matrices (Algebra II). Teachers were exposed and shared experiences in the three methods. Guess and Check method also involved visual multiple representations of unbalanced and balanced chemical equations. Technology use through graphing calculators, mathematical vocabulary, and problem solving strategies, connections through vertical courses, and the need to address chemistry and applications in mathematics. // =