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February 2010
President’s MessageAs you receive this newsletter, the Olympics
will be upon us. In our last newsletter, I highlighted the
Northwest Mathematics Conference in Whistler, which as you may know
had an Olympic theme. If you were there, I think you will agree it
was as excit-ing and inspiring as we hoped it would be. I will
leave it to Marc Garneau, conference chair, to report on the
suc-cessful event later in the newsletter. I would just like to
take this opportu-nity to thank Marc specifically for his
leadership, and to thank his awesome committee as well – kudos to
all. One of my privileges at the conference in Whistler was handing
out two BCAMT Teacher of the Year awards. I would like to briefly
men-tion them here, for those who were not at the conference. Also,
a write-up on each winner will appear in the next issue of Vector.
The BCAMT New Teacher of the Year is Danny Young, from Moscrop
Secondary School in Burnaby. He is noted for his engaging classroom
environment and innova-tive use of technology. Despite being a new
teacher, Danny conducts work-shops and mentors others in his school
and around the province. The other award, BCAMT Secondary Teacher
of the Year, went to Trisha Wong, who is just returning from
maternity leave
to her job at Riverside Secondary School in Port Coquitlam.
Trisha, also a leader in the area of teaching with technology, is
known for her support-ive classroom environment that allows for the
success of diverse learners. I again wish to congratulate both of
these deserving colleagues. With the Northwest Confer-ence now
over, the new year brings a number of other exciting professional
growth opportunities. Inside you will find information on our
upcoming conferences (Interior and New Teach-ers). Also, there are
details reported inside on our Regional Meetings. We have increased
our number of regional meetings, including one in the Fraser Valley
as well as in Metro Vancouver. The Interior Conference will
repre-sent a new endeavour too, as it will be webcast from Kelowna
to multiple other sites in the Interior. I hope you will be able to
take advantage of one or more of these BCAMT events this season.
Another new initiative I mentioned last issue was our focus on
supporting teachers in implement-ing better assessment practices. A
BCAMT subcommittee has formed a plan to generate, collect, and
share success stories on assessment themes. Stay tuned for further
updates on this
initiative later this year. One of the motivations behind our
investigation of changing as-sessment practices is the demands of
implementing new curriculum. In an effort to further facilitate the
10 to 12 implementation, we are offer-ing, in conjunction with the
Ministry of Education, a series of Elluminate sessions to inform
members and other stakeholders about the new curricu-lum. The
schedule is reported later in the newsletter. Finally, I would like
to ac-knowledge the support and hard work of my fellow table
officers. Inside I have included some bios for each of us to help
you, our members, know us a little better. I wish you all the best
for this new year.
What’s Inside...
Northwest Conference Report . . 2Ministry News . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 3Elluminate Sessions . . . . . . . . . 3Get to Know Table
Officers . 4-5NCTM Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Post-secondary
News . . . . . . . . 5New Teachers Conference . . . . 6Regional
Meetings . . . . . . . . . . 7Interior Conference Poster . . . .
8
Speaking of Awards...Don’t forget to nominate a deserving
colleague for one of this year’s BCAMT Excellence in Teaching
Awards!There are awards for New Teacher of the Year, Secondary
Teacher of the Year, Elementary Teacher of the Year, as well as
Lifetime Member and Service awards. Details on criteria and a
nomination form are available on our website.
bcamt newsletter
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February 2010 BC Association of Mathematics Teachers
2 BCAMT on the web: bcamt.ca
One can do anything in Whistler and find it a rewarding
experience, but for over 1200 mathematics educators the rewards
were more than breathtaking scenery and outstand-ing facilities.
From October 22-24, 2009, the Northwest Mathematics Conference
provided teachers with a full program of professional development,
coupled with mean-ingful networking time with colleagues and new
‘math’ friends!
The theme of the conference was “Going for Gold: Let the
Mathematics Begin”, a theme inspired by Trevor Calkins’ closing
keynote at the 2003 Whistler conference. It was great to have
Trevor back, this time doing the Thursday opening keynote –
Trevor’s inspiration got the confer-ence off to a great start. No
doubt our students will ben-efit by us all going for gold in our
classrooms!
Speaking of inspiration, Carole Saundry-Fullerton wowed us with
her Saturday morning keynote, not only giving us tools to inspire
mathematical minds in our classrooms, but also helping us to
believe they really can do it! Peter Liljedahl closed the
conference with a thought-provoking and moving keynote on how our
students’ behaviours can inform our teaching.
Beyond keynotes, attendees enjoyed a vast array of work-shops
and sessions, ranging from practical tips to instruc-tional big
ideas. There were also some highlighted firsts for the Whistler
conference:• T3 Regional Conference (Teachers Teaching with
Technology)• NCTM Learnßà Reflect strand (only conference in
North America to be chosen this year!)• Mathematics &
Culture session at the Squamish
Lil’wat Cultural Centre• Mathematics & Sports session at the
Olympic Sliding
Centre • More than half the participants were Grade K-7
teach-
ers!!!
Problems? We had a few, as is to be expected, but the en-ergy
and spirit of such dedicated teachers more than made up for it!
A great deal of thanks is owed to our sponsors, the exhibi-tors,
the speakers (who came from across North America), the host hotels,
the teacher volunteers, the student volun-teers, and of course, the
registrants! A special thanks as well to the BCAMT, under the
leadership of Dave Van Bergeyk, for their ongoing support and
massive amount of help.
My biggest thanks goes to the conference committee, without whom
none of this would have been possible. This was a truly dedicated,
passionate, and expert group, and it was a great pleasure to work
with all of them. Specifically, I’d like to express my appreciation
to Tom O’Shea, Sandra Ball, and Ron Coleborn for putting together
such an out-standing program for all grade levels and interests, to
Dawn Driver for tackling with mastery the challenging task of
registration, to Selina Millar for managing and assembling a very
full room of exhibitors, to Andrew Wong for putting together
(planning, buying, AND STUFFING) the valuable and memorable
registration package, to Sam Muraca for
professionally managing a myriad of tasks (website, A/V, …), to
John Pusic and Kanwal Neel for enhancing the conference by
coordi-nating the special Whistler events linked to math, and
finally to Denise Davis –
the Queen of conference committees – who, in addition to being
the Treasurer and coordinating the facilities, did so much towards
helping us develop a vision for the confer-ence, and endlessly
guided us in her wisdom.
Marc GarneauChair, 2009 Northwest Mathematics Conference
Some of the amazing committee members.
I enjoyed being submersed in a Math environment, where I met
people passionate about teaching Math.
The best conference I have attended! A great diversity of
presenters and materials.
Northwest Conference 2009 Report
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BC Association of Mathematics Teachers February 2010
3
Education Standards Mathematics K-12 Update
Implementation of Western and Northern Canadian Protocol
(WNCP):The implementation of the Mathematics K-12 based on the WNCP
Common Curriculum Framework (CCF) for K-9 and 10-12 within BC is
proceeding with many districts completing implementation of K to 9.
The full implementa-tion schedule is as follows:
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012Optional 2, 3, 5,
6, 83, 6, 9
Full K, 1, 4, 7
2, 5, 8 3, 6, 9, 10
11 12
British Columbia Mathematics K -7 Curriculum:The Mathematics K-7
(2007) IRP, based on the WNCP CCF for K-9 Mathematics, has been
posted on the ministry web site and can be accessed at:
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/irp_math.htm The 1995 IRP will be
available on-line as well until June 2010 for those teachers who
choose to not follow the optional implementation schedule.
Translation of the French version of this IRP is currently in
progress and will be posted as soon as it is available.
British Columbia Mathematics 8-9 Classroom Assess-ment Model:The
Mathematics 8 and 9 (2008) IRP, based on the WNCP
CCF for K-9 Mathematics, has been posted on the ministry web
site at: http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/irp_math.htm The 2001 IRP
will be available on-line until June 2010 for those teachers who
choose to not follow the optional imple-mentation schedule.
Translation of the French version of this IRP has been completed
and is posted on-line as well.
British Columbia Mathematics 10 to 12:The Ministry has posted
the WNCP CCF for 10 to 12 on the ministry web site at:
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/irp_math.htm The French version of
the CCF will be posted at
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/firp_math.htm Both of these documents
are also available on the WNCP web site at www.wncp.ca and follow
the links.
Additional Information for British Columbia Math-ematics 10 to
12 ImplementationThe Ministry has developed a list of Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQs) to support the implementation of
Math-ematics 10 to12. In addition that ministry is co-sponsoring a
series of Elluiminate sessions which will be archived on the
ministry web site. These items will be posted at:
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/program_delivery/math1012.htm
Ministry Discussion ForumThe Ministry has created an open
Discussion Forum for this purpose which will provide opportunities
for sharing and discussion for each subject area within the BC
provin-cial curriculum. Educators can access the forum at:
http://tinyurl.com/educationcurriculumforum
Elluminate Sessions - Mathematics 10 to 12 PathwaysTo assist
with implementation (starting in September 2010) of the Mathematics
10 to 12 curriculum, the BCAMT, in conjunction with the Ministry of
Education has scheduled a series of Elluminate sessions .
Each of the sessions starts with a presentation, followed by a
question period . While some of these sessions have already
happened, the presentation portion of each will be recorded and
archived on the Ministry website .
Five (5) sessions have been scheduled so far (all times are
Pacific Standard):
Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 3:30 pm - 4:30 pmTopic:
Introduction to Mathematics 10-12 Pathways
Date: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm Topic:
Choosing a Mathematics Pathway
Date: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 2:30 pm -3:30 pmTopic:
Combined Session 1 and 2
Date: Tuesday, February 9, 2010 3:30 pm -4:30 pmTopic: Grade 10
Provincial Mathematics Exams
Date: Tuesday. February 23, 2010 3:30 pm -4:30 pmTopic:
Mathematical Processes in the Curriculum
Additional sessions may be scheduled as needed . See our website
for information on how to connect .
Ministry News
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February 2010 BC Association of Mathematics Teachers
4 BCAMT on the web: bcamt.ca
Get to Know Your Table OfficersDave Van Bergeyk – President:
Dave grew up in Salmon Arm and graduated from the school in which
he now teaches. After his undergraduate degree program at UBC
Vancouver, Dave completed the SFU Professional Development Program
up north in Terrace. The major geographic shift was due to his
wife’s new job as a physiotherapist. After two great years on the
northwest coast, Dave and his wife, Lizzy, had their first child,
which prompted a desire to move closer to extended family. They did
not necessarily think that meant moving back into the same town
where both of them grew up, but that is where circumstances led
them. Now Dave teaches senior math part time at Salmon Arm
Secondary and is also a part time numeracy helping teacher in the
district. Dave’s involvement in the BCAMT began quite some time
ago, albeit vicariously, as he watched his brother, Chris,
admirably handle the demands of the BCAMT presidency at the turn of
the century. Officially, however, Dave joined the executive in the
Spring of 2007, and became Vice President that same year. Dave is
excited about serving the BCAMT as President this year and next. In
addition to his school, district, and BCAMT roles, Dave has also
taken on a Masters program in Mathematics Education at SFU this
year. When Dave is not wearing one of his math hats, he is likely
to be wearing a bike helmet, running hat, or ski toque, enjoying
the outdoors. Or else he can be found at home with his wife and
three kids, trying to enjoy as much quality time as he can before
he heads out on another math-related trip.
Michèle Roblin – Past President: Originally from Ottawa, Michèle
found her passion for teaching shortly after complet-ing a degree
in Applied Science (Queen’s University, 1990) and while she was
enrolled in a Master’s program in Materials
Engineering at McMaster University. The recipient of a Teaching
Assistant Excellence Award at McMaster, Michèle went on to study at
FEUT (Faculty of Education, University of Toronto). Mi-chèle taught
Math, Physics and Chemistry for two years in York Region (Ontario)
before moving to B.C. Michèle has been living and teaching in
Squamish since 1994. From 1994-2000, in ad-dition to teaching
mathematics, she established and facilitated the Student Leadership
program at Howe Sound Secondary. In the year 2000, Michèle had a
son and named him Mark, not realizing until after her maternity
leave that “I have to go home to MARK” had two very different
meanings in her life as a parent and a teacher! For the last ten
years, Michèle has taken on various leadership roles in mathematics
edu-cation at the school, district, and provincial levels. She
completed a Masters degree in Secondary Mathematics Education
(Simon Fraser University, 2004) and has served on the executive of
the
BCAMT since 2006. Chris Becker– Vice President: Chris currently
teaches at Princess Margaret Secondary in Penticton. He is a
dedicated teacher, husband, and father of two boys, aged 5 and 3.
Chris started teaching 12 years ago after receiving his BSc and BEd
in Mathematics, both from UBC. He has since earned an MA from San
Diego State University. These details were provided by Chris in
point form, so the editor has had to add further facts about
Chris’s life, to the best of his knowledge. Chris’s first career
cannot be disclosed at this time, as it involved matters of
national security. All that we can say for sure is that he is the
type of guy you want with you if you ever find yourself wearing
night vision goggles clinging to the side of a building at
midnight, and you are unsure how to traverse the fifty foot gap to
the next building without falling 12 stories to your death in the
street below. Upon receiving his new identity, Chris spent seven
years as a shepherd on a small mediterranean island. All of these
experiences prepared him perfectly for the transition to high
school mathematics teaching. Chris joined the BCAMT executive in
2004 after he solved the Y2K problem, and has been involved with
the Interior Mathematics Conference, the grants committee, and
regional meetings, among other things. He is quite secretive about
it, but we believe he invented a new number last year. (Editor’s
note: The image at right is an example of one of Chris’s many
masterful disguises. He may appear somewhat different when seen in
person.)
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BC Association of Mathematics Teachers February 2010
5
Brad Epp - Secretary: Brad graduated from the University College
of the Cariboo (now TRU) with a B.Sc. in mathe-matics and a M.A. in
Mathematics Education from UVic. He will be working towards his
PhD. in Mathematics Education (at UVic). Brad has taught his entire
career in the Kamloops/Thompson school district. Over the past 15
years he has taught mathematics to students from grade 7 to 12 in 4
different schools. He is currently the mathematics department head
at South Kamloops Secondary. In his few spare moments, Brad likes
to curl, golf and play ball. He has been coaching curling for the
past 10 years and this was the first year one of his teams has
qualified for the High School Provincial Bonspiel. He is as excited
as his kids. Brad has been involved with the BCAMT for at least 8
years (if he can remember that far back). He has been the listserv
moderator and the secretary. He has been involved in a variety of
initiatives, including the website re-design (2004), Alternate
Assessments to Amaze (2008) (with Katie Hay), co-chair of the
Interior Mathematics Conference (2008) (with Mark McVittie), and
many presentations at the Fall & Northwest Conferences. Brad
looks forward to continued energizing work through the BCAMT in the
years to come.
Get to Know Your Table Officers (Cont’d)
Katie Wagner – Treasurer: Katie is a high school math teacher in
Richmond, BC. She has been with the BCAMT Execu-tive since 2006,
and has served as Treasurer for 3 years. She has also enjoyed
promoting math-ematics professional development by serving on
multiple conference committees. She is currently interested in
supporting the new curriculum implementation, as well as exploring
best practice in assessment for high school math classrooms.
Katie’s teaching career has been strongly influenced by her
experience teaching math to smaller groups of diverse students.
After ten years of teaching math on a small scale, she decided to
scale up to a high school classroom. She completed her B.Sc. at UBC
with a major in Math and a minor in Commerce and a B.Ed. in
Secondary Education at UBC. Katie is currently completing her M.Ed.
in Educational Leadership at UBC. When she’s not working, taking
courses, or talking about math, she enjoys swimming and trying to
find her next sunny travel destination.
NCTM Update Post-secondary NewsNCTM 2010 Annual Meeting &
Exposition, April 21-24 in San Diego!Visit www.nctm.org/sandiego
for more details.
Focus in High School MathematicsIn October NCTM published Focus
in High School Math-ematics: Reasoning and Sense Making, which
suggests practical changes to the high school mathematics
cur-riculum to refocus learning based on reasoning and sense
making. This landmark publication represents a substan-tial
rethinking of the high school math curriculum and is intended to
drive significant reform in the future. Visit
www.nctm.org/news/content.aspx?id=24128 for more details.
While it would be great to be able to report all the deci-sions
post-secondary institutions have made with respect to admissions
criteria and the new curriculum, it is impos-sible because most
institutions have not yet finalized their requirements . UBC is the
only institution to announce a formal decision, though some of
UVIC’s requirements as listed on their website refer to the new
course names . UBC’s decision is to require Pre-calculus 11 for
general admission with Foundations 12 standing as an alternate
.
Preliminary news from some other institutions indicates they may
accept Foundations 11 and the Apprenticeship and Workplace pathway
for some programs . Decisions should be made relatively soon .
Updated information should appear oneducationplanner .ca as it
becomes available .
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February 2010 BC Association of Mathematics Teachers
6 BCAMT on the web: bcamt.ca
Check out our featured BCAMT sessions at this eventSession
topics include:- Assessment- New curriculum- Teaching strategies-
and more!
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BC Association of Mathematics Teachers February 2010
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BCAMT
The BCAMT Executive is pleased
to offer
a series of regional meetings
again this year. This
initiative is designed to keep
teachers around the province in
touch with the BCAMT and
up-‐to-‐date with their plans and
goals for the current year. We
invite math coordinators, classroom
teachers, and administrators from all
regions of the province to
attend one of these meetings
for a discussion of key issues
and a professional workshop. An
update on Ministry information will
also be provided. The BCAMT is
providing a free lunch for all
participants, but each participant
must arrange for TOC coverage
for the day. The meeting will
go from 9 am to 3 pm.
Plan to attend one of the following meetings. E-mail the contact
listed to register. February 12: Island (Nanaimo)
Contact: Kerry McBride ([email protected])
Date TBA: North (Prince George)
Contact: Wendy Mundie ([email protected])
April 23: Metro Vancouver (Vancouver)
Contact: Chris Stroudl ([email protected])
April 30: Fraser Valley (Chilliwack)
Contact: Dawn Driver ([email protected])
May 10: Interior (Kamloops)
Contact: Brad Epp ([email protected])
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BCAMT Interior Math Conference presents A Multi-site K-12
Professional Workshop
Take AIM (Assessment In Mathematics):Targeting Improved Student
Learning
Featuring:Ray Appel: Ray has taught grades 2-7, been a Faculty
Associate at Simon Fraser
University, and has recently been a District Math/Science
Coordinator (K-12). Ray previously worked as a graphic artist for
about five years, before he ventured into the wonder-ful field of
education. He has recently completed a Masters in Education, with a
focus on Curriculum from Simon Fraser University. Ray works hard to
get into classrooms to work with students, as well as work with
teachers, administrators and district personnel. While facilitating
workshops, Ray loves the rich dialogue and conversation that can
push us all. Find out more… (much more!) on Ray’s website:
www.zapple.ca
Peter Liljedahl: Peter is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Education in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University.
His research interests are focused on the professional growth of
mathematics teachers in general, and the role that beliefs play in
this growth in particular. In this regard he focuses much of his
work on helping teachers to negotiate the challenges they face when
making changes in their practice. He is also interested in
creativity, insight, and discovery in mathematics teaching and
learning; mathematical problem solving; and numeracy.
David Van Bergeyk: Dave teaches at Salmon Arm Secondary and also
works part time as a Math Helping Teacher in School District 83. He
is the President of the BC Association of Mathematics Teachers.
Dave has taught in School District 83 for almost nine years,
teaching everything from Math 9 to Calculus 12, in a few different
schools. He is currently paying a lot of attention, with colleagues
around the District and in his own classroom, to improving
assessment practices, trying to measure concep-tual learning better
and trying to empower students to own their learning.
Locations:Central Site:Hollywood Road Education Centre,
Kelowna
Satellite Sites:Kamloops and Kootenay-Columbia School
Districts
Presentations to the audience in Kelowna will be webcast live to
audiences in the satellite sites. The program includes time for
audience discussion and a panel session at the end.
February 19, 2010
Multiple Sites 3 Speakers 1 Theme1 Great Day of Professional
Learning for Teachers at All Grade Levels
Registration: www.bcamt.ca/imc2010Cost: $60
