Joseph T. Zilliox
University of Hawai‘i
Neil A. Pateman
University of Hawai‘i
pateman@Hawaii.edu
The state of Hawaii has expressed a clear commitment
to changing the content of mathematics to be taught, but also has voiced the
desire to influence teachers in their choices of methodology for teaching
mathematics. Department of Education
mathematics personnel joined with University of Hawaii mathematics and
mathematics education faculty in an Eisenhower grant to develop and trial a
professional development model to prepare teachers to deal with both the
mathematics and the methodology changes written into the new standards document
for mathematics.
Teachers were to learn (1) to judge the quality of
their own children’s work, (2) to write tasks for their own students, and (3)
to engage in some of the mathematics content now introduced in the new
standards but perhaps unfamiliar to teachers.
The project consisted of six full-day workshops for 177 participants
from seven schools. The State
Department of Education paid for substitute teachers. Data were collected from four distinct sources: (1) focus groups,
(2) portfolios from each teacher, (3) surveys completed during the final day,
and (4) observations and anecdotes collected and made by the university and
Department of Education facilitators during workshop sessions.
Preliminary analysis indicates that teachers underwent a highly
positive experience and feel better equipped to deal with implementing
standards in their classrooms. Some
samples of student work and teacher commentary on that student work will be
made available for discussion during the session.