Attendance and Participation--10%

In a four-week summer course, a lot happens very quickly. We cover a lot of ground each day--new topics for discussion, assignments, readings in the book, activities in class, "lab-time" to work on technology skills, projects, etc. It is impossible to learn about "teaching" mathematics (or any other subject) simply from reading a text and completing written assignments. It is a major premise of this course that participation in learning mathematics, and reflection on mathematical activity helps us understand the teaching and learning process. We learn from each other's perspectives and perceptions about mathematics, about teaching, about learning. To accomplish these goals requires that we become a community--which means that attendance and participation are not an option for this type of course.

There is quite a bit of reading assigned in this course. We will try to discuss certain aspects of the reading each day. Be prepared by completing assigned readings by the day of class it is due.

Please notify the instructor to have any absences excused in advance whenever possible. It is the responsibility of the student to pickup and complete missed assignments.

Electronic Notebooks

We do expect that you maintain a "notebook" for this course, but not the traditional hard-copy notebook. On the course website, there is a folder established for each person enrolled in the course. It is expected that you submit all of your assignments and other coursework by dropping them into this folder. In class, on the first day, we will walk you through the procedure to do so. Throughout the course, the instructors will peruse the folders periodically to see that you are maintaining its contents regularly--keeping your assignments up-to-date and keeping it organized.

In order for ease of reading and opening all such assignments, it is expected that all assignments will be submitted in HTML. If you are not an HTML-savvy person, do not fret. From the beginning of the course, we will learn how to use popular HTML editors such as Netscape composer, Adobe GoLive, and Dreamweaver. These editors allow you to create HTML documents in WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) mode and will assist you in learning the "innerworkings" of HTML gradually.

One of the expectations for the course will be to develop a personal website. You may house it in this folder if you wish. If this is new to you, then, the website perhaps will be quite basic. If you already have experience with HTML or have a website developed, then the expectation is that you will refine it.

Meta-lessons and Written Assignments--30%

Metalessons

"Meta-lesson" is a term I (Tim Hendrix) coined several years ago when trying to describe what would be an appropriate entry for a class reflective journal. Literally, it means "lesson behind the lesson." In this course, we ask that you complete a reflective journal of meta-lessons with an entry for each day. Usually, one healthy paragraph or approximately 1/2 page is sufficient. It is difficult to prescribe someone's reflection!

Maybe your day's entry might be directly on the discussion or activities from that day's class. Perhaps, it was something more "behind the scenes." An example? Suppose we were doing a math activity in class one day in groups, and something about the way we formed groups or the dynamic of your group interaction struck you as important information about teaching/learning. That would be an appropriate "meta-lesson"--we probably didn't discuss those issues in class explicitly, but the reflections we have about the "background" issues are often what we remember and employ in our own teaching.

We will expect to see that regular attention to maintaining these metalessons will evident in your folders. Name them transparently, i.e., "metalesson7_9.html" would be the metalesson for July 9.

Assignments

There are two types of basic assignments in this course: (1) written assignments and (2) activities or projects. Activities or projects will often involve a written product that you place in your folder as well. Written assignments are made in accordance with the topics and activities discussed in class and are usually due the following day. Quite often, we will discuss the assignments in class the day they are due.

Your assignments should be submitted in your folders and labeled clearly. E.g., Assignment 2.3 should probably be a file named "assignment2_3.htm" or some other name equally transparent, such as "tennisballs.htm" (which will make sense once we've done the tennis ball activity!).

For each day, assignments are listed on the syllabus. The entire syllabus of assignments, readings, projects, etc. will be online by the end of the first week of class.

Teaching and Lesson Plans--40% (5% X 3 Plus 25%)

Each week during the first 3 weeks of the course, you will be asked to create a "mini-lesson"--a very short teaching/learning activity that takes no more than 10-12 minutes. In small groups, each Thursday, you will have a few minutes to teach the mini-lesson to that small group and to evaluate/give feedback to each other. More details about each week's lesson will be given in class each week.

A major project of the class is to develop a large-group lesson that you will teach the last week of the course. That lesson should be a fully developed lesson as you would envision teaching a school period. The lesson should be an interactive lesson that engages the students in doing, exploring, and/or discovering mathematics. Moreover, the lesson should involve both a hands-on (manipulative) aspect as well as a technology component. This final project should be archived entirely online with both a student component and a teacher component.

Final Lesson Project - 25%

Your final project is to create a fully-developed lesson plan on a topic in mathematics of your choice and at either a middle-school or high-school grade level. Consider this one lesson a "mini-module" that is no more than 3 "days" in length and that is entirely contained online. There should be an introductory page to the lesson/topic with links to a teacher component (e.g., lesson plan, notes, etc.) and a student component (the activity itself, worksheets, etc.).

You should include a short rationale for why this topic is important and why this approach is helpful to learning the concepts. You should also identify briefly how this lesson reflects/meets both content & process standards recommended in NCTM's Principles and Standards for School Mathematics 2000.

The lesson should include some aspect of emergent technology (e.g., computer software, GSP, Fathom, NetLogo, graphing calculator, motion detector, data probes, Internet activities, applets, etc.) that has an element of added value. Moreover, the lesson module should include some hands-on or manipulative aspect, and should be student-centered.

Treat this as publishing a lesson idea that you have so that it is accessible online by both other teachers and your students.

You will present the lesson and one activity from the lesson in class on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday of the final week of class. We will sign up in class by the end of week 3.

Final Exam--20%

There will be a final exam in this course, and it will be a take-home final exam. It will be given to you the final week of the course and a due date will be established. It will offer you the opportunity to synthesize the topics, activities, and methods discussed in the course. More details will come as the course progresses.

Final Exam - 200 points

The final exam for C&I 399 is to be completed and submitted to your notebooks online. The final is due on Friday, July 11 by 5 PM. It will be graded and returned to you by the end of Summer Session II.

Please respond to each of the following questions below. If your completion of the final exam requires multiple HTML documents, please label your filenames transparently and provide links to all necessary pages. Either create a Final Exam sub-directory and/or create a final exam front page with links to each of your responses.

There are four parts to the final exam for this course. Answer each part completely.

Part 1. 50 points
In week 3, you worked on a variety of lesson projects with Fathom, Java Sketchpad, NetLogo, and Vernier Data Collection Probes (Motion Detectors, other sensors). Pick one single activity that you have done and would like to modify, change, or develop further INTO a lesson activity for students. With permission, you could pick an idea/example from the NCTM Principles & Standards or the Navigations Series.

Now, individually, put the finishing touches on this activity so that it is self-contained entirely online. Include any and all directions for the students to conduct the experiment, any graphs or images that the student needs to see, assessment questions or follow-up activities that the student(s) will do. The completed product here is NOT a lesson plan for the teacher, but rather, an activity for the student. A student in your future classroom should be able to go to the website and find all the information about the activity and assignment entirely online.

Part 2. Discussion Questions: Pick two of the following three questions. Each one is worth 50 points.
Assessment Question: Devise a system for determining final grades in your mathematics classroom (real or envisioned). Include any categories you wish and their weight in percentages. There should be at least one form of alternative assessment. Explain how your system is fair, equitable and meets the Assessment Standards and the assessment Principle. Teachers devise their assessment systems based on their beliefs about the nature of mathematics and what they value in the classroom. What do you value in the teaching and learning of mathematics, and how are your values demonstrated in your plan for determining final grades for students in your classes?

Synthesis question: The course has focused on the teaching and learning of mathematics that promotes active learning by the student engaged in inquiry of mathematics. What have you gleaned in this course about the teaching and learning of mathematics? Organize and summarize these ideas into a coherent "short philosophy" on the teaching and learning of mathematics. Include reference to class activities, the readings, and the NCTM Principles and Standards.

Technology question: What is the role of technology in the mathematics classroom? What types of technology are imperative for the mathematics classroom? When is it appropriate to use these technologies in the mathematics classroom? What is the added value of technology in learning mathematics? How should technology be implemented into the teaching and learning of mathematics? Why do you believe this to be the case? How can these technologies be implemented in a practical way (include phsyical and other limitations that one must overcome). Organize your thoughts and develop a case, outlining how you envision technology to be implemented into YOUR mathematics classroom. Provide rationale, justification, and examples of use.

Part 3. Publishing your work from the semester - 50 points.
Organize your online folder in a cohesive fashion. Move files, delete unnecessary things, create an "etc" folder for extras, etc.--whatever you need to do to organize it--the way that YOU want to organize it! Then, send Michael McKelvey an email (mmckelve@mail.mste.uiuc.edu) with the following information:

1. Mini-Lesson for Week One: Title and URL that goes to its description/lesson plan/etc. (remember, not everyone created a lesson plan; some just had descriptions, some had lesson plans, and some had a page for students to view--whatever applies for you).
2. NCTM Standards Project: Name of group members, which two standards your group was assigned, and a URL to the group's main project page.
3. Ellipse/Hyperbola: Link to folder that has your conic sections project and the name of the main link that he should put up!
4. Problem Lesson for Week Three: A title for the problem and a URL to the page you describe or present the problem.
5. Enhanced Lesson Activity: From #1 in your final exam, a title, and a URL directly to this lesson writeup.
6. Final Project Lesson: Title and link to the main page for your final lesson project.
7. He will create a briefcase for the final project lesson and will post links to all of the class's activities on the projects page. Let him know whether it's ok or not to use your photo he took for the briefcase (mmckelve@mail.mste.uiuc.edu).