Make Math Make Sense

I just wanted to take a minute to let you know what a fantastic job your team did at our district Florida Reveal Math Training in June and July of this year. We had some challenges at a few of our sites for a variety of reasons, however, the ladies you sent to train our teachers and leaders handled each unique situation with professionalism and got the job done... Again, thank you for the great customer service that was provided to our district and I look forward to working with you for the next few years. Tracy Wood – K-5 Math Program Specialist, Lake County Schools, FL

Just thought I would share this quote from the feedback form from Friday. “Jessica Phillips and Kara Johnson are excellent and a joy. They love HCS teachers so much, and it is evident. Every time I have something with them - I think and feel challenged. Educator, Horry County Schools

Beyond the Classroom’s Jessica Phillips is amazing! She has helped Kingston Elementary teachers grow professionally in the area of math and best teaching practices. She has such an engaging personality and quickly builds positive relationships with staff which enables her to have a positive working relationship with Kingston Elementary teachers. With Jessica's help, we have learned the importance of teaching conceptually and not strictly by rules. Students gain a better understanding of mathematical practices and standards based instruction. She is a very intelligent consultant that has been an asset to Kingston for many years, and we look forward to getting to work with her for many more. Dawn Brooks – Principal, Kingston Elementary, Conway, SC

Ms. Johnson did a fantastic job with my teachers. She provided explicit instruction about the rigor of standards and how to achieve them. She shared the names of games that matched standards too. Teachers loved working with her in the classroom and during professional development. Marvelle Ulmer – Principal Lady’s Island Elementary School, Beaufort, SC

I’ve always loved math (except trig!), and it’s always come easy to me. I was dreading sitting through a 3 hour PD after beaching all day yesterday. However, today was probably one of the best PD sessions I’ve sat though in Horry County. I loved learning how to teach fractions, and I wish I would have leaned about fractions the way I learned today a long time ago. I am still amazed. Renee Zub, Primary Teacher, Elementary School, North Myrtle Beach, SC

I was helping my nephew with homework tonight. He got his “formulas” mixed up. He had a 2x4 rectangle and told me the area would be 4x2x2. I said, “Buddy, why are you doing that?” He went on to tell me because he was doing length x width x height. I immediately flashed back to the moment in Lori Peot Hummel’s office where you [Kara Johnson] showed me the difference in 3D and 2D. I got a flat piece of paper and a book. I asked him if the paper had “height.” I went back to the problem and asked him if the rectangle had height. We worked through it, and it felt good to channel my inner “Kara.” I haven’t done that in a while, so I thought I would share it with you! Leslie Smith Causey.

I gave my students the following prompt: When I say the words Everyday Math, what does it make you feel like or think about? I had a variety of illustrations, from the online games, math boxes, and a drawing of all the components such as the SRB, journal, and Smart Board. However, one illustration stuck out to me because of the child it came from. This particular child struggles in math quite a bit and I often feel like he is not following. However, he illustrated the entire game board for Exponent ball. He labeled the yards on the field and even marked one dice as the base and the other as the exponent. I was so excited to see that he had the vocabulary down and was able to recreate the game from memory! Susan Schottler

I just wanted to share the joy of [one of my students] being SO EXCITED about the EDM game kit. He begs for just a few more minutes every day. We learn a game and he gets hooked on it and doesn’t want to learn another one. We’ve played Name that Number several times this year. In case you don’t know how, you and partner(s) get dealt 5 cards. Then a card is turned over to be the “target card”. You have to arrange your 5 cards to get the target card by adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing. The object is to try and use as many of your 5 cards that you can. To get to the point, he came to me and said, 'Check me, Mrs. Wood.' He began by saying '14-19,' and of course I said, 'You mean 19-14' because he and few others are always getting that mixed up. He said, 'No, I mean 14-19 because I want to get a negative number so I can get my target number.' I was so proud of him! Of course he was smiling ear to ear because I kept saying how proud I was of his thinking! We weren’t even talking about negatives, he just was thinking of ways he could possible arrange his 5 cards. I just wanted to share because he thinks so hard while playing the games; it is truly how he learns math. I am going to have to work hard to figure out a way for him to connect every game with problems so on MAP and PASS he can make the connection of the skills of the games to the problems on the paper. Samantha Wood, Pee Dee Elementary

Beyond the Classroom has been very motivational and helpful for teachers and the curriculum specialists at our school. Teachers gained a better understanding of how Everyday Math is designed to be taught and assessed. It was beneficial to see lessons modeled and to have discussions with Mrs. Johnson to ensure all teacher have a clear understanding of the lessons taught. In addition, they were able to preplan for upcoming lessons. The teachers gained many new teaching strategies to help students develop number sense and the ability to do mental math. They were given the opportunity to learn many games that promote students learning math concepts at a concrete level prior to learning at an abstract level. I would highly recommend it to any teacher that would like to improve their instruction in Mathematics. Sharon Tyler, Curriculum Specialist CD-2, Loris Elementary

The consultants from Beyond The Classroom provided outstanding professional development for our teachers this year as we implemented Everyday Mathematics, Third Edition. They modeled lessons, shared strategies, demonstrated software and held question and answer periods with our teachers throughout the school year. Their knowledge of the SC Math Standards and their classroom experience with this curriculum gave them credibility with teachers and administrators who welcomed them into their buildings. Gloria Brown, Math Coordinator, Horry County Schools Brown

Beyond the Classroom with Kara Johnson has transformed our entire school on how to teach students to think mathematically and the process of why of do things. She also worked very hard and creatively to model lesson for us and help us to understand the importance of games and authentic practice of skills and also the need to generate our own authentic assessments. She was an asset to our curriculum. She encouraged integration of science, math, and ELA. Students know there is more than one way to solve a problem. Susan Senn, Curriculum Coordinator, Whitmire Community School