Honors Workshop on the Teaching and Learning of Algebra

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This Leadership Activities project will provide enhancement and professional development experiences for 24 exemplary mathematics teachers and 48 of their less well-prepared school colleagues. The overall goals of the project involve the updating and deepening of the participants' mathematical backgrounds and teaching methodologies, the networking of the participants, the conduct of frequent school- and campus-based helping and sharing sessions by the participants and project staff, and the investi-gation of the modelistic approach within a carefully planned documentation, assesssment and evaluation effort. Participants will be carefully selected to assure commitments of the leader teacher, their two peers, and their school administrators to the project goals. The project will operate from a conceptual model of teacher education which encompasses five phases for constructing new knowledge for leadership activities: demonstration, practice, feedback, coaching for transfer, and coaching for leadership. In the first summer 24 high school algebra teachers will participate in a three-week workshop on the campus of Michigan State University. They will study the conceptual development of elementary algebra as well as new applications in coding theory and linear programming, observe teaching demonstrations with beginning algebra students, and develop plans and activities for implementation into their own teaching. During the next school year the teachers will integrate new teaching practices and algebraic applications into their classes, which project staff will visit at least three times for coaching sessions. The entire group will meet three times (5 days) back on the campus to share and assess progress and to plan for the outreach during the second year. During a one-week summer conference, the 24 honors teachers wil work with two peers to begin their team improvement. During the 1987-88 school year the lead teachers will continue to coach these outreach teachers, who will be visited and also coached by the principal investigators.