Hello Math Community!

Happy New Year and welcome back!  We hope you had time to rest and play and enjoy friends and family.  We are energized for the next half of the year and look forward to working with you. There are lots of upcoming opportunities to collaborate on mathematics so please take a moment to read the first Newsletter of the year.

Please read on to find out about upcoming professional development dates, our featured resource of the month, upcoming opportunities,  and recent events. This information (and more!) is also provided on the SFUSD Math website at www.sfusdmath.org, and you can follow us on Twitter: @SFUSDMath. Feel free to share this newsletter.

Thank you for all that you do!

The Math Team

Featured Resource

Core Curriculum News

Upcoming Math Professional Development

Math and SPED Professional Learning Community

Sense-Making with Language-Rich Math Tasks
March 15, 2018, 4–6 PM at Everett Middle School
Come join your colleagues in learning and working together to:

• support students with IEPs to access grade level math learning through essential understandings
• create a community of math educators who support students with IEPs to learn and share best practices
• prepare educators to become resources in their schools for providing access to rigorous grade level math for all students.

The PLC is open to all K–8 math educators, including SDC teachers, co-teachers, RSP teachers, general education teachers who support students with IEPs, paraprofessionals, IRFs, ARTIFs, coaches, and administrators. This is the third session of three-part PLC series. The session will include both learning together time and working/planning together time. 

Prop A hours may be utilized. Ask your principal for pre-approval and bring your passport to be signed. To register, please complete the Google registration form: goo.gl/g3uLrY  For more information see the Math & SPED PLC Flyer.

Contact Person: Jennifer Hein deMause 
 

Problem-Solving Cycle Teacher Leaders

The Problem-Solving Cycle Teacher Leaders will gather for their Teacher Leader Preparation Day on Wednesday, January 31 at Thurgood Marshall Academic High School, in the iLab (room 301). Teacher Leaders will continue to build a trusting community in order to take risks and model vulnerability to learn more from each other. Using district-provided tools (Stronger & Clearer, Dimensions of Teaching and Learning, and the Core Curriculum), Teacher Leaders will focus on language learners to amplify rather than simplify language rich tasks. We will review and revise a lesson as part of the intentional and strategic planning process of language development and production to increase access without decreasing rigor.

Contact person: Alisa Brown
 

Course Collaboration Days

All middle school math teachers in the Teacher Leader PD structure will gather for Course Collaboration Days in January or February.  In these days, teachers at each grade level do math together, build a vision of student strengths, and dive deeply into the SFUSD Core Curriculum units and lessons. They also build relationships and learn with colleagues across sites. The participating schools are: Alice Fong Yu, A.P. Giannini, BVHM, Claire Lilienthal, Francisco, James Lick, Lawton, Marina, Presidio, Rooftop, Revere, Roosevelt, and Vis Valley. 

• Grade 6 Course Collaboration Day: Thursday, January 18, 8:30–3:30, 20 Cook Auditorium, 20 Cook St.
• Grade 8 Course Collaboration Day: Tuesday, February 6, 8:30–3:30, Leola Havard Auditorium, 1521 Oakdale Ave.
• Grade 7 Course Collaboration Day: Wednesday, February 14, 8:30–3:30, Cabrillo Multipurpose Room, 750 25th Ave.

Contact person: Ho Nguyen
 

Complex Instruction Program

The next T-facs meeting is Monday, February 26, from 4:30 to 6:30 PM at Mission High School in Room 345.  These meetings occur monthly throughout the school year. 

The CI Collaboration Days are coming up on Thursday, February 1 and Saturday, February 3. Substitute requests have already been submitted.

Contact person: Angela Torres

Opportunities for Educators

Prepare for Pi Day with Fellow Math Teachers!
The San Francisco Math Teachers' Association is hosting a Make & Take workshop for Pi Day activities. You will experience and take away activities that you can use with your students on March 14! The workshop is on February 21 at Lincoln High School from 4:30 to 6:30 PM. Read the flyer for more information, and RSVP at https://tinyurl.com/y7xy4esh.

QTEA Professional Development Hours (Prop A)
This is a reminder that certificated, classified, and early education educators in SFUSD have 18 paid QTEA professional development hours available for use this school year! OPLL will award an end-of-year staff pizza party (or alternative meal of your choice) to the school with the highest usage data overall, including both certificated and classified usage.

Your annual hours can be used through June 2018. However, you need pre-approval from your supervisor and you need to make advance arrangements to use your hours in June. For more information, refer to this flyer. Contact Nora Houseman, QTEA Supervisor, for more information.

Recent Activities

The Problem-Solving Cycle (PSC) Teacher Leaders gathered for their third Teacher Leader Preparation Day on December 13.  They explored the variety of characteristics of good leadership and how to utilize the strengths of their site team to work towards their site goal.  Teacher Leaders also watched the videos of their students to choose a clip for a video-based discussion about their site learning focus with their colleagues. 

Participants in Complex Instruction Course Follow Up Day 2, focused on Assigning Competence, a key component in addressing status.  Assigning Competence is a powerful tool for impacting 1) students’ expectations for their own and others’ math competencies, 2) students’ beliefs about how to participate as successful math learners, and 3) students’ beliefs about what they need to know and be able to do in school math.

Thank you for all that you do!