MEGSL. Math Educators of Greater St. Louis. Summer From our President, Dr. Taresa Wright-Fraser

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1 MEGSL Math Educators of Greater St. Louis Summer From our President, Dr. Taresa Wright-Fraser Taresa (MEGSL President) and Dan Meyer (international speaker on innovative Math instruction) at NCTM/NCSM 2016 MEGSL EXECUTIVE BOARD Greetings, fellow mathematics educators!!! I look forward to the upcoming year serving as the President of MEGSL! These are exciting times for our membership. As you know, being part of professional organizations and attending national conferences is an excellent opportunity to learn about best practices in mathematics instruction, meet leaders in the field of mathematics, and network with other mathematics education professionals. NCTM s Innov8 Conference is being held in St. Louis this year, and MEGSL members will have an opportunity to participate in a meaningful way. Look for additional information in this newsletter, with much more to come!! Teresa Huether, Past President thuether@stlcc.edu Dawn Lester, Treasurer, Membership dlester@ladueschools.net Patrick Mooney, President- Elect pmooney@parkwayschools.net Amanda Garner- Brooks, Secretary amanda.garnerbrooks@gmailcom

2 Celebrating Pi Day at the St. Louis Science Center by Gene Potter, MEGSL Pi Day Coordinator The three-day Pi Celebration at the Science Center was our best ever, and perhaps the best in the nation! Our many MEGSL pi-oneers and the wonderful staff and volunteers at the Science Center offered more hands-on exhibits than ever before -- some old and proven, and some new and bodacious. Young participants were fitted with Pi headbands, assisted by Jenny Santee, Rachelle Potter, Cheryl Lubinski, and Fran Armstrong. Josh Linn, Senior Educator at the Science Center, coordinated the event, handling our every need. Josh and Dwight Curry from the Science Center presented the highly engaging Great Pi Splat, literally dropping pies several stories into a kiddie pool! Young and old were entertained and amazed as Debbie Char s show invited them to unleash their Inner Mathemagician, presented on the main stage. Our thanks to Pat Kennedy the M&M Lady, Chip Day, Nancy English, Diane Relleke, Shelia Hobson, Anne Marie Mosher, Teresa Huether, Tony Fressola, Taresa Fraser-Wright, Nevels Nevels, Al Otto, and many others who contributed long hours to the success of our Pi Celebration!

3 MEGSL 2016 Teacher of the Year Awards coordinated by Dr. Nancy English 3 Dr. Fran Armstrong, Post- Secondary Teacher of the Year Fran completed her Mathematics Education degree at University of Pennsylvania. She tutors students of all ages, assessing individual needs and finding approaches that work. She has taught at Brittany Woods Elementary, Wydown Middle, St. Louis Public Schools, and even spent a semester in St. Thomas. She has taught at Fontbonne University, but most of her career was at St. Louis Community College. Her Hands- On Math Lab has been a phenomenal model for remediation in math. Plus she is just a cool person. Erin King, High School Teacher of the Year In her 11 years teaching at McClure North High School in the Ferguson- Florissant School District, Erin has served as Math Department Chair, as well as Instructional Leadership Team member, Leader for Performance Based Teacher Evaluations, Common Core Building Representative, Founding member of the Ferguson- Florissant Foundation for Education, Building Improvement Committee member, Instructional Coach, Parent Involvement Coordinator, and Building Improvement Committee and Building Leadership Team member. Erin won the St. Louis Science Center and Carol B and Jerome T Loeb Recognition for Excellence in Teaching Award in 2013, the Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award in 2015, and the Ferguson- Florissant Teacher of the Year Award in She has also been awarded two Gateway Greening Community Garden Grants, and just completed her Master s degree in Administration.

4 MEGSL 2016 Teacher of the Year Awards (continued from previous page) Amber Rutherford Elementary Teacher of the Year Amber is a 2 nd grade teacher at Jury Elementary School in the Hazelwood School District. She was Jury s Teacher of the Year in 2009 and was Hazelwood s Teacher of the Year in She has been a Team Leader for 5 years. In the words of Karen Lewis, an Instructional Specialist at Jury Elementary who has worked with Amber for over 5 years, Amber takes pride in teaching her students how to think it through. Cheryl Lubinski writes, I have observed Amber in challenging situations with students who are struggling to learn or are demanding a challenge. She remains calm and decisive. Her classroom management skills are excellent! Amber is an amazing teacher and learner MEGSL SPRING BANQUET Our Teacher of the Year Award presentations were just part of a wonderful evening at the annual MEGSL Spring Banquet on May 6 at the Seven Gables Inn in Clayton. Our thanks to Deb Sanders and Sara Johnson from McGraw Hill for their sponsorship of the meal and drinks! In addition to delightful conversation and a delicious meal, we were treated to a logical brain- teaser puzzle involving red hats, blue hats, and prisoners (or black- eyed and red- eyed islanders, as the case may be), presented by Dr. Blake Thornton (pictured at left) from Washington University and enacted by our own members!

5 Seeing NUMBERS before NUMERALS: Money Word Problems by Cheryl Lubinski, MEGSL Elementary School Director 5 As I wrote in the Winter 2015 MEGSL Newsletter, I m currently interested in students seeing numbers BEFORE numerals. By this I mean that elementary students especially, but not only, should have experiences seeing numbers before writing the numerals that represent them. My winter newsletter example involved fractions. During spring semester in second-grade teacher Amber s classroom, we focused on seeing different ways to represent the same amounts of money and then writing numerals that represent the various ways we thought about those amounts. For motivation, I researched the cost of different Burger King menu items in the St. Louis area and we talked about how to represent the amounts of those items in different ways. Here are examples from our discussion as well as two worksheets Amber and I developed. During our discussions we talked about decomposing numbers related to amounts of money. We compared the costs of a Double Whopper at $5.29 and a Whopper Meal for $6.49. How could we think about the cost of the Double Whopper? These responses came from the students thinking: 5 hundred pennies, 20 pennies, and 9 pennies 5 dollars, 2 dimes, and 9 pennies 52 dimes and 9 pennies 52 tens and 9 units 529 units 529 pennies 5 hundred, 2 tens, and 9 units How could we represent these amounts? 529 or $5.29 Similarly, students thought of the cost of a Whopper Meal these ways: 6 hundreds, 4 tens, and 9 units 600 pennies, 40 pennies, and 9 pennies 649 units 649 pennies 64 tens and 9 units 64 dimes and 9 pennies 24 quarters, 4 dimes, and 9 pennies 20 quarters, 14 dimes, and 9 pennies How could we represent these amounts? $6.49 or 649 These explorations led to the following word problem: Which item costs more? How much more? Solve in two ways and show what you were thinking.

6 Seeing NUMBERS before NUMERALS Money Word Problems (continued from previous page) by Cheryl Lubinski, MEGSL Elementary School Director After our group discussion of how to think about two different dollar amounts, we presented students with the task of selecting a meal and then a dessert at Burger King. After their selections, each child was asked to represent the cost of the items in at least two different ways with bills and/or coins. Amber and I circulated among the students, assessing their understanding. All students had access to manipulatives of bills and coins from a realistic class set. In some instances, we used real coins. This was helpful for students who have a difficult time using manipulatives that represent money rather than the real thing. This task differentiated instruction because the teachers could suggest amounts on which particular students could work based on their level of understanding. Here are the two tasks we presented on one sheet of paper, two-sided printing. If you have questions, please me. Thanks, Cheryl, calubinski@mac.com Burger King Meal Circle your choice: Bacon and Cheese Whopper Meal $7.49 Whopper $4.19 Bacon Cheeseburger Deluxe $1.69 Hamburger $1.00 Show two ways to pay for your choice: Burger King Dessert Circle your choice: Hershey s Sundae Pie $1.79 Chocolate Shake $3.09 Chocolate Chip Cookies $2.00 Dutch Apple Pie $1.49 Show two ways to pay for your choice:

7 Musings at the End of a School Year... by Tony Fressola, MEGSL High School Level Director 7 For better or worse, we have made it to the end of another school year! If you re like me, you want nothing more than to jump into summer and to put school aside for a while. However, this is exactly the time of year when it is most beneficial to reflect on the past year when everything is still fresh. What went well for you this year? What were your biggest challenges? Is there something that you wish you had done this year, but for whatever reason, it just didn t happen? (Good news! There s always next year! Wait isn t that what I told myself last year?) As I sit here trying to finish up writing my last final exam, I find myself reflecting on assessment. Truth be told, I m slightly OCD when it comes to writing a final exam. (Put it this way: for me, a final exam is never finished. It s just due.) It always feels a bit like a puzzle. How can I assess a semester s worth of material in less than two hours? How can I make it challenging for my brightest students, while not blowing the rest of my students out of the water? There seem to be two schools of thought regarding final exams. Some teachers believe in giving a comprehensive exam that covers the breadth of the semester but does not go quite as in depth as the unit tests. Other teachers believe that a final exam is exactly the right time to assess higher level thinking like analysis and synthesis. Now that a student has amassed all of this knowledge, can he or she apply it in new and novel ways? Like so much in life, perhaps the true answer lies somewhere in between. Mathematics provides a structured set of tools that allows students to practice problem solving and develop critical thinking. That being said, the mathematical skills that students learn are important, as they provide the necessary foundation for higher-level thinking. And yet, if we don t stretch our students appropriately, we run the risk of producing a class full of mimics students who know what to do and how to do it (at least in familiar situations), but who don t fully understand why they are doing what they are doing or when exactly to apply it. My exam philosophy has evolved over the years. The trick is balancing skills and application, and this achievable challenge is different for every class I teach. No matter how many years I teach a course, every year is different because the students in the class are different. A veteran teacher once told me that a good exam is one on which a student learns something. I consider this both a worthy goal and a constant challenge. Have a wonderful and relaxing summer! You ve earned it!

8 Playing Summer Catch- up by Tammy Voepel, MEGSL College Level Director Hi all, and welcome to summer vacation, or at least summer vacation for your students! If you are like myself and many other teachers out there, summer is a time to try to catch up on all those things we push aside during the academic year. Use this time to recharge your own batteries and remind yourself why you teach math-- you love math and you love helping others learn to enjoy it as well. Maybe this is your opportunity to revise a unit for your classroom or to pull together the pieces of the article you are writing. Maybe this is your chance to catch up on all the great reading that you have missed lately. If you get a chance, there are some great articles in the most recent NCTM publications. In Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, I particularly enjoyed the cover article on the lottery as a great way to illustrate some of the mathematics that we encounter in our daily lives. The article on multi-digit multiplication in the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education made me think about the experiences I provide in my elementary math content courses for the pre-service elementary teachers and consider how I can make these experiences more meaningful to them. However you choose to use your summer "vacation" time, I hope you enjoy it. I look forward to seeing you in the fall! Do YOU want to contribute to our next newsletter? Please send articles and information about events to Debbie Char: dchar@stlcc.edu

9 38 th Annual Middle School Excellence in Mathematics Contest Update by Brian Bozek, MEGSL Contest Chair 9 We are grateful to everyone who contributed to the success of the 38 th Annual Junior High Excellence in Mathematics Contest on March 19, 2016, sponsored by Mathematics Educators of Greater St. Louis and St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley. Approximately 400 students from 22 schools participated. The smooth running of the event is a direct result of the generous efforts of the many volunteers and the cooperation of the teachers and students. INDIVIDUAL AWARDS 6th Grade Division I 6th Grade Division II 1 Ethan Nagasako Wilson School 1 Anthony Wang Parkway West Middle 2 Matthew Leight Sacred Heart 2 William Bender Ladue Middle 3 Hansika Sakshi Remington Traditional 3 Daniel Xu Ladue Middle 4 Sophia Park Wilson School 4 Merrick Zheng Crestview Middle 5 Benjamin Hartmann Wilson School 5 Aditya Kondepudi Ladue Middle 6 Sebastian Merce Wilson School 6 Winston Chen Ladue Middle 7 Sai Prem McKinley Classical 7 Yiyan (Lana) Xu Wydown Middle 8 Nathan Rich Sacred Heart 8 Sonia Palamand Wydown Middle 9 Austin Kothari The Barstow School 9 Jeremy Li Parkway Central Middle 10 Anna Robben Acad of Sacred Heart 10 Amogh Mahambase Parkway West Middle 7th Grade Division I 7th Grade Division II 1 Marc Orihuela McKinley Classical 1 Stephen Jiang Ladue Middle 2 Christopher Morey St. Louis Priory 2 Stephen Kallubhavi Honey Creek Middle 3 Emily Meyer St. Paul Lutheran 3 William Pan Ladue Middle 4 Michael Moen St. Louis Priory 4 Caleb Levy Parkway West Middle 5 James Brunts Acad of Sacred Heart 5 Ashish Dhanalakota Crestwood Middle 6 Alex Buck Green Park Luth. 6 Sri Jaladi Parkway West Middle 7 Emily Stellern Acad of Sacred Heart 7 Harry Chen Ladue Middle 8 Stasia Kroeger Our Lady of Lourdes 8 Rohith Ryali Crestview Middle 9 Evan Walsh Our Lady of Lourdes 9 Alexander Zhou Ladue Middle 10 Noah W. Decker St. Paul Lutheran 10 Kaicheng Ye Honey Creek Middle 8th Grade Division I 8th Grade Division II 1 Jesus Lopez McKinley Classical 1 Varsha Mural Parkway Central Middle 2 V. Kanikkannan Selvidge Middle 2 Bhavya Perma Crestview Middle 3 Alex Hanshaw-Bhaskar The Barstow School 3 Sara Hoggart Honey Creek Middle 4 Luke Braby St. Louis Priory 4 Anna Zhong Ladue Middle 5 Justin Ranalli St. Joseph Manchester 5 Kevin Kotzbauer Wydown Middle 6 Nate Scott McKinley Classical 6 Jason Feng Honey Creek Middle 7 S. Thompson St. Joseph Manchester 7 Priscilla Liu Honey Creek Middle 8 Caroline Bruer Acad of Sacred Heart 8 Sam Cartwright Heney Creek Middle 9 C. Cunningham Green Park Luth 9 Benjamin Goff Parkway West Middle 10 Adam Saleh St. Louis Priory 10 Balaji Vijayakumar Parkway Central Middle

10 38 th Annual Middle School Excellence in Mathematics Contest (continued from previous page) TEAM AWARDS 6th Grade Division I 6th Grade Division II 1 Wilson School 1 Ladue Middle Ethan Nagasako Sophia Park William Bender Daniel Xu Benjamin Hartmann Sebastian Merce Winston Chen Aditya Kondepudi 2 Academy of the Sacred Heart 2 Parkway West Middle Matthew Leight Paul McClain Anthony Wang Amogh Mahambase Nathan Rich Anna Robben Kayvon Rezaei David Hindes 3 Green Park Lutheran 3 Wydown Middle Anna Kuschel Andrew Hennen Yiyun(Lana) Xu Sonia Palamand Addie Cunningham Amy Ceko Larry Qian Max Palmer 4 McKinley Classical Leadership Academy 4 Honey Creek Middle Sai Prem Jemari Bolden Jonathan Stadler Charissa Chow Nina Orihuela Noah Howard Ananya Gera 5 Compton-Drew Middle 5 Parkway Central Middle Ethan Henning Yunus Bekirov Jeremy Li Rohit Krishnamurthy Brayan Tellez Kiet Ly Ayaan Umar Minji Kang 7th Grade Division I 7th Grade Division II 1 St. Louis Priory 1 Ladue Middle Christopher Morey Michael Moen Stephen Jiang William Pan Mare Chahoud R.J Clark Harry Chen Alexander Zhou 2 Academy of the Sacred Heart 2 Crestview Middle James Brunts Emily Stellern Ashish Dhanalakota Rohith Ryali Andrew Smith Anastasia Ramig Vishnu Kumar Janvi Huria 3 Our Lady of the Lourdes 3 Parkway West Middle Stasia Kroeger Evan Walsh Caleb Levy Sri Jaladi Harrison Beardsley Abby Noonan Joseph Rosenberg Dhruv Agarwal 4 Green Park Lutheran 4 Honey Creek Middle Alex Buck Matthew Buck Stephen Kallubhavi Kaicheng Ye Alex Hopfer William Mayo Alisha Mastakar Atul Odhayamangalam 5 St. Paul Lutheran 5 Parkway Central Middle Emily Meyer Noah Winfred Decker Kevin Gu Navya Bhagat Harley Storie Annie Gu Hannah Li It s the true story of math genius Shrinivasa Ramanujan. A great math story and a great love story! Showing NOW at the Tivoli and Plaza Frontenac. Check it out!

11 38 th Annual Middle School Excellence in Mathematics Contest (continued from previous page) 11 8th Grade Division I TEAM AWARDS 8th Grade Division II 1 McKinley Classical Leadership Academy 1 Honey Creek Middle Jesus Lopez Nate Scott Sara Haggatt Jason Feng Darby Moore Hussain Seoud Pricilla Liu Sam Cartwright 2 Academy of the Sacred Heart 2 Parkway Central Middle Caroline Bruer Domnic DiPasquale Varsha Murali Balagi Vijaya Kumar Bridget Hagene Victor Stefanesca Sun- Woo Kang Minju Kang 3 Green Park Lutheran 3 Ladue Middle Callum Cunningham Kelsey Berner Anna Zhang Lena Liang Anthony Lupo Sean Murphy Katie Shaw Lilly Tung 4 St. Louis Priory 4 Wydown Middle Lukey Braby Adam Saleh Kevin Kotzbauer Katie He Michael O Sullivan Sean Moen Junyi Su Kellan Duan 5 St. Joseph Manchester 5 Parkway West Middle Justin Ranalli Samantha Thompson Benjamin Goff Ronik Rai Bhaskar Kaellan Smyser Bhargau Addagaria Rithvic Karthikeyan Fontbonne GriffinHack 2016 by Nancy English Fontbonne University, with sponsorship of MEGSL, held their First Annual Hackathon on the campus of Fontbonne University Saturday, February 27, GriffinHack was an all-day competition open to high school teams of two to four students whose charge was to develop the design of a mobile app. The app subjects were not revealed until the morning of the competition. Fifteen teams selected one of two possible apps and were given from 8:00 am until 3:00 pm to work on it; each team then presented its app structure and design to a group of five judges. Prizes of $500, $300, and $200 were awarded to the first three places. In addition, Fontbonne awarded $1000, $500, and $100 renewable scholarships to team members on the three winning teams. The winning teams were as follows: First Place: Second Place: Third Place: Pattonville Josh Czopek, Kalekidan Yeshiwas, and Josh Zahner Pattonville Kevin Bowers, Micah Thompkins, and Joe Wysocki CBC James Castiglioni and Sam Daiber

12 Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics The 2016 Annual Meeting will be Oct 7-8, 2016 in Peoria, IL "Laying the Foundation for Success!" Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematics Fall Conference December 2 3, 2016 Columbia, Missouri E3: Engage, Encourage, Empower! Regional Conferences: Phoenix, Arizona October Philadelphia, Pennsylvania October 31 November 2 ST LOUIS, MISSOURI INNOV8 CONFERENCE November NCTM is hosting its first INNOV8 conference in St. Louis, November 16-18, 2016! This innovative and team-based professional development is centered around acquiring the necessary skills to provide high-quality mathematics education for learners of all abilities. It s a completely new conference experience! In addition, NCTM is looking for volunteers to donate time--a morning or afternoon--to help make this inaugural conference a success. We are looking for teachers, retirees, and college students to help guide participants throughout America's Center. Please see the flier on the following page! Excellence in Mathematics High School Math Contest St. Louis Community College at Forest Park Saturday, November 5, American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges November 17 20, 2016 Denver, Colorado November 9 12, 2017 San Diego, California November 15 18, 2018 Orlando, Florida

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14 Enclose your check made out to MEGSL, and mail to Dawn Lester, MEGSL Treasurer, 2137 Maury Ave #2FL St. Louis, MO