Credit Hours: 3	Phone: (607) 753-2706
Time: Monday/Wednesdays - 8:00 - 9:15 am	Office: New Education Building #1241
Location: Education Building Room 1103	Office Hours: Mondays: 10:30 am- 1:00 pm; Tuesdays: 11:30 am - 2:00 pm
E-mail: andrea.lachance@cortland.edu	Also Available by appointment

(A) Content and methods for teaching mathematics in the elementary school program focusing on problem solving, mathematical reasoning and communication in mathematics. Special attention will be given to integrating mathematics with other areas of the curriculum helping students see the connection among mathematics and other areas of study.

Students in this course will:

1. Examine their past experiences in mathematics, their personal beliefs about mathematics, and the teaching and learning of mathematics (ACEI 5b).

2. Reflect on the social impact of the teachers of mathematics in promoting equity in mathematics education as well as become aware of personal cultural or social biases and how these biases may appear, for example, in teacher's attitudes, in the context of word problems, or in the children's books selected to be used in the classroom (ACEI 5b).

3. Explore the major strands of the mathematics curriculum (number sense, numbers and operations, geometry, measurement, data management, and algebra) to develop conceptual and procedural understanding and problem solving ability in various areas of mathematics (ACEI 2d, 2i, 3c).

4. Understand and promote students' understanding of connections between mathematics and real life experiences and other areas of study, particularly, English language arts and science (ACEI 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 2i).

5. Understand the contrasting paradigms of traditional, teacher-centered, drill-and-practice mathematics teaching and student-centered, constructivist approaches while recognizing new directions in the practice of teaching mathematics based on the results of the research on teaching and learning of mathematics (ACEI 1).

6. Develop the ability to construct mathematics lesson plans which are student centered, are grounded in a solid understanding of the featured mathematical content, and meet the needs of diverse learners (ACEI 1, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d).

7. Understand the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and New York State Learning Standards and apply them in lesson plans (ACEI 1, 2d, 2i, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, 3e, 4).

8. Develop an awareness of the needs of diverse learners (cultural, ethnic, gender, ability, learning styles) (ACEI 1, 3a, 3b).

9. Develop a repertoire of formal and informal assessment strategies to evaluate not only procedural skills but also students' conceptual understanding of mathematics (ACEI 3b, 4, 5c).

Andrews, A. & Trafton, P. (2001). Little Kids, Powerful Problem Solvers. Portsmith, NH: Heinemann.

New York Regents. (1996). New York State Learning Standards for Mathematics, Science and Technology. Albany, NY: State University of New York.

Click here for READING ASSIGNMENT CALENDAR

Click here to download the Lesson Planning Template

Click here for Math Night Resources

Abbreviated Readings Calendar

(Click on headings below for more information on each task.)

This task requires you to complete a written mathematical autobiography and discuss it with a small group of your peers in class.

This course task requires you to work with a partner to create a table or booth for a family math night at a local school. Each pair of students in this class will prepare math activities for their booth/table for third through sixth grade students to work on with their parents during the night. You will write a lesson plan for this activity, implement this activity with families, and write a reflection on your experiences.

In this activity, you will analyze the instructional value of popular games. You will be asked to choose from a given list of games, play that game with people outside of class, and determine which, if any, mathematical skills are practiced or developed by children when they play the given game. You will explain your game to your peers at Raquette Lake and perhaps teach them how to play it. This assignment must be completed by the time you leave for Raquette Lake.

For this activity, you will choose a piece of Children's Literature and create a classroom activity that integrates the piece of literature and mathematics. You will write a detailed and complete lesson plan which outlines how you would use a children's book as part of a hands-on mathematics lesson for elementary school children.

You will be asked to develop a lesson plan that focuses on a single, non-routine problem. You will need to find this problem from one of many resources that will be presented in class, complete the problem yourself, and then devise a means to use this problem as the center of a mathematics lesson.

You will construct a lesson plan from a set of standards-based mathematics curricula that will be presented in class. You will be required to implement this lesson plan with a small group of children. This is a Taskstream Assignment.

You will complete a reflection paper on your experiences implementing your standards-based mathematics curriculum lesson plan with a small group of children. You will be asked to reflect upon: what your students learned through your lesson plan and how you performed as the teacher of this lesson. This is a Taskstream Assignment.

This semester, you will have the unique opportunity to plan and then host a field trip for Cincinnatus sixth graders. The sixth graders will be traveling to SUNY Cortland to explore college life. You will be working with a group of your peers to plan activities for these sixth graders when they come to campus.

One exam will be given for this course. The exam will largely focus on course readings, but will also include material covered in class activities and discussions. During the exam, you will be allowed to consult your notes. Exam may include multiple choice, true/false, fill in the blank and/or short answer items.

You will prepare an end-of-course multimedia portfolio which will demonstrate what you have accomplished in relation to the three broad course goals of EDU 373. This web-based portfolio will include mediations and artifacts that show your best work for each of these broad three broad course goals. You will present your portfolio during finals week to a group of peers and your instructors.

Attendance and active class participation are expected in this class. Evaluation of your class participation will include your work in whole group and small group discussions.

Your grade in EDU 373: Teaching Elementary School Mathematics will be evaluated based on the following grading scale:

You must earn a C- or better in this course to be eligible to student teach.

All written work must be word-processed and must meet the high quality writing standards expected of a classroom teacher. The Academic Support and Achievement and Program tutors have liberal hours to help those students who need assistance in meeting these standards. Please note that the tutors do not serve as proofreaders. Rather, they assist writers to organize their thoughts and to write more coherently. Bring your written work to the ASAP Center (on the second floor of Van Hoesen Hall) well in advance of due dates, soliciting their assistance throughout the writing process. Be mindful that, as a future teacher of writing (which is now being taught in every subject area), your written work must be that of a professional. Present your assignments as you would if they were to be reviewed by a school district administrator, member of the school board, or parents of your prospective students.

If an assignment must be revised because it is unsatisfactory, the highest grade that can be earned on that assignment is "C." The resubmission must be presented no later than one week from the date the assignment is returned. You may be required to use the ASAP services to qualify for resubmission of a writing assignment.

If the due date for an assignment is a class day, then the assignments are due at the start of class. If the due date for an assignment is on a non-class day, then it can be emailed to me as an attachment by midnight the day it is due or a hard copy can be dropped off in the Childhood/Early Childhood Education Office (Education Building 1241) up until 4:30 pm on the day it is due.

Attendance at every class is expected. In each class session, we will do a variety of interactive, hands-on activities which cannot be easily made up. If you miss more than one week of class (2 class sessions), I reserve the right to implement the college policy for excessive absences from class. This policy allows me to reduce your overall grade by one third of a letter grade (approximately 3 points) for each hour of class you miss beyond one week's worth.

Since you are preparing to become a teacher in this class, I see your being on time to class and attending class as a sign of your commitment to becoming a professional. Thus, if you have to miss a class or be late to class, you should email or call me to let me know as soon as possible. This is a professional courtesy that I expect you will extend to all your instructors.

The goal of this course is to satisfy your needs as a prospective elementary or early childhood teacher. Adjustments will be made throughout the course and the course topics will be updated regularly. If you find at anytime that you have questions or concerns related to the course please feel free to contact me during office hours, by telephone, or by email.

SUNY Cortland is committed to upholding and maintaining all aspects of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. If you are a student with a disability and wish to request accommodations, please contact the office of Disability Services located in B-40 Van Hoesen Hall or call (607) 753 - 2066 for an appointment. Any information regarding your disability will remain confidential. Because many accommodations require early planning, requests for accommodations should be made as early as possible. Any requests for accommodations will be reviewed in a timely manner to determine their appropriateness in this setting.

I encourage any students who have special learning needs to make them known to me very early in the course (i.e., during the first week of classes) so that I can make the appropriate academic accommodations. I desire that each student achieve his or her highest potential and wish to assist each person in accomplishing his/her goals.

In order to be eligible for student teaching, you must earn a C- or better in this course. If you earn below a C- in this course, you will need to retake this course and earn a higher grade before you will be eligible to student teach.

The Childhood/Early Childhood Education Department uses TaskStream as its data management tool for performance-based assessment for New York State Department of Education, NCATE (ACEI) and other reports. Reflecting the assessment philosophy of SUNY Cortland, this data enables us to assess the quality of the program and performance of teacher candidates, and to make programmatic changes based on these assessments. Childhood Education Teacher Candidates are required to subscribe to TaskStream during all semesters when they are enrolled in required program courses, and to upload tasks into a Directed Reponse Folio for each of their courses. For this course you will upload your Standards-based math lesson plan by May 14, 2010. If you do not upload a lesson plan to Taskstream by that date, your grade will be withheld until you do so. If you have questions regarding this process, please speak with your instructor or the Chair of the Childhood/Early Childhood Education Department.