TEXAS
GRADUATE
CENTER Monthly
Hanging with Harvard IV
NOV DEC 2015
NOVEMBER – December Annenburg hall, harvard university
TEXAS
GRADUATE
CENTER
Monthly
President Dr. Roland Arriola Executive Director Dr. Mary Alice Reyes
About Us:
The Texas Graduate Center (TGC), a component of the Texas Valley Communities Foundation, has been established to support programs in higher education that will guide new and emerging leaders in education to implement transformational change that will impact schools and communities. TGC will offer distance learning graduate programs from outstanding universities in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The TGC will make available the latest telepresence technology and virtual classrooms with direct connection to world-class undergraduate and graduate programs from across the country. TGC will also serve as a college and career readiness facilitator offering assistance in selecting, preparing and enrolling in nationally recognized graduate programs.
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Associate Director/ EDITOR Adriana V. Lopez Designer/ PHOTOGRAPHER David Alvarado TGC OFFICES 1098 W. Expressway 83 Mercedes, Texas 78570
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In this issue... Harvard University Extension School
The Texas Graduate Center has partnered with the Harvard University Extension School to implement the Math for Teaching Graduate Program. Harvard Extension School is one of the twelve degreegranting schools of Harvard University, offering professional certificates and liberal arts-based undergraduate and graduate degree programs aimed at nontraditional students, as well as openenrollment continuing education courses.
04 A Year in Review
A look back into what the Texas Graduate Center has accomplished throughtout 2015.
06 Wash. University District Rep. Meeting
District representatives from across the RGV convened to discuss to a new initiative being offered to improve Biology education in the area.
08 Hanging With Harvard IV
Math teachers attending Harvard Graduate School hosted the 4th HWH conference to go over algebra two and calculus concepts.
10 Introducing Cohort IV
TGC is proud to announce the selection of teachers to Cohort IV of our Harvard Math for Teaching Graduate Program.
12 Professional Development Series
Texas Graduate Center (TGC) ended its 2015 MATHTEACH Collaborative Series with Maria Pizano and Dr. John Boller. Pizano
14 The Philosphy of Teaching, Series Part 3
Teaching Projects/Capstone Course intended to give current and aspiring secondary math teachers an opportunity to become engaged in a variety of teaching-related projects.
John Boller earned his Ph.D. in Mathematics in 1999 from the University of Chicago. He taught as a Preceptor at Harvard University from 19992005, where he won the Joseph R. Levenson Teaching Prize in 2004. While there, he helped to establish the ALM in Mathematics for Teaching through Harvard Extension School.
NOVEMBER – December
YEAR IN REVIEW
Looking back at 2015
We’ve accomplished quite a bit in our mission to improve education in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV). We continued our close partnership with Region One GEAR UP and Harvard Extension School as well as established new partnerships with Washington University and distinguished educators from across the nation. This year, Cohort I completed their Harvard Math for Teaching graduate program and we are extremely proud of their accomplishment. We welcomed five new teachers to the program this month. Cohort IV will begin their program in January. We’re also proud of our continued partnership with La Joya ISD. We continued our work with Girls Engaged in Mathematics Camp (GEM) in the district and launched SHINE for Girls, a new math initiative. This year we established a partnership with Washington University in St. Louis. Our Masters in Biology for Teaching program begins Summer 2016. The TGC began offering student university tours this year. We traveled to Boston with 46 RGV students to visit Harvard, MIT, Brown and Boston University. We also launched a Writing Project to help students learn to write effective college entrance essays. We continued to bring renowned professors and educators to the RGV through our Professional Development Series. This year we welcomed back Professor Srdjan Divac and Dr. John Boller, and first time presenters, Professor Brenden Kelly and Maria Pizano. Our Hanging with Harvard Series continued this year as well with Hanging with Harvard III & IV. As we move ahead into 2016, we will continue to work hard to empower and transform the RGV through education and innovation.
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Master of Science in Biology for Teachers Starts July 2016
• Earn a Master of Science degree in two years (online and 3-week summer residencies) • Learn from renowned life science faculty at Washington University St. Louis, one of the most prominent research universities in the country. • Participate in action research and laboratory work in state-of-theart research facilities on campus and within the city of St. Louis. • Participate in professional networks with teachers from across the country. • Develop and apply skills in curriculum innovation.
Texas Graduate Center is a public-private initiative of the Texas Valley Communities Foundation. 1098 W. Expressway 83, Mercedes, TX 78570 | 956.903.4231 | alopez@tvcof.org
NOVEMBER – December
WASH. UNIVERSITY - ST. LOUIS
DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVE MEETING 6 | Texas Graduate Center
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istrict representatives from across the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) convened at the Texas Graduate Center (TGC) on November 12th to discuss a new initiative being offered to improve Biology education in the area. The TGC will now offer RGV Biology teachers the opportunity to earn a Masters in Biology for Teaching through Washington University in
SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN ATTENDENCE:
MERCEDES ISD
St. Louis. District reps, along with South Texas College Biology professor Dr. Odeh, met at the TGC to discuss program details and implementation. We were joined, via Skype, by Executive Director of the program and Assistant Dean of Arts and Sciences Victoria May and Accounting and Grant Specialist, Margo Hathaway. The two-year program is scheduled to begin in Summer 2016.
PSJA ISD
LA JOYA ISD
EDINBURG CISD WESLACO ISD
NOVEMBER – December
Hanging with Harvard IV
Written by Raul Garcia, This story was originally published in The Valley Morning Star.
M
ath teachers attending Harvard Graduate School hosted their Hanging with Harvard math conference to go over algebra two and calculus with area students. GEAR UP students from all of Region One came together to talk about Harvard and learn math Harvard and tips about the school. “After they go to these types conferences they really think it’s possible for them,” said Christina Ochoa, Santa Rosa GEAR UP coordinator. Ochoa said the four Santa Rosa students who attended were very excited about the math conference and because they were curious to learn more about the best school in the world. “Conferences like these are probably the only way
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they’re going to be exposed to Harvard,” Ochoa said. The expectation of the Region One Hanging with Harvard Math Conference is to spark the students’ interest in considering an Ivy League education in their future. Friday’s conference’s theme was “Living and Learning at Harvard University.” It marked the fourth consecutive year the Texas Graduate Center and Region One host the conference. The keynote speaker for the conference was Dr. Carlos Ayala, Rio Grande Valley facial plastic surgeon trained at the Harvard otolaryngology residency program. Ayala told the students his story on how he followed his dreams to go to a better college. San Benito GEAR UP student, Ruben Mendez said, “we learned math how to make problems easier for us.” Mendez said he wants to be a math and science
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teacher and believes Harvard is the palace to go. After last year’s conference, Rio Hondo GEAR UP student, Jose Ramirez applied to the Harvard Summer Youth Program. The community of Rio Hondo and Harvard helped pay the expense for Ramirez to study and stay on the Harvard campus for the three week summer camp. Region One and the Texas Graduate Center partnered up to send teachers from the Rio Grande Valley to Harvard University to study math. “We have teachers who are in a masters for math teaching program at Harvard University,” said Claudia Gutierrez, GEAR UP STEM Education Specialist. The students did part of their work online at the Texas Graduate Center in Mercedes. In the summers they did a residency at Harvard University. “We had over 240 GEAR UP
students participating from across the Rio Grande Valley, and we’re very excited,” said Dr. Mary Alice Reyes, Texas Graduate Center director. Reyes said students had the opportunity to receive math content and instruction from Harvard graduate students, and information about their experience at Harvard. “The teachers are very excited to give back and share what they have learned at Harvard with the students,” Reyes said. Since the initiation of the Texas Graduate Center program in 2012, four cohorts totaling 29 teachers, have been selected to earn a master’s degree in Mathematics for Teaching from Harvard University. The first cohort has completed the program and will be participating in their commencement ceremony at Harvard in May 2016.
NOVEMBER – December
INTRODUCING
T
he Texas Graduate Center (TGC) is proud to announce the selection of teachers to Cohort IV of our Harvard Math for Teaching graduate program. The newest members include: Tiffany Ochoa, Edinburg CISD; Joseph Alanis, La Joya ISD; Manuel Rodriguez, La Joya ISD; Doni Hernandez, PSJA ISD, and Oscar Santos, PSJA ISD. Cohort IV joins 24 exemplary teachers from across the Rio Grande Valley currently enrolled in Harvard’s Extension School. Cohort IV attended New Student Orientation at the TGC where they were introduced to Dr. Andy Engelward, Director of the Math for Teaching graduate program, via Skype. Dr. Engelward welcomed the teachers to the Harvard Extension School and shared the history and program details of the Math for Teaching graduate program. Cohort IV will begin their program in Spring 2016. 10 | Texas Graduate Center
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From Left to Right: Joseph Alanis, La Joya ISD, Doni Hernandez, PSJA ISD, Oscar Santos, PSJA ISD, Manuel Rodriguez, La Joya ISD and Tiffany Ochoa, Edinburg CISD.
NOVEMBER – December
MATHTEACH Collaborative
Professional DevelopmenT SERIES
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he Texas Graduate Center (TGC), in partnership with Region One GEAR UP, ended its 2015 MATHTEACH Collaborative Series with Maria Pizano and Dr. John Boller. Pizano, formerly of the Harvard Family Research Project, presented to over 50 parental engagement liaisons on “Maximizing the Impact of Parental Engagement.” The workshop provided methodologies to improve parental outreach in school districts across the Rio Grande Valley. Dr. Boller, a distinguished Professor of Mathematics at the University of Chicago, spoke to an audience of Rio Grande Valley Math teachers on “Algebra, Geometry, Calculus and the Unity of the High School Curriculum.” This was Dr. Boller’s second visit to Region One as part of the MATHTEACH Collaborative Professional Development Series. Over 35 teachers were in attendance.
NOVEMBER – December
The
philosophy of Teaching SERIES PART 3
This summer, Cohort I completed their final summer residency at Harvard. Their final course was a Teaching Projects/Capstone Course intended to give current and aspiring secondary math teachers an opportunity to become engaged in a variety of teachingrelated projects. Students completed a series of research and presentation requirements during the course focused on issues such as the impact of various pedagogical approaches, the use of technology in classrooms, assessment techniques, and curriculum design, among other topics. The Capstone Course was led by Dr. Andy Engelward, director of the Math for Teaching graduate program. All students were required to write a teaching statement outlining their experience and philosophy on their profession. This is the first of a series of statements we’d like to share.
RICARDO DELGADO SAN BENITO CISD
Any student expressing their desire to quit is compared to running a half marathon and quitting...more than 80% of the way. 14 | Texas Graduate Center
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y passion for the subject along with my passion for student’s success are the main reasons for being in the classroom. Building students’ self confidence towards math is my second priority in the classroom. The first would be steady and significant progress from beginning to end. 100% comprehension and application would be ideal but unrealistic. Being able to diminish the negative connotations one enters the math classroom with is an achievement in itself. Learning occurs when the students allow themselves to be wrong, and they realize that trying may not
always lead to mastery but does result in improvement. An attitude I like to portray is to always strive to be better. I make the analogy using my newfound interest, running, to address common occurrences or urges of quitting. Since I reach high school students, the majority of them will have completed 13 years of education to obtain their diploma. Any student expressing their desire to quit is compared to running a half marathon and quitting at 11, more than 80% of the way. I also stress the importance of setting goals and working the most efficient to achieve them.
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NOVEMBER – December
T
JULIO TOBIAS ECISD ISD
o be the most effective teacher, one must go back and understand the students’ perspective to gain better understanding of your students in general. We must understand that everyone is different and teaching must be adaptive and ready to change for every student. No one student is strictly an auditory learner, given a specific task. For example, when assembling an object together, students do not rely on someone reading the instructions to them and understanding how to build it in one go. They must read the instructions and understand them. They must have a visual representation of what the object should look like and they must have some kinesthetic awareness of where a certain piece of the object is in relations to the whole. This is how students learn, a combination of styles that moves with fluidity. By giving students an environment where they can create dialog within the student body and can collaborate and interact with each other allows them to learn. Math knowledge is not simply being able to spit out quick, random facts that are math related, math knowledge means students can approach a problem, reason through it logically and come up with their own conclusion/conjecture. Even if it is wrong I want to create an environment where they can defend their reasoning or find where someones logic falls apart. An environment where it is understood that math is not “easy” but that it takes hard work and perseverance. As a math teacher I want to make sure that my students are well prepared for what they will see in their lives. Whether it has to do with mathematics or not, I hope they develop a sense of reasoning and problem solving that goes beyond the classroom, that they do not just take things as a matter of fact, but logically reason through what they are told is true and decide for themselves if it actually makes sense.
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KARINA ARAIZA PSJA ISD
I
have had the joy and privilege to discover mathematics at least twice in my lifetime, once as a student in middle school and the second time during my graduate studies at Harvard Extension School where there is a wonderful program for teachers. I started a M.S. in mathematics some time back in Texas, but I left the program about half way into it because id did little to appeal to my previous jubilant experience in middle school as a discoverer of the subject or even to connect to my teaching of high school mathematics. Somebody once told me that I am very much like a child, I replied, “Yes, I have noticed.” Reflecting on the meaning of the phrase, I came to the following conclusion, “How great would it be if everyone of us could be like a child when it comes to learning mathematics.” Children have an innate ability to qualify the world around them as a place worth discovering, and mathematics is perplexing in essence, but ironically, teachers of mathematics find ways to take all that power out of the subject and disconnect all of its concepts to provide the students with a set of steps to follow whenever the key words of a problem point to a specific direction. The underestimation of students in
America is a practice that must be eradicated; whenever I question colleagues about their reasoning for not providing students with challenging tasks, their response is always, “How can I expect them to know how to solve such as task if I have not given them any notes on the topic yet?” Sadly, those lines translate into practices in which the child will be trained to algorithmically answer in a certain direction, whenever prompted in a specific way, and that is the exact opposite of the meaning of mathematics. One must understand the meaning of mathematics in order to teach children about mathematics. Reflecting and searching within ourselves about what it was that ignited our passion for the subject when we made the decision to dedicate our lives to the students and education of mathematics can be a powerful way to make our practice interesting and meaningful. As a high school mathematics educator for more than a decade, I have come to realize that if we want our students to persevere in the classroom, then it is our responsibility as educators to challenge them by evoking their knowledge and emotion which will in turn direct them through the wonderful journey of intrinsic, self motivated search for understanding and discovery.
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BUILDING THE CAPACITY TO MAXIMIZE IMPACT
MISSION
The mission of the Principals Academy is to build the capacity of principals to lead for instructional improvement within their schools and districts by creating the conditions for building a collaborative culture of efficacy and high performance expectations focused on results.
• • • • • • • • •
PROGRAM COMPONENTS
8 Training sessions with Resource Guide 3 Follow up sessions Book: The Principal: Three Keys to Maximizing Impact External campus visits Speakers to enhance curriculum On-site support On-line support Principals Academy shirt Certificate of Completion
PROGRAM MODEL
Each meeting will consist of training based on the work of Michael Fullan, Lyle Kirtman, Keith Leithwood, Robert Marzano and other leading authorities in educational leadership.
1
The Changing Role of the Principal
5
Building System Coherence
2
Urgency and Drivers of Change
6
Principals as Agents of Change
3
Striking a Leadership Balance
7
Change Challenges and Strategies
4
Building Professional Capital
8
Designing a Maximizing Impact Plan
FACILITATOR
Dr. Mary Alice Reyes has extensive years of experience in educational leadership as a campus principal, district-level administrator and superintendent of schools. Her expertise will lend to developing a personal and practical learning community environment that will build on the principals’ strengths and address their unique needs. “The role of the principal needs to be balanced between content and organizational leadership. The educational leader is the overall leader of instruction, but he or she needs to have time and skills to motivate and build teams and develop leadership capacity in his or her school for change.” – Kirtman, 2013 Texas Graduate Center is a public-private initiative of the Texas Valley Communities Foundation | 1098 W. Expressway 83, Mercedes TX, 78570 | 956.903.4231 | for more info, contact Mary Alice Reyes at mareyes@tvcof.org
NOVEMBER – December
GIRLS ENGAGED IN MATHEMATICS
Building CONFIDENCE and reducing MATH ANXIETY The notion that only boys can become scientists and engineers has persisted over time. Studies have shown that negative stereotypes about girls’ abilities in mathematics and science have impacted their performance in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and math) areas.
to schedule a gem camp at your school, contact: Executive Director, Dr. Mary Alice Reyes 956.903.4231 | mareyes@tvcof.org
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Girls Engaged in Mathematics is a public-private initiative of the Texas Valley Communities Foundation
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MATHTEACH Collaborative James Tanton
Mathematician and math educator, founder of The St. Mark’s Math Institute, scholar at the Mathematical Association of America, author of over ten books on mathematics, curriculum, and education.
Febuary
5
2016
Workshop# 49184
JUly
Harvard Graduate School of Education
2016
Leadership: An Evolving Vision
10-16
Superintendents Leadership Series
NOVEMBER – December
Thank you to our MATHTEACH Collaborative Partners:
The Texas Graduate Center is a public-private initiative of the Texas Valley Communities Foundation. 20 | Texas Graduate Center