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Professional Learning Offerings - Mathematics

Educators deserve to engage in professional learning opportunities that are research-based, easily accessible and directly linked to standards and instruction.

The Office of Instruction, Assessment, and Curriculum offers a collection of professional learning modules that meet these criteria. Some modules are interactive and are able to be completed by an individual, while others provide facilitation support for use with professional learning communities.  Module topics address both mathematical content development and pedagogy. 

For information about Professional Learning Standards, please go to the Professional Learning landing page provided by the office of Educator Excellence and Certification Services.  

Elementary

The resources below will support mathematics professional learning for educators teaching grades K-5.

Interactive CCSS Professional Development Fraction Modules

This set of three modules is an updated version of several of our original elementary fraction modules. The content has been adapted to a tech-based, interactive format enabling end-users to experience the modules’ content individually or as a member of a community of practice.

  • Implementing the Fraction Content Standards - The major objective of the module is to develop a deeper understanding of the mathematical content standards for fractions through an exploration of the progression of skills and content across grade levels. 

    Using the documents Progressions for the CCSS Mathematics: 3-5 Number and Operations-Fractions as a resource, participants will take a deep look at their grade level standards in the Number and Operations – Fractions domain. Using a structured protocol, educators will work to identify the key concepts, skills, and supporting visual representations which need to be developed in their classrooms. The work will continue as this deepened knowledge is connected to prior instructional strategies and to potential assessment tasks. Finally, participants will explore the progression of ideas and skills across the grades 3, 4, and 5. This will be done by looking carefully at how the big concepts related to fractions are built across the grade span as well as by discussing potential scaffolds which will help to make these standards accessible to all students. 

    Through this work educators will become more confident in their knowledge of and ability to draw upon the learning trajectory or developmental path which students need to progress through to be fully prepared to tackle the complex mathematics which comprise the middle school curriculum.
     
  • Connecting the Standards for Mathematical Practice to Fraction Instruction - The major objective of the module is to help educators develop a common understanding of the Standards for Mathematical Practice and their specific connections to fraction content and rigor.

    Educators will begin their work “unpacking” the eight Standards for Mathematical Practice in order to deepen their understanding of their intent as well as specific implications for each grade level. This work will include brainstorming examples of what proficiency in each standard would look like at a particular grade level as well as how the standard could be re-worded to become accessible to these particular learners. The work will be extended to connecting these practices to specific fraction concepts and skills by looking at student work from CCSS aligned tasks, as well as by viewing instructional approaches in some classroom videos. 

    Participants will leave this module with not only a deeper understanding of the Standards for Mathematical Practice, but also a larger repertoire of strategies for developing these habits of mind in their students and a better sense of what proficiency with the practices will look like at their particular grade level.
     
  • Number Line Use with Fractions - The major objective of the module is to help educators develop a working knowledge of the role of number line use in developing student number sense with and conceptual understanding of rational numbers.

    Participants will explore the role of the empty or open number line in helping students to clearly see fractions as part of the number system. By making explicit connections between whole number properties and operations, educators will be better prepared to develop strong number sense in their students as they begin to work with this new type of mathematical unit. This deepening knowledge will be developed through a combination of clear models and active exploration of Common Core aligned tasks.

    Educators will leave this module feeling more confident with their ability to use the number line as a tool for extending students’ mathematical knowledge from simple whole numbers to more complex fractional units and relationships.

CCSSO Videos on the Fraction Progressions

CCSS Fractions Professional Development Modules

This set of six modules is an expansion of the CCSS professional development session Building Coherence in Fraction Instruction in Grades 3 – 5. Designed to be delivered as a series of successive CPT and/or department/grade level meetings or as after-school sessions, these modules explore the progression of understanding for the CCSS standards in Number and Operations-Fractions. Teachers will gain the professional understanding necessary to deliver content-rich, conceptually-based instruction in this domain. Highlights include connecting the fraction content standards to the Standards for Mathematical Practice, attending to precision through the use of a rich fraction vocabulary, and using the number line as a tool that is instrumental in transitioning from whole numbers to fractions. 

 

RIMTA - Elemetary Mathematics Leadership Group

Rhode Island Mathematics Teachers Association (RIMTA) - Elementary Math Leaders 

 RIMTA's Elementary Math Leaders Group, a network of elementary mathematics leaders from throughout Rhode Island, created professional development materials and instructional resources to support six core topics in Visual Models Across the K-5 Common Core, each resource looks a little different in order to meet a variety of needs.  

  • Number Sense 
  • Place Value
  • Fractions, Number Lines 
  • Tape Diagrams 
  • Algorithms 

Are all available at https://rimta.wildapricot.org/Visual-Models-Across-the-K-5-Common-Core.

Middle School 

The resources below will support mathematics professional learning for educators teaching grades 6-8.

The Rigors of Ratio and Proportional Reasoning in the Common Core State Standards

The Rigors of Ratio and Proportional Reasoning in the Common Core State Standards is a professional development module for middle school teachers. The module explores the power of the tape diagram and the double number line as strategies for developing conceptual understanding and problem-solving in this domain. Additionally, activities focusing on the relationships between ratio tables and graphs reveal the essential link between ratio and proportion and future work with functions and algebra. Included in the training materials is a Power Point with facilitator notes and embedded instructional videos, as well as a variety of hands-on activities. These activities are both participant and student-friendly.

High School 

The resources below will support mathematics professional learning for educators teaching grades 9-12.

Formalizing the Concept of Transformations in High School Geometry

The dawning of the Common Core State Standards and PARCC has school systems rewriting curriculum, redesigning assessments, and rethinking instruction. The concept of transformations is one that permeates the middle school standards in a very concrete way. In high school, transformations are formalized, more abstract, and used as the basis for congruence, similarity, and the proof of geometric theorems. Hung-Hsi Wu, author of Teaching Geometry According to the Common Core State Standards, goes so far to suggest that “Transformations are a means to an end.” In this three-hour session, participants take a close look at just what is meant by formalizing transformations by collaborating on the development of precise definitions, performing transformations using various tools on and off the coordinate plane, and documenting their properties.

Functions and the Common Core: Implications for Planning and Teaching

The concept of function is a powerful tool to solve problems and to express relationships and change in our world.  The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have placed particular emphasis on the concept beginning in grade 8, where grasping the concept of function is named as one of the three critical areas for instructional focus. This PowerPoint Presentation and accompanying resources highlight the types of experiences students should have in order to develop a deep understanding of the concept as described in the CCSS content standards and the variety of expertise required by the Standards for Mathematical Practice.  The module examines the progression and focus of the function standards from 8th grade through Algebra 1 and connects to how these standards build on work in the earlier grades. Presenter notes are included with the PPT slides.

Functions and the Common Core: Implications for Planning and Teaching

General 

The resources below will support mathematics professional learning opportunities that are non-grade specific.

CCSS Shifts, Focus and Instruction for Mathematics

Math Shifts Professional Development Module 

This 1-4 hour module is designed to provide participants with a deep understanding of the key shifts, focus, coherence, and rigor, required by the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM).  The module package includes facilitator materials, an annotated power point, and handouts with activities.  Additionally, there are links to videos one of which features a lead writer of the CCSSM, Jason Zimba.  We recommend it as a foundation to any Common Core professional development in mathematics.

Where to Focus: Math Shifts, Key Fluencies, and Major Work of Grade 

This document provides “guidance about which topics constitute the major work of each grade.

Deeper Insight into Instruction 

Resources provide deeper insight into the instruction required to meet the CCSS in Mathematics.