Math leaders! Here are some planning resources to help you for the 2020-2021 school year.
This series of blog entries is to support the Cosenza & Associates, LLC, Prior Learning Guide documents that we have created and made available as a resource for you and your teachers to use as you look back to what students may or may not have learned last year.
In this first update, there are two planning resources that I wanted to call to your attention in case they are useful to your role as a math leader in your school or district.
NCSM-NCTM “Moving Forward” Planning Resources
NCSM and NCTM jointly published a guidance document, Moving Forward: Mathematics Teaching in the Era of COVID-19. NCTM President Trena Wilkerson and Past-President Robert Berry, NCSM President Mona Toncheff, and I led the writing team and our goal was to provide school leaders with questions to consider and possible solutions as they plan for the 2020-21 school year. This document focuses on structures that support teachers and students, effective teaching practices, and advocacy for teachers and students. The document and supporting planning resources may be found on the NCSM website.
Texas Response to the Curriculum Focal Points
This planning resource is an oldie but a goodie! TEA developed the Texas Response to the Curriculum Focal Points as, well, a response to NCTM’s Curriculum Focal Points that were published around 2008 to support implementation of national-level standards. NCTM identified 3-4 key ideas at each grade level, K-8 (I know, high school always gets left out) and organized the topics that cluster around those ideas. TEA developed a similar set of curriculum focal points for our TEKS and then revised it in 2013 to align with our current TEKS.
I’m bringing it to your attention today because as we plan for the 2020-21 school year, we need to keep in mind that we are likely to have disruptions to learning throughout the year. Thus, we will need to keep our eyes on the content that is truly important for kids to learn. These curriculum focal points may help you as you work with teachers in a PLC to determine that content. You can find them online at the Texas Gateway (https://www.texasgateway.org/resource/txrcfp-texas-response-curriculum-focal-points-k-8-mathematics-revised-2013).
Contact Us
Let us know how we can help you and your teachers this school year!
Blog updated July 29, 2020 by Dr. Paul Gray
