Our Geometry group has been meeting after school at Castle Park High School, and engaged in their first meeting on October 22nd. Yesterday, they got together again to discuss their overarching research goal and to begin to narrow their content focus for first semester. The geometry group consists of (from left to right) Chip Case and Anthony Villanueva from Mar Vista High School, Joseph Hyun from Morse High School, and Daniel Crook from Castle Park High School.
Chip and Anthony have worked together for the past 6 years and Joseph and Daniel used to be roommates during their time in the credential program at UCSD years ago. So, this group had an instant connection and worked together easily from the very beginning. Getting these 4 to talk about Geometry was no challenge whatsoever, and they eagerly jumped into discussions of student disposition towards problem solving, the new Common Core Mathematics Standards, and what they hoped their students would learn in their own classrooms.
After some discussion, the team decided that they wanted their students to really understand what it meant to "think critically." They agreed that their students are told the importance of critical thinking in many of their high school courses, yet this group of teachers felt that their students didn't truly understand what that meant. Additionally, they wanted their students to persist in solving problems, which is directly related to Common Core Math Practice #1. Therefore, their research goal was written as, "To provide a learning experience for students that fosters the internalization of critical thinking and persistence."
The Geometry group will meet again on November 12th to plan the specifics of their research lesson on abstracting angle relationships.
Chip and Anthony have worked together for the past 6 years and Joseph and Daniel used to be roommates during their time in the credential program at UCSD years ago. So, this group had an instant connection and worked together easily from the very beginning. Getting these 4 to talk about Geometry was no challenge whatsoever, and they eagerly jumped into discussions of student disposition towards problem solving, the new Common Core Mathematics Standards, and what they hoped their students would learn in their own classrooms.
After some discussion, the team decided that they wanted their students to really understand what it meant to "think critically." They agreed that their students are told the importance of critical thinking in many of their high school courses, yet this group of teachers felt that their students didn't truly understand what that meant. Additionally, they wanted their students to persist in solving problems, which is directly related to Common Core Math Practice #1. Therefore, their research goal was written as, "To provide a learning experience for students that fosters the internalization of critical thinking and persistence."
The Geometry group will meet again on November 12th to plan the specifics of their research lesson on abstracting angle relationships.