CI 176: Mathematics Instruction and Applied Assessment

California State University, Fresno
Multiple Subject Credential Program
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Spring 2020

Instructor

Jeanie Behrend

Office

ED 231

Email

jeanb@csufresno.edu

Telephone

559-278-0235

Office hours

By appointment

Units

3

Class time

Tuesdays, 4:00–6:50 p.m.

Location

ED 400

Catalog Course Description

This course is designed to prepare teacher candidates to plan instruction based on the assessment of students’ mathematical understanding and to teach mathematics using multiple strategies and methods in culturally and linguistically diverse elementary classrooms.

Multiple Subject Program Requirements

This course is required in Phase 2 of the Multiple Subject Program. Taken concurrently, Field Study B is designed to provide the classroom access necessary to complete the assignments in this course. Teacher candidates not enrolled in Field Study B will need to make special arrangements with the instructor.

Students are generally expected to spend approximately two hours studying outside class for every hour spent in class. Because this is a three-unit course, students should expect to study an average of six hours outside class each week.

Prerequisite

Successful completion of Phase 1 of the Multiple Subject Credential Program.

Required Course Materials

• Carpenter, T. P., Fennema, E., Franke, M. L., Levi, L., & Empson, S. B. (2015). Children’s mathematics: Cognitively guided instruction (2nd ed.). Heinemann.
• California Department of Education. (2013). California Common Core State Standards for Mathematics.

Recommended Course Materials

• Teaching Channel (optional; $10 per month).

Course Goals

This course is designed to examine teacher candidates’ and students’ conceptions of mathematics, explore instructional strategies and assessments that develop a problem-based view of mathematics, and encourage critical thinking.

Learning Outcomes

The learning outcomes are aligned with the 2016 Teaching Performance Expectations (TPEs) and the Kremen School of Education and Human Development dispositions: Reflection, Critical Thinking, Professional Ethics, Valuing Diversity, Collaboration, and Lifelong Learning.

Curriculum, Planning, and Instructional Strategies

The teacher candidate will:

• Demonstrate an understanding of current national and state mathematics content standards, applicable English Language Development Standards, and their responsibility for student academic learning outcomes related to the standards. (TPE 1.6, 3.1)
• Use knowledge of students’ backgrounds, interests, and needs to plan mathematics instruction that provides access to all students. (TPE 1.1, 1.4, 3.2, 3.5, 4.1, 4.4, 5.7, 5.8)
• Identify characteristics of a secure environment that encourages intellectual risk-taking and fosters students’ positive attitudes, curiosity, flexibility, communication, and persistence in mathematics. (TPE 1.5, 1.6, 2.2, 2.5, 2.6, 3.5, 4.4)
• Use and adapt instructional materials for mathematics, including software and other technology resources, that develop students’ adaptive reasoning, strategic competence, conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and productive disposition. (TPE 1.3, 1.5, 3.2, 3.5, 3.6, 4.6, 4.8)
• Demonstrate the ability to organize instruction to make mathematical concepts concrete and meaningful by:
  1. Engaging students in the exploration of real-world problems and multiple representations;
  2. Encouraging discussion of multiple approaches to mathematics problems;
  3. Requiring students to construct logical arguments based on evidence; and
  4. Providing clear explanations and appropriate academic language.
  (TPE 1.3, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 4.7)

Assessment

The teacher candidate will:

• Identify, evaluate, adapt, and apply methods for assessing children’s understanding of mathematics, including observation, questioning, student work, scoring guides, written tests, student journals, self-assessment, and portfolios. (TPE 4.3, 5.1, 5.3, 5.4)
• Interpret evidence gathered through assessment strategies and use it to pace mathematics instruction and address students’ misconceptions. (TPE 1.8, 5.2, 5.8)
• Manage records related to students’ academic progress in mathematics and communicate student progress to students, families, and administrators. (TPE 1.2, 4.1, 5.4, 5.5)
• Examine different assessment methods and identify the purposes for which each method is most effective. (TPE 5.1)

Professional Educator

The teacher candidate will:

• Consider personal biases and how they affect the teaching and learning of mathematics. (TPE 2.5, 6.2; Valuing Diversity)
• Examine their own pedagogical practices related to mathematics instruction and reflect on the importance of planning and implementing mathematics instruction to improve student learning. (TPE 6.1, 6.3; Reflection)
• Analyze, discuss, and evaluate professional resources, including research studies related to mathematics education, as tools for improving mathematics instruction. (TPE 6.3; Critical Thinking; Lifelong Learning)

Major Assignments and Examinations

Math Attitude Survey: 20 Points

Teacher candidates will use one of the provided survey instruments to collect mathematics-attitude data from an entire class or a small group of students in their field placement. The data will be organized on a data-collection form. Teacher candidates will analyze the data and reflect on what they learned about students’ attitudes toward mathematics and how this information can be used to enhance instruction. Additional details will be provided.

Student Interview: 50 Points

Teacher candidates will conduct two interviews with a student to assess the student’s mathematical knowledge. The student, preferably in grades K–6, does not need to be in the candidate’s field placement. The protocol for the first interview will be provided. Teacher candidates will create problems for the second interview based on what they learned about the student’s mathematical knowledge and any additional information they would like to obtain.

The completed assignment will contain:

1. A table listing the interview problems and briefly describing the student’s responses;
2. An analysis of the student’s mathematical knowledge that cites specific evidence from the interview;
3. A three- to four-minute video clip from the interview, or a description of two interview problems, that highlights questioning techniques; and
4. A reflection on the interview process.

Additional details will be provided.

Journal Articles 1 and 2: 15 Points Each

Twice during the semester, teacher candidates will participate in a scored, in-class group assignment. Candidates will be assigned an article to read before class and must arrive prepared to discuss it with their assigned group. During class, groups will discuss the article, prepare a poster addressing specific prompts, and share information about the article with their classmates. Additional details will be provided.

Mathematics Instruction: 30 Points

Teacher candidates will work individually or in groups to research a mathematics topic appropriate for their grade level. The selected topic may be used to prepare for the Site Visitation Project (SVP), which is the Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA) in EHD 178. Additional information will be provided.

Mathematics Lesson Plan: 50 Points

Teacher candidates will demonstrate the ability to plan a problem-solving mathematics lesson, anticipate students’ strategies during the lesson, and reflect on elements of the lesson. The lesson plan may be connected to the topic selected for the Mathematics Instruction assignment. Teaching the lesson is recommended but not required. Additional information will be provided.

Midterm Examination: 30 Points

The midterm examination will focus on understanding word-problem types and children’s strategies for solving problems from Children’s Mathematics: Cognitively Guided Instruction. Both group and individual components will be included. Additional information will be provided.

Final Examination: 30 Points

The final examination will focus on lesson planning and other course content. Additional information will be provided.

Assignment and Examination Schedule

Course Policies

Grading and Assignments

The major assignments completed outside class—the Math Attitude Survey, Student Interview, Mathematics Instruction assignment, and Mathematics Lesson Plan—will be graded using rubrics. Each of these assignments may be redone for a better score. Examinations and group assignments completed in class may not be redone for a better score.

Attendance and Participation

As indicated above, 60 points will be awarded for attendance, participation, and the final reflection. This is not solely a lecture-and-reading course. Active participation in hands-on activities, discussions, and reading assignments is required.

Teacher candidates may earn:

• One point per hour of attendance: 14 sessions × 3 points, for a maximum of 42 points;
• One participation point per session, for a maximum of 14 points; and
• Four points for the final course reflection.

Participation points will be based on the following criteria:

• Being prepared for class and completing assigned readings and tasks;
• Contributing to the class’s knowledge of mathematics, instruction, assessment, and connections between course content and the classroom;
• Demonstrating a willingness to ask questions;
• Making efforts to include all class members;
• Showing awareness of differing opinions;
• Demonstrating sensitivity to people’s beliefs and feelings;
• Maintaining a positive attitude; and
• Demonstrating professionalism, including arriving on time, notifying the instructor of absences, and responding professionally to feedback.

Grading Scale

Late Assignments

Assignments are expected to be completed on time. If you cannot submit one of the major assignments—the Math Attitude Survey, Student Interview, Mathematics Instruction assignment, or Mathematics Lesson Plan—by its due date, notify the instructor in writing and state when you plan to submit it. A late assignment will receive a 10% deduction from the possible points if the instructor has not received written notice of your intent. Other assignments must be submitted on their due dates to receive credit.

Cell Phones

Out of respect for everyone’s learning experience, cell phones may not be used for calls or texting during class except in an emergency. If they become a distraction, the instructor will ask students to put them away.

Confidentiality

The privacy and identity of children and their families must be protected in all written materials. When writing about a child, the recommended language is: “For the purpose of this study, I will refer to the observed student as Child A.”

Subject to Change

This syllabus and schedule are subject to change in the event of extenuating circumstances. If you are absent from class, it is your responsibility to check for announcements made during your absence.

Tentative Course Schedule

Check Canvas for schedule changes.

Recommended Professional Journals

• Teaching Children Mathematics—preschool through grade 6 mathematics
• Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School—middle-school mathematics
• Educational Leadership—general education
• Phi Delta Kappan—general education
• Journal for Research in Mathematics Education—mathematics-education research
• Elementary School Journal—elementary-education research
• American Educational Research Journal—general education research

University Policies

Students with Disabilities

Upon identifying themselves to the instructor and the university, students with disabilities will receive reasonable accommodations for learning and evaluation. For more information, contact Services for Students with Disabilities in Henry Madden Library, room 1202, at 559-278-2811.

Honor Code

Members of the CSU Fresno academic community adhere to principles of academic integrity and mutual respect while engaged in university work and related activities.

Students should:

1. Understand or seek clarification about expectations for academic integrity in this course, including prohibitions against cheating, plagiarism, and inappropriate collaboration;
2. Neither give nor receive unauthorized assistance on examinations or other coursework used by the instructor as the basis for grading; and
3. Take responsibility for monitoring academic dishonesty in any form and reporting it to the instructor or another appropriate official for action.

Cheating and Plagiarism

Cheating is the actual or attempted practice of fraudulent or deceptive acts for the purpose of improving one’s grade or obtaining course credit; such acts also include assisting another student to do so. Typically, such acts occur in relation to examinations. However, it is the intent of this definition that the term “cheating” not be limited to examination situations only, but that it include any and all actions by a student that are intended to gain an unearned academic advantage by fraudulent or deceptive means.

Plagiarism is a specific form of cheating that consists of the misuse of the published or unpublished works of others by misrepresenting the material—that is, their intellectual property—as one’s own work.

Penalties for cheating and plagiarism range from a zero or F on a particular assignment, through an F for the course, to expulsion from the university. For more information about the university’s policy regarding cheating and plagiarism, refer to the legal notices in the Class Schedule or the policies and regulations in the University Catalog.

Make-Up Policy for Planned and Unplanned Absences

In the case of an unplanned absence, papers, tests, and homework assignments due during the absence may be made up only if the student contacts the instructor as soon as practicable after the absence and works out a plan.

For authorized absences resulting from university-sponsored activities, students should expect to submit their work on or before the due date or as otherwise arranged with the instructor. This requirement includes papers, tests, and homework assignments. See the grading policy for additional information.

When a student is absent for an extended period, a viable make-up plan may not be feasible. In these circumstances, other options—such as dropping the class for a serious and compelling reason or withdrawing from the university—may be appropriate.

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