Week 1:

Monday, Jan 7: first day of class

Due Wednesday, Jan 9: 1) Write a 1-2 page essay about your current thoughts on teaching math. What are the strengths in your preparation so far? What (in math) do you think you are best prepared to teach? What (in math) are you most concerned about teaching? In what do you think you need more preparation? What kind of preparation do you think would help you most? (This will count as a checked homework.)

2) Hand in the anonymous MATH 5003 inventory.

3) Read about MATH 5003 at the following websites:

Basic information about these sections of MATH 5003

About MATH 5001, 5002, and 5003

Week 2:

Due Monday, Jan 14: (to be checked) Explain class activity 1A. Elaborate on your answers, pulling together the ideas.

Due Wednesday, Jan 16: (to be checked) Over the next several classes we will be studying excerpts from the article Building on Informal Knowledge Through Instruction in a Complex Content Domain: Partitioning, Units, and Understanding of Multiplication of Fractions by Nancy K. Mack. We will focus on the following questions:

1) What are the mathematical ideas involved in understanding fraction multiplication deeply?

2) What do the children understand about fraction multiplication at different stages of instruction?

3) How does the teacher/researcher help the children develop their understanding?

Due Wednesday, January 16:

1) Read the indicated excerpts of the article.

2) After reading the article, briefly write your initial thoughts on the three questions above. Pick only one teaching episode from the article for your response to questions 2 and 3 (you may pick different episodes for 2 and 3).