Math-Olympics: Making Math Matter

 Teaching Tips  5 Responses »
Feb 232010
 

by Kristi Lindsay

My family and I are enjoying watching the 2010 Winter Olympics. We marvel at the speed skaters racing around the rink with skates barely catching on one another and skiers hurdling themselves down the mountain at break-neck speeds.

Photo Credit: Susan Gittins twitter.com/susangittins

But for me, as a mom and former educator, the best part of the Olympics is the real-world mathematics applications that occur with every event and venue. Some of these real-world math skills include counting backward, subtraction, numeric sequences, ordinal numbers, addition, greater than/less than, and charts and graphs, just to name a few.

I addressed many math skills and vocabulary with my own children as we watched the different Olympic competitions. For example, my sons

  • determined snowboarders’ ranks by evaluating if scores were greater than or less than the first place score
  • sequenced scores from least to greatest to determine the medalists
  • counted backwards from 45 as the speed skaters completed each round of their relay
  • discussed the concept of time because the relay and many other winter competitions were timed with the least time being the best score
  • tracked the medals won with a chart displayed on line.

Without knowing it, the boys utilized their newly acquired skills and enjoyed the benefits of using math in real-world situations. Their new math skills helped them better understand and appreciate the sports they were watching.

Math matters when it is relevant! And, the opportunities to make math relevant are endless. My former struggling students “got math” when I explained how the skills were applicable to their every day lives. When I used simple stories, funny poems, weather charts, sports statistics or scores, and recipes to introduce and reinforce math skills, the struggling learners grasped the skills quicker. The skills became relevant! That’s why when I wrote all of the Basic Math Practice series, I made sure to include many hands-on, real-world applications to introduce and reinforce the basic math skills addressed in each binder.

As educators and parents, I urge you to make learning math skills fun for your students and children. Find what interests them. Then take advantage of those real-world, teachable moments, such as the Olympics, and make abstract, seemingly irrelevant math skills matter.

How to Get Your Ideas Published by PCI, Part 3

 Uncategorized  No Responses »
Feb 152010
 

by Leslie Buteyn

Over the last few weeks, I’ve talked about what PCI looks for when reviewing product ideas that teachers submit for publication. I’d like to add a few more suggestions to the specific strategies I detailed in my last post.

Have a hook. If the product idea you’re submitting is similar to products already in the marketplace, why would someone want to publish it? Study the marketplace. Know what types of products are available. If your concept is similar to what’s already available, make sure that you’ve got a different angle to make your product stand out when compared to those other similar titles. Articulate that difference, and explain why your version is better.

Be focused. Make sure your product idea meets the needs of a specific student population. The focus shouldn’t be too narrow, nor should it be too broad. Sometimes teachers who submit ideas try to make their products a “one size fits all” solution, but we know as educators that some strategies work with certain populations and not with others. Know the student population you’re targeting, know what works and what doesn’t with that population, and design your product idea accordingly.

Test the idea with your students. Take the time to try out what you’ve developed with your students. Study how it works with your students, and then refine and improve it. Then, test it with your students again. Document the progress your students have made with learning the skills and/or concepts in your product idea.

Take the risk! Send your great product idea in to us. Let us take the time to review and study it to find out if it’s a fit for us. What a great reward to have your product idea published and in the hands of teachers and students everywhere!

For some examples of product ideas submitted by educators that have turned into successful products, see Cooking to Learn , Academic Curriculum Framework , and Conversation Start-Ups .

More about PCI Authors

 Uncategorized  1 Response »
Feb 092010
 

In the past few months, I’ve asked several of our authors to share a bit more information about who they are and what they do here at PCI.  As an avid blog reader myself, I like to get to know the people writing the posts, it makes me care more about what they have to say.  Maybe I’m alone in feeling that way – but I really don’t think so.

In any case, I submit for your pleasure a quick bio about Leslie Buteyn, Senior Content Director here at PCI Education.

Leslie Buteyn is tasked with developing products from the idea phase to the marketplace and is responsible for managing the development of many of PCI’s bestselling products. She has developed products for students from preschool age to adult in all subject areas.

Prior to her career at PCI, Buteyn was a middle school language arts and reading teacher in San Antonio. She holds a Bachelor’s in English and a Master’s in Teaching. Both degrees were earned at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.

Have questions for Leslie?  Please comment and I will make sure she receives them.

 Posted by at 12:10 pm

Special Education Teacher Makes Excellent Author!

 Uncategorized  1 Response »
Feb 012010
 

It’s hard for me, Kristi Lindsay, to believe that I have worked in education and education publishing for over fifteen years. After being state certified in two secondary areas, English and history, I also received my elementary and ESL certifications. I taught two and a half years in a multicultural and economically diverse school district in Houston, Texas. I used ESL teaching strategies daily in my second grade class.  After teaching second grade one year in Round Rock ISD, I entered the educational publishing world.

Prior to working with PCI, I worked for another international publishing company, editing and writing elementary spelling and reading texts. At PCI I have had the privilege of writing a plethora of teacher resources, activities, small readers, binders, board games, and software.

Despite all of the projects I’ve worked on, I am known as the “Basic Writer” at PCI. One of my greatest writing endeavors is the Basic Series, which includes Basic Reading, Basic Grammar, Basic Vocabulary, and Basic Math. These fourteen binders address the basic and essential skills students need to master in reading, language arts, and math. Other series developed from these “Basics”. The writing of the entire Basic Series was no small task, and took many years, but I am proud of each Basic for the following reasons:

  • Basic Grammar’s activities incorporate the multitude of teaching strategies I used to explain and exemplify confusing and challenging English grammar skills to my ESL students. I also found these skills to be beneficial for struggling readers and writers.
  • Basic Reading addresses ten reading skills through over 500 fiction and nonfiction stories that I painstakingly wrote at challengingly low reading levels. It was not easy to come up with so many different story topics!
  • Basic Vocabulary’s activities address and clarify many of the confusing skills, such as homonyms and multiple-meaning words, which made comprehending English difficult for my ESL students.
  • Basic Math was the most fun to write because I included many student-centered hands-on activities and small group work I used in my own teaching to make these abstract skills tangible and applicable to ESL and struggling readers.

I used my experience with multicultural, multilevel, and multilingual students to write these binders, and I am proud of their success. I feel this comprehensive series definitely covers the basics!