Who Should Participate
WestEd's Math Pathways & Pitfalls institutes appeal to K–8 classroom, after-school, and summer school teachers who want practical, evidence-based strategies and tools.
Goals for Institute Participants
Participants return to their classroom comfortable using Math Pathways & Pitfalls strategies and adapting them to their district-adopted curriculum to boost equity, solid mathematical thinking, and improved mathematics achievement.
Teachers attending this institute will learn ways to help their students overcome pitfalls, boost learning of key mathematics standards, and develop academic language. The institutes also highlight crucial strategies for working with diverse learners, including English learners. Rigorous studies have shown that lessons that incorporate Math Pathways & Pitfalls strategies can have a positive impact on learning in diverse classrooms.
What You Learn
Over a period of three days, participants will:
- Understand how to turn stubborn pitfalls into pathways for learning
- Learn ways to help students take a proactive stance toward their own learning and catch their own mistakes
- Learn ways to enhance student performance on assessments
- Understand the role of academic language development in academic success
- Practice facilitating productive discussions in mathematics
- Investigate how to develop mathematical language
- Collect strategies to develop a community of respectful learners
- Identify how to address multiple modalities
- Learn how to foster risk taking among diverse students
What Resources Support Your Learning
Teachers will learn how to use Math Pathways & Pitfalls strategies and lessons with their district-adopted curriculum. Each participant will receive:
- Intervention lessons and teaching guides that tackle critical pitfalls
- Discussion Builders poster
- CD with black line masters
- DVD for students and teacher professional development
Who Facilitates Your Learning
Workshops will be led by Alma Ramirez and Jose Franco (Co-Directors of Math Pathways & Pitfalls at WestEd with Carne Clarke).
Ramirez has been an educator for 20 years, serving as a bilingual elementary and middle school teacher of English learners in urban settings. In addition, Ramirez has considerable expertise as a professional developer and mathematics curriculum writer. The majority of her time is spent producing rigorous and accessible materials for students, including English learners, who have traditionally been underrepresented in mathematics. Ramirez has been a pre-K, elementary, and middle school textbook author, and has consulted in a number of mathematics professional and curriculum development projects focused on equity and access.
Franco served for 13 years as the director of the EQUALS Program at the University of California, Berkeley, with emphasis on English language development in mathematics and effective pedagogy. Franco was also a K-6 bilingual teacher for over a decade. He has conducted numerous presentations on family involvement, equity, mathematics education, and second language acquisition at the local, state, national, and international levels.
What Is the Cost
The three-day institute and materials (valued at $165) cost $1,000 per participant. Teachers participating in teams of three or more are eligible to attend the workshop for $975 each.
When Is the Next Institute
August 16–18, 2011
Oakland, CA
Download the August 16–18 Registration Form (PDF)
Contact us to learn more about hosting a Math Pathways & Pitfalls Institute at your site.
Contact Information
Alma Ramirez510.302.4249
aramire@wested.org
"Student interest is high — some are still discussing a lesson days later. Math Pathways & Pitfalls lessons bring students’ math awareness to a higher level. Students’ ability to evaluate possible solutions has been enhanced."
— Fifth/Sixth-Grade Teacher
