ECST Mathematics Department

Newsletter

April 17-21, 2023

ACTIONABLE ITEMs

Summer Job Postings

If you are interested in applying for summer positions, see the email from Donna Minneci (Thu 4/6/2023 11:24 AM). Remember to cc me on the email to jobs@essextech.org . Read the posting carefully as there is suggested wording for the subject line.

CALCULATOR PREPARATION

REPEAT NOTIFICATION! The SAT is Tuesday, April 25th for All Juniors. In preparation for the SAT, check your classroom set of TI-84s for any issues. Do you need batteries? Contact me. Any other issues? Contact me. The sets of calculators in the plastic containers will be collected Friday, April 21st by the building calculator czars. Please have them ready to go!

Parent Contacts

REPEAT NOTIFICATION! The end of the 3rd marking period is April 6th. If you have a student who is in danger of failing for the year and you have not had a parent conference as of today, CONTACT THE PARENT/GUARDIAN IMMEDIATELY! This contact should also involve a response (email/phone/in-person) from the parent. If there is difficulty in establishing contact, reach out to the guidance counselor for assistance.

REMINDERS & IMPORTANT NOTES

WED., APRIL 19 - APRIL DEPARTMENT MEETING at West Caldwell Tech
TUE., APRIL 25 - SAT School Day (11th grade only)
May 1 - 10 - PRACTICE NJSLA (Administered during 9th Gr Alg1 & Geo class scheduled time)
May 15-19 - NJSLA (9th: ALG1 or GEO, ELA9 ; 11th: Sci11)
WED., MAY 17 - MAY DEPARTMENT MEETING at Branch Brook Park

April Department Meeting Location Change!

The department meeting for April will take place at West Caldwell Tech's Environmental Center outdoor seating area (red star) next to culinary. You do not have to walk through the building to get to the location. Park in the lot and walk around to the far end of the building and enter through the gated area. You will see us (red star) as you drive into the parking lot (yellow arrows). See the map below.

ATTENTION 9TH GRADE TEACHERS!

The PRACTICE NJSLA will be delivered during class scheduled time from Monday, May 1st to Wednesday May 10th. (Unit 1 open from May 1-4 & Unit 2 open from May 5-10).

Before you send a student to IT, please refer to the items below. DO NOT send a student to IT unless you call their office first. The majority of the login issues that have been encountered:

If the START buttons are grey and not blue, then the student most likely needs to log out of the system. They should enter the TestNav app from the start screen.
If a message appears that the username or password is incorrect, then NEW JERSEY was not selected. You can verify this by making sure it says NEW JERSEY under the TestNav logo. To fix it, there is a dropdown in the upper right-hand corner with the option to change the customer.
If the student repeatedly has to be resumed, then the student device has unstable Wi-Fi connection issues which IT can remedy.

Arete Labs - Math Competition

The 2023 ECST Math Department competition will be called

Math Marvels Showdown

More information will be shared at the department meeting this week.

NJDOE Special Education Certification

NJCU can help general ed teachers easily add Teacher of Students with Disabilities (TOSD) certification or Learning Disabilities Teacher Consultant (LDTC) certification!

General education teachers with CEAS or Standard certificates may add Teacher of Students with Disabilities certification by requesting the Certificate of Eligibility (CE) for TOSD and enrolling in NJCU’s TOSD eligibility program. The CE for TOSD enables candidates to teach special education while completing requirements for certification.

Brief description of the TOSD and LDTC Certificate program: The TOSD eligibility program consists of only 7 online, asynchronous courses. It can be completed in one summer but would be more typically completed within a year plus summers. Courses for the TOSD can be applied toward a master’s degree in special education.

For more information, contact Ms. Landis or Dr. Jeter (pjeter@essextech.org )

Building Thinking Classrooms

THE LAST TWO CHAPTERS!!!!

Questions to reflect upon before we discuss chapters 13-14 at the April 19th department meeting:

Ch13: Has the way you use formative assessment changed over time? If so, why - what happened that prompted the change?
Ch13: Does the way you currently use formative assessment encourage or inhibit thinking?
Ch14: Can you think of instances where the grade your evaluation practice produced did not match with your judgement of what a specific student deserved? Did you change the grade? Whether you did or did not, what does that say about your judgement? What does that say about your evaluation practice?
Ch14: Does the way you currently grade encourage or inhibit thinking?