MAGN 107

Mathematical Literacy

Fall 2020 Course Syllabus

Course information: MAGN 107 CRN ***** Section ***

Student hours: By appointment in Zoom

Please contact me through email or remind to schedule a Zoom session

Synchronized* session times: Tuesdays and Thursdays 2:00 pm - 3:15 pm

*Synchronous learning refers to a learning event in which a group of students are engaging in learning at the same time.

Contact Information - Please reach out if you have questions

Email: whitebm@morrisville.edu

Remind: I will be using the Remind app this semester to be able to send you quick messages. You can also send messages to me using this app.

What is appropriate to ask? Questions pertaining to the course such as where to find information, if you need help with a topic, how you can receive additional help from a tutor, if you need technical support, etc.

What is not appropriate to ask? Questions pertaining to your personal situation or anything of a personal nature about your fellow students. If you have a specific request, such as an assignment extension, or if you know that you will not be able to make our collaboration session please contact me via email or Remind.

I encourage you to connect with your classmates in Blackboard or through email, text, Remind, SnapChat, etc. Regularly access your course in Blackboard to view your course Announcements, items To Do, Alerts, and engage in Discussion Boards with your classmates and myself. If you are unfamiliar with Blackboard, here is a helpful training resource, which can also be found in your Blackboard course.

Support is often needed and can be very helpful! I want you to be successful.

Welcome to MAGN 107!

I am very excited to be working with you this semester. My name is Brenda Oursler White, but my students usually refer to me as Professor White. I have been teaching mathematics at SUNY Morrisville since January 2000. Outside of the classroom, some of the things that interest me and that I enjoy are traveling (when the world was a bit more normal), gardening, spending time with my husband, children and two cats, reading out on my deck, and listening to music.

Teaching Philosophy

My role as an instructor is to provide all of my students with effective opportunities to learn. I will act as a guide or a facilitator. I will demonstrate my ability to listen to my students and learn from them. My students will take an active role in their learning and will engage in opportunities to productively struggle with the process of learning. I believe that students should be able to have choices and let their curiosity direct their learning. I will design my course so that students have the opportunity to practice skills. It is my responsibility to ensure that all students feel that they belong and are able to find their voice in our virtual classroom.

Equity...

Equity is a framework that deepens the commitment to providing welcoming and supportive environments that are based upon equity principles and high-impact practices to address disparities, close achievement gaps, and meet the needs of each student.
Equity promotes resilience, confidence, connection and success in all disciplines
Equity eliminates the achievement gap
Equity brings joy in teaching and learning

Productive Persistence

Tenacity + Good Efforts

Productive Struggle

Productive struggle seeks to engage students in challenging learning opportunities designed to promote thinking about important mathematics concepts. Productive struggle causes students to explore as they develop strategies and their own thinking about the use of mathematics to investigate a question.

The ultimate goal of productive struggle is to encourage students to make meaning of mathematical content for themselves.

Explicit Connection

Making explicit connections helps reinforce earlier learning and builds a strong foundation for future understanding.

Explicit connections enable students to routinely ask themselves questions that constitute mature mathematical learning habits: how is this like something I already know, how is this related to other ideas or techniques that I have studied before, and what kinds of problems can I solve with this?

Deliberate Practice

Deliberate practice requires students to think about the approach they are using to solve the problems, why they are choosing that particular approach, and how the approach must be adapted for appropriate use in a new context or problem.

Often these require students to stretch their learning and to apply it in a new way.

Transitioning from a Dependent to an Independent Learner

The Dependent Learner

Is reliant on the teacher to carry most of the cognitive load of a task
Is unsure of how to tackle a new task
Cannot complete a task without scaffolds
Will sit passively and wait if stuck until teacher intervenes
Doesn't retain information well or doesn't retain information well or "doesn't get it."

The Independent Learner

Relies on the teacher to carry some of the cognitive load temporarily
Utilizes strategies and processes for tackling a new task
Regularly attempts new tasks without scaffolds
Has cognitive strategies for getting unstuck
Has learned how to retrieve information from long-term memory

My role as your teacher

respecting differences

our changing world

Mindset: "The established set of attitudes held by a person."

The four learning mindsets

Growth Mindset

"WITH HARD WORK AND EFFORT, I CAN GET SMARTER AND BETTER."

Someone with a growth mindset believes that intelligence and ability are a function of hard work and practice. Success is a product of the accumulation of directed effort and persistence in the face of setbacks. These students choose more difficult problems for the challenge and opportunity to learn.

The opposite of a growth mindset is a fixed mindset. Someone with this mindset believes that talent, intelligence, and success are inherited or magically achieved. They think that some people are simply smart and no amount of effort will make them smarter. When faced with hard problems, they usually stop working well before those with growth mindsets.

Self Efficacy Mindset

"I CAN SUCCEED."

Self-efficacy is the belief in one's own ability to complete tasks and reach goals (Ormrod, 2006). Those with this mindset believe that they can succeed and create pathways to success. These pathways are usually in the form of extra help from a teacher, peer edits or reviews, and utilizing other resources available.

Sense of Belonging

"I BELONG IN THIS COMMUNITY"

When students believe they belong and are welcomed into a learning community, they tend to be more engaged in the learning process. This sense of belonging can be as small as a peer group or as big as a school. When you surround yourself with a group of people, you tend to form a collective set of values. Surrounding yourself with people who work hard and believe they can succeed will influence your mindset.

Relevance and Purpose

"THIS WORK HAS PURPOSE FOR ME."

When students value the work they are doing or the skills they are developing, they are more engaged and excited about learning. If students can see the value of what they are learning or even how different skills can be used across disciplines, they feel a sense of control over what they are learning and how it applies to them.

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