AMTNJ’s 2023 Summer Institutes
Learn to model mathematics in the classroom, assess students formatively, create new lesson plan ideas, and much more!
Institute #1: Ethnomathematics Focused Mathematical Modeling Tasks for Upper Elementary.
Target Audience: Grades 3 – 5 Teachers, Pre-Service Teachers, Pre-Service Educators, Specialists, Math Coaches, Supervisors, and
Administrators
Date: Tuesday, July 11, 2023
Location: Community Middle School at 95 Grovers Mill Road, Plainsboro
Presenter: Siddhi Desai
We will explore ethnomodeling tasks for Grades 3-5 which foster, center, honor, and respect students’ cultures, histories, and
identities AND focus on teaching and learning deep and meaningful mathematical content. Through an ethnomodeling approach we
will discuss ways to move from notice/wonder tasks towards mathematical modeling tasks that authentically attend to and value our
own, our students’ and our communities’ diverse cultures and identities. Workshop participants will leave with rich and meaningful
classroom-ready tasks that support students’ learning of mathematical content and foster a sense of belonging for each and every
student within their mathematics classrooms.
Institute #2: Ethnomathematics Focused Mathematical Modeling Tasks for Middle School.
Target Audience: Grades 6 – 8 Teachers, Pre-Service Teachers, Pre-Service Educators, Specialists, Math Coaches, Supervisors, and
Administrators
Date: Wednesday, July 12, 2023
Location: Community Middle School at 95 Grovers Mill Road, Plainsboro
Presenter: Siddhi Desai
We will explore ethnomodeling tasks for Grades 6-8 which foster, center, honor, and respect students’ cultures, histories, and
identities AND focus on teaching and learning deep and meaningful mathematical content. Through an ethnomodeling approach we
will discuss ways to move from notice/wonder tasks towards mathematical modeling tasks that authentically attend to and value our
own, our students’ and our communities’ diverse cultures and identities. Workshop participants will leave with rich and meaningful
classroom-ready tasks that support students’ learning of mathematical content and foster a sense of belonging for each and every
student within their mathematics classrooms.
Institute #3: Geometry – What’s the Point?
Target Audience: Grades 6 – 12 Teachers, Pre-Service Teachers/Educators, Specialists, Math Coaches, Supervisors, District Administrators
Date: Tuesday, July 25, 2023
Location: West Windsor / Plainsboro District at 321 Village Road East, West Windsor
Presenter: Andrea Bean
The middle school standards contain a lot of geometric ideas. This leaves many high school teachers wondering why we teach
geometry in high school. It has to be more than just proofs – right? We will look at the big ideas of high school geometry and the
best practices for teaching those ideas. We will explore the research and best practices for teaching those ideas.
Institute #4: Desmos Classroom v. Desmos Studio
Target Audience: Grades 6– 12 Teachers, Higher Education, Pre-Service Teachers, Supervisors and Coaches
Date: Tuesday, August 15, 2023
Location: Manalapan High School at 20 Church Lane, Englishtown
Presenter: Kathleen Carter
What’s going on with Desmos? This session will share updates regarding Desmos and Amplify. The session will allow participants to
engage in a Desmos Activity as a student and learn how to modify the activity or any of the free activities for use in their classroom. The
Desmos Classroom activities can be used to give every student a voice and generate authentic discussion to help students construct
knowledge. Math tasks that utilize the Desmos graphing calculator to support learning and conceptual understanding will also be shared. The content will focus on Algebra through Precalculus topics and examples of Calculus can be discussed. Bring your laptop!
Institute #5: Building Bridges in Math Class: Strategies for Creating a Collaborative Classroom
Target Audience: Grades 9– 12 Teachers, Specialists, Math Coaches, Supervisors, School & District Administrators
Date: Tuesday, August 16, 2023
Location: Manalapan High School at 20 Church Lane, Englishtown
Presenter: Kathleen Carter
How do you get the students to talk to each other? The return to “in-person” math class challenged teachers to recreate learning
communities. When I introduce myself and my passion for bridges, I establish the expectations for the class for the year. The yearlong theme creates an atmosphere that stimulates discussion and increases student engagement in learning. Building bridges has
transformed my classes into collaborative learning communities. The session will share math tasks for algebra through precalculus
topics to create discussion and allow students to develop their understanding of new material by “building” bridges to their prior
knowledge. Learn to create classroom norms from the first day of school to transform your classroom!
Institute #6: Making Meaning of Fractions
Target Audience: Grades 3– 6 Teachers, Specialists, Math Coaches, Supervisors, School & District Administrators
Date: Tuesday, August 22, 2023
Location: Endeavour Elementary School at 1 School Road, McGuire AFB
Presenter: Cheryl Fricchione
Fractions…just the word tends to cause strong reactions from students and teachers alike. They can be notoriously difficult to both learn and teach but are also crucial to students’ work with proportional reasoning that begins in 6th grade. We often teach fractions as referencing part of a whole, but did you know that there are actually five different interpretations of fractions? Yes, the part-whole interpretation of fractions is considered fundamental for developing an understanding of fraction concepts. However, research has shown that when students rely on this one interpretation their ability to generalize and to work with fraction concepts is limited. Therefore, addressing the other interpretations is important to develop a deep understanding of fractions. In this workshop, we will make meaning of all five interpretations of fractions.