Stop the Presses! Numeracy Across the Curriculum

12/11/2006 11:12:00 pm

I had the hardest time preparing for the workshop I gave at Elmwood High School last Friday. It was about numeracy across the curriculum. The questions I asked myself were: "How do I talk to a bunch on non-math teachers about weaving numeracy into their daily teaching? Not as something extra or an add-on; they already have enough to do. How can I make a "scary" subject like math accessible and palatable to a bunch of non-math folks? And, how can busy teachers integrate numeracy into their regular curriculum?"

Oy! How do I get into these things? (A friend asked and I said yes.)

About two weeks ago I posted about it and asked if anyone had any suggestions, or examples to share, of how they had integrated numeracy into the teaching of non-math subjects. Six people contributed some content to the numeracy wiki or shared resources with me. I want to thank Sarah Chauncey (Library Media Specialist, Grandview Elementary School), Kelly Christopherson (administrator, Eston composite School), Chris Harbeck (Teacher, Sargent Park School), Terry Freedman (ICT Consultant, UK) and Ian Dixon (Mathematics and Psychology teacher) and Laurie May (English teacher, Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute).

Here is the presentation I gave as a series of videos ... some of the content comes from YouTube. I've remixed the audio recording of the workshop with my PowerPoint slides into videos I hosted at google video. YouTube has a 10 minute time limit for videos that are uploaded unless you are a "Director." I'm not sure I would have been accepted as a YouTube director and google video doesn't have the same restrictions. The quality of the video is best viewed at google video. Select "original size" from the pop-up menu that you will find there in the bottom right hand corner of the video window.

I've already got a number of ideas about how to make this a better workshop next time around. Nonetheless, as always, your comments, questions, compliments, complaints, confusions, anxieties and other inquiries are welcomed and encouraged ...


The Introduction ... (4 min 28 sec)

You Need Math ... (3 min 9 sec)

First half of workshop (50 min 50 sec) ....

We took a 15 minute break ... then ... (2 min 41 sec)

1 Billion is Big ... (3 min 13 sec)

This is the end ... (22 min 20 sec)

Update December 13, 2006
PowerPoint Slides
Audio: Part 1 (30.6 Mb, 63 min. 43 sec.) Part 2 (15.2 Mb, 31 min. 42 sec.)

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3 comments

  1. Darren,

    Awesome presentation. Thanks for sharing it with us!

    John

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks fellas!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Just wanted to say thank you for the links to the YouTube videos.

    Our copier is broken, so I need some time fillers in my math class. I linked to the videos on my blog and let the students watch them and we discussed how important math is in our everyday lives. I tried to get them to comment, but when we made it to the computer lab the videos wouldn't show up with the students settings. Par for the course I guess.

    ReplyDelete