PAEMST Selection Team Webinar May 1, 2012 Kitty Rutherford and Debra Hall Math Science

The Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching is the Highest Recognition that a kindergarten through 12 th grade mathematics or science teacher may receive for outstanding teaching in the United States.

Awardees receive: A certificate signed by the President of the United States A $10,000 award from NSF to be used at the awardee’s discretion A trip for two to Washington, D.C. for recognition events –These events include an award ceremony, celebratory receptions, professional development programs, and discussions with policy-makers on how to improve mathematics and science education.

2010 Presidential Awardees At The White House with President Obama

Who can apply for ? An applicant must: Teach mathematics or science at the K-6th grade level in a public or private school. Hold at least a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution. Be a full-time employee of the school or school district as determined by state and district policies, and teach K- 12 students at least 50% of the time. Have at least 5 years of full-time, K-12 mathematics or science teaching experience prior to the academic school year.

Who can apply? (Con’t) Teach in one of the 50 states or the four U.S. jurisdictions. –The jurisdictions are Washington, D.C.; Puerto Rico; Department of Defense Education Activity schools; and the U.S. territories as a group (American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands). Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. Not have received the PAEMST award at the national level in any prior competition or category.

Nominations and Applications Colleagues, Former Awardees, Principals, Students, Superintendents, Family Members, Friends ANYONE may nominate a teacher OR teachers may apply directly at K-6 th Grade Teachers: th -12 th Grade Teachers:

Selection Team Expectations Sign and return the confidentiality agreement Review names of applicants to avoid conflicts of interest Provide detailed feedback and a score in the portal for all areas of the applicant’s submission.

The Teacher Portal www. PAEMST.org

Username and Password A username and password will be sent to you.

Login Page Enter the username and password you received in your here.

Application Components There are three components to the online PAEMST application: Administrative Component Narrative Component Video Component

The Teacher Portal – My Application

Administrative Component The Administrative Component consists of: –Teacher Information Form –Employment Verification Form –Letters of Recommendation (three) –Résumé (not to exceed two pages) –Demographic Information Form (optional)

Narrative Component The narrative component consist of a written response that addresses the Five Dimensions of Outstanding Teaching and supplemental materials. The applicant will choose a topic or concept that is challenging for his or her students. The topic or concept will be used in the written response and when choosing a classroom lesson to video. The application may include supplemental material such as lesson plans, samples of student work, assessment items or publications.

Five Dimensions of Outstanding Teaching 1.Mastery of science or mathematics content knowledge appropriate to grade level 2.Use of appropriate instructional methods and strategies 3.Effective use of assessments 4.Reflective practice and life-long learning 5.Leadership in education

How are applications scored at each level? Each Dimension of Outstanding Teaching is scored with respect to demonstrated skills, knowledge, or performance using a four point scale. Reviewers use evidence from the applicant’s résumé, letters of recommendation, narrative, supplemental information, and the video to score each dimension. (4) Excellent – outstanding with no significant errors or limitations (3) Very Good – strong with no significant errors or limitations (2) Good – limited strengths or errors or weaknesses (1) Fair – limited strengths and errors or weaknesses

Possible Score Weighting Factor Points Possible Dimension One Dimension Two Dimension Three Dimension Four Dimension Five4-128 Total Possible Points Scoring Process

Dimension One Dimension One: Mastery of mathematics or science content appropriate for the grade level taught. (about 4 pages ) –1a. Discuss the mathematical or scientific ideas that are fundamental to understanding the chosen topic or concept. –1b. Explain why this topic or concept is important for students to learn and how it relates to more complex concepts that students will encounter in subsequent lessons, grades, or courses. –1c. Discuss the misconceptions or misunderstandings that students typically have with regard to this topic or concept.

Examples from Reviewers 1a Explained Newton’s laws, content...tied to standards. Some minor inaccuracies in language may give rise to misconceptions/misunderstandings 1b No description…just chart with vocab 1c Not explained fully as a misconception or misunderstanding, difference in acceleration and velocity not clear Score:

Dimension Two Dimension Two: Use of instructional methods and strategies that are appropriate for the students in the class and that support student learning. (about 4 pages) –2a. Describe the instructional approaches you used to help students understand the topic or concept chosen in Dimension One. –2b. Explain how you identify and build on students’ prior knowledge, and how this knowledge is addressed in your video and in your general teaching strategies. –2c. Discuss the instructional strategies and techniques you use to meet the learning needs of all students, challenging those with stronger knowledge while ensuring learning for less accomplished students.

Examples from Reviewers Allowing students to explore gives students freedom. Freedom of exploration evident. 2a Description of methods is not fully developed. Strategies evident on video but no necessarily in writing Reflection on teaching is not fully developed. SCORE:

Dimension Three Dimension Three: Effective use of student assessments to evaluate, monitor, and improve student learning. (about 3 pages) –3a. Describe how you assessed student learning and achievement for the topic discussed in Dimension One and shown on the video, and how you used what you learned from the assessment to improve your teaching. –3b. Discuss other specific ways that you routinely assess and guide student learning. You may include examples of formative or summative techniques, including student presentations, projects, quizzes, unit exams, or other methods. –3c. Provide evidence of your teaching effectiveness as measured by student achievement on school, district or state assessments, or other external indicators of student learning or achievement.

Examples from Reviewers 3a. Teacher uses a wide variety of tools to assess student learning –pre- assessment, formative assessments - journals, questioning to probe students to go deeper into their knowledge and to make connections, etc.; e.g. used journals to address misconceptions the following day 3b. Through the use of rubrics, she develops clear expectations of what is expected of students and how they will be assessed. Also she assessed learning through dialogue, questioning, pre-assessing, open-ended process questions, Study Island to determine weak areas for remediation, student- created review materials (e.g. tutorial podcasts), and common assessments. 3c. The teacher utilizes summative assessments as a way to determine changes to curriculum and teaching methods. The teacher's students perform very well on state tests with mean scores above the state average. EVAAS value-added report Score 4 x 7 = 28

Dimension Four Dimension Four: Reflective practice and life-long learning to improve teaching and student learning. (about 3 pages) –4a. Discuss the more successful and less successful aspects of the instructional activities shown in the video and discussed in the narrative, and describe what you might do differently to improve student learning. –4b. Describe how reflection on your teaching practices helps you improve your classroom instruction. You may provide examples of lessons or activities you revised based on this reflection. –4c. Using one or two of the professional development experiences cited in your résumé, describe how your participation in these activities has improved your teaching and enhanced student learning

Examples from Reviewers 4a. Teacher identified changes that could be made when completing the Archimedes in the bathtub activity. Students completed the activity independently and little or no discussion was then made about the activity. Having students discuss what they did for a few minutes would better allow students to make connections that they may have not made on their own. The teacher is able to identify areas of weakness in lessons and determine ways to improve upon the lesson in the future. She is constantly reflecting on lessons, changing and improving activities as they are being completed. She reflects on lessons and understands that students can often do the mechanics behind the math but not make the connections and apply their understanding. She has been able to reevaluate lessons and adjust them to create a deeper and richer understanding in which the students can make connections to the real world. 4b. The teacher has attended Partners for Mathematics Learning over the past three summers. This program has allowed her to focus on big ideas of math and how to facilitate these big ideas. She has presented the information and taught other teachers about best practices for mathematics education. This has allowed her to move from the traditional role of teacher as instructor to one of teacher as a facilitator of learning. I would have liked for her to discuss in a little more detail how the professional development has enhanced student learning. Score 3 x 2 = 6

Dimension Five Dimension Five: Leadership in education outside the classroom. (about 1 page) –5a. Describe how you have supported other teachers, student teachers or interns through activities such as induction, mentoring, leading professional development activities, or co-teaching. –5b. Describe how you contribute to educational excellence at the school, district, state or national level.

Examples from Reviewers 5a. The teacher supports other teachers in her school and community. She has lead workshops and summer programs to help strengthen science and mathematics instruction. She has also volunteered at other schools as well, teaching classes on modeling inquiry based learning. The teacher has mentored other teachers in her school and taken on a student teacher. She goes above and beyond her duties as a classroom teacher in providing support for other teachers. Her references note her love of learning and teaching other teachers about mathematics. 5b. She collaborates with other teachers in her school. Her role as math chair has helped enhance student learning by helping to provide all math classrooms with graphing calculators. She has developed professional learning communities in which teachers discuss best practices and have compiled notebooks containing shared resources. She has implemented higher level math courses in her school to help promote rigor. She actively participates in state and national math teacher organizations. Score 4 x 2 = 8

Technical Specifications for the Narrative Component Applicants used the Dimensions of Outstanding Teaching Template to ensure the required formatting is followed. Written response to the five Dimensions of Outstanding Teaching must: not exceed 15 pages. have the appropriate Dimension prompt before each Dimension response. 8.5 by 11-inch page dimensions, 1-inch margins, 12 ‑ point font. be double-spaced, bottom of page labeled. saved as a single file and uploaded into portal.

Narrative Template

Technical Specifications for Supplemental Materials Supplemental materials: should be noted in the written response. must be labeled with applicant name, Teacher ID, and page number. may not exceed 10 pages should include a list of citations or references if any research articles of materials are discussed. may be submitted in the following formats:.pdf or.doc or docx. Images(.gif.jpeg.jpg.png)

Video Component The video is used for evaluating the applicant’s performance on the Five Dimensions of Outstanding Teaching. The video must: Correspond to the narrative Be unedited continuous footage of one class period maximum of 45 minutes, faces visible, voices audible Have appropriate video release signatures The video should convey the applicant’s: depth of content knowledge ability to employ appropriate instructional methods ability to engage all students and assess student learning

What is the selection process? State Review – Math National Review – Math Up to 3 State Finalists State Review – Science National Review –Science Up to 3 State Finalists Presidential Awardees Up to 2 Per State

Timeline Nomination Deadline (K-6 th Grade Teachers) –April 1, 2012 Application Deadline –May 1, 2012 State Selection Committees Meet –May and June 2012 National Selection Committees Meet –July and August 2012 Recognition Events in Washington DC –Following Year (2013)

Remember! Application Deadline: May 1, 2012 For Application Assistance: State Coordinator ( For Technical Assistance: For General Program Assistance:

Timeline May 1- confidentiality agreement should be completed May 7 th – reply about Conflict if Interest (list of names) May11 - on-line reviewing will begin May 31 - all reviews should be completed

NC PAEMST Contact Information Science Debra Hall Mathematics Kitty Rutherford