Name: Jane Castner

MAT 598 Internship in Mathematics Leadership

Weekly Progress and Reflections
Date
Filed
9/25

9/26

9/26

9/27

Internship
Activity
Planning with
mentor
Planning
collaboratively

Hours
Spent
2

Met with principal

.5

Research

Planning for
intervention
Total for the week
ending 9/25:
Professional
Development
Project
Professional
Development
Project
Mentoring

Brief Description
I met with Ms. Sias to plan the upcoming math
unit and grading policies twice during the week
Met with Ms. Warner regarding implementing
problem solving co-teaching and topics for
problems for 2nd graders
Met with the principal to discuss upcoming
professional development opportunities for the
staf
Researched best practices and ideas for making a
school/home connection.
Developed and planned the intervention for
students in 5th grade not meeting expectation.

5.5
.5

Met with Ms. Lazzaro and Ms. Smith regarding the

Professional Development Project

2.5

Began creating Edmodo site and gathering

resources for presentation

9/27
9/28

Intervention
Cross-level
Planning

.5
1

9/29

Family Connection

1.5

10/1

Family Connection
plan
Total for the week
ending 10/2
Cross-level
Planning
Mentoring
Family Connection

Met with Ms. Sias and discussing the use of

manipulatives, songs and movements to help
students with place value
Met with student for intervention and did a
Met with Ms. Warner to plan our first co-teaching
on problem solving. Reviewed second grade
curriculum.
Reached out to team leaders regarding
newsletters. Researched curriculum, and ideas to
for ways to help at home
Created games for Kindergarten

Total so far 13.5

1.5

Co-taught with Ms. Warner in 2nd grade and met

with to discuss
Met with Ms. Sias to do collaborative planning

10/4
10/4
10/5

1
3

10/6

Mentoring

10/7

Professional
Development
Project
Professional
Development
Project
Total for the week
ending 10/9
Cross-level
Planning
Mentoring
Professional
Development
Project
Family Connection
Total for the week
ending 10/9
Cross-level
Planning
Mentoring
Family Connection
Professional
Development
Project
Intervention

10/8

10/10
10/11
10/12

10/13

10/17
10/18
10/19
10/20

10/1710/20
10/23
10/24
10/25
10/2310/30
10/2310/28

Cross-level
Planning
Mentoring
Family Connection
Professional
Development
Project
Intervention

Co-taught with Ms. Sias on the shifts in place

value
Met with the Math Specialist for our building and
continued the planning for the professional
development.
Worked on presentation

9.5

Total so far 23

.5

Met with Ms. Warner regarding next meeting

1
1

Ms. Sias Collaborative planning

Continued work on presentation

.5
3

Worked on newsletter item for 4th grade

Total so far 26

1.5

Co-taught with Mrs. Warner and met with to

discuss.
Ms. Sias Collaborative planning
Worked on newsletter item for 2nd & 3rd grades
Worked on Professional development
plan/Edmodo site resources

1
1
2

2
7.5
.5

11/1
10/3111/6
10/31-

Cross-level
Planning
Mentoring
Professional
Development
Project
Intervention

Total to date: 33.5

Planned with Ms. Warner using BeeBots

1
1
3

Ms. Sias Collaborative planning

Worked on newsletter items for K, 1, & 5
Worked on Professional development
plan/Edmodo & LiveBinder site resources

Small group continued focus on place value began

giving diagnosic
Total to date: 43
Co-Taught with Ms. Warner using BeeBots

9.5
10/31

Small group continued focus on place falue

1.5
1
5

Ms. Sias Collaborative planning

Worked on Professional development plan and
presentation

Small group continued focus on place value began

11/4
11/7

11/711/13
11/7
11/911/11
11/13

11/14

11/15
11/14 11/18

Professional
Development
Project
Professional
Development
Project
Mentoring
Intervention
Cross Grade

Professional
Development
Project
Mentoring
Intervention

10.5
3

Professional development plan worked on followup

1
1

Ms. Sias Collaborative planning

Analyzing diagnostics

.5

Creating a school-wide board for Problems of the

Month
Total to date: 61
Met with Math Specialist

7.5
2

1
3

Ms. Sias Collaborative planning

Using Diagnostics to work with students on
number sense
Creating a school-wide board for Problems of the
Month/ First in Math
Total to date: 68
Ms. Sias Collaborative planning
Using Diagnostics to work with students on
number sense

11/17

Cross Grade

11/22
11/21
12/2

Mentoring
Intervention

7
1
4

11/29

Professional
Development
Cross Grade

12/1

giving diagnostic to second student

Total to date: 53.5
Professional development presentation

3
2
10

Met with Math Specialist to continue planning for

future PD.
Creating a school-wide board for Problems of the
Month/ First in Math
Total to date: 78

Reflective Comments (by week):

9/25/16
During this week I worked on confirming the details of the plan and began
working with colleagues on confirming times and areas to work on. Teachers were
very receptive of ideas and welcomed any support.
Comments (by Elaine Lazzaro): This is a good start. I am glad that the
teachers are open to having you work with them. I imagine you will be
looking at problem solving for Mathematical Practices 1 for each of the
teams.

10/2/16
Prof. Dev.
So I am still waiting to hear when the PD will occur, but I am proceeding with
planning it. I am researching real world math problems for each grade level for
teachers to try with their students and bring to the first face-to-face meeting. I
think Ill be going with tasks from Illustrative Mathematics site for each. They are
rich problems that are open ended. Ive set up the Edmodo site and hope to have
teachers join next week to begin to collaborate.
Mentoring
Mentoring with Julia has been very productive. I have been helping her with
the resources that we have available at our school. This week we focused on the
manipulative materials we have available as well as activities. We worked on
planning the unit and how she could introduce the topics in NBT. Julia has been very
open to suggestions and I hope to be able to co-teach with her next week on
teaching about the value of each digit and how they are related to other digits by
factors of 10.
Intervention
I have started the intervention with the students with very mixed results. The
focus of the intervention is on whole place value to help prepare the students for
the 5th grade place value unit which has a focus on decimals. Out of the 11
students in the intervention 7 of them after our session were able to correctly
identify the value of each place at 90% or better. The other 4 scored less than 50%.
From this point on, I will be working with the students in two separate groups. The
students who were successful we will move on to comparing and rounding numbers.
The others will continue to use base ten blocks and digi-blocks to build numbers.
Family Connection
Im working on the newsletter items for each grade level team. My plan is to
have those all completed by mid-week.
Cross Grade
I am very excited to co-teach with Ms. Warner. We will do our first problem
solving session this coming week! I have taught 1 st grade, and am excited to work
with primary students.
Comments (by Elaine Lazzaro):
You have had an extremely productive week. For your Professional
Development, it is a great plan to go ahead and get it started. Are you
worried that your principal might not give you time after all? Is there a

reason for the delay? Will the teachers visit the Edmondo site you are
creating for open ended problem solving? I know it will be beneficial to
all.
It looks like you and Julia will work well together for the benefit of the
children. Helping her by finding resources, as well as how to introduce
topics in Number and Base Ten, is a great plan.
Will you have time to work with two groups for intervention? Are these
students in your class? Digi-blocks is a great resource as well as base ten
blocks. Do you also have decimal squares in your school? That is my
favorite. Also using grid paper is helpful as they move from the concrete
to the pictorial.
I am very happy that you have an over-arching theme of problem solving
and communication with your whole plan. It is working smarter in my
opinion. I am so impressed.

10/9/16
Professional Development Project
After meeting with our Math Specialist, I was disappointed on a couple
aspects. I was told that the first opportunity for me to present would be at the Nov
professional development meeting. That our administration wanted us to be
presenting the progressions of NBT. I informed her that our staf did that last year,
but she insisted that we do it again this year. Teachers will be reviewing the
progressions for their grade level and another grade. We will then review tasks and
determine which grade level they would be appropriate for. I am working on
creating a database of tasks. I hope to be able to squeeze in a sneak preview on
our next meeting where teachers can discover how to create real-world tasks.
Mentoring
Ms. Sias and I developed an activity to help student understand how the
shifts in our place value system work by playing hopscotch to move us and down
the place value chart. The students really like getting outside and physical activity,
plus it helps with our Project Aces. They definitely had a better understanding of
powers of ten and the shifts within the base ten system.
Intervention
With the shortened week, I only met with my intervention groups twice, and
one of the four in the more intense group was absent for the week. The smaller

group is making good progress with a focus on whole numbers first. My other group
is working hard and all students are showing mastery with rounding.
Family Connection
This week I worked on writing and sending newsletter items to team leaders
to add to their newsletters.
Cross Grade
I team taught with Ms. Warner in her second grade classroom. The students
were very receptive. I showed them a number line game and they needed to come
up with the directions. The students had to show perseverance, communicate
mathematically, reason, and construct viable arguments to determine the rules for
the game.

Comments by Elaine Lazzaro: 10/9/16

I agree that the change in plans for your Professional Development is disappointing.
This happens all of the time in the Math Specialist world, where the principal makes
the decisions, even for you. I am not concerned, as long as you are able to plan,
execute, and then follow up on the plan. You will hopefully be able to follow up in
December with what you will be doing in November.
I am glad that your intervention group is making progress. I am also glad that you
are addressing the Standards for Mathematical practice.
Good week.

10/16/16 (Short week)

Family Connection
I began work on November newsletter items. Second grade decided to
publish the hints next month instead, so only need to work on 5 grade levels.
Mentoring
I continued to work with Ms. Sias on planning for her 5 th grade class. She is
having some issue with meeting the need of her diverse learners and we are
working on ways to diferentiate to remediate as well as extend. We discussed
having students create games to help reinforce skills.
Professional Development Project

I am continuing to work on creating a database of real world problem. I am

going to incorporate Inside Maths problems of the month
Comments by Elaine Lazzaro: 10/19/16
Even on a short week you were productive with you internship.
A few questions: Are you showing Ms. Silas how to use student work to help her
understand where her students are at diferent points in the concept? Does she
group students within her math class? Does she alter the way she delivers a lesson,
sometimes mini lessons, sometimes total groups, and sometimes just small groups?
Make sure that for her lower achieving kids that she is focused on the grade level
even if she has to go back and remediate. Are their resources in the school district
for the children who already know the concept? You may have to do some research
on this for her.
Julia is a very flexible teacher. She does work every day with small groups based on
formative assessments. Her main issue is teaching a new grade and having access
to materials and activities that are appropriate. Our district have very limited
resources available to teachers, and mostly are shared among the teachers.
Good week.

10/23/16
Professional Development Project
This week I focused on working on Edmodo. Ive created universal problem
solving strategies as well as ones for each grade level. Hope to share with teachers
this week, and have them explore before our meeting in November. I have a video
that I would like the teachers to watch on developing an inquiry based classroom. I
also have a step-by-step guide from NRICH that will help them create that classroom
culture.
Cross-Grade
Ms. Warner and I worked together deliver a problem that was very rigorous
and the students did find it challenging. We used a problem from NRICH where
students had to do some repeated addition. It was a great way to see which
students had a better understanding of number compared to ones that had a
procedural understanding.
Mentoring
This week with Ms. Sias we focused on how to make the natural connection
with science and measurement to help teach metric. Since the concept is very

abstract for the students, having them do more hands on and experiencing it
through science will help them develop their conceptual understanding.
Intervention
I have made some adjustments to my intervention. Since the majority of the
students in the original group responded to reteaching, I have decided to focus on
four students who consistently have difficulty even with the intervention. Even after
a week of intervention focused on place value and number sense the students have
had difficulty with retaining new learning. I researched and plan on doing a
diagnostic interview with each of the 4 students to determine areas of strength to
build on.

10/30/16
Professional Development Project
I continued to work on Edmodo site. I found and modified LiveBinders for
each grade for problem solving. LiveBinder is an online notebook that can be used
to organize links and files. Ive picked an NBT problem for each grade level and
hope to have the teachers give to their students prior to our meeting next week.
We would like to have these so that we can do a little error analysis.

Cross-Grade
Ms. Warner and I worked together to plan a lesson using BeeBots
programmable small robots Students will draw a card with an addition expression.
They will solve and then program their bot to reach their answer.
Mentoring
Ms. Sias and I worked on analyzing student work to determine which students
still needed support prior to the upcoming summative assessment. Only a few still
had some confusion, and mostly with the powers of 10 and problems with the
mathematical language. Using small groups she will be helping the students
breakdown the language to help the students comprehend what is being asked.
Intervention
Oh my! Giving a diagnostic has been more time-consuming than I had
originally planned. Between finding a quiet location and recording the session, Ive
gotten through of the diagnostic for one student. While the information is great
and is definitely good for know how to instruct each student, I am really struggling
with being able to complete all of the interviews.

Elaine: 10/30/16
I hope that you will be able to get the problem solving student work from the
teachers before you meet to discuss. What will happen if you dont get these?
Another disappointment. Was told that we needed to wait until after the PD to ask
teachers to try the problems. Admin felt that after the PD the teacher would be
better prepared to give and analyze the student work.
Can Ms. Warners students create a problem solving question to go along with the
expressions? I have forgotten what grade they are in, but this would be really
valuable for them and for the both of you.
Instead of simple expressions, I gave Mrs. Warners second graders word problems,
many multi-step to solve and then they had to program the BeeBot to the answer.
Are you still going to interview the four students? It takes a very long time to do
this. Do you think you will have time to do this with all? Perhaps you can just focus
the interview on 2 of the students and do parts of it for the other two. Or can an aid
watch your class while you do the interview in the back of your classroom? Perhaps
cut the interview down in the number of items? Just trying to think about how you
could solve this.
I dont have access to an instructional assistant to help with this. Ive finished one
of the diagnostics and am starting on the second student. I think you are exactly
right. I am going to scale down the diagnostic with the other two students.
11/6/16
Professional Development Project
Our PD will be given on Monday, November 7 th. I met with the Math Specialist
in my building to go over the final plan for the meeting. We are going to have the
teachers analyze the NBT Progressions for every grade level my having them look at
a grade level other than their own. They will then text/type in the most important
concepts onto a board. This will let us as a group, sort those concepts into the
grade levels. Teachers will have time to sift through the resources I have gathered
including on how to create their own problems. At the end of the session, each
teacher will receive a rich problem that they will give to their students and we will
be able to analyze the results at our next session.
Cross-Grade
Ms. Warners second graders worked on solving problems, checking solutions
with partners, and programing the BeeBot to reach the correct answer. This was an
extremely engaging lesson that encouraged the students to show perseverance,
both with solving the problem and with programming! They really loved it!

Mentoring
Ms. Sias and I met to go over strategies for our next unit, Multiplication of
Whole numbers. I review with her the alternative strategies that students can use
and well as mental math strategies. We discussed about how to introduce
multiplication and linking to the area model and open array. I shared with her
several games
Intervention
I made a decision to give the complete diagnostic to two of my students who
are struggling the most. I have finished the one and will complete the other one
this upcoming week. I am working on scoring and analyzing what those scores
mean.
11/6/16
Your PD looks like it will be interesting and engaging. Good luck with it tomorrow.
I am glad that the students in Ms. Warners class are having success with the
problem solving. If you havent already, make sure that the teacher has some of
the students share their solutions with the entire group. It is good for children to
see all of the diferent ways to solve a single problem. That is exactly what we did.
Each group shared out their solutions and strategies.
I am hoping that Ms. Silas and her students have success with the area model and
the open array model for multiplication of whole numbers. Will they eventually
learn how to use partial products?
Yes, we will make the connection to partial products prior to the standard algorithm.
Good decision for your intervention.

11/6/16
Professional Development Project
Our PD went well. We started with having teachers try to solve problems in
Base 4 to give them a feel for how students struggle with this abstract concept. It
really hit home with many of the teachers, especially the importance of use of
manipulative materials. Most teachers were able to log into Edmodo to begin to go
through resources available, and hopefully will begin to contribute their own. I have
a couple discussion questions, and have sent reminders to staf to log in and
collaborate on the site.
Cross-Grade
We had a short week with the students this week, however, I would like to extend
the cross grade portion of my plan by making a bulletin board in the hallway for
students to try problem solving using Problems of the Month. I am debating on
whether to use Nrichs problems of the month or NCTMs Teaching Children
Mathematics Problems of the week. I have emailed my principal and am waiting
to see if this is a possibility.

Mentoring
Ms. Sias and I met to discuss our Multiplication unit. She is concerned about
the students fact fluency. I suggested games from John Sangiovannis Mastering
Basic Facts. I also suggested using Number Talks to help the students develop
strategies that can help them for example seeing that 8 x 6 is could be thought of
8x5 plus another group of 8.
Intervention
Just began the analysis of the diagnostics. Both students definitely want to just to
the algorithm to solve problems. They also both struggle with all basic facts. Plan
is to work with them making sense of the numbers and reasonableness of their
answers.
Elaine Lazzaro Comments 11/13/16
It is good that your teachers are open and willing to use the resources you have
provided. I am glad that your PD went well and hope that you will be able to
continue with it even after your internship.
Again, your problem of the week idea is a great one and is one that can continue for
the entire year. I hope the administration likes it.

You are spot on with Ms. Sias. The children need those strategies before they can
learn their facts. And I understand her frustration of trying to teach multiplication
without her students being fluent in facts. It is a common issue for teachers.
I like what you are doing in Intervention also. It really connects to what you are
trying to do with Ms. Sias.

11/14
Professional Development Project
I met with our Math Specialist to discuss the next steps in our project and continued
work on Edmodo site. I added a discussion question. Only had one response so far,
but I know teachers are overwhelmed right now. I know that they have logged in
and will check in to see if they are able to use those resources.
Mentoring
I am continuing to collaborate with Ms. Sias with developing strategies for
multiplication. I helped her develop a lesson on building students number sense by
applying the doubling and halving strategy.
Intervention
The results of the diagnostics were not surprising. Both students really struggled
with subtraction, often reversing the subtrahend and minuend to avoid regrouping.
I have been working with them using base ten blocks to build and practice
regrouping though problem solving.
Cross Grade
I am still waiting to hear from my administration on use of a bulletin board for math.
Our PTA did purchase First in Math and I will be having the students make
announcements on the morning news about team and student of the week. I am
hoping that I will be able to use that bulletin board for a dual purpose, both FIM &
problem solving.
11/21/16
Although it is disappointing that most of the teachers have not logged into
your county site and responded to your discussion question, it is
heartening to see that at least they have looked at it. Hopefully you can
continue this after your internship is complete and they will benefit and
appreciate your efforts.

I will be interested in hearing how the children in Ms. Silas class are using
or not using the doubling /halving strategy.
After Thanksgiving, meet with the admin. face to face to see if you can get
your bulletin board up and running. It is a great idea, and the parents will
be able to see it as they come into the school. Benefits all.
11/22
11/21
12/2

Mentoring
Intervention

1
4

Ms. Sias Collaborative planning

Using Diagnostics to work with students on
number sense

11/29

Professional
Development
Cross Grade

Met with Math Specialist to continue planning for

future PD.
Creating a school-wide board for Problems of the
Month/ First in Math

12/1

Mentoring
Ms. Sias kids loved the doubling and halving strategy! Several students even
shared that they showed their parents. We worked on problem solving strategies
for multiplication including using some visual models including the bar drawing
model.
Intervention
For the past two weeks I have been working with the students on multiplication
strategies to help with unknown facts. We worked with both conceptual strategies
and mnemonic strategies. While the students seem to do very well in isolation, the
group continues to struggle applying the strategies in class and on assessments.
Many of these students have issues not only with ADHD, but also memory and
executive functioning. They need more time to make the strategies their own.
Professional Development
Met with our schools math specialist to discuss future plans for professional
development to incorporate more problem solving. We also worked on building
capacity to help our teachers gain more understanding on how students learn math.
Cross Grade:
I have started putting up the bulletin board. It is split between First in Math and
problems of the week. I have decided to start with doing it with the whole school,
not just limiting it primary. I plan on using Inside Mathematics Problems of the
Month. They have three levels A, B, and C that was students are limited by their
grade level.

You have had a busy two weeks. There is so much you accomplished. I am
certain that the support you gave to all this week is going to be helpful. I
agree with you about the struggles we all have with intervention and
memory of the facts. The children seem to need a gentle reminder about
a strategy but then they can do it after being reminded. Is there a way
you could post some strategy charts around the room or have them on a
card for them? I am excited that your math specialist wants to continue
using you in the capacity of PD. Hooray about your math bulletin board.
Great final weeks of your internship.