School's Out ... PD on the horizon ...

School has ended!  YaHOOO!

Now I am thinking about professional development ... the kind I structure for myself as well as the work that my school wants me to participate in.

I want to read at least two books ...

The first one is Embedded Formative Assessment by Wiliam.  Formative assessment is and continues to be the primary initiative in our school.  Our principal and all others who visit our room, comment on lessons, evaluate our work, expect to see standards broken down in chunks and assessment of each of those chunks.

I chose this particular book on formative assessment because of druin's compelling thoughts as she read the book recently.  I look forward to sharing what I learn as she did!

The other book I want to read is Mindset by C. Dweck.  I work with students who lack motivation in math.  I want them to believe that they can grow in their math ability ... that ability is NOT fixed!  This blog post attracted my attention!

I also noticed this book/author when signing up for a MOOC this summer!  The MOOC is from Stanford University, EDUC115N How to Learn Math.  The following concepts are discussed:
CONCEPTS
1. Knocking down the myths about math.
2. Math and Mindset.
3. Teaching Math for a Growth Mindset.
4. Mistakes, Challenges & Persistence.
5. Conceptual Learning. Part I. Number Sense.
6. Conceptual Learning. Part II. Connections, Representations, Questions.
7. Appreciating Algebra.
8. Going From This Course to a New Mathematical Future.

I'm hoping that through the reading and the participation in the Stanford course, that I'll be better prepared to lead students to a growth mindset and ultimately success in Algebra.  

This past year all my students passed the course, and 95% passed the state end of course exam.  I'm celebrating that success but I want a deeper understanding and more tools for making this next year even more successful!

What professional reading or activities do you have planned for this year?