Course Project

Due December 12, 2006

You have two options for your project -- (1) construct a portfolio that shows changes you've made as a result of participating in TPC² or (2) produce a unit that applies what you have learned in Functions 2.

Option 1 -- Changes you've made in your curriculum and your teaching

You will make a portfolio of work in three topics for which you have changed your teaching. Each example must contain

• Materials Summary: A summary of the changes you made in the materials that students used and your reasons for making these changes. This summary should describe the materials you used prior to the change, the materials you used after the change, and a description of how they differ
• Teaching Summary; A summary of the changes you made in the way you teach the topic (e.g., changes in questioning, changes in your expectations of of student participation or student work, changes in lesson format, etc.)
• Prior Materials: Samples of materials you used in teaching the topic before the change.
• Prior Student Work: Samples of student work before making the change (if you have them).
• Changed Materials: The materials you produced in making the change.
• Changed Student Work: Samples of student work after the change.
• Effectiveness: An analysis of the effectiveness of the change. What worked (and your evidence for thinking that it worked)? What didn't work (and your evidence for thinking that it didn't work)?
• Connections: The relationship of this effort to your work in TPC². Be specific to this topic -- what are the connections between what you tried to do and your activities within TPC²?

Portfolio structure

Begin each topic with Level 1 Header (Style "Heading 1" in Word) that contains your name and the topic name. Use the bullet points listed above as Level 2 section headers (Style "Heading 2" in Word). Each page in the document should have your name and the page number in its header.

Insert copies of work that you do not have electronically into your portfolio document. Scan it to a jpg or take a digital photo if necessary, then insert it as a graphic. Please try to keep these files small by using appropriate settings on your scanner or your camera.

Submit

A zipped archive containing all your portfolio documents. This can be a single document containing each topic in a separate section or it can be a collection of files named in sequence (so that they sort by name in the proper order). Either way, make sure that all documents have an appropriate header and footer. Submit your zipped portfolio to your personal page at the Functions 2 Course Forum.

Evaluation

(not done)

Option 2 -- Advanced content

You will

• Select a topic:
  (1) that is not developed in your high school textbook but which is related to ideas covered in your textbook (e.g., functions defined parametrically),
  or
  (2) that you will develop in an entirely new way that builds on ideas addressed in this course (e.g., inequalities from a functions perspective).
• Prepare a pre/post interview for this topic. As a preface to your interview, explain (e.g., as if to me or to your colleagues) how you intend to use the results of the pre-interview in designing your instruction. That is, you should choose the interview questions with the aim that how students answer will clarify decisions you must make about instruction.
• Interview three students before instruction and the same three students after instruction.
• Prepare a pre/post test for this topic. Administer it as a pretest and as a posttest.
• Prepare a logic that conveys the ideas to be developed and the ways you will develop them. Please use this form for your unit and lesson logics.
• Prepare lesson logics for individual days or groups of days that detail how these ideas will be developed.
• Prepare activities by which you will teach and by which students will learn what you intend them to learn.
• Teach the topic.
• Assess the effectiveness of instruction (post interviews and post test).
• Prepare a report that addresses four things:
  1. What your students learned (or didn't learn) and how you know this,
  2. What you learned about students' learning of these ideas.
  3. What you learned about designing conceptually-oriented instruction, and
  4. Strategies by which you will share what you learned with other teachers who teach this or related topics.

Submit

Submit your project electronically in one or more documents:

1. Description of topic and why you chose it.
2. Your report
3. Appendices
   1. Interview forms
   2. Pre/Post interview results
   3. Pre/Post test results
   4. Unit logic
   5. Lesson logics
   6. Activities and worksheets

Project Evaluation

Component		Points
Topic and rationale	............	20 points
Report
What students learned and how you know it	............	60 points
What you learned about student learning	............	30 points
What you learned about designing conceptually-oriented instruction	............	30 points
Strategies for sharing	............	30 points
Appendices	............	140 points