Primarily Math - Center for Science, Mathematics & Computer ...

LINDSAY AUGUSTYN/UNL CSMCE
Cohort 4 teachers (from left) Maris Anderson of Blair Community Schools and Omaha Public Schools teachers
Joana Kimmel and Mandy German build polydrons in MATH 801P in June 2012.
LINDSAY AUGUSTYN/UNL CSMCE
Cohort 4 teachers (from left) Angela Thiemann
and Lisa Elder of Omaha Public Schools work with
Play-Doh during MATH 801P in June 2012, while
Master Teacher Tracy Custer of Blair Community
Schools offers guidance. Custer participated in
Cohort 2 of Primarily Math.
additional cohort of 30 teachers, which
will begin the program in Grand Island in
Summer 2013.
Blair Community Schools was one
district to benefit from this reallocation, as
well as from the decision by NebraskaMATH
leadership to create geographically-based
cohorts. After hosting the first cohort in
Lincoln with participants drawn from across
the state, Cohort 2 was offered in Omaha in
2010 to serve teachers in the Omaha area,
including Blair. Then, Cohort 3 in 2011 was
split into two groups – the first in Grand
Island for central and western Nebraska
teachers and the other for Lincoln Public
Schools (LPS) teachers. Afterward, districts
such as Blair and Papillion-La Vista School
District (PLSD) requested the program be
opened to more teachers. Therefore, three
cohorts were created in 2012 – one in Lincoln
for LPS teachers; one in the Omaha area
serving Omaha Public Schools (OPS), Blair
and South Sioux City teachers; and one in
Papillion serving ESU 3, including additional
Papillion-La Vista teachers, and ESU 4.
Eight teachers from Blair have
participated in Primarily Math, seven of
them in the North and South Primary
Schools with Principal Amy Rogers.
“It started with Tracy Custer in Cohort
2. She came back to me after Primarily
Math and said, ‘We’re learning all sorts of
new techniques.’ When I was observing her
instruction, something was different about
it, and I really liked what I saw,” Rogers
said. “The Primarily Math teachers have
educated me on guided math and Math
Talk and the importance of working on
depth of knowledge as opposed to breadth
of knowledge. Watching their students
collaborate and communicate about math
concepts intrigued me. The more time I
spent in those rooms, the more I wanted this
in the building.”
Rogers said the Blair curriculum
director observed the changes in instruction
and decided to “take it to the next level,”
going district-wide with the teachings from
Primarily Math.
“What has transpired is that Tracy
Custer has become a math leader in the
buildings and has brought the level of
instruction up, across the board, to every
grade level,” Rogers said. “This program
has had huge and very positive impacts on
not only a few select teachers but also at the
building and district levels.”
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