John W. Bate Middle School’s math teachers, Ashley Land, Brittany Terrell, and Julie Fields, along with interventionist Robin Neely and special education teachers Kiera Paycheck and Elaine Wilson-Reddy, received a four-day Laying the Foundation math training offered through AdvanceKentucky over the summer. The training kicked off year one of a three-year Access to Algebra grant for Bate. 

Land said one thing she appreciated about the training is that it was immersive, and the teachers completed activities students will be expected to do in their classrooms. 

She noted that the grant also helps with equipment and supplies.

“There’s a huge benefit to the funding part of it, for the classroom funding.”

Terrell described the four-day training as “hands-on,” noting that she loves the activities and lesson plans. During one activity, they made a project called “unit dogs.” The teachers worked on them and named their project “Jonnie W. Bate (and her cute puppies).” 

“It was just very engaging, very hands-on,” Terrell said. “I feel like the kids are going to absolutely love it when we get to that, and it will make surface area, volume, scale factor — all those concepts — come alive to them.”

 

 

Terrell said she has already gotten to try one of the math lessons in her classroom. It was fun, and the students were engaged and seemed to pick up on content and enjoy the lesson, she said.

“It was a great way to take the content we’ve been learning the last few days and apply it to real-life situations,” she said. “They were discussing the math, they were asking each other questions — there was some great work happening.”

 

Terrell also said she appreciates that the program demonstrates concepts from earlier grade levels and where those concepts will help them in future grade levels and advanced math, so teachers can make sure students have a strong foundation for learning.

Reflecting on the training, Wilson-Reddy said she appreciated the fact that the summer training gave teachers plenty of time to talk about what they were learning, rather than being a training “where you get all these incredible ideas and you don’t have time to process any of it.”

“They gave us time to talk through it,” she said.

Neeley said she agreed that was one of the most effective parts of the training — every time teachers did a group activity, they got time to think about how they could incorporate them in their classrooms, suited to their students’ needs.

AdvanceKentucky Mathematics Content Manager Christina Emerson, who works with middle school teachers and students as part of the Access to Algebra program, visited Bate classrooms on Aug. 21. She said she was impressed with the math learning already happening at Bate. 

“You have a lot of really strong teachers here,” she said. 

Emerson said one exciting part of the program is that students can earn $50 for meeting benchmark in 8th grade, or growing by 70 points from 7th to 8th grade. Teachers also have the opportunity to receive a stipend if enough students meet the benchmark.