EMBRACING THE CHALLENGE: SUPPORTING ALL STUDENTS TO BE PROMISEREADY

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EMBRACING THE CHALLENGE SUPPORTING ALL STUDENTS
TO BE PROMISE-READY

• August 31, 2009

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• In 2006-2007 the District made modest growth in
  student achievement.
• In 2007-2008 the District made substantial
  progress across the board.
• In 2008-2009 the District continued to make
  substantial progress in student achievement at
  almost all grade levels.

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THE DISTRICT HAS IN PLACE THE CORE ELEMENTS FOR
RAISING STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

• New rigorous curriculum
• Nationally recognized system to train, support,
  evaluate and reward principals
• Use of diagnostic assessments and interventions
  to get help to students quickly
• Instructional coaches in every school to deepen
  the work
• Teaching and Learning Teams
• Expansion of early childhood education

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2009 DISTRICT-LEVEL MATHEMATIC RESULTS
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Grade 6 Math Proficiency Student performance
increased by 3.2 points (5.5) from last year.
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Grade 7 Math Proficiency Student performance
increased by 5.1 points (9.1) from last year.
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Grade 8 Math Proficiency Student performance
increased by 2.5 points (4.4) from last year.
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Grade 11 Math Proficiency Student performance
decreased by 9 points (17.2) from last year.
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REPORT ON ADEQUATE YEARLY PROGRESS (AYP) FOR THE
DISTRICT AND SCHOOLS
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NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND REQUIRES DISTRICTS SCHOOLS
TO DEMONSTRATE ADEQUATE YEARLY PROGRESS (AYP) ON
SPECIFIC TARGETS THAT ASSESS

• Attendance rates must be higher than 90 (or
  show growth)
• Graduation rates must be higher than 80 (or
  show growth)
• PSSA Participation for both Reading and
  Mathematics, 95 or more of the currently
  enrolled students must take each test
• PSSA Performance at least 63 of the students
  must score proficient or advanced in Reading, and
  at least 56 must score proficient or advanced in
  Mathematics.

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FOR THE 1ST TIME IN HISTORY, THE PITTSBURGH
PUBLIC SCHOOLS MADE AYP
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THE 2009 DISTRICT AYP STATUS IS
MAKING PROGRESS

• Making Progress means that the District passed
  AYP for the first year of a 2 year period.
• If the district fulfills its AYP for a second
  year, it will exit the improvement system and
  will be classified as Making AYP.

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For the District to make AYP in performance at
least one grade band must meet Reading targets
and at least one grade band must meet
Mathematics targets for all students and all
subgroups.
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THE DISTRICT IS HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR 8 SUBGROUPS
IN GRADE SPANS 3-5 AND 6-8, AND 5 SUBGROUPS IN
GRADE SPAN 9-12.
Currently, there are less than 40 students, but
this may change over time.
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Over the past four years, the District increased
the percentage of AYP targets met even as the
number of targets increased.
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PERFORMANCE TARGETS REMAINED THE SAME IN 2009

• In 2008, Reading Target increased to 63 and
  Mathematics
• Target increased to 56.
• Next increase will be in 2011, followed by annual
  increase until it reaches100 in 2014.

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THE DISTRICT MADE AYP IN GRADE SPAN 3-5 IN
READING AND MATH
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32 of 60 schools in the District (53.3) made
AYP.
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2009 AYP STATUS K-8 SCHOOLS
Identifies schools meeting 2009 AYP but
classified as Making Progress
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2009 AYP STATUS ALAS
Identifies schools meeting 2009 AYP but
classified as Making Progress
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2009 AYP STATUS MIDDLE SCHOOLS
Identifies schools meeting 2009 AYP but
classified as Making Progress
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2009 AYP STATUS HIGH SCHOOLS
The district performance in Reading and
Mathematics in Grade 11 (for all students) was
used to determine the AYP status for Milliones
(feeder school model). As more grades are
added to Milliones, the feeder school model will
not be needed. Next year, Milliones AYP status
will be based on the schools PSSA results in
grades 6, 7, and 8.
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INTRODUCTION

• Taught Pre-Algebra through Calculus BC in
  Maryland High School.
• Taught and supervised pre-service secondary
  teachers at University of Maryland.
• Taught graduate courses in Math Education,
  focusing 6-12.
• Taught graduate undergraduate Math courses at
  Maryland and Pitt, focusing K-12.
• Planned/conducted research in urban settings,
  her dissertation was around 6-12 teachers as
  learners/inquirers in mathematics.
• Focused on upper level mathematics inquiry.
• Edited Pittsburghs Middle School Curriculum and
  worked with 6-12 Coaches.

• Eden M. Badertscher
• B.A.
• Princeton University
• M. Ed. Ph. D. University of Maryland

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WE ARE FOCUSED ON

• High School Performance has remained flat over
  the past 4 years, reaffirming the need to
  continue with dramatic changes in our high
  schools.
• African American Achievement While many are
  high-achieving, a disproportionate number are not
  achieving at high levels.
• Special Education We want to ensure that the
  Districts curriculum is accessible to our
  students with exceptionalities.

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DISTRICT FOCI FOR THE 2009-2010 SCHOOL YEAR

• FORMATIVE PRACTICES
• STUDYING STUDENT WORK
• INFUSING PROMISE-READINESS

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PROMISE-READINESS IN CORE CURRICULUM

• ACT research shows that students should begin
  planning for college as early as 6th grade
• Tasks are inserted into the core curriculum
  grades 6-11 that cover topics such as
• 1. The importance of a college education and the
  benefit of the Pittsburgh Promise
• 2. How to calculate grade point average and why a
  high GPA is important
• 3. Standardized testing such as the SAT
• 4. The economic, health, and social benefits of
  earning a college degree

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MATHEMATICS DEPARTMENT RELATED FOCI

• Rigorous Share-Discuss-Analyze
• Struggle in math is positive!
• Struggle in teaching is positive!
• Middle School Algebra Readiness Studying
  Student Work
• High School Collaborative Lesson Design, and
  using all PD periods for learning and growth

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EFFORT-BASED LEARNING AND SELF-THEORIES

• CAROL DWECK HOW DO OUR BELIEFS ABOUT
  INTELLIGENCE AFFECT WHAT AND HOW WE LEARN?

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BELIEFS ABOUT INTELLIGENCE SHAPE LEARNING

• Take 20 minutes to read the article The Secret
  to Raising Smart Kids by Carol S. Dweck in
  Scientific American Mind, Nov. 28, 2007
• Respond individually and then share with a
  partner on the following questions
• What are the big ideas of this article?
• Review the article again and identify three
  phrases or sentences that you found particularly
  significant to the overall argument of the
  article. Write down the phrases and why you found
  each one significant share these.

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MINDSETS
- www.brainology.us
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WHAT MINDSETS DOGOALS
- www.brainology.us
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WHAT MINDSETS DOEFFORT BELIEFS
- www.brainology.us
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WHAT MINDSETS DOSTRATEGIES AFTER FAILURE
- www.brainology.us
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IMPLICATIONS OF THE GROWTH MINDSET

• Whole Group Discussion on Mindsets
• What are the implications for our practice?
• Teachers are also learners. How might the growth
  and fixed mindsets shape how teachers view their
  own professional development?

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BELIEFS ABOUT MATHEMATICS AND ITS IMPACT ON
TEACHING AND LEARNING
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ASSUMPTIONS OBJECTIVES IN TRADITIONAL
MATHEMATICS EDUCATION

• Mathematics is an unchallengeable body of
  knowledge in which, once something is proven
  true, it is true forever.
• Arithmetic is needed for all students, but other
  Mathematics is a gate keeper to differentiate
  ability levels (fixed mindset predominated)

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WHAT MESSAGES DO WE CONVEY?

• Even when lessons go as planned and appear very
  successful, we often reinforce problematic
  perspectives if we do not ACTIVELY make a point
  of challenging these beliefs in ourselves and our
  students
• Deductive reasoning is king there is little role
  for experimenting, intuition and creativity.
• The form of the answer is critical, not the
  substance a correct answer can be wrong if not
  written the right way.
• Problems should be solved in a few minutes
  encountering difficulties reflects on our
  abilities.
• Students are to learn mathematics created by
  others their own questions are not important.
• Mathematics is not is not about making sense it
  is about getting correct answers.
• -Alan Schoenfeld, 1988

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THESE MESSAGES REINFORCE THE FIXED MINDSET
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WHY SHOULD WE CARE WHAT BELIEFS ABOUT MATHEMATICS
WE HOLD?

• Ones concept of what mathematics is affects
  ones conception of how it should be presented.
• The issue, then, is not, What is the best way to
  teach? but, What is mathematics really about?
• Reuben Hersh, mathematician, 1979

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PRIORITIZING THE PROCESS
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A THOUGHT EXPERIMENT

• Can you imagine a triangle with 2 right angles?

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ROLE OF ASSUMPTIONS IN MATHEMATICS

• Do Triangles have 180?
• Some triangles measure 180 lt x lt 540.
• Some triangles measure 0 lt x lt 180
• Depends whether the parallel postulate holds!
• Is the shortest distance between 2 points a
  straight line?
• Not in taxi-cab geometry (geometry of city
  streets),
• You also cannot have equilateral triangle that
  meets our current definition!

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SPECIAL RIGHT TRIANGLES

• What is special about Special Right Triangles?
• 30-60-90
• 45-45-90
• Are there any other right triangles that have
  such a special relationship?
• What about 27-63-90?
• What about 11-79-90?
• What about 42-21-117?

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WHICH PAIRS OF FIGURES ARE SIMILAR?
These two sets of figures are not similar.
These two sets of figures are similar.
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WHAT IS MATHEMATICS ABOUT?

• Mathematics cannot be about products such as
  whether or not a triangle has 180. Mathematics
  has to be about
• Under what conditions does a triangle have a
  180?
• How can I make sense of why altering the
  conditions changes the result?
• What habits of mind will help me make sense of
  the angle measure in triangles?
• When should I work with the Euclidean conditions,
  and when should I make other assumptions?

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THE DISCIPLINE OF MATHEMATICS

• Mathematicians ask questions and make sense of
  mathematical ideas, and only then do they prove!
• Cycle of induction-deduction-induction
• Hard-wired AND a Human Creation
• Closely tied to culture language
• Intuition and connections are CRITICAL
• Creative- verging towards art!
• Frustration is HONORED!!!!

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THE MATHEMATICAL PROCESS

• I conjured or speculated that all three
  manifolds have a certain geometric structure
  this conjecture eventually became known as the
  geometrization conjecture. About two or three
  years later, I proved the geometrization theorem
  for Haken manifolds.
• Id like to spell out more what I mean when I
  say I proved this theorem. It means that I had a
  clear and complete flow of ideas, including
  details, that withstood a great deal of scrutiny
  by myself and by others.
• -William Thurston, Mathematician, Fields Medal
  Winner

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THE DISCIPLINE OF MATHEMATICS REINFORCES THE
GROWTH MINDSET
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FORMATIVE PRACTICES
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ASSESSMENTS TO SUPPORT LEARNING

• Dylan Wiliam talks about the practical
  application of formative assessment in the
  classroom.
• We will read an article of his and discuss
  formative practices and how this relates to
  learning.

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FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Formative Assessment (Assessment for Learning)

• Purpose Improve learning and inform instruction
• Who is responsible? Both the teacher and the
  student

Summative Assessment (Assessment of Learning)

• Purpose Grading, placement, promotion,
  accountability, competence
• Who is responsible? The teacher and external
  tests are primarily responsible

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RESEARCH ON FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

• Findings
• Of the 20 to 30 relevant studies found
• All show significant learning advantage with
  formative assessment
• Effect sizes range from 0.4 to 0.7
• Several studies show that low attainers show
  the largest gains
• Several involve emphasis on self- and
  peer-assessment by pupils
• Most of these studies lacked detail of the
  classroom methods and criterion tests used. YET,
  they show a variety of ways of enhancing
  formative assessment, indicating that the gain
  effect is robust.

Black Wiliam, 1998
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BUTLER

• Findings

Butler, R. 1988. Enhancing and undermining
intrinsic motivation The effects of
task-involving and ego-involving evaluation on
interest and performance. British Journal of
Educational Psychology, 58, 1-14.
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BUTLER

• Findings

Butler, R. 1988. Enhancing and undermining
intrinsic motivation The effects of
task-involving and ego-involving evaluation on
interest and performance. British Journal of
Educational Psychology, 58, 1-14.
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FIVE KEY STRATEGIES FOR FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

• Clarifying and sharing learning intentions and
  criteria for success
• Engineering effective classroom discussions,
  questions, and learning tasks that elicit
  evidence of learning
• Providing feedback that moves learners forward
• Activating students as instructional resources
  for one another (distributed disciplinary
  authority, learning communities)
• Activating students as the owners of their own
  learning (meta-cognition, interest, motivation,
  attribution).

Leahy, S., Lyon, C., Thompson, M., Wiliam, D.
(2005, November ). Classroom assessment Minute
by minute, day by day. Educational Leadership,
63(3), 19-24.
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LEARNERS AS OWNERS

• Attribution
• Personalization (internal v. external)
• Permanence (fixed v. dynamic)
• It is ESSENTIAL that learners (teachers and
  students) attribute success and failure to
  internal, dynamic causes. In such cases, the
  learner recognizes that he/she has control over
  changing the outcome.

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TEXT DISCUSSIONDYLAN WILIAM

• Take 20 minutes and read Classroom assessment
  Minute by minute, day by day by Leahy, S., Lyon,
  C., Thompson, M., Wiliam, D., Educational
  Leadership, 2005, November 63 (3), 19-24.
• In what ways does it differ from what we normally
  consider assessment?
• Where do you see the types of formative practices
  that Wiliam espouses in the Core Curriculum in
  Mathematics?
• How does Formative Assessment connect to the
  Growth Mindset?

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CONDITIONS FOR FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

• It must be established and communicated where the
  learners are in their learning
• It must be established and communicated where
  learners are going
• The learner obtains information about how to
  close the gap through effective feedback and
• The learner is motivated to and actively uses
  this information in his/her own learning and thus
  in closing the gap.

Wiliam, 2009, Pittsburgh Public Schools
Leadership Week
What does this mean for teachers in terms of
professional development and improving practice?
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FORMATIVE PRACTICES IN THE CLASSROOM

• A goal in developing a formative assessment
  classroom culture is to counteract students
  obsession with grades and to redirect interest
  and effort toward learning.
• Shepard,L.A. (2008). Formative Assessment Caveat
  emptor. In C. A. Dwyer (Ed.), The Future of
  Assessment Shaping teaching and learning (page
  279-303). New York Taylor and Francis Group LLC.

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FORMATIVE PRACTICES IN THE CLASSROOM

• However...
• We CANNOT advance students learning if we dont
  understand the conceptions they are using to make
  sense of the mathematics!
• A Managed Curriculum ensures access to rigorous
  mathematics, but only the professional teacher
  can ensure that learners advance from where they
  are.

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PRESSING CORRECT/INCORRECT RESPONSES

• Which fraction is smallest?
• Which fraction is largest?

• a) b) c) d)
• Success rate 88
• a) b) c) d)
• Success rate 46
• 39 chose (b)

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PRESSING ON RESPONSES
These two sets of figures are not similar.
These two sets of figures are similar.
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CONNECTING TO OUR PRACTICE
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THINKING THROUGH A LESSON PROTOCOL

• Read through pp. 30-31
• How does the TTLP build in the disciplinary
  perspective and focus attention on mathematics
  for understanding?
• How does the TTLP reflect an effort based
  perspective on learning?
• How does the TTLP focus attention on formative
  assessment?

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TEACHING AND LEARNING TEAM FEEDBACK TOOL AS
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

• Examine the new tool on p. 169.
• How does the tool carry the philosophies of
• The Disciplinary Approach to Mathematics?
• Growth v. Fixed Mindsets?
• Formative Assessment?
• Focus on the 3 questions at the bottom. How can
  you use these to help you understand where you
  are in your practice and toward what you should
  be working?

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STUDYING STUDENT WORK PROTOCOL
How can this support formative practices?
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WHAT WILL WE LOOK TO SEE IN CLASSROOMS?

• Rigorous Share-Discuss-Analyze
• Students wrestling with challenging mathematics
• Sharing and pushing on both correct and incorrect
  responses
• Teachers wrestling with how to manage a rigorous
  share-discuss-analyze
• Teachers wrestling with implementing formative
  practices

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NATIONAL BOARD STANDARDS

• Proposition 1 Teachers are Committed to Students
  and Their Learning
• Proposition 2 Teachers Know the Subjects They
  Teach and How to Teach Those Subjects to
  Students.
• Proposition 3 Teachers are Responsible for
  Managing and Monitoring Student Learning.
• Proposition 4 Teachers Think Systematically
  about Their Practice and Learn from Experience.
• Proposition 5 Teachers are Members of Learning
  Communities.

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NCTM HS FOCAL POINTS- REASONING AND SENSE-MAKING

• The development of a productive disposition
  (Kilpatrick, Swafford Findell, 2001) is a high
  priority of school mathematics. When students
  achieve this goal, they view mathematics as
  reasoning and sense-making enterprise. This goal
  can only be achieved if students personally
  engage in mathematical reasoning and sense-making
  as they are learning mathematics content.
• --NCTM Public Draft 8-29-2008

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AMERICAN DIPLOMA PROJECT

• K-12 Benchmarks were written to describe the
  skills needed for success in postsecondary
  education and work.
• Our curriculum as written, with its rigorous high
  level tasks, generally meets these standards.
  However, we still have a little work to do in
  terms of meeting all the standards, and we have a
  great deal of work to do to ensure that the
  implementation meets or exceeds these standards
  to support ALL students to be Promise-Ready.

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FINAL NOTES
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• Pick up all papers, etc. around your table
• We will be in curriculum-based groups at Peabody.
  Please select ONE curriculum to focus on. Algebra
  AB teachers must attend the Algebra AB sessions
• DO NOT try to pick up curricula for colleagues
  today or for your other classes they will be
  available tomorrow!
• You will need to sign-up for the breakout
  sessions you want to attend before the end of the
  day today. You can do this as you sign in at
  Peabody this afternoon.