An elementary student takes part in one of the Math & Movement activities under the watchful eye of two teachers on Tuesday.
OSWEGO, NY – The National Math Foundation announced today (August 8) that Oswego City School District is the first recipient of its Math Corps II Program Award.
The program is for the entire 2017-18 school year in both Minetto and Charles E Riley elementary schools, (the two largest elementary populations).
NMF will coordinate the program from September- June to develop and implement programs, events, training, materials and resource development via a Corps Member placed in the schools.
Each Corps program is unique to the community it is placed in.
Some are a community service, education, poverty or workforce development initiatives and some are part of a university teacher training program.
The Oswego Corps member will help teachers, volunteers, students and parents while developing independence and sustainability for techniques and programs in the district.
The program will focus on physical and special education, classroom teachers, parent and community organizations and boosting achievement.
The role is both educational and administrative and includes ongoing facilitation, coaching and training for staff and students alike. The program is valued at $180,000-$200,000. Data will be gathered through 2020 to track results.
Schools or districts who have been nominated are invited to apply via a competitive process.
There is no minimum or maximum award.
This year, 10 districts in the country were nominated for the competitive program, with two schools in New York among the finalists.
Schools opting to apply for the award submit a funding proposal and are selected based on: poverty data such as free/reduced lunch rates, academic and other needs, community support including a regional match, district goals and support, other special needs (bilingual, special education, at-risk schools or communities), higher education involvement, commitment to program success, and prior training/use of movement-based program and materials.
Along with a math focus, the program also provides extensive literacy and physical education support.
NMF hopes the Oswego program will serve as a model for a national expansion.
Corps members serve in a variety of service, educational or workforce roles, and may be pre-service education or graduate students, unemployed or underemployed workforce, or seniors 50-65. Matching corps applicants to positions is tricky because each program awarded is unique to the individual district or community needs.
National Math Foundation, Inc., has piloted a series of programs, services, and research primarily in New York (northeast) and Tennessee (southeast) with participants from all over the US.
The pilots were a strategic process to prepare for flexibility in a changing educational environment, develop layered programming, identify data gathering strengths and weaknesses, and revise programs for flexibility, sustainability and effectiveness.
Through the experience, said NMF Executive Director Cara-Leigh Battaglia, “We created a program that’s a sustainable model for long-term effectiveness that responds to current curriculum challenges, especially physical and special education, math, literacy, professional development, and the numerous challenges inherent in developing sustainable resources to support school, teacher and student needs.”
The focus is math, literacy and physical education, and while the methods are rigorous and meet state and national standards, students simply describe it as fun.
One method being used in this program is Math & Movement, whose goal, according to Suzy Koontz, CEO of Learn Thru Movement Inc, is to learn while implementing cross-body movements which results in increased cross-brain learning.
“Students learn faster, gain fluency and accuracy and retain more information,” Koontz said. “They make the leap to more advanced problem-solving and higher level math more quickly. And because it’s physically active, they have fun doing it!”
Also, in the U.S., where childhood obesity is at epic proportions, this method incorporates physical exercise into the school day, from hallway transition to classroom reviews to PE. With ever-increasing ADHD diagnoses, decreasing recess time, and increased test-taking time, this is critical for today’s youth.
The announcement was made at a joint NMF and Math & Movement Summer Mini-Institute training in Oswego, on August 7-10, in part to provide a training kickoff for the district (although teachers came from New York City, Maryland and Virginia).
The Institute offer teachers and youth a new way to learn by hopping, skipping and jumping to the answer.
Learning becomes a problem-solving game.
The Richard S Shineman Foundation provided scholarships for 20 district teachers to attend. National Math Foundation provided scholarships for the Oswego teacher chosen as a mentor, the Corps member, a Watkins Glen teacher in a Summer Teaching Residency, and other adults and youth.
Math Engaged (Durland Alternatives Library/project partner of Center for Transformative Action at Cornell) provided youth programs and a presentation.
Other topics included trauma-informed care in the classroom, civility in the workplace, Math Mile Markers: Calm, Command, and Conquer the Curriculum, Money Madness, Learning vs Doing Math, and grant writing.
“Math has become an increasingly stressful experience for children and parents, and school districts have lost funding for innovative program development at the same time that standards have been raised,” said Koontz, who founded Math & Movement. “We’re working to help everyone – students, parents, and teachers-to make learning math fun and successful.”
With eight out of 10 children identified as kinesthetic learners (students who learn best through movement), it’s no surprise that this is a highly effective program for building foundational math and reading skills. It’s active, fun, and easily customized to each student. It is exceptionally helpful for kids that are struggling with understanding basic math concepts.
Math & Movement is a multi-sensory approach to teaching math and reading that incorporates exercise, stretching, cross-body movements and colorful floor mats that allow children to practice basic skills while using visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning methods. It is aligned with Common Core standards and state regulations.
The program harnesses children’s natural kinesthetic learning style to foster positive feelings towards learning. Students gain confidence and have fun. The program is based on research that shows that moving during learning facilitates muscle memory, an important factor with younger children whose abstract thinking skills are not fully developed.
“In fact, with changing academic expectations, it’s more important than ever to have a learning alternative to traditional memorization, and foster positive feelings towards learning,” Koontz added.
The program also fulfills physical education requirements. According to the CDC, obesity affects 17% of all children and adolescents in the U.S., triple the rate from just one generation ago. That’s 12 million obese children.
Math and Movement promotes physical activity while simultaneously increasing learning, efficiently helping students to receive the recommended daily 60 minutes of exercise.
Physical education teachers are just as likely to implement the program in gyms as grade-level teachers are in classrooms. The end result: physically fit children, enjoyable learning experiences, and increased test scores.
It’s easily modified to be implemented as a before/after school program, recreational program, PTO event, enrichment program, mentoring program, and can be used in park settings and summer camps. No matter how it’s used, it is an excellent method that supports the current curriculum.
The NMF Corps Program is innovative in its approach to providing individualized resources to schools that wish to implement and meet curriculum demands.
Often community organizations or businesses partner to co-sponsor or match funding for programs and services. Whether boosting student engagement, developing strategies for increased achievement, or supporting solutions to the national concerns of obesity and math scores, the program results in a win-win for schools and communities.
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