Laura Thompson, Staff Writer
Two Wingate University education majors are attending the North Carolina Council of Teachers of Mathematics for professional development experience.
Math professor, Dr. Laora Brizendine, is taking two students, Matt Pugh and Shannon Moore, to the NCCMT conference. The conference is held annually in Greensboro and is sponsored by the NCCMT. It goes on for two days with sessions about technology in the classrooms.
“The reason that I want the students to go is because there are some sessions for first year teachers,” said Brizendine.
Brizendine said students will learn about some of the issues they may run into in their first, second and third year of teaching.
There are sessions for DESMOS tutorials, graphing calculators and college level math. Brizendine said these are going to be some of the most beneficial sessions for the attending students because it will allow the students to see technology in use.
Wingate students have been going to this conference for four years with Dr. Brizendine and Dr. Sandy Mills, although Mills will not be attending this year. This trip was made possible through a grant that Brizendine wrote and applied for through the Dean’s Office.
One student was surprised to hear that Wingate University offered the opportunity to attend math conferences.
I am hoping to learn how to use LEGO bricks to teach math, how to connect math with literature and what new technology can help teach math.” said Middle Grades Education major, Matt Pugh.
There are sessions broken down by grade level, which will help guide the student attendees to the sessions that will best interest and benefit them. At the conference, there are also current practicing teachers that will present new ideas about what works best in the classroom.
There will also be several keynote speakers present at the conference, such as Peg Smith and Jenny Bay Williams. The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction will also present on their status and what they are doing.
Edited by Gabriela Cabrera, Ryan Mackintosh, and Mason Teague
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