President's Message - June 2013

Final Bonus Message

As you read this, the school year will be winding down... and so will my term as OAME President. Usually the President's term of office is "bookended" by the Annual General Meeting that is held during OAME's Annual Conference in May. This year we will be changing that tradition due to a constitutional change that will now align our OAME year more closely with the school year. In other words, I've lucked in by grabbing a couple of extra months of wielding the President's gavel!

I know that sounds facetious, but the reality is that my year as President has flown by all too quickly. As I'm sure my predecessors did, I too had a million plans for what I wanted to accomplish this year... and, as I'm sure many of them felt as their terms ended, the months pass all too quickly, leaving us wondering if we've made any impact at all on the math world in Ontario and beyond.

I'm sure many of you are wondering the same thing about the impact you've had on your students this year. The reality of our world as educators is that we are goal setters-the more goals, and the higher we set the bar, the better! When you stop to think about it, you'll realize that we're also some of the best hurdle jumpers in the world, no matter what the obstacle. You only have to think back through the past week, let alone the entire school year, to relive some of those potential detours on the road to success... widely varying student needs, timetabling woes, classroom-management issues, curriculum pressures, ongoing job actions, and lack of networking/PD, to name a few! And yet, you've carried on, determined to make math come alive for your teachers, students, and parents. I want to extend a sincere thank you for your dedication and tenacity during what has been an unusually tough year in many respects... well done!

It takes a lot to keep OAME down! That has been evidenced in the fact that our various regional chapters have maintained the status quo as much as possible during a very uncertain professional climate this past year. They have, for the most part, been able to carry on with their local events (mini-conferences, forums, Math Olympics playdowns, socials). In my own chapter, we have made good on our promise to head out "on the road" with PD events for COMA members and their colleagues in outlying communities. I applaud COMA Council for their creativity and "outside the box" thinking in making this happen! It is my hope that other chapters give this outreach approach a try; I think they will find that the rewards far outweigh any negatives. Not only are we serving the needs of more of our members; we are also raising the visibility of OAME, thereby building our member base and offering another source of quality PD for the province's math educators. I am very excited about some of the plans that are in the works for several chapters this coming fall as they pilot-test a new model for real-time virtual PD in many regional hubs across the province... another in the ever-growing list of online PD opportunities available to you as OAME members!

Of course, this does not diminish the power of face-toface professional development offerings. One of the best of these events could be found at the OAME Leadership Conference in November. Although registration numbers were lower than usual, those members who were allowed to take advantage of self-directed PD had a chance to celebrate some math success stories from around the province... shared by some of our most respected math leaders, among them Doug Duff, our keynote speaker. It was inspiring to share in his journey as a school administrator instilling a culture of change within his school. By employing his "9 Points of Change," he led his school to impressive successes over the past three years. We also heard from a team of teachers from that same school, who have worked collaboratively to develop innovative teaching and assessment practices for their students. These three individuals-Lisa Cianci, Kevin Gordon, and Bill Nediger-shared their insight into how they and their students had experienced a major paradigm shift in taking ownership of math understanding-and the ensuing success of their "Reaching the Bar" initiative. Conference participants were equally engaged when it came to breakout sessions led by Joyce Tonner (Principal), Robert Cop (Consultant), Liliana Bastianelli (Department Head), and Jennifer Capitani (Instructional Coach). In each of these sessions, the presenters shared their success stories and practical strategies that could be adopted/adapted to bring about similar successes for conference participants. The conference wound up with a Saturday morning session with Connie Quadrini and myself, in which participants drilled down into the depths of the math curriculum from K-12 as they investigated the concept of Equivalence- how we teach it and how our students come to understand it. All in all, this year's Leadership Conference was a resounding success... I just wish that more people had been able to take advantage of it!

At this time, I would also like to offer a special thank you to some of the behind-the-scenes players who have been there for me and for OAME this year:

• Executive Directors - Fred and Lynda Ferneyhough... Thank you for working tirelessly to ensure that OAME remains the vital professional organization it is. You keep the wheels on the bus turning smoothly!
• Past President - Connie Quadrini... Thank you for paving the way for me, and giving me a road map to follow-and for keeping me from taking too many detours along the way!
• Vice-Presidents - Bill Otto, Paul Alves, Tim Sibbald... Thank you for helping me see the big picture of "the forest and not just the trees"!
• Incoming President, Sonia Ellison... Thank you for your enthusiasm and commitment to "making a difference" for Ontario math teachers. I look forward to helping you make your vision a reality next year!
• OAME Directors and Chapter Reps... Thank you for volunteering your time and for spearheading OAME initiatives within your working committees at our Board meetings throughout the past year. Your expertise and vision serve as OAME's signposts!
• OAME Webmaster - Greg Clarke... Thank you for serving as our IT guru-and for being at our beck and call 24/7 for "OAME math emergencies"!
• The Executive and/or Council of our 15 regional chapters - CHAMP, COMA, GOLDEN, GVMA, ISOMA, MAC2, NOMA, NWOAME, PRMA, QSLMA, SAME SWOAME, TEAMS, WOMA, Y4MA... Thank you for all the time and effort you devote in working on behalf of your chapter members-and for spearheading and organizing exciting PD events for them!
• Editor of the Gazette - Immaculate Kizito Namukasa... Thank you to you and your team, including Abacus Editors, Kathy Kybota-Zarivnij and Mary Lou Kestell, for producing such a cutting-edge professional resource!
• QSLMA... Thank you for trying your best to keep OMO alive this year. Unfortunately it was not to be. However, this exciting event will be back next year, hosted by MAC2!
• TEAMS... Thank you for "OAME 2013: Think Big" - one of the most ambitious and exciting Annual Conferences ever! I'd like to thank Co-Chairs Wayne Erdman and Anthony Meli and their organizing committee, student volunteers, sponsors, and presenters for making this event truly outstanding!
• Financial Literacy Writing Team - Anne Yeager, Project Manager... Thank you to this team of writers for carrying forward OAME's Financial Literacy resources initiative. We look forward to the completion of the resources for the remaining divisions... and to being able to use them with our students and teachers!
• All of our OAME members... Thank you for your ongoing support and dedication in making OAME one of the most vital and well-respected professional organizations in the world! It has been an honour serving as your President!

It's been a challenging year, folks... but we all did our best to "make math happen" and, for that, I think we should give ourselves a well-deserved pat on the back. Enjoy your summer, everyone!

Previous Message:
Attitude is Everything!

Next Message:
Welcome to another OAME school year!

Index of Messages