President's Message - June 2010

A Unique Community of Math Education Thinkers and Doers

DAVID ZIMMER

dzec.inc@gmail.com

Since I started teaching in 1973, I have had the opportunity to meet with mathematics teachers from every region of Canada. Most of my career as a classroom teacher was centred in what is now known as the Peel District School Board. However, my adventures in mathematics publishing led me to the Maritime Provinces and Newfoundland, Quebec and the west with occasional side trips to the U.S. and Bhutan.

From my perspective, we have a unique community of math education thinkers and doers in Ontario who share a vision of what effective learning experiences for students ought to look like. From the folks at the Ministry of Education and the Literacy, Numeracy Secretariat to the Ontario Mathematics Coordinators' Association and the math coaches and leaders in individual boards of education and schools, we find active and committed members of OAME.

Our membership represents a broad spectrum of interests. OAME is a grass roots organization for math teachers from primary through senior secondary grades and increasingly, has begun to attract members from the college and university communities. We represent teachers in public, separate and independent schools.

As an organization, OAME provides resources and activities designed to directly support teachers and students. The Gazette and Abacus provide ideas teachers can use right away in their classes as well as broader discussions of important issues related to mathematics learning. We attract an average of 1200+ conference goers to our annual conferences and we intentionally locate them around the province to ensure equity of access. Our Mathematics Leadership Conference attracted over 150 participants in 2010. The OAME-organized Ontario Mathematics Olympics involves students from virtually all regions of the province in regional play downs and provincial finals. Our local affiliates provide district oriented workshops and activities.

For many years, OAME has provided the environment and opportunity for collegial collaboration and unrestricted talk that has fostered the development of critical mathematics education leaders and thinkers. More often than not, OAME members have been the nodes from which entire support networks have sprouted to support critical change and the improvement of classroom practice. You will find OAME members leading provincial and regional math coaching initiatives; organizing and facilitating provincial institutes and study groups; forming the core of the committees that develop and review curriculum and reaching out to parent communities and post-secondary institutions.

I am proud to have been associated with OAME for many years and am excited to begin my new term as president. With curriculum revision scheduled to begin in 2012, we have a lot of thinking and doing in our future and I know OAME will make a profound contribution to the process.

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