All About Me

Hi I'm Kristen Beck and I have been an educator for 26 years.  I have taught in 3 states (California, Idaho, and Nevada).  I have taught in 7 districts, in 8 schools.  These are my thoughts about curriculum, mathematics education, literacy education, technology, learning, teaching, and standards based grading. My passion is becoming a better educator one day at a time.  These ramblings are my own thoughts.  I have recently moved from the classroom into a Curriculum Coordinator position in Auburn Union School District in Auburn California.  My new adventure will bring new opportunities and challenges. As an active Twitter user (@teachteKBeck) I use my Professional Learning Community to share, collaborate, consume, question, and create all things related to improving learning for students.  Here are some links to check out if you so choose.  Thanks for visiting my blog!


Kristen Beck's Instructional Coaching/EdTech Trainer Resume

Kristen Beck's Teaching Resume

Math by the Month problems Published by NCTM 02/12

Mrs. Beck's 2012-2013 Class Website for Students and Parents

Curriculum Connections to the Common Core Blog

Mrs. Beck's 2011-2012 Google Site







6 comments:

  1. Hi, Kristen,

    I came across your blog via David Wees, and I too am on a quest to make mathematics relevant -- especially to inner city students. As a fellow mathematics educator I thought you might be able to help in spreading the word about an educational TV show for preteens about math that we're putting together. "The Number Hunter" is a cross between Bill Nye The Science Guy and The Crocodile Hunter -- bringing math to children in an innovative, adventurous way. I’d really appreciate your help in getting the word out about the project.

    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/564889170/the-number-hunter-promo

    I studied math education at Jacksonville University and the University of Florida. It became clear to me during my studies why we’re failing at teaching kids math. We're teaching it all wrong! Bill Nye taught kids that science is FUN. He showed them the EXPLOSIONS first and then the kids went to school to learn WHY things exploded. Kids learn about dinosaurs and amoeba and weird ocean life to make them go “wow”. But what about math? You probably remember the dreaded worksheets. Ugh.

    I’m sure you know math is much more exciting than people think. Fractal Geometry was used to create “Star Wars” backdrops, binary code was invented in Africa, The Great Pyramids and The Mona Lisa, wouldn’t exist without geometry.
    Our concept is to create an exciting, web-based TV show that’s both fun and educational.

    If you could consider posting about the project on your blog, I’d very much appreciate it. Also, if you'd be interested in link exchanging (either on The Number Hunter site, which is in development, or on StatisticsHowTo.com which is a well-established site with 300,000 page views a month) please shoot me an email. We're also always looking for input and ideas from other math educators!

    Thanks in advance for your help,

    Stephanie
    andalepublishing@gmail.com
    http://www.thenumberhunter.com
    http://www.statisticshowto.com
    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/564889170/the-number-hunter-promo

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    Replies
    1. Hi Stephanie, I will check out your resources and gladly write a post about your project very soon! Thanks for visiting my blog!

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  2. Dear Kristen,
    As a proponent of math education in the United States, we need your help to promote our nationwide math competition by blogging or posting about it on your blog/forum.

    As you probably already know, despite the fact that the US spends the most money on education per capita, our students are ranked 25th globally for math proficiency. The MATHCOUNTS Foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to improving that statistic. MATHCOUNTS’ third annual “ Math Video Challenge” is a math competition for 6th to 8th graders that encourages student innovation as they create and star in their own math videos, thus exciting them to pursue higher education in math.

    As the webmaster of teachteKBeck, we are asking you to help support this effort by mentioning us in your next blog or forum post or promoting our logo with a link to the site. So far this contest has gathered over 500
    submissions and millions of views on the videos. Our goal this year is this year is to do even better. With your help, we are confident we will reach this goal.

    For more information on MATHCOUNTS or the Math Video Challenge, visit our webpages at mathcounts.org and videochallenge.mathcounts.org/math-camera-action.

    Respectfully,
    Jake Byrnes

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    Replies
    1. Hi Jake,
      I added the Mathcounts logo and the link to your homepage!

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  3. Hi Kristen,
    I read your essay about the CPACE exam. I feel your pain. I,too, am taking it in June and wondered if you have any suggestions for studying? I know you said your learning style is to "jump" and that is mine as well, however, this time, I would like to pass on the first try! You mentioned Twitter PLN and I don't Twitter, but am interested to become a Tweeter if it will help me gain more knowledge about this test. I sound like I'm from the Flinstone era, but any help would be appreciated. Thanks. Laura Wilson

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    Replies
    1. Hi Laura,
      My advice is to print out the abbreviated test prep materials that are available from the CPACE website. Spend your time on the Case Study and "Short Answer" questions. I got stuck on the first one and that is what caused my failure because I ran out of time to respond thoroughly. So, craft general responses based on the "answers" provided and have a good idea of what you will be writing. The questions are very similar to those on the test, so you should be able to morph what you practiced into the actual answer. For the multiple choice read the questions carefully. There will usually be two answers that you will be struggling with. Use what the question is asking to help you land on one answer. The hardest part of the test is that it is long, but you run out of time quickly. I hope this helps!!

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