Ruth Avazian, ICTM President

A Message from Your President ...

Welcome to the Iowa Council of Teachers of Mathematics website. This site is designed to keep you informed of the latest information related to ICTM. If you are a member of ICTM, you are part of a statewide group of mathematics educators focused on promoting excellence in the teaching of mathematics. If you are not a member, I encourage you to join us! The cost is relatively inexpensive ($20), and ICTM will help with networking with other teachers and groups involved with math.

As we move towards incorporating the Common Core Standards, we need to stay informed and up to date. We are always looking for volunteers to assist at our annual conference. If you are interested in volunteering, please let me know. Contact me at 641-202-1156.

I have received the following information that is important to ICTM members. Please note this information and plan accordingly.

The Iowa Teacher Shortage Loan Forgiveness Program is a state-supported and administered loan forgiveness program for educators serving in designated teacher shortage areas as certified by the Iowa Department of Education. Applicants must be teaching in approved shortage areas at Iowa kindergarten through twelfth grade schools recognized by the Iowa Department of Education. In order to be considered for this program, applicants must complete and file annual applications on or after the deadline established by the Iowa College Student Aid Commission. In the past, the application timeframe for this program has been July 1st through September 30th. For the 2011-2012 award year and all future years, the application timeframe will be January 1, 2012 through March 31, 2012. Payments will be sent to lenders/servicers in June of 2012.

The application will be available through the Iowa College Student Aid Commission’s website at www.IowaCollegeAid.gov beginning January 1, 2012. Teachers will be notified of their application status and award amounts in May 2012.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding the new application time frame.

Newsletter Update/Correction:

In the last issue of the ICTM Newsletter, I mentioned 2 sites that were shared with my school at a Professional Development day.

Please be wary of the Khan Academy site as it is strictly a level 1/quadrant A site with no pedagogy with it. It is a site that is a drill site for students to go to. It doesn’t adhere to Common Core/ Iowa Core standards, nor to the Every Student Counts training that the Department of Education has had training for the Urban 8 schools/AEA math consultants.

By no means did I mean to endorse this site. I was sharing a site that was shared at my school.