Missouri Pre-Service Mathematics

Teacher Leadership Conference

April 4-5, 2003, Southwest Missouri State hosted a Missouri Pre-Service Mathematics Teacher Leadership Conference. The conference was funded by a generous grant from the 3M Corporation. Sixty nine future math teachers from twelve colleges around the state came to the conference. Five students from Southwest Baptist University attended, as well as three sponsoring professors.

Those in attendance from Southwest Baptist University are seen in the picture below. They were from the front, going left to right: Jennifer Beyer, Dr. Bob Glasgow, Melanie Sisler, Sarah Hulme, Dr. Kevin Hopkins, Scott Beever, Lindsey Hooser, and Dr. Steve Bowling.

Dr. Bob Glasgow presented one session. In the first picture below, he is seen explaining to the audience. In the second picture, we see Dr. Bowling and Scott Beever attempting to follow his directions to animate the motion of a pixel across a computer screen.

There were other sessions where students observed experience teachers sharing about mathematics teaching. On the left, Dr. Bowling, Scott Beever, Melanie Sisler, and Jennifer Beyer are finishing up an activity from a session. On the right, we have Lindsey Hooser and Sarah Hulme listening intently to a speaker.

Scott Beever was one of four student teachers on a panel presentation about the student teaching experience.

The Missouri Mathematics Association for the Advancement of Teacher Training (MAT)² also held a meeting during the conference. At this meeting, Dr. Kevin Hopkins was elected as the president elect of the group. He will serve in that capacity for a year and will become president next year.

The conference was not all work, as the picture below shows the students and sponsors intently playing the game Xactica (a very mathematically inclined card game).