About Saturday Seminars
Saturday Seminars at CSUS Math Project are a chance for participants from the summer, their colleagues, and those wishing to check out the Math Project to come together for a day to refresh what they've learned, or to experience new methods of teaching and understanding.

All are invited to any of our Saturday meetings. If you have a colleague at your school with whom you would like to start a peer coaching relationship, or someone you are recommending to one of our institutes, please invite her/him.

Remember, 2.0 Continuing Education Units are available. Details provided at the first session. Also, all attendees can pick up a letter for professional growth hours signed by our Director on that day.

What happens at a typical Saturday Seminar?
Each Saturday begins with a problem usually given to us by Rick West, Scott Farrand or Deb Stetson. Problems are chosen so that they are accessible to all no matter when they last had a math class. For example past problems have been:

1) if you are to make the brackets for a single elimination tournament, what is the total number of contests necessary to determine a winner given some number of contestants, and

2) if you are to break apart a chocolate bar (without stacking), how many breaks are necessary to separate it into individual pieces? Participants are challenged to be sure of what they know and to attain a solid line of reasoning. The three instructors model teaching by asking questions to engage, to spread understanding, to check understanding, and to deepen reasoning.

During the morning problem solving session, some members of staff will observe the lesson, looking for what is working. After the lesson, the observers will have a debriefing discussion with the instructors while the learners of the lesson (you, the participating teachers) are listening. In this way, participating teachers, after having just been learners, can retrace the lesson from a teacher's perspective, considering ways in which learners were involved, methods of questioning, and methods of pushing the understanding of learners to a deeper level.

After the morning problem solving, break-out sessions will be offered particular to different grade levels of the teachers in attendance. These break out sessions also correspond to the separate institutes offered over the previous summer, and are taught by the instructors from those various institutes. For example, there have been breakout sessions about the underlying reasoning for comparing ratios, mathematics behind decimal and fraction equivalents, video analysis, geometric series connecting to decimals, and the algebra of batting averages.

Although we recognize Saturday time is precious, we know that you will find the time spent with us valuable, and hope that you can join us.

Continuing Education Units (CEUs)
Please check with your organization to ensure the CEUs we offer meet your employer/school district's requirements. CEUs are optional. The SAME Conference can be used as a make-up towards earning CEU's. CEU cost for 2 units are $120.00.

Fees
The cost per session is only $35.00 or $30.00 per session if you sign up for 3 or more at the same time!

Refunds
Please notify MASE Center in writing, by e-mail or fax no less than five days prior to your first class meeting* for a full refund. If your request is received five days before the course begins, you may transfer the full amount of your paid fees to another date in the series or receive a full refund, less a $10 processing fee. If you do not attend the course or notify us in the alloted time, you will not receive a refund. All refunds will be issued by check. Checks require one month for clearance prior to processing refunds. Refund checks are processed within four to six weeks.

* A five day notice does not include weekends or holidays. E-mail your request to debbie@csus.edu or send a fax to (916) 278-4770.