PRESENTATIONS

This presentation was prepared in honor of Euler’s 300th birthday. A small selection of interesting mathematics that originated with Euler follows a short biography.

This was the keynote address at the first Walton Math Fest in April 2007. This presentation was repeated at the Georgia Mathematics Conference in October 2007. 

This was presented at the Georgia Mathematics Conference in October 2007. 

I believe that calculus should be taught from a problem-solving perspective. This short presentation demonstrates how to achieve that while still preparing students for the Advanced Placement exam.

This was presented at the October 2008 AP Content Workshop sponsored by the Georgia Department of Education. 

In the same sprit as the Euler presentation, this is a short introduction to the life and work of Torricelli.

After many talks over the years about “How to Run a Math Team,” this was the first talk prepared using LaTeX and Beamer, so this is included and the earlier presentations are not. This is a short summary of all the stuff available for a Math Team in Georgia.

This was presented at the October 2008 Georgia Mathematics Conference.

(Such a creative title, right?) This demonstrates some number theory problems and the problem solving techniques they require.

This was presented at the May 2009 Georgia ARML team practice. It was intended for students new to ARML.

How does one plan effectively? It begins by planning for days that are unavailable for instruction: testing days, field trips, and other interruptions. Just how many days are there left to teach? Only 12 and one-half eight-hour days per class. This presentation outlines how I came to this conclusion, and offers some suggestions on what can be done about it.

Presented with Debbie Poss (Lassiter High School), this presentation examines the nature of the problems on the state math tournament and how that nature has changed over the past three decades. From rote bookwork-type problems to high-level thinking, the state tournament serves as a reflection of the knowledge we want students to have and to use. Many example problems are included.

This was presented at the October 2009 Georgia Mathematics Conference.

This presentation is an updated version of the original 2005 NCSSSMST talk about the year-long History of Math course. This was presented again at the 2007 Georgia Mathematics Conference. Now that the course is a semester-long GPS course, a this updated presentation was created. This describes the course goals and gives an overview of the curriculum.

This was presented at the October 2008 AP Content Workshop sponsored by the Georgia Department of Education. 

With school districts cutting back and budgets being slashed, I felt it was prudent to tweak my usual Math Team presentation for GMC a bit. This presentation focuses on the free opportunities for Math Teams and discusses some ways to raise funds. Suggestions are given for what to buy with those funds as well.

This was presented in November 2010 at the combined National Association for Gifted Children Annual Convention and the NCSSSMST Professional Conference.

This presents my technique of introducing calculus to students in terms of “rate equations.” Euler’s Method is the fundamental tool of this approach, and it is used extensively. It is even used to derive a discrete version of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.

This was presented at the October 2008 AP Content Workshop sponsored by the Georgia Department of Education. 

I was secondary speaker behind the lead speaker, Charlie Koppelman at Kennesaw State University. This presentation reviewed results from a statistical survey sent to schools that participate in the KSU Math Contest, and then provided examples of math contest problems in which the graphing calculator plays various roles.

This was presented at the October 2012 Georgia Mathematics Conference. (There are no slides posted because Charlie wrote them, not me!)

I was secondary speaker behind the lead speaker, Tom Fulton from iLearn, Inc. We educated the audience about all things Georgia ARML, from selecting the team to coaching the team to the tournament itself.

This presentation was done on behalf of the Georgia Department of Education for the AP Regional Workshop at Bradwell Institute in Hinesville on November 9, 2012.

As the title suggests, this is a presentation of an interesting episode in the history of mathematics. This concerns the 16th century controversy surrounding Cardano (the gambler) and Tartgalia (the stutterer) and the credit for being the first to solve the general cubic equation.

This is a different version of the presentation above.  

This was presented at the October 2008 AP Content Workshop sponsored by the Georgia Department of Education. 

I used to teach infinite series in a traditional way with nary a mention of series until the end of the year. I have changed my ways by introducing sequences, some series, and Taylor polynomials at certain points in the year before teaching infinite series. I also talked about how useful the Root Test for Convergence is (even though it is not part of the AP Course Description).

This presentation was done on behalf of the Georgia Department of Education for the AP Regional Workshop at Rockdale Career Academy on October 11, 2013.

Aimed at an audience of Math Team sponsors who are wondering what to do with their Math Teams, I answered such questions as “What should practices be like?”, “What things should my Math Team do?”, “How do I get students to problem-solve?”, and “What can I do to keep interest alive?”

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This was presented at the October 2013 Georgia Mathematics Conference.

This presentation was done on behalf of the Georgia Department of Education for the AP Regional Workshop at Rockdale Career Academy on October 10, 2014.

This presentation offers an approach to introducing Taylor polynomials earlier in the year, as an application of derivatives.  

This is an extremely opinionated collection of teaching tips, calculus techniques, pedagogical musings, and philosophical rants originating with my pursuit to teach calculus better.

What is Georgia ARML? This presentation attempts to answer that question and others, such as: How are students selected for the Georgia ARML team? What happens at Georgia ARML practice? How can teachers get their students prepared for ARML?

Here is a collection of calculus problems involving functions defined by tables. All aspects of calculus are presented through the lens of table problems: limits, derivatives, definite integrals, differential equations, the Mean Value Theorem, and more.

This was presented on behalf of the Georgia Department of Education for the AP Regional Workshop at Lambert High School on October 23, 2015.

The presentation described the History of Math course and the standards. I present my approach to the course and show some sample homework questions.

This was presented at the October 2016 Georgia Mathematics Conference.

This was presented at the October 2016 Georgia Mathematics Conference.

This presentation describes the changes and current state of the math curriculum at Rockdale Magnet School.

This was presented at the Georgia STEM Conference in Athens, GA on October 25, 2016.

The presentation outlined all the mathematics contest and competition opportunities for middle and high school students in Georgia.

This was presented at the October 2017 Georgia Mathematics Conference.

The presentation describes the importance of writing better tests in calculus, so that grading is easier and tests actually assess the intended material.

The presentation describes how to score Free-Response Questions through a case study of one particular AP Calculus Free-Response Question: AB/BC4 from 2018.

The presentation describes the curriculum of the Georgia Department of Education's fourth-year math option, Advanced Finite Mathematics.  I wrote the standards and learning objectives for this course, and this is my presentation on the course.

The presentation describes the curriculum of the Georgia Department of Education's fourth-year math option, History of Mathematics.  I wrote the standards and learning objectives for this course, and this is my presentation on the course.

The presentation gives advice on hosting a high school math tournament.  This advice is gleaned from spending over 20 years hosting math tournaments.  You are encouraged to think about how to ask a for the answer, how to determine the format, and how to find and publicize your math tournament..