Photo Provided For the second year, Wheeling University and Marshall County Schools have received a grant to enhance math education within the school district. From left are Moundsville Middle School Math teacher Stephanie Brown, Marshall County Schools Assistant Superintendent Woody Yoder, Wheeling University Education major John Korte, Moundsville Middle School Principal Shey McGuire and Professor of Education and Director of Wheeling’s Education Program Sherri Theaker.

WHEELING — A state grant to Wheeling University and Marshall County Schools will provide more than three times the previous year’s amount, allowing the two institutions to extend a partnership which improved math education locally.

Earlier this year, WU received a $12,000 Professional Development Grant to offer co-teaching and collaborative workshops for teachers in Marshall County and Wheeling education majors, as well as supporting the Math4Life initiative, aimed at improving math education at the middle and high school levels.

This week, WU received a $41,400 grant to extend the program. Sherri Theaker, professor of Education and director of Wheeling’s Education Program, said the grant will allow the two educational entities to enhance the existing relationship to improve math instruction to middle and high school students.

“Collaborating with the Marshall County School District over the past two years not only has provided professional development opportunities for the teachers within the district, but has given our teacher candidates the opportunity to become involved in current and relevant classroom math curriculum,” Theaker said.

Holly Woods, Marshall County Schools K-12 mathematics facilitator, said the collaboration with the university is a great opportunity for the Wheeling education majors to gain experience inside a classroom and affords the district the ability to track its students’ progress. These programs have been ongoing since the beginning of the school year.

She added that the collaboration provides opportunities for pre-service teachers, classroom teachers and administrators to discuss student progress, assessment, needs and plan differentiated instruction.

“The experience of working in (a) professional learning community creates a team within the school to address the needs of all students and provides teachers with support. Experiencing a PLC is something that many pre-service teachers often are not familiar with, and shows how the relationships are vital in creating a learning environment,” Woods said.

In addition to the intensive math instruction, Moundsville Middle School students will receive a copy of “The Math Pact.” This book will be incorporated into the middle school’s math curriculum, and provides the educators a coherent approach to teaching and learning mathematics.

The grant also affords for the Marshall County math faculty and the Wheeling teacher candidates to complete eight, one-hour workshops pertaining to teacher leadership with a focus on differentiated instruction and co-teaching, Theaker added. Additionally, the afterschool workshops will support the teachers and teacher candidates in using student data to determine interventions for the middle school students in need of extra help.

John Korte, a Wheeling University junior education major, will spend a total of 120 hours this year observing middle and high school classes. As a senior, he will student-teach in a middle or high school. He said observing classes this year has been a great experience.

“Being inside the classroom has made a big impact on my educational experience at Wheeling,” Korte said. “This opportunity has solidified my decision to be an education major and a teacher. I have great mentors in Marshall County guiding me through all of the nuances of teaching.

“I am so grateful for Wheeling University’s partnership with Marshall County Schools, because it has allowed me to gain valuable classroom teaching skills and work with a group of true professionals,” he added.

The final piece of the program will be for seventh grade students and teachers to participate in e-Missions through Wheeling University’s Challenger Learning Center. Challenger’s e-Missions are distance learning simulations that connect the students with a flight director at the CLC where the students use their math and science skills to solve a number of crises during the mission.

In preparation of the e-Missions, the middle school teachers will incorporate instructional information that prepares the students for the simulation and bolsters their understanding and proficiency in math.

“The ability to collaborate with Wheeling University provides opportunities for our teachers to examine ways in which we can better serve our students. In this case math teachers, each teaching more than 100 students on a given day, are working on ways to team up to better serve students who have deficit and/or enrichment needs. Having student teachers and observers working as a part of that teaming is a win for everyone,” added Marshall County Assistant Superintendent Woody Yoder.