Jump Up to HS Math Program

Jump Up to HS Math Program McAllen PD3 Site July 2008

Jump Up to HS Math Program A two week summer program for secondary math teachers and entering HS students consisting of: • A morning math camp for students; • Teachers discussing and analyzing the morning session; and • An afternoon math class for the teachers.

Jump Up to HS Math Program • The three components (math camp, reflecting on practice, and afternoon math class) is based on Texas Mathworks’ Junior Math Camp. • Jump Up to HS targets MS and HS teachers, district students entering 9th grade.

Math Camp for Students • Aimed at students entering 9th grade at any of the district’s three main high schools. • Organized and led by a combination of MS and HS teachers. • Held on a HS campus. • Measurement and geometry activities (based in part on state assessment results for McAllen ISD).

Math Camp for Students • Two “master teachers” and 2-4 “support teachers” work with 18-24 students in a classroom. • A second two-week math camp for students can be held with the roles of the support teachers and master teachers reversed.

Math Camp for Students One activity: Trundle wheels

Math Camp for Students • Amazing (Geometric) Race - students race around the HS to find geometric shapes, and then make measurements of them with factory-made trundle wheels. • Students make and use their own trundle wheels (without guidance).

Math Camp for Students

Reflecting on Practice After the students leave, the teachers meet to discuss and analyze the morning session. • What were the big math ideas intended for today? • Did the students learn anything today? What did you see and hear that tells you this? • What were some effective questions? • If we could rewind today, what would be different?

Reflecting on Practice Then finalized preparation for the next day: • Teachers do the lesson, anticipate student responses, modify the lesson as needed. • Consider possible ways to sequence student responses. • Discuss possible questions to ask to determine student learning. • Eat cookies.

Afternoon Math Class An afternoon “math camp” for the math camp teachers. Teachers work on mathematics. Not meant to tie into the student math camp, but sometimes we can’t avoid it.

Another student activity: make your own ruler.Students are given a blank sentence strip and challenged to make a ruler.Many students repeatedly fold the strips in half to create their subdivisions. Two different student-made rulers.

Afternoon Math Class Questions posed for the teachers in the afternoon: • How can folding be used to make “thirds” on a ruler? • Find a mathematical explanation for an origami move for subdividing a paper into thirds.

Afternoon Math Class Other activities: • Wyoming MSP materials on Connecting Geometry • EDC problem on squareness (PCMI 2006) • “Is there a net for a sphere?”

General Observations • Teachers become used to having other teachers in their classroom • Typical comment after first day: “I was very nervous about having other teachers watch me. I’m glad today is over.” • No TAKS (Texas state assessment test) pressure, no lectures, no grading. • Teachers learn to watch students struggle, learn patience, learn to butt out.

Ups and Downs • How can we take advantage of this to follow the teachers into the classroom during the year? • Teachers perceive the environment during the summer to be vastly different than that during the school year. • Students are for the most part “self selected.”

Ups and Downs • Competition with summer school (students and teachers) and other summer programs. 2006 – 30 students, 6 teachers 2007 – 85 students, 14 teachers 2008 – 20 students, 4 teachers

Jump Up to HS Math Program