“Serving Our Strongest Students”

CAIS Math Day 2008

Please type your answers below and e-mail your completed form as an attachment to CAIS organizer Chris Davies at by TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2008.

Please try to be as expansive as possible. The more we share, the more we will take from this day!

(Teachers from the same school should feel free to collaborate on a single questionnaire.)

We hope to share all the completed questionnaires as soon as possible. Depending on how much data we receive, we might post answers online, burn answers to a CD, and/or transfer via flashdrive. Please bring a flashdrive (portable memory stick) to Math Day if possible.

1) Please tell the group about YOURSELF.
Name: Katharine Velleman, Jeanie Mohan, and Erik Carlson
School: The Hamlin School
Town: San Francisco
Enrollment: K-8, 400
Grades you teach: Katharine Velleman: 7th and 8th grade. Jeanie Mohan: Math Specialist (formerly 7th and 8th grade math teacher). Erik Carlson: Middle School Head
Courses you teach: Katharine: Algebra I Honors, Algebra (8th grade—regular), 7th grade math (regular sections)
2) Does your school have TRACKING? (or courses offered at “honors” level, or some sort of structured differentiation in the courses?) Explain: Yes: an honors Algebra section in 8th grade and an honors section in 7th grade.
If you offer advanced classes, briefly describe how they differ from the regular classes? Advanced sections move at a faster pace but all sections in a grade use the same textbook.
If you offer advanced classes, do you think they benefit the strongest students? What about the rest of the students? The strongest students benefit from the more challenging material offered in the advanced classes. It is important for students in the regular sections to understand the material conceptually instead of just memorizing algorithms, and they benefit from the slower pace.
3) What types of CONTENT ENRICHMENT do you provide for the strongest students? Mention additional problems, projects, extra credit assignments, websites, software, etc. by course (please include as many specifics as you can):
Sixth Grade Math:
PreAlgebra: In the honors section, more challenging and complex word problems and more advanced algebraic problems are presented. Longer homework assignments and tests. Faster pace.
Algebra: One 8th grade student is online using the EPGY program. She has finished Algebra II and is now working on Geometry. She meets weekly with the 8th grade teacher. In the class notes given in the honors section, a challenging problem is included. Bonus problems on tests are also part of content enrichment. Some proofs are presented in class but students are not held accountable.
Math Forum problems are available to the teachers.
Geometry:
Algebra 2:
Precalculus:
Calculus:
Statistics:
Other math courses:
4) To what extent are CHALLENGE PROBLEMS (non-routine, math-contest, synthesis type problems that students have not been shown explicitly how to solve) part of the standard curriculum (as opposed to extra credit)? In every class, challenge problems are assigned. Sometimes a more difficult version but of the same type is used in the honor sections.
Are students graded on their ability to solve such problems, and if so, how is that done? Always 1-2 of such problems on each test. All honors problems are like challenge problems. Students may solve them any way they wish.
5) How do you modify your ASSESSMENT for strong students? Do you grade the strongest students differently or have different standards? Only different for the students in honors sections.
Do you let strong students skip routine assignments in order to work on advanced assignments ?
Rarely.
Do your strongest students have difficulty communicating their thinking in oral and/or written form (they can just DO the math in their head)? How do you help them to improve?
All students are required to explain in written form often.
Do you deduct points if answers are correct but the reasoning is not sufficiently communicated?
Yes, on questions where the teacher is looking for a specific explanation or on the application of a certain method.
6) What other types of PEDAGOGICAL ADJUSTMENTS do you make to serve strong students (Use of class time, differentiated learning, amount of collaborative learning, modified teaching styles, etc.) See comments above.
7) Does your school allow 9th-12th graders to ACCELERATE in to math courses above their grade level?
Does your school schedule make this acceleration difficult?
Does your school allow 5th-8th graders to accelerate above age level? How do you weigh the maturity/social issues? In the past, several 8th graders have taken accelerated math courses.
How is this acceleration accomplished? In one instance, an 8th grader took a high school math course at Sacred Heart, a block away. Two others have worked independently online (including one current 8th grader mentioned above).
Do you receive much parental pressure to allow students to accelerate beyond their age cohort?
There has been some parental pressure for acceleration and in a few cases a request for students to skip a year of math such as 6th grade. At present, some of the pressure is reduced because of smaller class size and the honors section in 7th grade.
8) Do you have any SUMMER math offerings on your campus that serve to enrich strong students?
No.
Do you give credit to students who take acceleration/enrichment courses from outside programs? No.
9) What math COURSES does your school offer for students who have completed Precalculus?
Are there students who run out of math courses to take? What do they do?
10) Does your school have a MATH TEAM? There is a math club which meets weekly.
How much participation is there (in absolute and/or percentage terms)? About five students per semester.
How often are math competitions held on campus? AMC—once a year. Math Olympiad competitions per year are held on campus.
How often does the team travel to compete? Never
Do you offer any incentives/extra credit for participating in math team events? No.
What other things do you do to get your strongest students to participate? -----
Are your present day mathletes as strong as they were in the past?
Perhaps but over the past thirty years there have been a remarkable number of outstanding math students at Hamlin.
11) Do you have a PEER TUTORING program where your strong students can work as math tutors? Describe: No
12) Do you track (or can you guess) what percent or numbers of your GRADUATES go on to major in mathematical fields? In science? No.
Do you know if any of your strongest math graduates went on to teach math? No.
13) What other SUGGESTIONS do you have for serving our strongest students?
Create a culture with more differentiated learning