Recent Reflections

Lesson Delivery

Students, and observers of my math classes, will find an agenda posted on the board containing the following items:

• Title: Agenda with the date
• Essential Question
• Warm-up activity
• Main Activities
• Summary Activities

Without apology, the IP/IB math class is structured using an inquiry approach. Each section of the textbook contains student-centered investigations, a hands-approach for students to “experience” mathematics. The old days of “sage-on-the-stage”, as has been so often repeated in professional development, are over. The IP/IB program and the Common Core are aligned as to the Standards for Mathematical Practice. As a recognized and published author for common core mathematics, I use a standards-based approach to delivering math instruction.

Observers who are expecting to see extensive slideshows and a demonstration of my mastery of mathematics, while students take copious notes, will be sorely disappointed. Explanations and clarifications come after student experiences, investigations, and working together to understand both the mathematical questions and solutions.

My response to parents preface

Parents may be paying a lot of money to provide a private school education to their students, but they should trust the qualified teachers to deliver the instruction and seek the attention of teachers as to best support their students. It is the teachers, not the administrators, who keep up with changes to the curriculum and best classroom practices. When a parent tells an administrator "well that's not the way I learned it" that should be the signal to the administrator to get the teacher involved. I don't care that an administrator "used to be" a teacher, they probably were not a math or computer science teacher.

My public response to parents

To: Sarita Nori <sarita.nori@gmail.com>, Janice L. Cheung <61jlc4@queensu.ca>,
      <rwkKam@gmail.com>, Natalia Beliaeva <natalia_beliaeva@yahoo.com>
From: Jim Brennan <jbrennan@HWMath.net>
CC: (welcomed): Richard Ulfers, Kelsey Loconte, Philippe Caron-Audet, Isabelle Praud, file

Subject:The pace and sequence of the 9IP Math Intensive Class

Please refer to the document provided to the students at the beginning of the school year, and distributed to parents during back to school night regarding the pace and sequence of the two-year 9-IP and 10-IP Mathematics Intensive course. There you will find the curriculum topics that are covered on a trimester-by-trimester basis. Please also take a preview of the table of contents in both of the textbooks that we are using for the intensive class, and please notice the non-linear nature of how units are defined by the textbook, and are used throughout the 9IP-10IP course. Please take time to browse through a particular section of the textbook and examine the types of investigations that students will be asked to perform.

Being both an experienced mathematics teacher and information technology profession, I present additional opportunities for students to experience mathematics using technology. Additional time is spent with graphical display calculators (GDC), visual mathematics applications such as Geogebra or Desmos, or advanced spreadsheet tools. Time spent with these tools enhance how students experience abstract concepts and provide a visual way to help students comprehend curriculum topics.

To address the concerns that you have brought forth to the Head of School, Mr. Ulffers, let me provide some direct information to you, but also know that you could have had a conversation directly with me which I would have expected to be more appropriate and productive.

1. I understand that you feel that we are being with the curriculum that we should have covered by now: comparing where you perceive the standard math class is and where the intensive class is does not seem to take into account that each of our units is designed to be longer. Please refer to the trimester-by-trimester outline that has been provided to you and your students. I am comfortable knowing that we are on track to cover all of the planned curriculum

2. You have a concern that the classes are taught with minimal structure and organization. Here some 1:1 clarification would be needed, as each of my lessons have a consistent structure utilizing best practices; If you have not accepting the invitation to join our Google Classroom as a parent I encourage you to do so; this will provide you with access to the day-to-day activities of the class.

3. You have expressed concern that math concepts are not being explained in class. I will combine my response to this concern with your report to Mr. Ulffers that “that some of the more advanced kids in the class are routinely solving the problems and explaining it to others.” I found this to be an amazing complaint, as this is the purpose of the class. Students will absorb some of what they see and what they hear; they will absorb some of the meaning of what they do; and they will certainly absorb what they explain to others. As stated previously, in the investigation type approach to mathematics the teacher will present learning opportunities involving discoveries - and then will provide missing information - such as other processes or procedures, additional examples, and will facilitate the sharing of solutions between partners, or small groups. I know you see this as a criticism of the class, but I am viewing your complaint as validation. Students are invited to ask questions during an investigation and certainly after - they are invited to ask questions they have during a summative presentation, they are welcome to seek additional help during office hours, free to post questions in the Google Group that is set up for students to discuss math, and they are welcome to send email for any reason. Without apology, they are expected to be active participants in their own learning.

4. “The kids have reported they are playing a game called deal or no deal, during class. I have a two-part response to this concern: 1) Not all students are familiar with the T.V. game show Deal or No Deal. I have created a Deal or No Deal using Excel and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) which mimics the T.V. show, but also integrates asking math questions. I ran this on the Teacher’s PC because it runs using Excel and is not compatible with Google Sheets. The short presentation process introduced the students to the game, and discussed “Expected” and “Theoretical” outcomes, in other words - statistics. 2) I bought a deal-or-no-deal book, which is a collection of scratch-off solitaire games. On a rotating basis I allowed one student per day to play the scratch-off deal or no deal game during the time the rest of the class was working on their daily warm-up/starter activity. Students were not required to play the game when they were selected, and one of your students did prefer to not play and chose the starter activity instead. I did not view this as a problem and I provided another student the opportunity to play. Overall most students had a positive reaction to being singled out to participate in what I had hoped to be a fun activity and getting a pass on a small amount of classwork. If your student was offended that I had provided them with an opportunity to play, perhaps they could have sent me an email long before it was their turn. I don’t consider this “time-off-task.”

5. You raised the question “What is math teaching going to look like for these kids in the rest of ISB high school?” The IB mathematics program is also student-centered, and uses a concept-based approach. If you want your student to learn math the same way that you and I did - watching the teacher do problems, taking notes, repeating the teacher’s process with new numbers, and memorizing processes and formulas - then you should think about a different program, other than the IB program. End of program IB math examinations are graded from 1 to 7. If you would like your student to get by memorizing formulas and processes then your student can get by and likely earn a 4 out of 7, which is sufficient towards earning an IB diploma. If you and your student are vested in the IB mathematics program then your student will learn the concepts needed to make connections between mathematics topics, they will be able to approach problems on an IB examination that they had never seen before, and they will be measured on what they can do and how they communicate their understanding of mathematics. Students that develop problem solving skills and can apply logic and reason, can earn a 5 to 7 on their IB exams. Students wishing to study a test-prep book and master known problems may enjoy taking AP Mathematics - to be honest up front, it is easier to get a top score on an AP examination than on an IB examination.

6. Addressing some of your possible solutions to the concerns you have included using past IP and IB resources from previous teachers, or possibly using an on-line option. I do use resources that are available from past teachers and classes. Please be aware that the curriculum changes and that teachers become aware of what changes are coming, what the prerequisite skills are that need to be developed, and how to compensate for skills that a student (or students) may be lacking. Having an in-school teacher resource should be more beneficial to your student; having said that, there could be online courses (such as AP Calculus) that perhaps your student should take in later years, if your goals change and you don’t wish your student to pursue an IB diploma.

In closing, I must point out that you signing the letter to Mr. Ulffers representing the parents of each student in the 9 IP math intensive program is highly inappropriate. Not all parents are displeased about how the class is conducted and they have indicated to me that you had misrepresented them, as your concerns did not represent the concerns of all of the parents.

Sincerely,
Jim Brennan

CC: the world