Math Teachers Learn New Classroom Skills

Question: What does a room full of math teachers do with a pile of Styrofoam spheres?

Answer A: Write quadratic equations on the spheres and attach them to car antennas.

Answer B: Spray paint them and decorate classrooms for basketball season.

Answer C: Incorporate them into a successful hands-on strategy for teaching geometry.

The 50 teachers who attended the Exeter Math Institute (EMI), held July 28 – August 1 at Seven Lakes High School, learned that C is not only the right answer, but an effective approach to making math relevant to high school students.

EMI is an intensive, hands-on professional development program for secondary math teachers that is offered each summer in a select number of school districts in the U.S. This year, Katy ISD was chosen as one of the five sites, which also included Broward County, Florida; Arlington/Mansfield/Grand Prairie, Texas; Las Vegas, Nevada; and San Diego, California.  Run by the math department of Phillips Exeter Academy, an acclaimed New Hampshire private school, the workshops are taught by a rotating team of Exeter instructors who tailor the content to the needs and interests of the participating districts.

The workshop included high school and junior high teachers representing every high school cluster in Katy, with additional registrants from the Alief, Cypress-Fairbanks, Fort Bend, Klein and Spring Branch school districts, plus educator from Tennessee. As part of the application process, participants choose two half-day courses and list topics they would like to see addressed, allowing EMI faculty to customize the sessions to meet the needs of specific teachers.

Classes included “Using a Hand-on Activities-Based Approach in Algebra I,” “Topics in Algebra I,” “Using a Hand-on Activities-Based Approach in Geometry,” “Topics in Geometry,” “Hands-On Algebra II,” “Vectors and Parametric Equations” and “Bridge to Calculus.”  Enrollment in each course is strictly limited to no more than 15, allowing a maximum of instructor/ teacher interaction.

EMI, according to curriculum specialist Cindy Schimek, is based on five principles of quality mathematics education: making classrooms student-centered rather than teacher-centered; keeping math interesting and presenting it, when possible, in a real-world, problem-solving context; using technology when appropriate to help solve engaging problems; working from specific examples toward generalizations instead of the reverse; and promoting cooperative learning through group or paired activities.

“When you apply these principles in a classroom,” Schimek said, “it’s amazing how students – even the ones who don’t think they can do well – really get involved and interested in math.  That’s the key to high achievement.”

Throughout the four-and-a-half-day institute, teachers work with problems and situations that mirror what they routinely encounter in their own classrooms. Each session is characterized by a high degree of interactivity and hands-on learning that teachers can apply to their own lessons during the school year.

The Exeter Math Institute is part of a district-wide focus on improving student performance in math and science instruction by providing teachers with a varied “toolbox” of instructional best practices. According to Chief Academic Officer Dr. Elizabeth Clark, “Being chosen to host an EMI workshop was extremely prestigious for the Katy district. As a district, we are working diligently toward even more significant gains in student achievement in math and science. The Exeter Institute is an amazing professional learning opportunity that gave our teachers a week’s interaction with some of the most outstanding minds in math education in the world.”

Teachers gave their summer classroom time top grades in post-seminar evaluations. “This class was extremely challenging and kept me really thinking. (There was) lots of good brainstorming and conversations. The hands-on construction and building were really good for me, since I typically would have avoided this type of problem,” said one teacher who attended the hands-on algebra and geometry sessions. “I got lots of good materials that I can use with my resource class.”

A pre-calculus teacher commented, “Overall, the Exeter Institute is a ‘must do’ seminar for the high school math teacher. The instructors are well-equipped for teaching the most difficult of students – the teacher! Personally, I can’t wait for next year!  The instructor was a rare gem. Each day it was a delight exploring the topics and discovering useful steps that will allow the student to work with vectors and parametrics more easily.”

Faculty members at the Katy workshop included 35-year teaching veteran and textbook author Eric Bergofsky; Bill Campbell, who has taught math for more than 40 years and who has been a EMI instructor since the program’s inception in 1992: Dr. Gwyn Coogan, an Exeter graduate, who has also gained distinction as an Olympic athlete; and Dr. Rick Parris, who has gained international acclaim as developer of math software that he makes available for free download from the Internet.