 |
|
Middle School Problem of the Week: Mentor Information |
|
|
Middle School Problem of the Week: Mentor Information |
Middle School Problem of the Week ||
Student Center || Teachers' Place
The Problem of the Week Projects are designed to foster the growth of a mathematics community on the Internet. Mentors contribute to the Middle School Mathematics community by volunteering to reply to solutions submitted by students in grades six to nine. Students discover the joy of exploring challenging math problems with someone outside their regular classroom. Both students and mentors enhance communication skills as they discuss their problem-solving techniques.
In the past, mentors have included:
- classes of elementary, middle school, and high school students with their teachers;
- pre-service teachers;
- college students and professors;
- retirees who like problem solving and interacting with young children;
- others with a love of mathematics and a willingness to share their experience with Middle School school students.
Classes or individuals who are mentors will need to have access to the Internet during the week(s) they are mentoring. A Web interface has been designed to aid in managing the submissions and responses. A word of caution: when there are many responses, the week can involve a good deal of work.
Because of the increase in participation over the past year, we are offering limited mentoring this year. We have had as many as 500 submissions during one week, though 200-300 is more typical. When you fill out the Mentor Registration Form you may specify the maximum number of submissions you feel equipped to handle. However, if you choose to mentor fewer than 300 submissions, we can not guarantee that you will be able to choose your own problem.
We are also looking for Back-up Mentors who would be willing to respond to overflow for any heavier-than-usual weeks or fill in should a mentor develop technical difficulties and be unable to complete their week.
Mentoring can help students learn self-assessment and improve mathematical communication skills. Our research indicates that after they assessed the work of other students, mentors' own subsequent explanations showed improvement. To see what some of the student mentors had to say about their experience, or to find ideas for implementing mentoring in your classroom, read Comments from Elementary Problem of the Week Mentors.
Mentors are encouraged to find or develop the problems they are to assess. This should happen two to four weeks before your scheduled mentoring week, so the problem can be prepared for posting on the Thursday prior to your week. This is also when you should take your picture, write your bio, and double-check your web page address, all of which will appear with your problem, if you so desire. If you elect to use a problem of our choosing, it will be available through the management program ahead of time so you and your students have time to work on it and to develop the assessment criteria.
Prior to your mentoring week, you will be sent instructions to access the Web program that manages problems and responses. A practice problem will be provided so you can test the system and make sure it works with yours. Since you will reply to the students who submit responses using a Web form, individual e-mail is not required. You will mark each submission indicating which students have solved the problem correctly and then select a few interesting solutions to put into the Highlighted Solutions section. For examples, see a sample posting from the archives. You will e-mail us when you have finished, and the solutions will then be posted to the Web. Submissions are accepted through Monday of the week following the posting of the problem, so there will be some wrap-up work for you to do during that second week.
If you would like to be a part of the Middle School Problem of the Week but don't have the time to commit to being a mentor, we are always in need of good problems. Send your problem suggestions to Judy at webmaster@mathforum.org . For an idea of the types of problems we have used in previous years, check out some of our past problems.
A biography of the current Mentor Group will appear with the Middle School Problem of the Week Web page each week. Photographs and links to school Web pages may be included when available. In addition, Mentors will receive a letter of recognition and certificate.
- Lisa Lavelle lllavelle@hotmail.com:
- After showing my students the web site, I asked them to bring in some clever problems they either created themselves or had fun with in the past. I asked that they be problems they thought would intrigue students in elementary school. About half the students in each of the classes (I led mentoring for two different weeks) brought in problems. We then got into groups of three or four and critiqued the problems. The entire class voted after the critique, and we submitted our top three choices to Ruth, giving her options in case she thought our favorite would be too difficult (see December 9-13, 1996 for our top choice).
- Next, each student took home the chosen problem to work out on his or her own. The next day in class we discussed the solution and how we had each arrived at it. This included a discussion of what was needed for a correct answer and what we might look for to consider highlighting a solution (our "assessment rubric").
- As solutions came in the next week, I doled them out to my students to begin composing responses. I scheduled a day in the computer lab later in the week when most of the solutions had come in to give them time to respond, and I also lightened up on the homework assignments that week anticipating that they would need a little extra time to wrap up their responses.
- My job was to cut and paste responses, create a list of correct participants, and prepare the highlighted solutions section (a job that is no longer necessary because of the software we are using). During this process, I also did a little editing of a few of my students' responses and gave them grades based on their responses and participation outlined above. Most of them did very well with only a few not giving complete responses or turning in their responses in an untimely fashion. The grade was approximately equivalent to a third of a test.
- We had a lot of fun, and it was a great way for me to see some talents I hadn't seen before. I learned a lot about the assessment process, as did my students, and I'm looking forward to mentoring again this year.
- Gail Lauinger glauinge@mcn.org:
- Last year my fifth graders solved the problem the week before it appeared. Then I gave each group copies of the responses submitted (less than 10) and each group did a three pile sort. They then wrote criteria for the best solution, needs work, not there piles. The best became our rubric which we posted along with the best solutions. The class then wrote to each respondent. They were disappointed in that they didn't get any acknowledgement back from any group.
- This was a wonderful opportunity for them to discuss work that was not done by anyone in our class. We do anonymous reads but they always recognize styles within the class so the discussions are constrained.
If you are ready, you may complete the Online Registration Form now. Please complete one form for each "group" and indicate the weeks when you would be available to be a mentor. Please consult your school calendar to make sure you are in session during the times you prefer.
If you have any questions or comments after reading the information or at any time during the mentoring process, please contact Lisa:
Judy Ann Brown <webmaster@mathforum.org >
Midpow Project Coordinator
The Math Forum
Swarthmore, PA 19081
[Privacy Policy] [Terms of Use]
© 1994-2008 The Math Forum
Contact Us
