Math 2013-2014

Joanna Hastings, Sam Hirschman, Jason dePasquale and I have been discussing the trajectory of math in the SK middle school. While our conversations aren't complete yet by any means, we have figured out a few elements of the program.

1. There will be three sections of math in the SK middle school, tentatively entitled Middle School Math (fifth graders), Pre-Algebra (mostly sixth and seventh graders), and Algebra & Beyond (mostly eighth graders).

2. Singapore will play a role, but that role will diminish as the kids get older. The Singapore system oriented toward elementary school more than middle school.

3. We will engage materials from Henri Picciotto, a national leader in math education, as a launching point for our work with older students. Here are links to Henri's web page and textbook:

http://www.mathedpage.org/
http://www.mathedpage.org/attc/attc.html

4. Sam will mastermind the math courses, with support from Jason and me.

5. We will strive to integrate math more explicitly and consistently into project work.

As always, our objective is to produce students who become numerate members of society--citizens whose number sense is solid, who are curious about the power and usage of numbers, who can use math comfortably and originally, and who speak math as fluently as they speak languages.