2018-2019 UW Math Circle

Registration for the 2018-19 University of Washington Math Circle is now open.

 The UW Math Circle is open to seventh and eighth grade students from the greater Seattle area. Our weekly meetings are scheduled on Thursday evenings from 5:00-7:00PM at the University of Washington.  Our first meeting will be held on September 27, 2018.

 The purpose of the Math Circle is to explore new and exciting areas of mathematics that are not part of your typical school curriculum in an environment that is both supportive and challenging. It is our expectation that participants will attend our weekly meetings regularly and devote time to weekly homework problems outside of class.

 Costs involved: The UW Math circle is partially supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, as well as generous contributions of several of the Math Circle families. To be able to maintain our minimal level of funding, we have to ask participants to share a portion of the operational expenses of the Math Circle. We suggest a donation of $100 per semester to help cover the very basic needs of the Circle. Any amount your family is able to contribute — large or small — will be a great help.

 To sign up for the math circle, please follow this link:  https://catalyst.uw.edu/webq/survey/pevtsova/360279  To guarantee your spot, please sign up before 11:59pm on September 17, 2018. Registration will be distributed on a first-come-first-served basis and may close before September 17 if we reach our capacity.

 Please feel free to direct any questions to Julia Pevtsova (julia@math.washington.edu) or Steve Klee (klees@seattleu.edu). We hope you will be able to join us this year! On behalf of the UW Math Circle, Julia Pevtsova (University of Washington) Steven Klee (Seattle University)

UW Math Hour Lectures

We are excited to announce our spring series of Math Hour lectures, aimed at middle- and junior high school students and their families.  The dates and titles for the talks are:

March 25, 2018

Henry Cohn, Microsoft Research -- "Dense sphere packings in a million dimensions"

April 15, 2018

Jennifer McLoud-Mann, UW Bothell -- "One Tile at a Time: Mathematicians' Quest to Discover All Convex Polygonal Tessellations"

May 20, 2018

David Pengelley, Oregon State University -- "All tangled up and searching for the beauty of symmetry"

For more information about the Math Hour talks and the UW Math Hour Olympiad, which will be held on June 3, please visit our website 

http://www.math.washington.edu/~mathcircle/mathhour/

All talks take place on the main UW campus in Savery Hall room 260.  Information about parking, along with a campus map, can also be found on our website.

The Math Hour lectures are aimed at students in grades 6-10, along with well-behaved parents, teachers, or older siblings/friends.  The lectures are free to everyone.  No registration is required. 

Flyers for the first talk and for the entire spring series are attached.

We hope to see you there!

Sincerely,

Steven Klee (klees@seattleu.edu)

Seattle University Department of Mathematics

and

Julia Pevtsova (julia@math.washington.edu)

University of Washington Department of Mathematics

Late Fall Math Thread

This is my annual thread for all things math related.  (or alternatively this is what happens when you have a math-junkie moderating the blog.)   (Last year's discussion)

In positive news I am aware of Math Clubs running at Hamilton, Jane Addams and Eagle Staff this year. I'm hoping this is the start of a trend.

Sixth grade placement is usually a popular topic. I never followed up on last year to see what happened in the various buildings if folks want to add some details.

I'm also willing to answer any math partial home schooling questions folks have based on my experiences trying it out for the first time. 

So how is Math going for you in your building?

6th Grade Math Placement

Yesterday math placement letters went out from JAMS.  All the details are still a bit unclear ut

• It appears that The 5th grade teachers uniformly declined to recommend anyone for Algebra on philosophical grounds.
• The letters were sent prior to this year's math SBAC being administered.
• The placement test will be administered Wednesday, June 14th from 4:00-5:00pm or Tuesday, June 27th from 8:00-9:00am at JAMS.

So I assume those wishing to opt up will have to take the placement test at the school during one of the two exams. There seems to have been a process breakdown here between the schools.  This is one of those situations where communicating more openly would be useful.  In particular, the 5th grade teachers could have handled this much more transparently and either communicated directly to JAMS their discomfort   prior to this point allowing a less reactive solution or to the parents to explain what was going to happen.

8th Grade Math Standards: http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/8/introduction/

"In Grade 8, instructional time should focus on three critical areas: (1) formulating and reasoning about expressions and equations, including modeling an association in bivariate data with a linear equation, and solving linear equations and systems of linear equations; (2) grasping the concept of a function and using functions to describe quantitative relationships; (3) analyzing two- and three-dimensional space and figures using distance, angle, similarity, and congruence, and understanding and applying the Pythagorean Theorem."

Home Assessment

The AoPS algebra readiness test is fairly solid and could be used to identify gaps: https://data.artofproblemsolving.com//products/diagnostics/intro-algebra-pretest.pdf  I

Hopefully there will be some more clarifying email from the MS side and this will be done more cleanly next year..

Feel free to add on anything more you learn for JAMS or for the placement process at the other middle school sites.

[Disclaimer: next year I will be on the JAMS BLT]

Middle School Math Adoption Materials

Seattle Public Schools invites all families, staff, and community members to review the instructional materials under consideration for use in grades 6-8. This will be the first of two rounds of public review. The input you provide will help the middle school math textbook adoption committee narrow the choice of materials for the second round of review and a classroom pilot.

Give Us Your Feedback Between May 3 and May 23

Materials are available for review in two ways:

1. To view the materials in person, visit the professional library of the John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence at 2445 3rd Ave. S, Seattle, WA 98134 and fill out the feedback form.
2. To view and evaluate the materials online, visit this page for instructions. After you review the materials, use this feedback form to provide your review. The feedback form is also available in Spanish, Somali, Vietnamese, Chinese and Amharic.

What Kind of Feedback Can I Give?

Even if math was not your strongest subject in school, you can still provide valuable feedback. The feedback form will ask six general questions like “will the resources provided help me support my student” or “does this book contain racist or sexist content?” It’s not necessary to be an expert in math to help review the materials. There is also an open comment section where you can provide additional thoughts for the adoption committee to consider.

Materials Review Open House with Translators

On Thursday, May 11, Seattle Public Schools will hold an open house from 5-7 p.m. at the John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence for families, staff, and community members to learn more about the instructional materials that are being considered for adoption.

The open house will display materials that have been submitted as potential middle school math curriculum. Families, staff, and the community will have the opportunity to examine the teacher and student materials and provide feedback. This feedback is essential to the process of selecting the best materials to recommend for the second round of the review and field test process.

By policy, publishers will not be in attendance; however, there will be SPS staff along with translators available to support participants in the process.

For more information about the middle school math adoption, please visit the adoption webpage.

Middle School Math Curriculum Adoption Committee

Dear Families,

Seattle Public Schools is beginning the process for evaluating instructional materials for grades 6 - 8 mathematics. An adoption committee will be formed, and its work will begin in March 2017 with the goal of having new instructional materials in use during the 2018-19 school year.

Apply to Join the Grades 6 - 8 Mathematics Instructional Materials Adoption Committee

The committee will carry out the board-approved adoption process and come to a consensus in order to make a recommendation for instructional materials based upon objective evidence gathered during the process in accordance with Seattle Public Schools Board Policy. The goal is to select an adoption committee that represents the diverse perspectives and experiences of Seattle Public schools, students and families. The committee will be comprised of teachers and principals representing a range of buildings and programs, parents/guardians, community members, and the Seattle Public Schools Adoption Committee coordinators.

Responsibilities of Family/Community Representative(s)

• Attend ALL scheduled meetings

• Assist in reviewing prospective materials

• Communicate to school community

• Serve as a representative of your school community

Tentative Committee Meeting Dates

• Round 1: March 21, April 18, May 2, May 16, May 30 (8:30-3:30 p.m.),June 13 (8:30 a.m. to noon)
• Round 2: November-December meeting dates (TBD) ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

For more information

To learn more about the Grade 6 – 8 Mathematics Instructional Materials Adoption Committee or apply for adoption committee membership, please visit the adoption web page at: https://www.seattleschools.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=627&pageId=17753733

All applications must be received by 9:00 a.m. on March 14, 2017.

To submit your application:

Applications may be:

• Saved and emailed to ambox@seattleschools.org
• Mailed to: Seattle Public Schools Attn: Anna Box MS-32-156 PO Box 34156 Seattle, WA 98124-1165
• Or faxed to: 206-252-0179 Attn: Anna Box

Thank you for your interest!

MS Math Adoption Application for FAMILY.pdf 

Anna Box
Mathematics Program Manager
Seattle Public Schools

​​​​​​​


[One Caveat: the committee is going forward but at this time there is no budget for purchasing the recommendation. The hope is that the financial situation will improve.]

Winter Math Thread

Those readers who know me personally will attest I'm fairly math obsessed.   Last year I opened a math thread in the fall: http://discussapp.blogspot.com/2015/10/fall-math-thread.html.  This year I've been busy but my focus has turned back again this month.  To start off, here's a grab bag of topics:

• Julia Robinson Festival:  http://mathforlove.com/julia-robinson-festival/  (Feb 25th)  This is my favorite extra-curricular Mathematics activity of the entire year by far. I highly recommend signing up for it.

• Proof School: http://www.proofschool.org/#we-love-math.  This is the holy grail for me. I really we wish we had something like this in Seattle (preferably public of course.) In general, I think we underachieve for our given talent pool vs. other local public school systems.

• As far as I can tell the math pathways remain unchanged this year (in particular for rising sixth graders.)

• We'll have a new HCC Math site at REMS. Not many details are out.
• Money was budgeted to research a new MS Math curriculum but that's in doubt unless we don't go over the levy cliff.
• http://www.ibo.org/globalassets/publications/ib-research/dp/maths-comparison-summary-report.pdf   A comparision of IB vs other math pathways included AP Calculus.

Articles

http://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/why-americas-smartest-students-fail-math/

"As sure as one plus one equals two, it happens year after year. Kids who have been bringing home A’s in chemistry and acing AP Calculus arrive at college with visions of STEM careers dancing in their heads. Then they hit an invisible, but very painful, wall."

So how's Math going for your students this year?

High School Credit For Online Math

This question comes from a parent:

"Hi,

I am interested in learning from anyone’s recent experience homeschooling in math so that a student can progress beyond the upper level allowed for the grade. My 6th grader is in Algebra I this year, and the teacher and we (parents) agree that it’s not meeting his needs. It’s not just that he has already learned most of the content on his own, but also that he picks up new math concepts so quickly. His teacher has indicated that he’s ready for higher level math and college-level proofs, which she can’t accommodate in her class (understandably).

We have sought guidance from the Math Curriculum manager, HCC director, principal and homeschool contact. I understand the logistics of how to partially enroll him so that he can do math at home, but I’m not sure how to find online curriculum that will 1) meet his very advanced needs, and 2) “count” so that if he wants to use it for high school credit and/or re-enter SPS math classes in a future year. Stanford online H.S. courses and Art of Problem Solving courses have been recommended to us, but they are not on the OSPI list of approved online courses. Any advice?

1) Is there an OSPI-approved online provider that can meet the needs of an advanced student?
2) If not, and we proceed with Art of Problem Solving, how can we lobby to get high school credit for these courses?
3) Are there District funds available for online courses when school-based instruction doesn’t meet the student’s needs?"

Hopefully someone has already gone down this path and knows some details.

Sixth Grade Math Placement Policy Redux

Recently I had another conversation with the Math Coordinator for the district while looking into the opt-up form and at that point the old policy still was intact. However, events have moved forward and it looks like placement will be a more site based  decision after all.


From Principal  Paula Montgomery at JAMS:

"Since there is no longer the use of MSP and MAP data, we are attempting to create an equitable and clear process to get every student in the most appropriate math course.

Our intent is this:

-          We value 5^th grade teachers recommendations but at the same time we want to make sure that students are not overlooked in non-HCC schools and that 5^th grade teachers are not over-burdened with recommendations. At JAMS we have a few students from neighborhood schools who are in Algebra and are quite successful. About 1/3 of our HCC population comes from neighborhood schools.

-          We are finding that SBAC scores are coming back to us within a few weeks. Even last summer, we were able to use 5^th grade SBAC scores as one of the measures for students requesting a higher math placement.

-          We also want to  respect parent decision to have their students not take the SBAC, but need a consistent measure of the students mastery of specific skills.

-          At JAMS, we believe that all students should have mastery of 7^th grade math standards prior to Algebra. We have a small group of students who move from “7^th grade math” to Algebra. The above criteria is in-line with the same criteria that we are using for our current students in Math 7.

We have collaborated with Hamilton and Washington so that we are similar in our placement decisions, but I am not sure how completely align/ed we are as all schools are now moving quickly since receiving our 5^thgrade information. JAMS is a bit different than both school as we group our students by level and by grade level. For example, we have a 6^thgrade only algebra class. Our 6^th graders in 8^th grade math, have only other  6^th graders in their classes. "

I'll see if I can get the equivalent policies from the other Middle School buildings. If anyone has any information please add it on.

Fall Math Thread

I'd been thinking about setting this up and then there was the recent conversation on the last thread about the high school math pathway. I get most of my math obsession out of the system by running the Math Club at Cascadia but I'm always interested how its going for everyone. So how's math this year? Do you have any victories or concerns.  Feel free to keep discussing math pathways or how you're enriching at home.

Things I'm Tracking

• Sometime in November the new 6th grade placement policy should be shared. I'll open a specific thread when this happens.
• Middle School math curriculum adoption looks like it may startup again.

Fun Stuff

A few resources I've enjoyed. Feel free to share any of your favorites.

• http://www.numberphile.com/  One of the best set of math exploratory videos out there. 
• http://www.dragonboxapp.com/ My favorite math app. This one actually has nothing to do with thinly disguised drilling of a skill.
• http://tinker.kiwicrate.com/ OK this is more STEM than just math but we just found out about these and they've been a big hit.

Article(s)

An article by Richard Rusczyk which I think about from time to time: http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/articles/calculus-trap  Richard is the head of Art of Problem Solving which has played a significant role in the improvement of elite mathematical training recently (I think most if not all of the recent IMO winning team.used AoPS)