Math

Mrs. Rohini Muthusubramanian

WHY DO I NEED TO KNOW THIS? WHEN WILL I EVER USE IT? WHY STUDY ALGEBRA?

My students have difficulty appreciating the usefulness of a particular math topic, prompting them to ask, "When are we ever going to need this?" This question used to really bother me, and I would look, as a result, for justification for everything I taught. Now I say, "Maybe never. You may never use this."

I then go on to remind them that people don't lift weights so that they will be prepared should, one day, someone knock them over on the street and lay a barbell across their chests. You lift weights so that you can knock over a defensive lineman, or carry your groceries or lift your grandchildren without being sore the next day. You do math exercises so that you can improve your ability to think logically, so that you can be a better lawyer, doctor, architect, prison warden or parent. MATH IS MENTAL WEIGHT TRAINING. It is a means to an end (for most people), not an end in itself.

--Dean Sherman, 9th Grade Algebra teacher

excerpted from "Made to Stick"

Board of Education Presentation

Academic Program Guide

It’s not about what our students know. It’s about what they can do with what they know.

Math 8 - Competency Rubric

Competencies:

Student knows that there are numbers that are not rational, and approximate them by rational numbers.
Student works with radicals and integer exponents; analyze and solve linear equations and inequalities; analyze and solve pairs of simultaneous linear equations.
Student understands congruence and similarity using physical models, transparencies, or geometry software; analyze angle relationships; understand and apply the Pythagorean Theorem; solve real-world and mathematical problems involving volume of cylinders, cones and spheres.
Student investigates patterns of association in bivariate data.
Student defines, evaluates, and compares functions; use functions to model relationships between quantities.

NC Math I - HS Credit

The NC Math 1 course offered in middle school is a compacted course comprised of a portion of the Math 8 standards and all of the NC Math 1 standards. Math I is designed for students to learn math through engaging, forward-thinking content. The Math Visions Project classroom experience does not look like the traditional mathematics classroom. In the MVP classroom the teacher launches a rich task and then through “teacher moves” encourages students to explore, question, ponder, discuss their ideas and listen to the ideas of their classmates. In this way, the teacher connects the Eight Mathematical Practices to the content. All material is expertly-aligned with The Common Core standards.

Homework assignments are organized into three parts--Ready, Set, and Go! As students mature mathematically, there are many math problems they should be able to do whenever they encounter them. The procedures for solving them become automatic. Students should be able to take off and Go! with them.

This is how students learn mathematics. They learn by doing mathematics. They learn by needing mathematics. They learn by verbalizing the way they see the mathematical ideas connect and by listening to how their peers perceived the problem. Students then own the mathematics because it is a collective body of knowledge that they have developed over time through guided exploration. This process describes the Learning Cycle and it informs how teaching should be conducted within the classroom.

Competencies:

Student deepens and extends understanding of linear relationships, in part by contrasting them with exponential and quadratic phenomena, and in part by applying linear models to data that exhibit a linear trend.

Student can summarize, represent, and interpret data on a single count or measurement variable.

Student can extend geometric experiences to explore more complex geometric situations and deepen their explanations of geometric relationships, moving towards formal mathematical arguments.

The Standards for Mathematical Practice apply throughout the course and, together with the content standards, require that students experience mathematics as a coherent, useful, and logical subject that makes use of their ability to make sense of problem situations.

This course fulfills the North Carolina high school graduation requirement for NC Math 1. The final exam is the NC Math 1 End-of-Course test and it will be averaged as 20% of the overall grade for the course.

Websites/Math Help

WCPSS Middle School Math Videos (covering 6th, 7th and 8th grade topics):

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNDkuWRw1gGTgaYk6dQhGp10UT41lPFTM

WCPSS High School Math Videos (covering various Math I and II topics):

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNDkuWRw1gGQpk1uVl-cDkbXaDD4DcjaP

Khan Academy - select appropriate course from drop-down subjects list on top left:

https://www.khanacademy.org/

Math by Grade 8 (can be used to help in Math 8, Math I and Math II)
Algebra (can be used to help in Math I and Math II)
Statistics and Probability (can be used to help in Math I and Math II)
Geometry (can be used to help in Math II)
Trigonometry (can be used to help in Math II)
Math for Fun and Glory (puzzles, AMC, etc.)

SAS Curriculum Pathways:

https://www.sascurriculumpathways.com/portal/

Students can sign up for their free account!

TUTOR LISTS WILL BE UPDATED ONCE THEY ARE AVAILABLE FROM WCPSS CENTRAL OFFICE.

Updated Tutor list https://www.wcpss.net/cms/lib/NC01911451/Centricity/Domain/5779/Math%20Tutor%20List%202018-19.pdf

****Below are two files that contains Tutor Lists for the 2017-2018 school year, one that includes middle school teachers and one that includes high school teachers. Please note that per WCPSS policy, teachers CANNOT tutor students in their own school for money.

WCPSS HS Math Tutor List 2017-2018

WCPSS MS Math Tutor List 2017-2018

Additional Fun or Helpful Websites:

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives by Utah State University

http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html

Hotmath TI-83+/TI-84 Tutorials

http://hotmath.com/graphing_calculators/ti84_movie_index.html

Graph Paper

http://www.printfreegraphpaper.com/

AAAMath

http://www.aaamath.com/

Ask Dr. Math

http://mathforum.org/dr.math/

AplusMath

http://www.aplusmath.com/

Art of Problem Solving

http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/community

Coolmath

http://www.coolmath.com/

FigureThis

http://figurethis.nctm.org/

Funbrain

http://www.funbrain.com/

Math2 (general math website NOT specifically for Math II)

http://math2.org/

Purplemath

https://www.purplemath.com/

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