9th Grade Student Led Comments
Cormack, Ryan
Andrew Vernon
Semester 1 2012- 2013
Andrew Vernon
Semester 1 2012- 2013
Dear Mr. Vernon,
My feelings about math have changed a lot during this past semester. Some good, and some bad. I think it’s been a dramatic change for me going from a regular schooling system to project based learning, and sometimes I don’t feel like i’m learning as much as other high schools. Our math department isn’t fantastic, I’ve talked to other teachers about it and they agree as well. There’s the controversy between depth over breathe, and our school has the pros and cons of using the depth technique. There’s also the problem of how we cannot split up classes by grades, or offer honors classes. Maybe we will figure out a solution in the future, but at this point math has become a very slow subject for me, consisting of mostly busy work and no new topics to try to understand, nothing that really challenges me.
When I approach a new math problem, I like to work in groups, especially in open ended problems. Because sometimes when I look at a question, I don’t think of the way to analyze it right away, but others can. I’m good at understanding subjects quickly, when they are taught. But to me it seems like we are just given a worksheet and expected to figure it out, with no former understanding of how to do the problem. I don’t want to say that you are too lazy to teach it, more of we are just kept busy the whole period with something that won’t help us later in life. They all seem like riddles almost, I never grasp the concept you are trying to get through to us, if there is one at all.
For next semester, I plan to do some school work outside of the classroom. I have considered getting a tutor in math, so I can learn some basic concepts I should already know in geometry, considering the school year is already halfway through. Everything we have learned so far this year I know how to do, because we did this all last year in Algebra I. I also want to start taking notes so I feel like i’m getting something out of the little information we are being given. I feel like I am slacking compared to people going to other high schools. I feel stupid almost, when they ask me something about geometry and I have no idea what they are talking about. Those are my goals for the next semester for sure, so I can advance into knowledge that I am expected to know according to the state.
The Mathematical Model of Me project and the Logo’s project were very similar. Almost identical in fact, so when the Logo’s project was presented to us, I was bored. I had little to no interest of putting effort into it because I did almost the exact thing already before. I also knew all of the concepts from last year, so the only thing that was new to me was using the Grapher app on the computer. Which I could've figured out on my own in the first place. Is that even considered something big enough to put on a list of things I’ve learned this year? I think not. Computers are a resource, I agree, but math is still math. Math should be notes and practice. It’s the only way you learn. Riddles are not math, no matter how you put it.
Sincerely,
Ryan Cormack
My feelings about math have changed a lot during this past semester. Some good, and some bad. I think it’s been a dramatic change for me going from a regular schooling system to project based learning, and sometimes I don’t feel like i’m learning as much as other high schools. Our math department isn’t fantastic, I’ve talked to other teachers about it and they agree as well. There’s the controversy between depth over breathe, and our school has the pros and cons of using the depth technique. There’s also the problem of how we cannot split up classes by grades, or offer honors classes. Maybe we will figure out a solution in the future, but at this point math has become a very slow subject for me, consisting of mostly busy work and no new topics to try to understand, nothing that really challenges me.
When I approach a new math problem, I like to work in groups, especially in open ended problems. Because sometimes when I look at a question, I don’t think of the way to analyze it right away, but others can. I’m good at understanding subjects quickly, when they are taught. But to me it seems like we are just given a worksheet and expected to figure it out, with no former understanding of how to do the problem. I don’t want to say that you are too lazy to teach it, more of we are just kept busy the whole period with something that won’t help us later in life. They all seem like riddles almost, I never grasp the concept you are trying to get through to us, if there is one at all.
For next semester, I plan to do some school work outside of the classroom. I have considered getting a tutor in math, so I can learn some basic concepts I should already know in geometry, considering the school year is already halfway through. Everything we have learned so far this year I know how to do, because we did this all last year in Algebra I. I also want to start taking notes so I feel like i’m getting something out of the little information we are being given. I feel like I am slacking compared to people going to other high schools. I feel stupid almost, when they ask me something about geometry and I have no idea what they are talking about. Those are my goals for the next semester for sure, so I can advance into knowledge that I am expected to know according to the state.
The Mathematical Model of Me project and the Logo’s project were very similar. Almost identical in fact, so when the Logo’s project was presented to us, I was bored. I had little to no interest of putting effort into it because I did almost the exact thing already before. I also knew all of the concepts from last year, so the only thing that was new to me was using the Grapher app on the computer. Which I could've figured out on my own in the first place. Is that even considered something big enough to put on a list of things I’ve learned this year? I think not. Computers are a resource, I agree, but math is still math. Math should be notes and practice. It’s the only way you learn. Riddles are not math, no matter how you put it.
Sincerely,
Ryan Cormack