So It Begins...

The hours leading up to the first day I was an emotional mess. I kept going through the lesson plan and the timeline of events leading up to the after school program. When the time finally arrived I ordered the pizza, picked everyone up and then we were on our way. At 2:30pm we arrived at the school, pizza in hand, to distribute pre-tests to all of the students in the fourth and fifth grade. Both of these items: the pizza and the pre-test are essential to our program. The pre-test consists of questions about plotting points and how to read a graph with X and Y axis. The same test is given out at the end of the program to the same students and the goal is to see if the students in the after school program ranked higher than the other students. Giving the students pizza is a trick that Professor Ron Eglash taught us and it helps to make the program feel like something different than school.

After the pre-test was taken and the pizza was being eaten, we went around the room and had each student say their name and what super power they wish they had. The goal of this activity was to get to know the students and their personalities before we started to teach them. Then we broke the students up into pairs and had them "interview" each other in the hope to bring up the idea of culture and how they are unique from one another. Culture is the idea behind most of these tools because it is something that most people can relate to because it is something natural for them. The goal is to take something that they know and are familiar with to show them how it relates to a topic, such as math that they are struggling with and realize that they already know how to do it.

After the interviews we had a discussion with the students about what made them similar and different. It was hard to get them off the topics of favorite food, TV show and movies. There was finally a breakthrough on the topic of culture when we asked what their favorite holiday was and why it was their favorite. Some of them talked about their favorite foods that were ethnic foods and the other students either agreed that they liked it or said that they never had it. At four pm the students were bussed to the Troy Boys and Girls and we met then there. At the Boys and Girls club we had the students draw a picture of how they were similar and different than their partners. While they were doing this we walked around to talk to them more to understand what they are interested in. I really enjoyed getting to know the students and I can tell that this is going to be a great semester! I can see their potential and willingness to learn and I hope that we can teach them more than they learn in class while still having a lot of fun!

Teaching Math Through Design

Hi my name is Katie and I am currently a senior at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. The purpose of this blog is to highlight and reflect on my experience teaching the Culturally Situated Design Tools at the Ark Community Charter School in Troy, NY. I was first introduced to the tools last year during Product Design & Innovation Studio 5 with professor Ron Eglash. Prior to the class, he developed them with the help of previous students and we were told to test them and give some feedback. I enjoyed those tools greatly and I saw the potential with them upon the first interaction. During that year I was involved in Design Your Future Camp at the Arts Center in downtown Troy, NY. It was a week long camp tailored around the idea that math and design are related and that we could get students interested in math through design. Each day of the camp was split into two parts. Before lunch the students would go on the computers and use one of the software on the Culturally Situated Design Tools and make a design of their choosing. Right before lunch we would work with the student to choose their favorite design and print it. After a hour lunch the students would go back and use the printed to design to create a piece of artwork. This camp was very successful and the students began to realize that math is not just about numbers and solving equations but instead that math is all around them and they use it everyday without realizing it. This simple notion gave them confidence to go back to school with a new appreciation of why math is important to learn.

Right after classes ended last year I had another experience with the Culturally Situated Design Tools at the Albany Boys and Girls Club. I spent a few weeks using the Anishinaabe Arcs to teach the students how to plot points and learn about parabolas. After the students created their own designs on the computer the points of all design were recorded and plotted on graph paper. Once all of the points were plotted students used pipe cleaners cut to the appropriate length to connect the points across from each other to create arcs. All of the arcs combine together to create a round house or a long house. After all of the students designers were created the students voted on which design they wanted to use to make a life size wigwam out of sticks. The hardest part of the project that was the balance between teaching the students directly and having them explore. This is the battle in any educational toy or education in general is how much do you tell the students versus how much do you let them learn on their own. I feel that this will be the hardest part of the lesson at the Ark Community Charter School this fall with our after school program.

The plan so far for the first session is to get to know the students and have them interview each other to see what they have in common. Then the students are going to compare and contrast each other and draw a picture about what makes them unique and the similarities they have. I am really excited for this program to start because I love teaching and I can not wait to get more experience but I will admit that I am nervous that I will not be good enough.