Minutes of the ISMAW Meeting at GDS, Monday October 28, 2002

Judith Knight, GDS; Ayana Touval, CESJDS; Douglas Adams, SSSAS; Elaine Manarin, SSSAS; Nancy Wright, WES; Susan Stern, WES; George O’Brien, WES; Linda Durling, WES; Betty King, Maret; Karen Middleton, Maret; Astrid McHugh, Maret; Mary Milroy, Sidwell; Betsy Bennett, St. Albans; Clay Kaufman, Field; Pat Emmet, Maret; Sue Jagger; Maret, Joan Reinthaler, Sidwell; Bruce Snyder, GDS, Karen Casale, NCS

Nancy Wright presented the Treasurer’s report. ISMAW is currently in the black (some dues have been collected and, so far, no bills have been paid)

Joan Reinthaler asked whether, in light of the extraordinary circumstances of the past three weeks, the scores of Sidwell students who took the 2^nd round of the ISMAW Competition at Sidwell instead of at CESJDS could count. It was agreed that they would but it was noted that this should not be taken as a precedent and that it was only because of the extraordinary nature of the circumstances that this was agreed to.

The ISMAW email distribution list needs to be updated and everyone using it should use the updated version.

Many lower school teachers were present and the topic of discussion was issues faced by lower school math teachers and the bridge from lower and middle to upper school mathematics.

There was concern that some parents give kids computation computer software and that kids, then, think they know mathematics. There was a plea for having kids do more estimation, to always consider what is reasonable and for lower school teachers to use standard mathematics vocabulary. It was noted that some children need to learn concepts first and skills second, and that other children need just the reverse.

Gender splitting - several schools are splitting their math classes (either throughout or in middle school) by gender. Betty King from Maret said that this is helping girls become more confident and better risk-takers. There was concern expressed that the difference in math ability between boys and girls seems wide very early on in lower school.

Acceleration - There is lots of pressure from parents for their children to accelerate - to get to algebra quickly. Some parents are unrealistic about where their children are and don’t understand the sophistication of the math being taught. Several schools are offering a parents’ Math Night and have found this helpful. Most Upper Schools represented at the meeting have sections of Algebra 1 in the 9^th grade.

Anxiety - Teachers are noticing math anxiety (particularly among girls) as early as 1^st grade. Parents are reluctant to let kids struggle with ideas and therefore deprive them of the opportunity to figure out things on their own. Kids seem to think that it should always be easy.

Support - lower school math teachers need support. At EDS math teachers meet together 3 times a year. At some of these meetings they have discussed gender-splitting and the use of calculators. Karen Casale at NCS has weekly grade-level meeting with math teachers - many teachers have found the NCTM conferences helpful and love anything written by Marilyn Burns.

Joan Reinthaler