Hey Math Accounts

Dear all, a couple of weeks ago I sent out an announcement stating that we in the 6th grade would be purchasing accounts to Hey Math! for all of our students for the rest of the year at a cost of 600 dollars to the school. When I forwarded the student information to Hey Math! to set up the accounts, I was informed that they had just begun a "pilot" program that provided both home and school access to every student in a given grade level for a total cost of $1000 dollars. Noting the extraordinary value offered by this new program, I immediately signed up every student in the sixth grade as well as myself, Ms. Gavan, and Ms. Salmon (our school resource teacher). That being said, every student account is currently active and will remain so for the next six months. Usernames and Passwords are the same, and follow the same formula: Capital H, capital T, the first letter of a student's first name followed by their last name. For example, my username and password is: HTjhartman. Hope this serves as a helpful tool in the months to follow. Be sure to give me some feedback on how it works (or doesn't) for you and your student. We wouldn't want to put any more money into a system unless it is successful. Sincerely -Mr. H

Test 3 Preview

Good morning all! We've got a test coming up tomorrow covering all things geometry and to help prepare our students we've created a PowerPoint test preview containing questions with an eerie similarity to those found on the actual test itself. Rest assured that we will be covering the preview in class today, but it might be pertinent to review the test with your student tonight, just to make sure they're prepared. You can find it at the bottom of my Classes Page. Cheers -Mr. H

Plea for feedback

Greetings everyone! I know there's a lot going on right now with POL's starting next week, the Math Projects coming due and the Geometry Test on Friday as well, but I wanted to take some time to reflect on the changes in the math that I've made recently. I won't tell you it was an easy decision, especially when I looked at the students I had and realized that the organized, structured, and predictable setup I had going (and had spent much time organizing), was working fine for about 90% of the class. I also won't tell you I wasn't tempted to just note the changes I wanted to make and implement the new plan in the coming year. What got to me though, was the fact that when I thought about that 10% of the class whose needs weren't being met, and I thought that the new plan might be able to help them, I couldn't come up with a good reason to make them miss out. So that is why math has been so crazy as of late, the exact opposite of what I would like it to be (I'm German! I love organized and predictable!) and what I think the kids need (especially at a school like ours). I am writing today though to ask for your opinions on the changes, and on the class in general as it has gone so far. I'm not looking for an ego-boost (or a devastating critique either) but for something more along the lines of personalized feedback on what has worked and what hasn't, so that I can make changes in the second semester to improve the class rather than waiting until next year when it will be too late for all of your children. An excerpt from an e-mail I just sent explains more:

"Last year I had a couple of parents talk to me during the fourth quarter of school and just let me know what they saw as successes and failures with respect to the class (projects, homework, methods, etc.) It was incredibly insightful for me and I've based innumerable changes off of just what two people told me, so some more feedback would be much appreciated if you can find the time."

Thanks everyone, -Mr. H

Math Strategy Explained

Hello again everyone, I found myself this morning explaining my math strategy to a parent through e-mail, and it occurred to me that it might be a bit of information that you could all benefit from. Those of you who made it to orientation may recall my tale of how I was always very good at math in school because I was able to memorize procedures and formulas with ease. This strategy backfired for me later in life though, as I quickly discovered calculus and physics demanded a more thorough understanding of mathematic principles than I possessed. This experience is what drives my own approach to teaching math (explained below). As always, I'd appreciate any feedback you can find the time to give. -Mr. H

While we do review the formulas in class each day, I try to avoid making the students memorize more than they have to. With circles it was a necessity and we focused heavily on how to find the area and circumference of a circle. With volume I see less of a demand and have focused more on understanding the concepts. One reason is because I believe if a student can understand the concept clearly enough, it is much better than relying upon a formula they have memorized. Secondly, in geometry the formulas change quite often and it seems to confuse the students as much as it helps them. Does Volume equal Length x Width x Height, or Length x Width x Depth? Is the area for a triangle ½ Base x Height or ½ Width times Height? And what’s the difference between Base and Width, or Height and Depth? These are questions that can be resolved with a thorough understanding of the concepts, but not more memorization of formulas. Hope that makes sense for you, don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any further concerns. –Mr. H

Welcome Back

Well everyone, we've been back to school for a week now and I thought I better let you know what's happeneing here at HTM. In math we're trying to set up the units at least one week in advance for those students who want to use HeyMath! or some other means to get ahead. We're also trying to find out if there are any familiew who would like to spend an additional $36 to have HeyMath! at their home for the rest of the academic year. This is because the 50 accounts we are about to purchase for HTM will only work while on HTM's network, so be sure to let me know if you would like to get access at your home and we will set it up for you. In Science we're covering the fundamental principles of the Theory of Plate Tectonics, including Layers of the Earth and the Rock Cycle. We'll be slowly moving from these topics towards our next project, the Adaptations Project which begins in February. Finally, we are all focused on POL's which take place at the end of the month. You've probably already heard something about POL's from your student, but it is a very important event for us here at HTM, and we sincerely hope all of you will be able to attend. If you haven't checked out my new calendar yet, be sure to do so, I've incorporated the HTM school calendar into my own and it is much more comprehensive than before. Hoping you all had a great holiday and are enjoying the NEw Year thus far. -Mr. H