Setting Us Apart

Each year, I watch the 8^th graders blossom and transform…from middle school students to high schoolers! There are many things they take with them – confidence, character, the ability to clearly communicate, written expression, mathematical abilities, the understanding of our past and present, the ability to hypothesize, and so much more. I know Oakhill provides a solid foundation for what is to come.

When I watched the 8^th grade perform at last month's Holiday Concert, I watched their unique personalities come out on stage. In many middle schools, there are a select few who choose to participate in drama and music…maybe they choose this as an elective and maybe they don’t! Maybe they are chosen by the music and drama teacher, and maybe they aren't! At Oakhill all of our 8^th graders have the opportunity to shine on stage…to share their talent in front of family and friends…to let their confidence grow even more. Those moments are important to me as an administrator…we are producing students who believe in themselves and know who they are!

Of course, hard evidence is just as important. As parents, I know you are always looking for evidence of value…and, you should be!

I want to take this opportunity to share with you some remarkable statistics. On Wednesday, November 7^th the eighth grade students took the EXPLORE test, which is part of the ACT family.  It is written for the 8^th or 9^th grade level with a goal of getting a head start on ACT testing and making sure students are on track for high school.  Via an inventory, it also suggests careers and course direction that match the student’s interest.  The test consists of a section in English, Mathematics, Reading, and Science with a high score of 25.  The English section has two components, usage/mechanics and rhetorical skills with a high score of 12.  Each student also received a composite score with 25 being the highest.  The charts below show how our students at Oakhill compared to the national norm group. Quite impressive AND expected!

Some interesting points: (For each of the following the high composite score is 25.)

In English our students average composite score was 21.6 compared to a national average of 14.7.

In Mathematics our students average composite score was 20.8 compared to a national average of 15.5.

In Reading our students average composite score was 21.1 compared to a national average of 14.6.

In Science our students average composite score was 20.8 compared to a national average of 16.6.

Overall composite:  our students averaged 21.2 compared to a national average of 15.5!  100% of our students scored ABOVE the national average!

We are excited to share our results with the entire community.  We understand that Oakhill is an investment.  The performance of our 8^th grade students on the EXPLORE is just one of many way we can show you the dividends.

Suzanne

Mathematically Speaking

As I observe classrooms, view lesson videos in the Day in the Life presentations, and listen to the students applaud in the Tuesday Town Meeting when asked, “How many of you like math?” I am proud…of our math instruction.

Mrs. Driskill gave me a math article titled “Mathematical Swindling” by Eugene Maier. The article made me think about my own mathematical abilities. I was confident in math, got A’s in my classes, did what my math teacher told me, and coveted the right answer. I was a math swindler! As the article states, I “remembered computational procedures and techniques and applied them to textbook exercises during a weekly quiz”.

It wasn’t until I taught math that I truly understood the majority of the concepts. I knew how to calculate and recite math facts, but there is so much more to math than just this! Math includes the way you think about numbers, the way you manipulate numbers, the way you use the memorized math facts, and the way you recognize how numbers are used in real life applications.

When teaching math, it is important to focus on concepts, on specific objectives, and “how” to best teach these concepts and objectives to meet the developmental needs of each student. Conceptual understanding, memorized algorithms, and developmental approaches mix and mingle to create true mathematical awareness. For instance, 4x5=20 is not the same as 5x4=20. Four sets of five are very different than five sets of 4 although the answer is 20 in both examples.

Research indicates that students are not truly able to think abstractly about math until they reach 10 years of age…somewhere during their 4^th grade year. Throughout Early Childhood Education and Elementary Education, teachers move the students from the concrete to the semi-concrete to the semi-abstract manipulation of concepts. New concepts are best understood through hands-on exploration and discussion versus a “this is how you do it” approach.

With this said, math practice is another very important piece and one I do not want to dismiss. This includes class work, timed tests for math fact recall, homework, and Study Island.

In class, we will be developing each student…each mathematician…through concept building, algorithm exploration, and developmental math tasks. At home, we encourage ongoing computational practice, as well as weekly repetition through our Study Island program.

This is our second year utilizing Study Island as a supplemental piece of our math program with emphasis on standardized testing format. We have a building license for this web-based program which is accessible to students at school and at home. If you have internet access, your child can log on to Study Island. Although we have been using this resource at school, we now encourage you to use it at home.

Your children have the log-in information for the site – www.studyisland.com. If you have questions about this resource, feel free to contact your classroom teacher, Trish Stripling (Study Island Coordinator), or Study Island at support@studyisland.com.

Here is another excerpt from the Mathematical Swindling article.

“As part of a research project to assess children’s understanding of mathematics, an elementary school girl had been interviewed. The girl had no difficulty reciting subtraction facts. However, when the interviewer provided her with a collection of tile and asked her to demonstrate the meaning of the statement “16-9=7” with the tile, the young girl was at a loss. Finally, when urged by the interviewer to do anything at all with the tile to portray the statement, the girl used the tile to form numerals; much in the same manner she would have recorded this subtraction fact with paper and pencil. There were no meanings behind the symbols, yet this young lady would have made short work of a page of subtraction exercises.”

To end, I am very proud of the thinking that goes on in the classrooms with regards to math! Math should not be a mystery. Math should not be watered down to facts. Math deserves so much more, and so do our young mathematicians!

Enjoy Study Island,

Suzanne