Demostration Designs for Students include, but are not limited to:
- Direct instruction on TAKS (Texas) or other State standardized Test-taking strategies and problem-solving with students; there is a major concentration on multi0-step measurement problems for grades 6 - Secondary or Exit Levels. These proven strategies have allowed schools to move from low performing to achieving double-digits gains in student performance on TAKS, removing them from danger with the AYP standards specified in No Child Left Behind.
- Special Education and Second-Language learners benefit from the Coaching Sessions.
- Classroom teachers observe these strategies and continually reinforce the problem-solving strategies with their students.
- Effective instructional practices of graphing calculators, including TI-73-Plus,83 and 84-Plus series for grades 6-Secondary.
- Many students have not successfully developed strategies for solving word problems, especially multi-step word problems. Development of effective problem-solving strategies, focusing on understanding the problem in detail, creating a variety of problem-solving approaches, carrying out the plan, and evaluating the solution for reasonableness through a variety of approaches.
- Mathematics Demonstration Lessons with or without manipulatives and calculators.
- Standardized Test-taking Bootcamp. Students will work directly with Ms. Molix-Bailey for an extended period of time. Sessions will take place during the Fall and Spring semesters. Classroom teachers will observe and continue to reinforce the strategies.
Mathematics By Design
General Test-Taking Strategies
ü Take your time; there is no reason to hurry. You don't win any prizes for finishing first--so don't rush. Slow down and read each problem carefully. Many of the problems are only reading problems, with no computation, so you must know your vocabulary and understand what mathematics symbols represent.
ü Draw and modify pictures for problems that involve geometry and measurement concepts. Use your formula chart, don't guess formulas.
ü Remember, you can use your formula chart as a versatile problem-solving tool in addition to using it as a straight edge to draw line segments or extend line segments.
ü Use process of elimination to narrow down answer choices. Look for answers that are obviously too large or too small. Look for graphs with the wrong slope, such as a positive slope when the problem gives a negative slope.
ü If you are absolutely stuck on a problem, use the strategy of Back-Solving or Guess and Check by substituting answer choices back into the original problem or equation. Use your calculator if it is appropriate with the strategy.
ü Look out for problems involving Pythagorean theorem, special right triangles, or similar triangles. The problems may look very similar, so read the question more than once, decide what a reasonable answer would look like, and remember that most often, these are multi-step problems. Once again, use your formula chart and modify pictures if necessary, to help solve these problems.
Original Version Developed in 1996
Our Deepest Fear
“Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be
?
You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Quote by Marianne Williamson from A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles
