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A Great Supplementary Math Program for After-School and Summer Programs

by Karen Jennings-Boland

When the director of our middle school's after-school programs came to me for help in finding material to use for an after-school math program, I never dreamed I would find myself immersed in a new and exciting teaching endeavor. But as I listed every idea that came into my mind about what such a program should include, the director looked at me and said, "Maybe you should just develop the program yourself." That was the beginning of an energizing and exciting opportunity to write a program just the way I wanted it!

After 14 years in the classroom, six in elementary and eight in middle school, I had definite ideas about what a student could accomplish with "just a little help" outside the regular school day. This project brought new energy to my teaching and reminded me of my love for math education. I was suddenly excited about the concept of creating a program where I set the parameters. For the three or four months following our director's suggestion, I busied myself with structuring what would become "RAAP (Reteaching, Activities, Applications and Problem Solving) Math for Middle School."  As I wrote the curriculum, I pictured the very students in my seventh grade math class who would benefit from the after-school intervention. I put into practice all of my "If only I had a smaller class I could" ideas to create the program of essential mathematical learning for middle school students.

RAAP was developed with the idea that all kids can learn mathematical concepts given enough time and some small group instruction. The program was designed for kids who were working way too hard and learning way too little. We wanted to take the below-average achievers in the game of math and push them into the "starting line-up."

RAAP typically has groups no larger than four to six students, who go through math drills and problems. We made this activity more fun by including activities that would be difficult to manage in a large group. The students learn percentages in an activity where they flip coins off the backs of their arms and try to catch them. The students learn angle measurement by applying their knowledge of percents and probability to an activity with a spinner like the one from the game Twister. The kids work with fractions with chocolate candy bars. The students use stop watches to time the life of a bubble. They roll ping-pong balls and work with fractions.

The lessons are made more effective because we use a few simple ideas like "Be fair" and apply it to lots of mathematical settings (i.e., simplify fractions by dividing the numerator by the Greatest Common Factor and then to BE FAIR, you also divide the denominator. Solve algebraic equations by treating both sides of the equation the same way: BE FAIR, etc.). The course uses lots of repetition of key phrases that cycle throughout the entire program. Students actually memorize the questions and the answers because they become so familiar to them.

We first implemented the RAAP program in the winter of 1999. After training six teachers, from retired certified teachers to college students, we were ready to roll. We identified students in grades six through eight who had good school attendance, and seemed to want to learn, but just were not very successful in math class. These students were invited to participate in the after-school program. In January, groups of four to six students began meeting four times a week after school for 13 weeks to work towards improving math skills.

It was exciting to see my own students from my math classes during the day gaining confidence, raising hands, and becoming more efficient in their work. It was equally exciting to see some of the people we had hired to implement the program become fired up about teaching. Some of those after-school teachers visited my classroom and asked question after question. One of those men is now a full-time math teacher in our high school, while another will work for us again this year as he pursues his degree in education.

This year I have a student in 8th grade math whom I also had last year in math. She participated in RAAP last spring. The other day she was doing a problem where she needed to subtract a decimal number with ten thousandths from a decimal number with only tenths. I heard her mumbling, "What do you need to remember about adding and subtracting decimals...line up the decimal points." This is one of the questions and answers students repeat many times in the RAAP program. It is also effective because the kids are learning things in RAAP that they may not have come upon in their regular class yet. This is especially true for the sixth graders. One sixth-grade boy was thrilled last year in class when they got to measures of central tendency because he had learned about mean, median, and mode in RAAP math...and for once he didn't fall behind in class. The whole program is set up to teach kids not only to do math, but also to believe that they can do math. That belief is what will help them be successful later. We are trying to rid the students of their "math phobias."

The program concluded in April, and this summer I spent time reading surveys completed by the students who participated in the program, their parents, and their regular math teachers. Reading about students raising their grades from D's to B's as a result of RAAP Math was very satisfying.

Last year at this time, I would not have expected that I would have found a new "thrill" to teaching. This project has been just what I needed to spur me on professionally. It has eliminated the feeling that I just don't have enough time to give these kids who want to learn but struggle: now I know that these students can get help in our after-school programs. I also feel empowered by the fact that I was able to make a difference in the lives of the students and in the lives of the after-school teachers who are implementing the program.

The most fulfilling part of participating in this activity has not been just seeing the difference it has made for those in the program; seeing the students in my own classroom excited about math because of my renewed enthusiasm has been a reward in itself.  I think we, educators, often get run down by all the new initiatives we feel are being imposed on us. This opportunity to make a difference for myself has given me the jump-start I needed to feel the rewards and successes that drew me to teaching fourteen years ago. Now I look forward to the doors that this program might open, but most of all I look forward to teaching math tomorrow to my own students in my own classroom!

Editor's note: The author, Karen Jennings-Boland, teaches at the middle-school level in California and has fourteen years' experience. She is interested in extending this program to other schools. She can be contacted at: krjennings@adiis.net.