How to Use Free Mentoring

FunPoW || PreAlgPoW || AlgPoW || GeoPoW

The Math Forum tries to make free mentoring available to its subscribers in several ways. A limited amount of free mentoring is provided by volunteers and staff.

During some weeks you will see a green check and a "Mentor Group at Work" note next to a problem. These mentor groups are usually future teachers who have participated in our Online Mentoring Project, which prepares them to give students feedback. During this time we can provide mentoring to more submitters than usual, all under the supervision of their college faculty. Most of this mentoring takes place in the Math Fundamentals PoW and the Pre-Algebra PoW, but watch for mentor groups at work in Algebra and Geometry as well.

As mentor groups are scheduled for the 2012-2013 school year, they will be posted here.

FunPoW

• October 1 (PoW 4): Northwest Missouri State University
• October 15 (PoW 5): Eastern Kentucky University
• October 29 (PoW 6): Northwest Missouri State University
• March 11 (PoW 15): Northwest Missouri State University
• April 8 (PoW 17): Northwest Missouri State University
• April 22 (PoW 18): Eastern Kentucky University
• And stay tuned for more coming soon...

PreAlgPoW

• February 4 (PoW 12): Math Forum Teachers
• April 1 (PoW 16): West Virginia University

AlgPoW

• February 11 (PoW 13): Drexel Univeristy
• March 11 (PoW 15): McGill University
• April 8 (PoW 17): Eastern Kentucky University

GeoPoW

• February 4 (PoW 12): McGill University
• February 18 (PoW 13): McGill University
• March 4 (PoW 14): McGill University
• March 18 (PoW 15): McGill University
• April 1 (PoW 16): McGill University

Students selected for mentoring will receive scores based on our rubric as well as suggestions on how to improve their math thinking and communication. Please revise your work if you receive a response! The process of revision helps turn short-term learning into long-term learning. The mentors are learning important

Free mentoring does not mean that everyone receives mentoring. The volunteer mentors are able to respond to only some of the submissions. You can increase your chances of being mentored by doing the following:

• Submit problem solutions early in the problem cycle, rather than later.
• Demonstrate an effort to address the criteria we look for. We give mentoring priority to students who seem prepared to take advantage of the feedback.
• Use the Check Answer feature after submitting your solution to see if you're correct.
• Revise your answer if you can improve it, or follow the other suggestions on the answer check page.