Elementary POW Main Page || Mentor Registration Form

"Visiting Math Mentors" will volunteer for one or more weeks to reply to solutions submitted by elementary students. As problem solving mentors, they will enhance their ability to develop assessment criteria and increase their own problem solving abilities, while helping elementary students discover the joys of solving challenging problems.

A biography and photo of the current "Visiting Math Mentors" will appear on the Elementary Problem of the Week Web page each week.

   Contact Person:

Ruth Carver
ruth@mathforum.org
Germantown Academy
Fort Washington , PA 19034
(215) 646-3300
http://mathforum.org/ruth/

   Who can be a Visiting Math Mentor?

Some possibilities are: classes of elementary school students; middle school students; high school students; pre-service teachers; retirees who love problem solving and interacting with young children; college students; teachers; college professors; and anyone else with a love of problem solving and a willingness to share it with elementary students.

   What will my students gain from working on this project?:

Teaching "Assessment Criteria" to Elementary/Middle/High School Students
      by Gail Lauinger

The Elementary Problem of the Week is geared to 3rd through 6th graders, so I had been looking for mentors from grades 7-12, college students, student teachers, etc. Then I received a great suggestion from Gail Lauinger, an elementary teacher (4th/5th) at Mendocino Grammar School, Mendocino, CA (I am always getting great ideas from my elementary colleagues).

Gail teaches her students assessment criteria. They do problems and create assessment criteria for grading the problems. This opens up an entirely new group of "Visiting Math Mentors," classes of elementary students who regularly use the Problem of the Week. After a class assesses other students, I know that their future explanations will improve tremendously. I am also sure that this activity would benefit all levels of students as an aid toward self-assessment and I plan to involve my high school students as well.

   Responsibilities of "Visiting Math Mentors":

If you would like your class to be "Visiting Math Mentors" for a week, I could send you the problem for the week you would like to mentor a week or two in advance so that your students will have time to work the problem themselves and develop their assessment criteria. I would also like to encourage mentors to find or develop possible problems themselves.

During the week that you or your students are the designated Visiting Math Mentors, I will forward to you all the student responses from that week. You'll reply to the students, and by the end of the week after the problem is due you will e-mail me a list of the students who haved solved the problem correctly, and a few interesting solutions to put into the Highlighted Solutions section. (If you look again at the Elementary Problem of the Week Web page, you'll have a better idea of what I'm talking about.) I will then send them to Eric Sasson at the Math Forum, who maintains the page.

   Other Help Needed:

We're always in need of problems for the Elementary Problem of the Week. You can check out past problems to get an idea of the types of problems we're looking for.

   What's in it for you? Possible perks and rewards:

Steve Weimar, Program Administrator of the Math Forum, has suggested that people who make a significant contribution to the project (mentoring for a week(s), sending several problems that we could use, etc.), would be able to use the services of the Forum staff. For instance, if you need help with something you're doing on the Web, they would be available to help you. We're thinking of issuing "credits" that you could accumulate and exchange for a certain number of "help hours." We also want to make sure that the "Visiting Math Mentors" get special recognition on the Web.

Visit the Web page of one of our Visiting Math Mentors:

http://tntnet.slc.nau.edu/~man2/chem2.html

   Online Registration:

You may complete an Online Registration Form.

   Companion Project:

Elementary Problem of the Week