2000b Prof Eval Memo
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The teacher aimed to help students communicate mathematical reasoning effectively and fluently. Through cooperative activities like group review sessions and team tests, the Calculus BC class learned to communicate fluently in mathematics. Students taught each other and explained their work to the teacher. While the class tried to use a Computer Algebra System to write reports, lab time was limited to one or two periods a month due to curriculum demands. With more lab time, the full potential of the software could have been exploited to explore calculus applications.
2000b Prof Eval Memo
- 1. Professional SelfEvaluation To: Jeffrey L. Hollman, Principal Baldwin SHS From: A. Jorge Garca, Teacher of Calculus and Comp Sci Date: 9/4/2000 Re: SelfEvaluation My Primary goal was to help students effectively and fluently communicate mathematical reasoning. I believe that I have attained this goal as shown below. A student learns a topic best when required to teach it to another person. We incorporated several cooperative activities (group review sessions, team tests, study buddies) and extended tasks (take home exams, board work) in order to reinforce this experience. As a result, my Calculus BC class learned to communicate fluently in mathematics as a language. They instructed each other in the cooperative activities and explained their results to me via extended tasks. We emphasized the importance of making mathematical arguments graphically, numerically, analytically and verbally. We also tried to learn to use a Computer Algebra System (CAS) to write mathematical reports. It was very difficult to include lab time, however. With the demands of the AP Calculus BC curriculum, we were only able to do lab work one or two periods a month. What little we did was very beneficial. If we could have had an additional lab period every other day as in science classes, we would have been able to exploit the full potential of Mathematica, our CAS, as an educational tool to explore many more applications of The Calculus. In addition, we were unable to start the self paced notebooks downloaded from the University of Chicago. h:profeval.mem.doc