I offer a lot of math assistance for my students. I
basically make myself available before school, during lunch, during 7th
period and after school and many of my students benefit from this support. Even
with all this, as first semester finals approached, I felt the need for more. In
addition to the students who were desperately trying to improve their
performance in order to get a passing grade (C- or higher) for the semester, I
also had students who really wanted to perform well on their final exam. In the
spring, I had offered two AP Calculus “Boot Camp” sessions for my students on the
weekend before their AP exam. Because this had been successful, I decided to
offer some weekend study sessions for all of my math students on the weekend
before Final Exams. Just like last year I started out with a survey to gauge
interest and to determine what times would meet the needs of the most students.
The response was very positive and I decided to offer one 2-hour session on
Saturday and one 3-hour session on Sunday. Because there would be students attending from all 3 of the different courses that I teach, I could do no formal instruction. Instead, what came to pass was a giant study session where students were working collaboratively using the variety of resources that I had provided for them to prepare for their final exams. There was much use of the white boards and a lot of small group
discussion. While I periodically had to reteach concepts to some of the
students, I actually spent more time
basically make myself available before school, during lunch, during 7th
period and after school and many of my students benefit from this support. Even
with all this, as first semester finals approached, I felt the need for more. In
addition to the students who were desperately trying to improve their
performance in order to get a passing grade (C- or higher) for the semester, I
also had students who really wanted to perform well on their final exam. In the
spring, I had offered two AP Calculus “Boot Camp” sessions for my students on the
weekend before their AP exam. Because this had been successful, I decided to
offer some weekend study sessions for all of my math students on the weekend
before Final Exams. Just like last year I started out with a survey to gauge
interest and to determine what times would meet the needs of the most students.
The response was very positive and I decided to offer one 2-hour session on
Saturday and one 3-hour session on Sunday. Because there would be students attending from all 3 of the different courses that I teach, I could do no formal instruction. Instead, what came to pass was a giant study session where students were working collaboratively using the variety of resources that I had provided for them to prepare for their final exams. There was much use of the white boards and a lot of small group
discussion. While I periodically had to reteach concepts to some of the
students, I actually spent more time
 |
| Saturday end-of-day group selfie |
serving as a sounding board for their
ideas and asking leading questions so they could make their own conclusions. Eleven
girls signed in on Saturday and fifteen on Sunday although more students were
actually there each day. There was really good energy in the room and the girls
seemed relaxed and productive. Many, many students thanked me before leaving
for Christmas break for giving them this extra support. I am glad that they
felt it was time well spent.
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| Sunday end-of-day group selfie |
That is awesome Anne-Marie. What a wonderful opportunity. Maybe we can add hot cocoa and cookies and make something like this open to other people who want to provide the opportunity. Make if more of a community thing….hot cocoa and cokkies in the winter and lemonade and cokkies in the spring….cookies are good year-round 🙂
Thanks for this!
Anne-Marie – your passion and availability and generosity is admirable!
wow that is above and beyond… but what a wonderful opportunity for them… and what great life skills you have provided. I mean we say that the most important thing you learn at school is HOW to learn… group study sessions and just finding a space is often the biggest handicap. I hope that they take this supported session and carry it into all things !