Duncan Clarke
Washington Middle School
3100 Cain Road
Olympia, WA 98501
September 6, 2006
Dear Parent,
Welcome to Geometry! Here, in this honors-level high school class, your child has a rare opportunity to be truly challenged, to strive for academic excellence where there is still breathing room in case things don’t work out. You see, because your child is two years ahead of the normal pace, I would be most dissatisfied with myself if, at the end of this year, your child got no more out of this than the normal high school class. That is, I’ve got a class full of proven bright students; I don’t have to “dumb down” anything for, let’s say, seniors just trying to graduate. As a result, we’re going to go -- not further in geometry per se -- but deeper.
A normal Geometry course these days tends to “cover” lots of “stuff” and “do” lots of “things”; this is the best a high school teacher can usually manage. Kids get enough to survive the real world’s circles, triangles, and rectangles; then they move on. At Washington we will do these things as well, but I intend to emphasize why these processes are valid, the logic behind the algorithms, for I’m convinced this will put your child on much stronger footing. I am referring, of course, to proofs & constructions. The reason high schools these days tend to deemphasize proofs and constructions is simple: they’re hard. To understand fully what it means to prove a theorem means, for most students, a realignment of the brain. It is an intellectual shift that goes way beyond math, and many average kids just can’t make the metamorphosis in the allotted time. The high school teacher is then left with an unenviable choice: either tone-down this part of the curriculum -- critical though it may be -- or ruin the GPA’s of many decent kids, few of whom will be pursuing higher math courses anyway.
Your child is not average, so we won’t just be doing math: we’ll be brain-shifting as well. (In my own life, the two classes that did the most for my own thinking skills -- including even my ability to write clearly -- were Speech & Debate and Geometry.) I know some kids will just eat this up; they’re ready for this new challenge. But I write ad nauseam here to forewarn a few affected parents: some kids (I don’t know which ones) are going to hit The Big Wall. This will not be math as they’ve seen it before, the algorithmic “plug in x and spit out the answer.” It will require a completely new mindset and attitude. Furthermore, as a teacher of such an advanced class, I put much more of the learning responsibility on the student’s shoulders. I guide & help & correct & evaluate, but the basic lessons are mostly up to the student to plow through. I say all this in advance because I know the wall is there, and how your child handles it psychologically is a primary concern. I’ll do everything I can to make the metamorphosis -- to a new brain pattern -- as painless as possible. I do not guarantee results, however; nor can I be infinitely flexible in how I adjust the curriculum when walls are hit. I believe it’s better to master the material -- even if it takes two years -- than it is to “cover” it in one; we do have some time to play with if necessary.
Mastery, by the way, begins with algebra. Your child did well in Algebra, but I’m going to be ruthless in plugging up any holes that may have gotten missed last year. A “B” on one Algebra test last year, for example, is not a disaster and may not have hurt your child’s grade; but that’s up to 20% of the material that was missed. That’s too much, and we have no reason not to perfect these skills now. (A few individuals may be required, just to catch up, to come in for extra help at the outset: we cannot allow anyone to fall behind.) I also want to be very clear that regardless of great ability or intuition, showing complete & proper & legible steps on every problem is absolutely required. Again, I don’t feel I’m just teaching the next year of material. There is a special opportunity and with it a special burden. You know, for example, the SAT is coming; your child should ace the math portion, but only if there are no fuzzy areas that got glossed over while racing through the curriculum.
Some basic grade info: There will be homework everyday, due the next day, and late work will not be accepted. Now while in my normal classes I count homework and tests “fifty-fifty” toward the final grade, Geometry tests will count for a greater percentage, while additionally there will be a two projects. There is no substitute for mastery. (Good effort alone ≠ good math understanding.) That being said, I will add that good effort does, of course, correlate well with success. Some statistics: In the last two years every student who has gone on to Honors Algebra II (as opposed to the regular Algebra II section) has been an individual who handed in pretty much every single assignment. Additionally, without exception every student who has failed to make homework an automatic priority in the day’s routine has also failed to move past Geometry the following year. That is, these kids, for whom homework is an “option,” have all been asked to repeat the class. This is not by design, mind you: it’s simply a fact.
We do have a new Geometry text, the same that’s used at Olympia High -- I think it looks much better than last year’s -- but this provides only the curriculum skeleton. To learn what’s in this text provides merely a minimal understanding: students in this class really need to ace the text, but may have more trouble from the material I will add on my own. I’ll be bringing in geometric proofs I possess at home, many of them famous since antiquity. There’s a reason for why certain proofs are more famous than others, and I hope to promote in my class a sense of math history. (Math is perhaps the purest, most global intellectual pursuit in human culture; this is a value I want to share.) Finally, I will regularly be including lots of material from the MathCounts competitions which I’ve collected over the last fiveteen years. MathCounts produces really first-rate problems, problems which elevate students to higher-order thinking. And because these problems are often puzzles which many (legitimately) fail to grasp, I do not expect all kids to solve each problem. I do expect, however, a written demonstration of effort, even on problems which seem “impossible.” (At the very least, tough problems can be copied and defined.)
From you, dear Parent, I ask for your understanding -- this is not just another class -- and I ask that you continue to support your child in math as you clearly have so far. That your child is in Geometry did not occur in a vacuum. I know you’ve put in vast time and intent, but please do not casually assume your child automatically will go on next year to Algebra II; this is doubly true for Honors Algebra II. To qualify for this even-more-advanced class, your child will have to show mastery throughout the year in all areas of the curriculum (competency is not enough). My only other, special request is that you provide your child with the following items: a calculator (nothing fancy, but at least trig functions), a ruler, a protractor, and a slightly-better-than-cheap compass. The school’s supplies are adequate for other classes, where Geometry is a three-week unit, but inadequate for serious study.
Finally, a note on the WASL. No one in this Geometry class should sweat it; all should pass easily. That being said, note also that I will be sure to review the state’s EALR’s (Essential Academic Learning Requirements) and subdivided GLE’s (Grade Level Expectations) to guarantee there will be no gaps in your child’s expected progress (even where the test measures material I personally find extraneous/trivial).
I hope with this letter I’ve raised the bar a bit, maybe even created a little tension. After all, I’m striving for a heightened state of intellectual awareness, and one does not reach this by doing the “same ol’, same ol’.” On the other hand, I don’t want to alarm anyone. We’ve got a full year to absorb material, grow and change, and then adjust to growth and change. I say “we,” because I really do appreciate your feedback. I may have a grandiose “vision” of teaching and academic goals, but in practice I live much more in the trenches and make it up as we go. This method works so long as I know what’s happening -- how kids are feeling -- which means, channels of communication need to be open. Please call me at school anytime: tel. 596-3113. Better yet, e-mail me: dclarke@osd.wednet.edu.
Sincerely,
Duncan Clarke