평가

Taymone K., one of my sixth grade students participating in Math Circles. He has been an enthusiastic math student since I taught him in third grade, and his participation in Math Circles has boosted his confidence in his own mathematical abilities. During the regular school day when asking me to look at his work, he has shifted from asking me if his work is right to telling me he doesn't want to know if he is right or wrong, but he just wants to know if I can follow his thinking. On Monday, he brought me a puzzle inspired by our Toothpicks sessions, which to his delight I could not solve! Taymone said: "I like coming to Math Circles because I get to learn interesting new things. Math Circles teaches you ways to help yourself with your math. If you think about it, there are always many ways to solve a problem."

Kymberli D. is one of our superstars at Lara Academy. She has a soft voice, stands at 5’2’’ tall, and mostly communicates in Spanish; her soft voice having much to say. Her family emigrated from Mexico in January 2022, and she joined our community in the middle of 7th grade. She was in a whole new world, and it took her some time to get adjusted to a new language, a new culture, and a different way of doing school.

Kymberli was quickly recruited to join MC2 in the Spring, but she initially felt uncomfortable because she was afraid of the potential language barrier between her and her English-dominant classmates, especially in a social, extracurricular setting. Motivated by her bilingual math and Diverse Learner teachers, she decided to give the Math Circles Summer Camp a try -- and she thrived! Her strong mathematical foundation in her native language proved to be the necessary bridge to help her participate in Math Circles.

Kymberli는 “이 프로그램을 통해 마음이 편해졌고, 이제 동료들과 내 결정과 생각을 공유할 수 있게 됐다”고 말했습니다. [이 프로그램을 통해 마음이 더 편해졌고, 이제 여러분 덕분에 내 생각과 결정을 반 친구들과 공유할 수 있다고 생각합니다.] 그녀는 MC2가 수학에 대해 토론하는 환영적인 접근 방식 덕분에 학업적으로나 사회적으로 도움을 준 것에 대해 MC2를 칭찬합니다. .

The language of math together with her classmates' and teachers' use of English, Spanish, and Spanglish, helped Kymberli find a voice.

I wish I could say that Ethan started MC2 and fell head over heels in love with math. I wish I could say after a few sessions, his grades improved and we never worried about math, math grades, or math test scores again. While that's not what happened, what I can say is that since starting at MC2, Ethan

수학에 대한 불안이 현저히 감소했음을 보여주었습니다. 학교 수학 시간에 도움과 질문을 요청하기 시작했습니다. 더 이상 아이가 완료하거나 시작하기 위해 아이 옆에 앉을 필요가 없습니다. 아이의 수학 숙제는 학교 수학 시간에 훨씬 덜 반항적이며 더 이상 더 이상 아이 옆에 앉지 않아도 됩니다. 수학 문제 때문에 비명을 지르고, 싸우고, 울다

But the most important thing about MC2 is that he wants to go. Every week he asks me if he can go. Every. Single. Week. When I am discussing with him the things we need to do in a weekend, he always wants to make sure nothing overlaps with MC2. There are fun, non-academically enriching things he doesn't even want to go to (Paintballing, Great America, etc.) but he just loves MC2. Since starting MC2, and being on the UChicago campus, he has begun thinking about college - something I never thought to really talk to him about because he's struggling so hard in elementary school.

Ethan likes MC2 because it takes the pressure out of math. It's not 'Learn this concept this way or you'll get a bad grade.' it's 'Here's a math concept. What do you think about that? What does this other person your age think about that? Let's play around with this concept.' No grades. No teachers. No test prep/scores. No 'sit down at this desk and do this'. No 'you got this wrong - do it over until you get it right'. No pressure. Without the pressure of teachers and classmates and grades and tests, his ODD and ADHD have nothing to rebel against and he can just relax and learn for learning's sake - which has a very powerful and long-lasting effect academically.

나는 미혼모입니다. 내 직업이 우리 집의 유일한 수입이다. 나는 집과 차를 소유하고 있으며 Ethan의 아버지로부터 지원을 받지 않습니다. 나의 수단 부족이 Ethan의 교육과 기회에 부정적인 영향을 미칠 수 있다는 것이 저의 끊임없는 우려입니다. MC2가 무료 프로그램이라는 것은 매우 중요합니다. MC2에서 2시즌을 보낸 후 그는 이제 수학에 익숙해졌습니다. 한두 시즌 더 지나면 그는 수학을 좋아할 수도 있습니다. 그러면 그 사람은 수학을 잘할 수 있을 거예요. 솔직히 비용이 있으면 감당할 수가 없었어요. 즉, 결론적으로 나는 내 아들이 이러한 필수적인 혜택을 누릴 여유가 없었다는 것을 의미합니다.