MC2 Changes

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In February we interviewed Louisa Shannon, who leads an MC2 After School Program at Murray Elementary School and who has been a lead teacher at MC2 summer camps, both at Back of the Yards and in her own school. She's now in her 4th year at math circles! 1) What made you start working for Math Circles? I started working for Math Circles after participating in a Formative Assessment Lesson (FAL) Professional Development Cohort that Doug O'Roark co-organized during virtual learning. 2) Why do you teach? I teach because it is a vocation and a privilege. Being entrusted to provide equitable access, cultivate identities, and prepare community members is an honor of which I aspire to be worthy every day. 3) What is your favorite thing about teaching? Facilitating and witnessing a Eureka moment of clarity when someone synthesizes the pieces of information into a new understanding that they take with them as far and wide as they wish. 4) What is something you wish more parents knew? I wish more parents knew how resilient, capable, creative, and joyful children can be when we empower them to struggle with challenging tasks they find interesting for knowledge's sake. 5) What is something you want people to know about Math? Regardless of our previous academic performance, we are all math people. Math is fundamentally about exploring and solving problems that help us identify patterns and understand relationships. Doing math cultivates problem-solving. Problems are growing exponentially; we need as many problem-solvers as possible. 6) How has Math Circles impacted your teaching career and your perspective as an educator? Math Circles has challenged me to seek, promote, and expect joy for every learner. It has helped me recommit to a career as an educator. 7) Should Pluto be given back its title? Although nine is divine, eight is pretty great! I think Pluto should remain a dwarf planet.

In January, we interviewed Lisa Cash, MC2's most experienced teacher. Lisa led our first ever After School Program at Goudy Elementary (which continues to this day), and also leads sessions at our Lane Tech Hub, along with summer sessions at Payton HS. 1) What made you start working with Math Circles? I wanted to do interesting and engaging math with my students after school. However, I started teaching at the Pilsen Hub first. I brought it to my school later and have been running it there ever since. 2) What is something you wish more parents knew? I hope parents realize how much their enthusiasm shapes their child's experience. It is a joy to teach Math Circles because of this. 3) How has Math Circles impacted your teaching career and your perspective as an educator? I have spent the last 7 years learning and growing with Math Circles. Working with the team at Math Circles has broadened my ability to help students think deeply about math.

Greetings MC2 Folks! While it still feels very much like winter here in Chicago, many families are beginning to think about their plans for Summer math enrichment. There are math programs all over the country, some free, some not. A few admit everyone they can fit, others ask applicants to complete an application, write an essay, or submit a math problem set. The table below can help you make a choice. Some things to note: Camps in Chicago -- MC2, UIC, and UChicago -- tend to have later deadlines than national camps, and the UIC and UChicago websites are usually updated in March or April. If you are on MC2's mailing list you will get updates. If you need any advice, email us at info@mathcirclesofchicago.org or hit the 'Contact' button on this website!

Registration Information and Forms Update! The next time you login to your MC2 account to register your child for an MC2 session, you'll be asked to update some information about each child you enroll, and complete our standard forms. Updating information about your student--what's new/different: You'll be asked to give your child's date of birth. We're now collecting gender and race/ethnicity information here (which is optional) rather than having a separate registration form (this will reduce the number of signed forms we collect by one). If your child is in high school, we ask for your child's school (with our old system this information was often not updated). Form notes: We know that most families have completed our forms previously; we're asking you to do so again, but once you've done so that should be the last time (or at least the last time for several years)! The CPS data form is an exception--it will need to be completed once a year. Families are free to not share their child's CPS data (and, of course, some of our students do not attend CPS); if your child does not attend a CPS school or if you prefer to not share their data with MC2, simply answer 'no' to the two questions on the form. Of course, we would encourage you to answer yes if you can, as it's helpful for us to collect as much information as possible so we can analyze the overall impact of our programs. We never share individual student data with outside groups . Individual student data is also not shared with our teachers. We only use collective student data for evaluating our programs; we do NOT use individual student data for any purpose other than to calculate these averages.

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Our math summer camp list has been updated, with one new addition (Campersand). There are math camps all over the country, some free, some not. A few admit everyone they can fit, others ask you to complete an application, write an essay, or do a bit of a math 'try out'. The table below can help you make a choice. Some things to note: Middle School parents, Math Path is recommended and relatively close (Kansas City this year). If you are interested have your child apply right away. While they will take applications through April they have rolling admissions and the longer you wait the lower your chances are you'll be admitted. Camps in Chicago--MC2, UIC, and UChicago--tend to have later deadlines than national camps, and the UIC and UChicago websites are usually updated in March or April. If you are on MC2's mailing list you will get updates. If you need any advice, email us at info@mathcirclesofchicago.org or hit the 'Contact' button on this website! UPDATED MARCH 11, 2024

To achieve our mission and live our values — for the children participating in Math Circles programs — our students must feel safe. We recognize that different children face different challenges to their safety — whether to their health, to their economic security or mobility, or to their social & emotional well-being. Right now, the challenges are particularly severe for some of the children we serve. The history of our modern and interconnected world means that events far away affect people in Chicago, and our students are no exception. Chicago is home to the largest Palestinian American population in the country, and the third largest number of Jewish Americans. The violence in Israel and Gaza — and the deaths of thousands of people, including Palestinian and Israeli children — affects people around the world, including in our own community. We know that some families are mourning and we offer our respects to the loss of life. Our families also face growing polarization and violence directed at people based on their race, religion, nationality, or other aspects of their identity (including in the Chicago area). The work of learning and unlearning is hard in an increasingly polarized world. Part of the joy and beauty of studying mathematics is to apply logic, thoughtfulness, and collaboration to create a better world collectively. These new challenges to our students’ safety — and their ability to learn and grow as we aspire to support them — means it’s even more important to the Math Circles community to ensure all our children feel safe: because we care about them, because we owe it to them and to their families, and because without safety, we can’t help them become critical thinkers and realize their power. Our desire to create safety and well-meaning in our learning spaces with the communities is ongoing and in dialogue with the communities we serve. This semester, we intend to do the following and will continue to improve our efforts to cultivate spaces of joy and safety at any math circle sessions our students attend: Work to equip our teachers to respond to concerns and questions that may be raised by our children, and to equip them to address incidents of bias appropriately. Support our teachers in their own concerns. Work to equip our teachers in supporting students’ social and emotional health, Work to empower our students to have conversations about how math can further the cause of social justice. As Sara Rezvi, program director of MC2 notes, all children, regardless of race, class, religion, or any other forms of difference, have a right to dignity, safety, and learning in joyful math spaces. Joyful spaces cannot be authentically created without actively and courageously combating racism, sexism, ableism, transphobia, anti-Muslim hatred, antisemitism, and other forms of oppression that continue to exist in mathematical spaces, especially towards members of those groups who have been the most marginalized and sidelined. Doug O’Roark, Executive Director Sara Rezvi, Program Director Co-Signed by Ameerah Sanders, Communications Michelle Harton, Operations Manager Jocelyn Wilcox, Project Lead Paul J. Karafiol, Board Chair

Cultivating Math Joy for PK-2 Children At Home by Sara Rezvi, After School Program Director