Features : School Story :
Doing Math in Austin
By Allen Raymond, Publisher
Teaching K-8 joins the incoming president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics as we visit the J. E. Pearce Middle School
(l to r) Ruth Ologban and Cathy Seeley, plus Teaching K-8's Pat Broderick and Allen Raymond, who were deciding where to sit (so they wouldn't get called on in class).
Joy most often comes to mind when any of us from Teaching K-8 visit one of our country's public schools, which we've been doing - almost every month during the school year - for approximately 33 years.
That opportunity to visit schools, and to profile outstanding teachers in those schools is, in fact, one of the reasons why we who work here believe we have the best jobs in the world. How many others get a chance to spend time in so many public school classrooms?
And, since 1990, it has been our unique good fortune to highlight, in our January issue, the incoming president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) as she or he spends time in a classroom.
Our first such visit with an NCTM president was in Scottsdale, AZ. in 1990, where we met with Shirley Fry, a dynamic classroom teacher and administrator for over 43 years, whose two-year term as president of NCTM would end in April of that year.
Anticipating Friday. Continuing our tradition, this month's school visit is with Cathy Seeley, senior advisor for an online mathematics program at the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas in Austin. She, of course, is also the incoming president of NCTM (she's pictured on our cover). Our visit took place at the J. E. Pearce Middle school in Austin.
Carol Mata, TK-8's Advertising Director, gets a refresher course in statistics from the kids; Marcia Maisenbacher, the school's mathematics chairman, heads into Ruth's classroom.
We arrived on Thursday, September, 18, 2003, in time to prepare for our eagerly-awaited Friday morning meeting. Cathy would be team teaching at the Pearce Middle School with veteran sixth-grade math teacher Ruth Ologban.
Also joining us would be Marcia Maisenbacher, chairperson of the Mathematics Department at the school, plus Carol Mata, Teaching K-8's Advertising Director, who lives in California but formerly lived in Austin.
It was Cathy, incidentally, who selected the school, believing that with its excellent math program it would be an appropriate venue for our visit. It was a good choice.
Knowing we were scheduled to meet with these high-powered individuals at 7:45 a.m. the next day - and not wanting to get lost and be late - we drove to the school in hopes we could spend a few minutes with the principal.
Luckily, Principal Ron Bolek was available and, after giving us a brief history of the school, took us on a tour, wrapping it up in Ruth Ologban's classroom, where we would spend the next morning.
It took us only a few moments to realize that Ron approaches education with the zeal of a man on a mission. In the business world, because of what he's doing at J. E. Pearce Middle School, he'd be described as "a turnaround artist" and, in a way, that's what he does.
Under control. We soon realized that behind the charm, talent and knowledge which are so much a part of Ron's nature, this man is quietly but definitely in charge.
Ron Bolek, principal of the J. E. Pearce Middle School in Austin, TX, greets Cathy.
In this, his second year as the school's principal - yes, he was indeed brought in to turn the school around - achievement scores have climbed, attendance percentage is in the high 90s, discipline problems have dropped perceptibly and morale is high.
It's also a school where children dress properly, there are consequences for being tardy or absent without an excuse, learning is important and educational expectations are uncompromising (the planner each child receives at the beginning of the year states, "…we expect our students to aim for grades higher than 85%").
Not surprisingly, Mr. Bolek gives credit for the turnaround to support from "a terrific staff." And, as we walked the halls, peered into classrooms, talked to teachers and gave an occasional high-five to a kid, it was apparent this place was working well and under control.
A good day. We left the school that afternoon knowing tomorrow would be a good day.
And it was. Ruth Ologban's class of 27 students welcomed its visitors with smiles and, after the Pledge of Allegiance, there were introductions all around, followed by discussion of the morning's planned math activity.
Small groups discuss their approach to charting and graphing family statistics as Cathy discusses strategies with Ruth Ologban.
Earlier during our visit, Cathy had told us, "This school is doing several things to improve its mathematics program, but the heart of what's going on is in classrooms such as Ruth's, throughout the district, where students are actively engaged in gathering, exploring and organizing data."
After the day's activity was explained, all of us gathered in small groups to accumulate and work with our own data: How many individuals were in the immediate family of each one of us? When we add those numbers, how do we show it graphically? How do we calculate the mean; and, if the mean shows us with 3.2 members per family, what do we do with the remainder?
The CMP way. Discussion was lively, with debates about how to graph the data often becoming very animated…even exciting. Each group came up with unique ways to present its findings to the class - both on paper, and displayed on a screen using small Unifix Cubes™ and an overhead projector.
How do we count a new baby who isn't here yet? And, students use Unifix Cubes™ to illustrate (and graph) number of persons in each child's family.
Watching the students as they worked with the data, we couldn't find anyone who didn't appear thoroughly engaged.
The activity Ruth and Cathy used came from the Connected Mathematics Project (CMP), described as "a complete middle school mathematics curriculum for grades 6, 7 and 8."
Funded by the National Science Foundation between 1991 and 1997, the program includes eight units for each grade, "built around mathematical problems that help students develop understanding of important concepts and skills in number, geometry, measurement, algebra, probability and statistics."
Ruth Ologban - who some people in the school call their "CMP Queen" - indicated it took her a long time to overcome the temptation to tell children how to attack a problem. "It's not what I think," she said. "It's the way they think. If I get up and tell them, they might not understand, but if they do it themselves, they understand. That's the CMP way."
Cathy added, as the day ended, "By building a foundation of mathermatical understanding, and then fitting the pieces together, a child becomes mathematically powerful."
The Prez-elect...
To be president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics is unquestionably a monumental honor and in April, 2004, Cathy L. Seeley, currently NCTM's president-elect, will assume that lofty post.
But, while it is indeed monumental to reach what many would consider the pinnacle in the world of mathematics, others might suggest that Cathy's 1999 decision to volunteer for a two-year stint teaching mathematics in West Africa for the Peace Corps was…well, even more "monumental."
But that is what she did, and her decision tells us lots about the person who is Cathy Seeley (words come to mind such as… determined, courageous, thoughtful, compassionate). It also speaks volumes about her commitment to teaching those who need her the most.
Very few individuals, at the height of their careers - whether teachers, accountants, attorneys, professors, engineers, architects or whatever - would make such a courageous and obviously idealistic move.
The Peace Corps? In our minds we picture it as a community of young men and women, probably of college age, deciding that before joining the work force and/or starting a family, they'll commit two or three years of their lives to help make a difference in needy countries all over the world. But…making the move in the midst of one's career? Amazing.
Cathy's three grown daughters, her 77-year old mother (now 81) and two sisters, plus her many friends had, as one might expect, mixed reactions...ranging from, "Burkina Faso, West Africa? Cathy, are you out of your mind?" to "Go for it!"
She welcomes visits to her website, which chronicles her adventures in Africa. Access her website at http://csinburkinafa so.hitspot.net or see "To Dig Deeper" box at the bottom.
Cathy Seeley's vita reflects a somewhat peripatetic life (a precursor of things to come?): B.S. in Mathematics from Virginia Polytechnic; an M.A. (Curriculum & Instruction) at the University of Northern Colorado; Doctorate in Teacher Education at the University of Houston.
"As NCTM president," she said, "I hope to arm and inspire teachers and other mathematics educators to develop their own kind of personal leadership - to seek out knowledge about what works, to imagine what is possible, to advocate high-quality mathematics learning for every student.
"And," she concludes, "I hope to encourage mathematics educators to have the courage to play an active professional outreach role that extends beyond their immediate classrooms, institutions or school systems."
January, 2004, Vol.34, No.4
