Taking Math Inspired by the success of the Math and Technology Conference, math instructor Eric Bergofsky proposed a more expanded teaching institute that would offer a month of instruction for public school teachers from urban schools. The Exeter Math Institute (EMI) got its start in the summer of 1992 with funding from a private foundation. For the next five years, 24 teachers working with disadvantaged urban students came to Exeter each summer for an immersion in the study of mathematics and approaches to teaching the subject. In 1997, with renewed funding from the same foundation, Bergofsky switched gears and took his program on the road. Tom Clonts, a public high school teacher in Phoenix, AZ, teaches second-year algebra at North High School, where the 2,500 students are largely students of color from disadvantaged backgrounds. Clonts attended the Exeter Math Institute when it was held at Exeter and has participated in weeklong workshops conducted by Exeter teachers in Phoenix. He says, “We’re all better teachers for it. The overall concepts can be used in larger classes, and I have applied many of the things I learned. Socrates and Plato had some pretty good ideas about teaching, and good methods of teaching are good methods no matter what the racial or economic background of the students.” Since 1997, Exeter math teachers have traveled not only to Phoenix, but also to DeKalb County in Georgia, Dallas, Fort Worth, Memphis, and Newark to lead weeklong institutes that focus on a Harkness approach to teaching math. With up to 50 teachers participating at each location, the program has reached a large number of public school teachers who often have limited access to professional development. Classes are kept small, with only 12 to 14 teachers in a section, and the focus is on a hands-on method of teaching that is similar to that employed at Exeter. “There’s no question that by going on the road we impact more teachers in less time,” Bergofsky says. “But the real beauty of this model is that unlike the residential program, where we taught a predetermined curriculum, we are able to go into each school district and cover what is most important to their teachers within our areas of expertise. Each district gets to design what the week will look like—the target teachers, topics to be covered and daily schedule.” Graduates of EMI have gone on to become administrators responsible for mathematics curricula in a number of school districts, including DeKalb County, Phoenix, Fort Worth and Dallas. Classroom teachers have changed their approach, using real world applications and student-led discussions to teach math. “Harkness teaching is at the heart of what we’re doing,” Bergofsky comments. “We model what we think is pedagogically important. How can you get students involved and make them part of the learning process instead of simply receivers of information? It’s a strange experience for these teachers to be in a classroom where they participate. All their experience and their teaching have been lecture format. For some teachers, it’s transforming.” Having Faith in Kids' Ability Last summer, 50 history and English teachers came to Exeter to engage in an intensive exploration of discussion-based teaching at the weeklong Humanities Institute. Their explorations have continued in the months since, thanks to an online discussion group started by Exeter history instructor Lawrence Smith. A number of participants have commented on how their experiences at Exeter have profoundly affected their teaching. “My world history ninth graders are talking to each other more and less to me in discussions,” writes a teacher from Alabama. “My American history eleventh graders are starting almost every 8 a.m. class with a small-group discussion or writing assignment that leads us into the topic of the day. The result,” she marvels, “is juniors who actually seem awake and interested in colonial policy in a first period class!” The Humanities Institute, which will be offered for the second time this summer, gives participants the opportunity to experience the Harkness classroom directly. Mornings are spent in small classes focused on discussion of texts in literature and history. Each teacher attending the conference spends time observing and recording the discussion process, participating in discussion and leading discussion. In the afternoon, teachers work in the library on developing teaching plans that they can implement back in their schools. The institute is funded by Mississippi/South Carolina Trust which was established by Dr. Fred Pittman ’51. “Our aim was to explore discussion-based teaching with other teachers. You can’t lecture about this. The only way to learn about this approach to teaching is to do it,” explains history instructor Marcia Carlisle, who founded and leads the institute with Lawrence Smith and two colleagues from the English department, Rebecca Moore and Ralph Sneeden. “Our aim was also to bring English and history teachers together, because they should be the advocates for discussion-based teaching in their schools. The participants experienced what is loosely described as ‘the Harkness method.’ It’s not a clear methodology, but the teachers left with the understanding that it’s about discussion that encourages maximum participation by students.” Arthur Brown teaches English and photography at South Kent School, an independent school with 100 students in grades nine through 12 in Connecticut. He says of his experience at the Institute, “It reinforced the idea that what the students are doing without the teacher’s demonstrable direction is valuable in and of itself, even if it doesn’t yield an identifiable product. It’s pretty special, to take the teacher out of the teaching role and make him an observer of the student dynamic, to let the process work and have faith in the kids’ ability to make it work. This took a little adjustment for some of the kids. They have to do more in class than nod, grunt and answer questions with a ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ ”
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