President’s Message

February 2009

Greetings to Everyone

I hope the holiday season reinvigorated and rejuvenated you, and that the first month of the New Year brought you and your family good memories and good spirit. The two snow days allowed me to take Ivy, my two year-old daughter, sledding. For the first few attempts, Ivy allowed me to play the protective father and sled with her down the hill. Then it was time for me to step aside; well, until I was needed to carry her up the hill when she started to get tired. I was impressed by the other young children sledding and their ingenuity in creating ramps and bumps along their routes. Being the math nerd (and happily so!), I wondered if they realized how much math underscored their endeavors.

This led my thoughts back to an email I received from a good friend and colleague, Gloria Campion. She emailed me concerning a survey recently reported on NPR stating that the best profession at this time is a MATHMETICIAN! A secondary piece to the survey was that 9 of 10 ten new jobs will involve math and secondarily science: what great news for math and science teachers! As I thought more about why being a mathematician would be the best profession, I began asking myself why this didn’t happen sooner. Phrases like data-driven decisions (a subject presented on by Peggy Dersch at our winter meeting) and efficiency models and trend lines have become part of accepted business practice. Innovative technology continues to lead to stronger and better results in medicine, communication services, fuel efficiency, and countless other areas. And what underlies all of this: math and science.

Then I begin to think about my own class. Am I preparing my students to be effective thinkers in a world that balances itself on the legs of math and science? Am I just giving them the mathematical skills to navigate this word, as well as the thought processes that will allow them to move freely in a more complex world of data and numbers? In Parkway, we have been examining our curriculum to make sure we meet the requirements of the new end of course exams. While there are many objections to and flaws in any type of implemented high stakes assessment on curriculum, the EOC forced us to examine our curriculum and has lead to many great conversations about why and how we are teaching many pieces of our curriculum. As we progress through these conversations, we also need to keep in mind the types of thinking processes our students will need to be successful in the future as well. We have to find a way to merge skill and thought into our curriculum; because what makes the mathematician a mathematician, the ability to perform a math computation or the ability to think and rationalize mathematically?

Gloria’s last words in the email recounting the NPR survey were “the pressure is on.” In addition to sharpening my students’ mathematical skills, I have also tried to help students see the beauty in math that I see. But now, the future success of our students will hinge on their mathematical aptitude more than any time before. Luckily, we have a great community of math teachers in the St. Louis region to help face this pressure. Share the great things you are doing in your classroom with your fellow teachers in your department, in your district. Attend meetings and/or conferences of MEGSL, MCTM, NCTM, or other professional organizations to see the brilliance of your colleagues and to share your brilliance with them as well. Continue to be brilliant in your classroom so that we help open the doors to a new generation of mathematicians.

Have a wonderful February and good luck with all that you are involved in.

Aaron Hickman
MEGSL President
ahickman@pkwy.k12.mo.us