kmaples posted on February 04, 2011 08:10
Long before the first bell rings at school, a lone classroom in the math hallway fills up with yawning students, ready to start their 10-period school day at 6:50 a.m.
These early students struggled in Honors Precalculus class at the beginning of the year, and were frustrated to discover that switching to a different math would not work with their schedules.
Thus, zero period Trignometry/Analytical Geometry, which is before school every day, was born.
“Precalculus was too hard, and I didn’t have another choice,” junior Libby Spragg said. “It’s so hard to focus because it’s so early. I still feel like I’m asleep and it’s hard to pay attention.”
Though the time of day affects them, teacher Lori Cole believes the class is helping the students.
“Basically it’s like a CP version of Honors Precalculus, so we go a little bit slower,” Cole said. “They’re more at where they should be mathematically so they can have success.
“They’re tired, but most of them are glad to know what’s going on in class.”
However, the reason for so many more students having difficulties in Honors Precalculus, compared to other years, is up for debate.
Sophomore Bryce Burnside attributes it to taking higher-level math earlier; his class was the first to take Algebra I in seventh grade and Algebra II in eighth grade.
“It (Honors Precalculus) is very difficult,” Burnside said. “A lot of it is based off of what we learned in seventh grade, which is hard to remember.”
Precalculus may be harder for these students than in years past, according to math department chair Ellen Laube, because they started advanced courses too early.
“Younger kids are taking higher-level math courses and their heads are not ready for it,” Laube said. “The teachers in middle school taught what they could, and when they got here, we needed them at a certain level and we saw right away they weren’t there.
“We had an overwhelming percentage of kids, like a quarter of the class, in the higher-level class, which should not be occurring. The higher-level classes are for those select few who are really ready for it.”
To solve the problem, a new CP-level class called Algebra III will be introduced at the high school next year.
“That way the kids that feel like that they are not ready to move on to Precalculus will take another year of Algebra,” Laube said. “We’re hoping kids will see Algebra III and realize that maybe their Algebra skills aren’t where they need to be and they need to do more.”
In the meantime, offering more classes before school is becoming a realistic possibility.
“They asked teachers for several years (to teach classes before school) and they didn’t have enough volunteers,” Cole said. “This would definitely be a good indication to see how this works. But it is mighty early.”