Dear Parents,
Please
read through this letter with your student tonight (8/27), verify that your
student has a homework assignment sheet, and sign the back page. Your
child should return this signed letter to me tomorrow in class.
Introduction
This
will be my eighth year teaching 7th and 8 the grade mathematics at Slavens and my twelfth year in DPS.
I received my Bachelors
of Architecture and my teaching credential from Carnegie Mellon University
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and my Masters of Education from Lesley University.
I then worked as an architect in San Francisco and Santa Barbara for three
years while my wife worked towards her law degree at the University of
California at Berkeley. We moved here in September 2001 and I spent my first
year in Denver substitute teaching primarily at Colorado Academy. I accepted a permanent position in the Denver
Public Schools in August 2002. The four years prior to teaching at Slavens, I
taught seventh and eighth grade connected math as well as algebra at Grant
Middle School. I still stay active in architecture by teaching an architecture program
sponsored by the Denver Architectural Foundation and Slater Paull Architects. Besides my interests in teaching and
architecture, I also have a passion for triathlon. I have been competing in the
sport since 1991 and raced as a professional from 1999 to 2002. .
Seventh and Eighth
Grade Connected Math Program (CMP 2)
In
seventh and eighth grade we will be continuing the CMP 2 curriculum, which most
of the students have experienced previously. For those of you who are new to
this curriculum, CMP is a project-based mathematics program that promotes
discovery learning by placing a premium on hands-on activities and problem
solving. CMP 2 does include algebra, however, in preparation for the high
school placement tests, as well as IB and private school entrance exams, 8th
grade
students will be expected to complete weekly assignments with more traditional
algebra problems so that students have a better chance of receiving high school
algebra credit after their eighth grade year and/or getting into the program of
their choice. I am excited to tell you that over my seven years at Slavens,
approximately 70% of Slavens 8th graders start
high school in 10th grade honors geometry.
Slavens Math Blogs
I
maintain two classroom blogs, one for each grade. I will post all explanations of homework
questions on the blogs as well as class announcements on these blogs. If
students choose not to use the blog, they will be missing a significant
resource for receiving help. Students (and parents) are able to become
followers of the blog, which means that you will receive alerts to new
posts. I highly recommend that every student becomes a follower of these blogs.
The addresses of the blog sites are: Slavens8thgrademath.blogspot.com
Slavens7thgrademath.blogspot.com
Although
it is my goal to have things posted by 4:30 each day, due to faculty meetings,
extra help, coaching obligations, and family responsibilities I can’t guarantee
that I will be able to finish all posts by 4:30 and I appreciate your
understanding.
Extra Help
Your
first line of help is the blogs. I have
a library of hundreds of help videos on homework and class work already posted
and waiting for you on the blogs. Each
unit has a page that can be assessed by the tabs just under the title and the
videos are listed by investigation. If
you have trouble with your homework look to the blog first. When using the help videos don’t just watch
the problem and then do it yourself. You
should pause the video after each step and do that step yourself before
continuing the video. If you would like
help on a problem that isn’t on the blog, then all you need to do is write the
problem number on the ‘to be blogged’ board the next day and I will get it up
on the blog. While you’re reading this
why not go to the site now to check it out.
If
after the blog and asking questions in class aren’t enough, then I will suggest
coming to extra help. I intend to
continue providing extra help one day a week after school from 3:10 - 4:10.
During most of the year these help sessions will be on Thursday, however, I am going
to be coaching cross country, Mathletics, MathCounts, and flag football so
during the first athletic season, help days will change from week to week. I will post the days I am available on the
bottom of the homework assignment sheet and on the math blogs. Please check it every two weeks so that you
and your student know when help is offered. If you have any questions, feel free to
contact me at kirk_framke@dpsk12.org.
Please allow 24 hours for me to
respond.
Finally, every year
around October several parents ask for referrals for tutors. The vast majority of students will not need
tutors to pass my classes, but instead of waiting for crisis to occur I am
offering two suggestions if this is something you are interested in. Last year 8 students were seeing a tutor
regularly
Former student tutor:
Emma Campbell 303.692.9492
Homework
It
is my intent to give 30 to 45 minutes of CMP homework a night. Some assignments may take more or less time
depending on the student. I do not want students to spend more than
an hour on math homework a night so if your student has worked for a solid 60
minutes you can stop them and write a note on their homework and still receive
full credit.
CMP
homework is graded on whether or not you tried it to the best of your
ability. CMP homework will be checked in
as opposed to graded. If you and/or your
child would like to check your answers for the homework if you are getting them
right, to are encouraged to either watch the full explanation videos on the
blog or read the answer key which is also on the blog. Obviously it would be considered cheating to
look at the answers prior to doing the problem.
There
will be additional homework assignments that will be turned in and graded for
accuracy. The most common of these are
the algebra sheets in 8th grade and online Edmodo assignments for 7th
grade. These assignments are typically
once a week. The algebra will be passed
out on either Monday or Tuesday and will be due on Friday.
Grades
Final
grades are weighted. The categories for
8th grade are tests/quizzes (55%), CMP home work (15%), class work
(15%), algebra enrichment (15%). Seventh
grade will vary slightly.
I
look forward to a great year and please feel free to contact me when
appropriate (email is best),
Kirk
Framke
