by Matt Mayberry, Math Teacher
Spaulding High School, Barre, VT

Matt Mayberry is a second-year math teacher at Spaulding High School in Barre, Vermont. Matt also works as a business consultant, specializing in executive training for Fortune 500 companies. Prior to consulting, he worked as an experimental physicist in fusion energy research. Matt also shares his Math and Geometry service-learning projects involving repectively, school design and school "failure" rates.

Introducing Community Service Learning into a math class provides some unique challenges for teachers, such as finding time in an overcrowded curriculum, and breaking down expectations of there always being “one right answer” in math class. One of the greatest emotional challenges for me has been dealing with the unknown. CSL projects are complex. They cannot be planned out to the last detail. In retrospect, I can see that chaos, surprise, and a certain amount of fear are all natural parts of the process.

Collegial Support is Crucial
One of the dilemmas I faced last year was how to balance the need to cover all the required material in my algebra course versus my desire to really accomplish something meaningful with the CSL project. As the project progressed, I became increasingly concerned that it was taking class time away from the teaching of basic algebra skills. Would diverting 10% of our total class time to our CSL project about freshmen failure even cause some of my students to fail this standards-based course? The irony of this question did not escape me.

I brought up these concerns as a “dilemma” at one of our monthly service learning roundtables. At these sessions, four teachers met with the CSL coordinator, the principal and the curriculum director to discuss some of the problems we encountered as we tried to incorporate service learning into our classes. In response to my dilemma, one colleague pointed out that we make choices all the time about what to include and leave out of our courses. There is never time to cover everything, so we are always making decisions about what to cover, and at what level of detail. There is always more “great math stuff” to cover than time allows. In fact we often do students a disservice by trying to cover too much material.

On the other hand, what are we sacrificing if we fail to address some of the most important life skills that students will need to be successful later in their careers? Like being meticulous when analyzing data before trying to reach conclusions; or presenting the results of a project with enough presence and confidence to make a positive impression; or giving constructive feedback to a peer; or even just using a tape measure properly. My colleagues pointed out that these skills can be extremely valuable to students later in life, perhaps even more so than algebra or geometry.

Thinking About Outcomes
While I could eventually justify the time spent on the CSL projects, I had a harder time being satisfied with the results we achieved. In retrospect, my expectations were probably unrealistically high. Naively, I had hoped that our analysis of freshmen failure might “wake up” the students in my algebra class and inspire them to do their homework and succeed in math. I never witnessed the dramatic change in study habits that I hoped for and even as our project was wrapping up, nearly half my students were struggling just to pass. But with a couple of exceptions, in the end they did pass. And if they felt they were being listened to when they presented their results to the principal, or if they felt like their advice was being heard by the incoming students at Step-up Night, perhaps this is enough.

There are no formal plans in the works to reconstruct the front entrance to SHS, despite some cool redesigns for the front entranceway. Still, the quality of work from last year’s projects has caught the attention of the school administration. As plans move forward to integrate the high school with the Tech Center, improvements to the facilities will no doubt be needed in the years ahead. Our students’ designs will almost certainly be considered in any future modifications to our campus.

Perhaps the greatest benefit we have achieved for the school community is demonstrating how a cooperative effort between the high school and the adjoining Barre Technical Center can be achieved. The Pre-Engineering Graphics (PEG) teacher at BTC, Dan Lajeunesse, provided our classes with useful advice about how to conduct an architectural design. He also supplied us with blueprints of the school building, as well as some handy drawing tools. We provided his students with the experience of serving on a “crit” panel. And as a follow-up to our project, the PEG class also took several of the designs, and recreated them on their Computer Aided Design (CAD) system. Their students got some additional design experience. Our students got to see their designs drawn in 3-d on the computer.

Collaborations and Multiple Benefits
In the course of our project, we exposed our students to the PEG class and did a little recruiting for the Barre Tech Center at the same time. Low enrollment at the Tech Center has been a problem, and helping to expose our high school students first hand to the offerings at the Tech Center can only help generate future interest.

These bridges that we helped establish between the two schools are becoming increasingly important as the high school and technical school are beginning a process of merging together to form an integrated campus. As part of this merger, the curriculum will be reorganized around career “clusters.” One of these clusters will be Information Technology (IT), which includes PEG, computer programming, computer networking and graphics design. This year in geometry, we’ve having our students spend one or two days in each of these Tech Center classes to increase their awareness of the learning opportunities available to them. So far, students have responded enthusiastically to these experiences and have had their eyes opened to a whole new world at the BTC. A number of students have indicated they will be signing up for courses in the IT Academy next year.

For our geometry project this year, we’re having our students redesign the entranceway of their choice. We are working even more closely with the PEG class on this project. This year, our students will create their drawings in the PEG classroom using drafting equipment. They will receive assistance with their designs from more experienced PEG students. And those who are interested will have the opportunity to create CAD drawings.

It has been the unexpected benefits from our CSL projects that have personally been the most rewarding: making new connections with teachers outside my department and at the Technical Center, receiving useful suggestions and feedback from experienced colleagues, seeing students discover new talents and interests that wouldn’t have surfaced in a traditional math class. Focusing on a project with a purpose helped to bring about these outcomes.

Yes, CSL projects require extra work—and they certainly add complexity to the curriculum. It can be tricky to stay balanced on the knife-edge between order and chaos, where authentic learning (and teaching) resides. Doing so requires putting aside the neatly packaged teacher’s guides and answer keys and taking some personal risks.

Fortunately, students can also be good teachers. I have certainly learned a lot from mine. And learning alongside my students is sure a lot more interesting than reading answers to them.


Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my fellow geometry teachers, John Pandolfo and Kevin Beard, for their valuable contributions to the planning and execution of the architecture project. I’d also like to thank the following administrators for their continuing support and encouragement: Cindy Donlon, Co-Principal at Spaulding High School); Jeff Mahr, Curriculum Director at the Barre Supervisory Union; and Bev Scofield, CSL Director at Spaulding High School.