Parent’s Guide

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“Math For Life”

Parent’s/Guardian’s Guide

Dear Parents/Guardians,

This Curriculum Web is specifically designed to support work done in Advanced
Functions and Modeling offered in North Carolina. The individual projects/lessons
are sequenced, but may be used separately. The projects can also be used
to support any class dealing with probability, statistics, non-linear functions,
and sequences and series. Each lesson has its own form of assessment that
can be used as is or as a guide for creating further assessment.

Activities range in form from being self-discovery to be used before a
classroom lesson to being enrichment and extending for post-instruction
use. Writing assignments are also included to support writing across the
curriculum, research study, and mathematics appreciation.

Many of the resources linked from this site are not maintained
by Door-A Designs. The owner and content contributors cannot monitor all
linked resources, only those pages which fall directly within Door-A Designs’
WWW structure. Door-A Designs is in no way responsible for the content of
these linked resources and the statements, views, and opinions expressed
therein are neither endorsed by nor do they necessarily reflect the opinion
of the owner or contributors. Use of the Internet carries with it a responsibility
to evaluate the quality of the information provided.

In this guide, we hope to help answer the following questions:

What is expected?

Each activity is written so that it can be completed independently by students
outside of class. Ample direction and sometimes examples are given for each
activity so that students should be able to complete the activity with very
little instruction. The teacher may choose to do the activities in class,
which would require them to read the directions and examples and use or
adjust the activities as necessary for their needs. These adjustments could
require the use of materials, so please make sure to read and decide carefully.
Many of the activities are purposefully made to be flexible so that a teacher
can manipulate them to fit their time schedule, student grouping, and teaching
style.

Your student’s teacher may be using the activity as given. If not, your
student should already have the changes. The same should be said for the
due date, what is to be turned, how it will be graded, and what the grading
scale is. If your student doesn’t have this information, make sure s/he
comes home with the information the next day. This is usually a sign of
a student who is not paying full attention in class.

If your student doesn’t return with the information, it’s probably time
to get a little nosey and ask the teacher if they can provide the information
for you. For figuring out how to contact your student’s teacher, please
read the next section on contacting your student’s teacher.

How do we get help?

If it’s almost midnight and your student has come to you saying the assignment
is due tomorrow, your options are a little limited. If it’s an activity
from this site, read the activity and ask if there are any changes. From
there, look at what your student has attempted already, then use what you
found from the assignment to help get them started. Whatever you do, do
NOT do the assignment for them, just guide them.

If it’s not an activity from the site, jump over to the Supplemental
Information section. Part of what you will find in here is links to
other sites about math. The web sites’ subjects range from very basic to
upper level mathematics.

If you have a little more time on your hands, start by finding out if the
school or teacher offers tutoring. It is common for one or both of these
options to be available before school, after school, or even on Saturdays.

If you are unable to take advantage of these free tutoring opportunities,
it’s time to look toward private or small group tutoring. Private tutoring
is often found by referral from a teacher, another student, friends, family,
or even the classifieds. Tutoring services are also available from some
companies and you can find out if there are any in your area by looking
under "Tutoring" in the yellow pages. Keep in mind that these
options are not free and often you get what you pay for.

How do I contact my student’s teacher?

Before contacting the teacher, please remember that while you want assistance
with your student, the teacher has anywhere from 90 to 180 students at once.
Be patient, they will get back to you as quickly as they can. That being
said, there are a few ways to contact teachers nowadays. One way is e-mail.
Usually a teacher provides their e-mail address in your students syllabus
for the class, if you don’t have that, you can find the e-mail address on
the school or school system web site. If you want to use a more traditional
method, you can still call and leave a message or to make an appointment
for a conference. PLEASE do NOT drop in unannounced on your student’s teachers.
Rest assured that your teacher will be glad to help, but imagine that someone
showed up unannounced expecting a full report immediately from you.

Another important thing to remember is that if you need to see a teacher,
you will probably need to take some time off work to meet with the teacher.
You should also be ready to hear some things which might seem surprising.
It is especially common, even for good students, to change a bit of information
between school and home if they think it will get them in trouble and you
won’t find out.

What can I do to help my child succeed
in math?

There are a few things to do to help your child in mathematics. First and
foremost whether you like math or not, you need to have a positive attitude.
Your attitude is highly contagious even to a rebellious teenager. One little
comment from their parent(s) about math being hard or not needing math gives
a student an excuse to not try or do well in their math classes. Second,
stay involved. Make sure you know when your child does and doesn’t have
homework. If your student is often coming home and saying they do not have
homework or they got it done at school, it is probably not the truth. Most
math teachers assign homework on a regular basis, so check with your student’s
teacher. Practice is the key to success in math.

Avoid arguing with your student about how to do their math work. It is common
for a high school student to have problems working with their parent or
guardian on math homework, even if you are capable of doing and explaining
the work. Point them to one of the web sites in the Supplemental Information
area or find another site that is useful. If this scenario is the norm for
you, it might be time to consider a private tutor or a way for your student
to take advantage of free tutoring opportunities.

Finally, encourage your student to engage in activities that require thought.
Some options are reading, different types of puzzles, or even complex video
games. A mind that is accustom to having to think things out is more likely
to be successful in mathematics than one that is accustom to having even
the simplest things handed to them without thought or work.

Security/Safety issues

Students do not submit any homework to this site or through this site.
All assignments are handed in to their mathematics instructor at the assigned
time via the means their instructor has set forth. This site is established
as an instructional/informational site, and any electronic communication
that may occur is the sole responsibility of the mathematics instructor.
If any homework is submitted electronically, it is done so at the instructor’s
request and this site is in no way responsible for any electronic communications
between the student and instructor.

The owner of this site and creators of this site are not responsible for
the content of the links located on this site. When they were chosen for
this curriculum web they were deemed appropriate. For more information regarding
this issue, please see this site’s disclaimer.