DeSmet School teacher Jane Micklus receives $10,000 Grant from Toyota for excellence and innovation in math education

Math is everywhere, said DeSmet School teacher Jane Micklus.

And as she tries to awaken her students to that discovery, a $10,000 grant from Toyota and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics is about to give her efforts a considerable boost.

By JANE RIDER

of the Missoulian

Micklus is one of 35 U.S. teachers to receive a Toyota’s Investment in Mathematics Excellence 2003 grant for excellence and innovation in math education. Her grant proposal, "Am I Ever Going to Use This Math?" will now be applied over the next two years at DeSmet School in Missoula.

"I was stunned," Micklus said. "I wrote it from my heart. My hope is to help the kids see the beauty of mathematics."

The money will be spent on supplies, field trips, teacher training and stipends for guest instructors.

To instill a desire to learn mathematics in her students, Micklus will bring guests into her classroom to share how math works in their professions.

"Students have to be able to take that knowledge and do something with it," she said. "They understand it more when they are doing something meaningful with it."

Micklus teaches sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade math and science. She also is a music teacher and has taught the gifted program. All of DeSmet’s middle school students and many of its elementary kids will participate in the math project.

Each guest will complete a project with students in conjunction with topics being studied in their math class.

A picture framer will work with sixth-graders studying measurement and dimensions. The framer will help kids frame a work of art produced in art class or a photo taken in a photography workshop.

A photographer will demonstrate how math factors into the use of lenses, light meters, exposure, composition.

A music store owner will do an in-store seminar on business practices, including sales, markups, markdowns and accounting.

A local architect will instruct teachers on how to operate a computer-assisted design program in a staff development session. The architect will show kids how math is used in making scale drawings of a room. An interior designer will complete the project, teaching students about quantities and cost, dimension and area, spatial relations, fractions and geometry.

A school-owned vacant lot next to DeSmet’s school grounds will transform into a habitat for wildlife, as well as a place to grow food. Students will work with a local landscape architect to plan the site. They’ll take measurements and quantify and price materials. They’ll learn science principles of plant biology and mineralogy, and gain an appreciation for the savings and pleasure of growing their own organic food, Micklus said.

A dancer and choreographer will work with students to choreograph and perform a piece using dance notation, which is mostly mathematical in relation to position, rhythm and maneuvers. A musician and composer will help other students compose a piece of music for the dance, using music notation.

Micklus, also a jazz pianist, said she is well aware of the significance of math in music.

"I have often used musical notation to teach fractions," said the DeSmet teacher of 14 years. "Music theory is really a specialized math course and I would like to present a workshop on using theory to improvise music, showing why beautiful tones are music to the ears from a mathematical viewpoint."

For each project, Micklus will run a staff development session that will involve parent volunteers, the guest volunteers and the teachers who will be affected by the project. She also will create curriculum so lessons can be repeated.

Besides creating a love for math in her students, Micklus hopes to raise their math scores and possibly influence the professional field they choose to study later in life.

The project’s grand finale will be a bazaar. Students will display their creations and give demonstrations and performances. They’ll invite parents and the community to attend.

Reporter Jane Rider can be reached at 523-5298 or at [email protected]

http://missoulian.com/articles/2003/04/17/news/local/news02.txt