The Joy of Being a Student Again...Rutgers University PreCalc Conference

This past Friday five members of the Frisch math department drove down to Piccataway bright and early to attend the Rutgers University 28th Annual Precalculus Conference.  It was a fabulous professional development opportunity for Mr. Herb Grossman, Mrs. Shira Teichman, Mrs. Elissa Katz, Mrs. Chanie Schlessinger, and Mrs. Sabrina Bernath, department chair.  The teachers specifically went to different sessions ranging from ways to teach probability, introduction to the latest iPad apps, to a discussion on the diagonals of Pascal's triangle with the goal of sharing what each individual teacher learned in our coming weekly meetings.

Frisch Math Teachers at the Rutgers Univeristy Precalc Conference

All agreed the high point of the day was the plenary session given by the brilliant and extremely entertaining professor and author Dr. William Dunham, Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University.  It was pure joy for the teachers to once again be students themselves.  It was an honor to be taught and entertained by a living mathematical legend on the proofs of Hero's Formula of the area of a triangle.  By Sunday a few of the teachers had already been in contact for ideas and resources with people they met at the conference.  Some of what they learned will benefit Frisch students as early as this coming week.

How is Geometry applicable to a Jew's Life?

“Many of you have asked us, and probably more of you simply wonder to yourselves, “How is Geometry applicable to ‘real-life’?” While we cannot necessarily answer how it will be useful in YOUR life, we can show you how Geometry was extremely relevant to people hundreds of years ago.”

The Geometry behind Eruvin.

With these words, Mrs. Elissa Katz, a second-year math teacher at and graduate of The Frisch School, introduced “The Circle of Life”, an Integration Presentation of Gemarah and Geometry last week. The idea originated as Mrs. Katz was teaching her 9th grade Geometry students a unit exploring how trigonometric functions (remember “SOH-CAH-TOA”?) related to area of circles and squares. She recalled studying a Talmudic text that discussed a scenario in which sailors had to calculate their ship’s distance from shore to determine whether or not they could continue in their journey, as the Sabbath was fast approaching and it is forbidden by Torah law to travel outside certain parameters of a civilized city on the Sabbath. With the help of Rabbi Gedaliah Jaffe, a Talmud teacher at Frisch, and Mrs. Shira Teichman, another second-year teacher who teaches the parallel Geometry class, the three teachers created a lesson surrounding the said text as well as several other texts that incorporate Geometry into discussions surrounding rabbinical explications to derive practical laws.

Rabbi Jaffe explaining the mathematics behind determining an Eruv.

Last week, around fifty Geometry students assembled in an assembly hall at Frisch and were provided with a packet of the Talmudic texts and a Guided Worksheet that asked mathematical questions relating to the ideas of the lesson. The students were intrigued by the natural synthesis of mathematical ideas and Torah law and were excited to apply their knowledge to everyday encounters. Read some of their reflections below!

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“Today … I was able to use the tools I have learned in math class and relate it to real-life situations. It changed my perspective about the amazing world around us. It taught me how to [connect knowledge] that wouldn't necessarily seem to have any significant connection. It was a wonderful experience."
- Sara Knoll

“The program finally answered the question so many students ask themselves: ‘When am I ever going to use Geometry after high school?’ Rabbi Jaffe shared cases in the Gemara regarding T’chum Shabbos where many of the skills we have learned this year are used in the process of putting up an eiruv, and to show how far one may travel outside an eiruv on Shabbos. The program was not only educational, but very interesting as well, and I hope to have many more like this during my upcoming years here at Frisch.”

- Adam Auerbach

"Geometry is useless!!" Those are the typical words of any high school student who is learning Geometry in math class. This week …we had the opportunity to take [our] understanding of Geometry and bring it to a whole new level …with Rabbi Jaffe, a Gemara teacher who integrated Geometry and Gemara into one lesson. As a group we learnt many different cases that that require us to use Geometry. As a freshman class, we can certainly say "We learned something out of the ordinary today!"

- Aliza Pavel

ShowMe the Math

I was absent from school today, chaperoning students on the Yeshiva University National Model UN, and, as such, could not check or review my math students' completed homework. I therefore emailed the students a small assignment: they were to produce and send me the solution for one of the two hardest problems from our most recent homework as a narrated, step-by-step solution using the ShowMe app on their iPads. I listed a few guidelines (duration of the video, that it was due in my inbox at 10PM, that they needed to show the "check", etc.) and then watched as the videos trickled in. The results were rather amazing.

• Preparation for Video: It was very evident how little or how much time a student spent prior to the final recording. A number of students erred slightly as they solved the problem, and immediately corrected and erased the error, but others had a perfect run-through. In response to the email in which I gave comments and the score (100%) for her video, a student wrote to me "I really liked this, although I had to record it many times!" [Still others prepared well, but struggled with the technical aspect (their iPad wasn't at home, they didn't check their email to see the assignment, the sound did not record, etc.) and how students dealt with these issues was eye-opening, as well.]

• Student Voice: Students who normally tend to shy away from voluntarily producing their solutions on the board or even asking clarifying questions had a voice that exemplified a confident, poised mathematical thinker. When the clock wasn't ticking a 40-minute countdown, when the pressure of peer approval/disapproval was not a factor, when they had practiced and checked the problem and were simply reciting what they knew was correct, these students had a voice that was clear and strong.

• Mathematical Language: The purpose of me asking them to produce a ShowMe rather than send me a picture of their worked-out solution was so that I could hear them narrate through the process. "Math is not a spectator sport", yet it is a subject that is taught best by example. This exercise had the student do the showing, and I was able to see not only their mastery of the concept (all solved the problem correctly) but also their command of the mathematical language. Some said they were "doing this" while others specified that they were "multiplying the binomials". Some students said that they will "bring it down to the next step" while others said they were "simplifying". Descriptions like "substituting" instead of "plugging in" showed that students had caught on to the language with which I converse with them, and were able to speak with it, too.

I find that Algebra I is a fast-paced curriculum. That, combined with time constraints, class size, and other factors, can sometimes rob teachers of the opportunity to pause and listen to their students. Analyzing their errors that they have made on the test is helpful only to a certain extent, especially for score-minded students who know that test grades do not change even if they can detect their errors ex post facto. Asking my students to produce a ShowMe was a way of telling them, "I trust you; I want to listen to you; and I care to know how you are doing what you're doing." To hand the talking stick to a student, give her your undivided attention for just 2.5 minutes, and analyze her proficiency in a concept while she is trying to master it is empowering and eye-opening. I anticipate that this act of narrating a problem and emphasizing the "check" will further encourage my students to find their true "math voice", even when I don't ask that they ShowMe.

By Mrs. Shira Teichman, Math Teacher

Round Two of the Ulpaniada

This was an important morning for four of Frisch's brightest female math students. Abigail Katcoff '14, Jamie Lebovics '14,  Ronit Langer '15 and Rivka Zimm '17 took the second test in the three part Ulpaniada Math Contest run by Jerusalem College.  This round's exam consisted of two parts: twelve multiple choice questions and two open ended questions that required detailed proofs. Today's questions lived up to the exam's reputation of being extremely challenging and having little in common with any high school math test these students have taken before.  With these unique questions requiring creativity and the ability to abstract on a whole new level, it was an intense three hours as the pictures below show. These young women were up to the challenge and stayed incredibly focused for the entire duration of the test.

Rivka Zimm '17

Ronit Langer '15

We are hopeful that at least one of these bright math super stars will make it to the final round in Jerusalem. Regardless of the outcome of this morning test though, Frisch is proud of these four young woman. Even qualifying for the second round in such a rigorous and demanding competition is a huge accomplishment in and of itself. Go Cougars!

The snow is gone and the results are finally in!!!!

 The snow is gone and the results are finally in!!!!!

In the first round of the Ulpaniada math competition run by Jerusalem College, about 140 educational institutions participated from Israel and abroad. Literally thousands of students rose to the challenge and competed and the math department at Frisch could not be prouder to announce that  Rivka Zimm, Ronit Langer, Abigail Katcoff, and Jamie Lebovics have all advanced to the next round. 

The second round will be held at Frisch shortly after winter vacation.  We look forward to sharing more good news as hopefully one or more of these bright young woman advance to the third and final round.

Mazel Tov You Calculating Cougars!!!!!!  

Round One of the 5774 International Ulpaniada Mathematics Contests

Round One of the 5774 International Ulpaniada Mathematics Contest

It is an exciting morning here at Frisch for the math department. Seven of our brightest female math students are currently taking round one of the Ulpaniada along with 8000 other young orthodox woman from around the world.

The Ulpaniada is a three round math contest run out of Michlalah-Jerusalem College.  Held every two years, the Ulpaniada's test questions are very different from those found on the SAT or any other math contest currently held in the US. It is a rigorous exam combining math and logic and Torah.  These Frisch students have to be creative and insight to even attempt to answer these 14 multiple choice nonstandard questions. Two questions in today's round one even require understanding the Hebrew calendar and numerical value of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet to be answered.  It is not everyday do these students see Hebrew in the middle of a math test!

With two past Frisch students qualifying for the final round held in Israel, we are optimistic that our current group of bright young Cougars have a fabulous chance of repeating history.

Calling all Female Math Students!!!!!!

It's time again for the Ulpaniadia and these are exciting times!

The Ulpaniadia is an amazing female only problem solving math contest run by Michlalah Jerusalem College.  Offered only every other year , the Ulpaniadia tests young orthodox women worldwide with challenging questions related to math and logic.

The math department at Frisch is looking for history to repeat itself. In March of 2012 Frisch students Aliza Hochsztein and Yael Fishel made it to the final round.  

To put this incredible accomplishment into perspective....Out of approximately 2000 girls worldwide, only 80 made it to the final round....that's the top 4%!!!  Since the final round was the same day as graduation, only Aliza traveled on to Israel for a four day trip of touring courtesy of Jerusalem College.  Then to top it all off, Aliza did so well in the final round that she made it into the top ten !!!!

The math department at Frisch is excited and optimistic that we will once again have some Cougars making some math waves ( maybe even sine or cosine waves) once again.

To learn more about the Ulpaniada:

 http://tinyurl.com/girlsmathcontest