Blair Functions

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[Post New]02/03/2020 14:55
quote
Anonymous
To the OP:

1. I thought all Blair Magnet students were invited to attend the summer Functions camp. If somehow that changed or you did not get an invitation, I would contact the magnet office. It may be in small print on some document.

2. Functions is literally the first class which was genuinely hard and clearly designed for students gifted in a particular area, in this case competition mathematics. Competition mathematics is not all math, it's just a subtype of math achievement. It's not theoretical math, it's not proofs, it's not engineering. It's just this one aspect of mathematics that some people are really good at. Like you, I was conditioned by years and years in school that the biggest issue was the barrier of getting in. In this rare case, it's actually handling the work that is the limiting reagent. The reason the class is hard is twofold: lectures move very fast through complex concepts, and exams expect you to solve problems that have never been introduced in class. Students actually have to produce original work in a timed exam. For those of you with math background, this is a baby Putnam-type class taught at a High School level with a 90% grade expectation to get an A.

3. All the replies here are not meant to discourage your child. By all means, take the functions summer camp and then the class itself if invited. Prepare your child that 1/3 of the kids transfer to precalc, and judging by the replies here probably closer to 1/2 should transfer. Consider your child's and your family's goals out of Blair, your tolerance for not getting straight A's, etc. Then you will rationally know what to do.
[Post New]02/03/2020 17:14
quote
pettifogger
Member Offline
Anonymous wrote:To the OP:

1. I thought all Blair Magnet students were invited to attend the summer Functions camp. If somehow that changed or you did not get an invitation, I would contact the magnet office. It may be in small print on some document.

2. Functions is literally the first class which was genuinely hard and clearly designed for students gifted in a particular area, in this case competition mathematics. Competition mathematics is not all math, it's just a subtype of math achievement. It's not theoretical math, it's not proofs, it's not engineering. It's just this one aspect of mathematics that some people are really good at. Like you, I was conditioned by years and years in school that the biggest issue was the barrier of getting in. In this rare case, it's actually handling the work that is the limiting reagent. The reason the class is hard is twofold: lectures move very fast through complex concepts, and exams expect you to solve problems that have never been introduced in class. Students actually have to produce original work in a timed exam. For those of you with math background, this is a baby Putnam-type class taught at a High School level with a 90% grade expectation to get an A.

3. All the replies here are not meant to discourage your child. By all means, take the functions summer camp and then the class itself if invited. Prepare your child that 1/3 of the kids transfer to precalc, and judging by the replies here probably closer to 1/2 should transfer. Consider your child's and your family's goals out of Blair, your tolerance for not getting straight A's, etc. Then you will rationally know what to do.


Do you have specific evidence for the claim that the class and/or curriculum is about math contests, and/or like a "baby Putnam" ? I'm curious because I'm pretty sure all the math contest training is being done on their math team..
[Post New]02/03/2020 17:35
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Anonymous
Every magnet invited to Math Camp. It’s not ‘functions’ camp.
[Post New]02/03/2020 17:38
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Anonymous
Literally 1/3 of the kids drop Functions.
[Post New]02/03/2020 18:28
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Anonymous
Do you have specific evidence for the claim that the class and/or curriculum is about math contests, and/or like a "baby Putnam" ? I'm curious because I'm pretty sure all the math contest training is being done on their math team.


The curriculum is public.

On the exams, simply following the material presented in class and doing the homework does not prepare the students to solve all the problems unless they have that extra insight, followed by lightning fast and very accurate complex algebraic expression manipulation. So the students need to continuously demonstrate both skill sets, analytical and numerical.

[Post New]02/03/2020 19:08
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Anonymous
In case anyone is wondering for Poolesville... For this school year (2019-20) there was a summer class and they did some testing there that was just for practice. The kids were evaluated a few weeks into the actual school year and schedules adjusted accordingly. Seems like maybe 1/3rd of SMACs kids in functions along with kids in other programs.
[Post New]02/03/2020 19:16
quote
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:To the OP:

1. I thought all Blair Magnet students were invited to attend the summer Functions camp. If somehow that changed or you did not get an invitation, I would contact the magnet office. It may be in small print on some document.

2. Functions is literally the first class which was genuinely hard and clearly designed for students gifted in a particular area, in this case competition mathematics. Competition mathematics is not all math, it's just a subtype of math achievement. It's not theoretical math, it's not proofs, it's not engineering. It's just this one aspect of mathematics that some people are really good at. Like you, I was conditioned by years and years in school that the biggest issue was the barrier of getting in. In this rare case, it's actually handling the work that is the limiting reagent. The reason the class is hard is twofold: lectures move very fast through complex concepts, and exams expect you to solve problems that have never been introduced in class. Students actually have to produce original work in a timed exam. For those of you with math background, this is a baby Putnam-type class taught at a High School level with a 90% grade expectation to get an A.

3. All the replies here are not meant to discourage your child. By all means, take the functions summer camp and then the class itself if invited. Prepare your child that 1/3 of the kids transfer to precalc, and judging by the replies here probably closer to 1/2 should transfer. Consider your child's and your family's goals out of Blair, your tolerance for not getting straight A's, etc. Then you will rationally know what to do.


I think point 2 is very misleading, to put it mildly. According to the functions teacher, the content covered in two semesters of this course is exactly the same as the content covered in three semesters of Magnet precalculus; and students will have less time in tests and quizzes compared to precalculus students. But students in magnet precalculus will not miss any content covered in functions. DC knows students not good in "competition math" - as you call it - but doing well in functions, as well as students that are good in "competition math" that are in magnet precalculus.

Competition math involves, in addition to other material, advanced concepts in number theory/combinatorics/geometry that are not covered in high school *core* math courses, even in the magnet; that includes functions.
[Post New]02/03/2020 20:22
quote
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:To the OP:

1. I thought all Blair Magnet students were invited to attend the summer Functions camp. If somehow that changed or you did not get an invitation, I would contact the magnet office. It may be in small print on some document.

2. Functions is literally the first class which was genuinely hard and clearly designed for students gifted in a particular area, in this case competition mathematics. Competition mathematics is not all math, it's just a subtype of math achievement. It's not theoretical math, it's not proofs, it's not engineering. It's just this one aspect of mathematics that some people are really good at. Like you, I was conditioned by years and years in school that the biggest issue was the barrier of getting in. In this rare case, it's actually handling the work that is the limiting reagent. The reason the class is hard is twofold: lectures move very fast through complex concepts, and exams expect you to solve problems that have never been introduced in class. Students actually have to produce original work in a timed exam. For those of you with math background, this is a baby Putnam-type class taught at a High School level with a 90% grade expectation to get an A.

3. All the replies here are not meant to discourage your child. By all means, take the functions summer camp and then the class itself if invited. Prepare your child that 1/3 of the kids transfer to precalc, and judging by the replies here probably closer to 1/2 should transfer. Consider your child's and your family's goals out of Blair, your tolerance for not getting straight A's, etc. Then you will rationally know what to do.


There are so many inaccuracies here. You really don't know what you are talking about. Firstly, the math camp is not a "functions" camp, it is for everyone to lay a little groundwork. You will probably get that info later in Spring.

Secondly, Functions is NOT about competition math. It is about going broad and deep in a limited amount of time. Like joining a math thinktank or something.

Thirdly. I'd agree that no one wants to discourage your kid. But, again, the camp is NOT a functions camp. it's for everyone. Re: transfer to pre calc, maybe a quarter tops transferred out my kid's year. I would agree about considering goals and time commitments. It will take a big chunk of time. BTW, the kids make a google chat room and bring questions to each other when they get stuck. That helps.

Signed,
Functions mom
[Post New]02/04/2020 10:15
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Anonymous
I would agree that going into functions is for real math lovers and if that is mainly what you like to do. If you like other areas, sciences, research, and such, and need time to excel in those as well. Functions track may not be the wisest choice. This is also because it is not just the first year of Functions that is challenging. It continues to be so every year as they have the same teacher.
[Post New]02/04/2020 14:32
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Anonymous
If your DC is from tpms magnet but not recommended for Function, please don't push for it. It is not worth the struggle. Ms. M knows your child for three years so she has a good idea if your child fits the Function class or not.
Signed

Function mom of two
[Post New]02/04/2020 17:26
quote
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:If your DC is from tpms magnet but not recommended for Function, please don't push for it. It is not worth the struggle. Ms. M knows your child for three years so she has a good idea if your child fits the Function class or not.
Signed

Function mom of two


Ms. M only teaches at 8th grade, she would not a student for three years unless the student has been in mathcounts for three years
[Post New]02/04/2020 19:11
quote
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If your DC is from tpms magnet but not recommended for Function, please don't push for it. It is not worth the struggle. Ms. M knows your child for three years so she has a good idea if your child fits the Function class or not.
Signed

Function mom of two


Ms. M only teaches at 8th grade, she would not a student for three years unless the student has been in mathcounts for three years

hate self-righteous parents like that.
[Post New]02/04/2020 20:06
quote
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If your DC is from tpms magnet but not recommended for Function, please don't push for it. It is not worth the struggle. Ms. M knows your child for three years so she has a good idea if your child fits the Function class or not.
Signed

Function mom of two


Ms. M only teaches at 8th grade, she would not a student for three years unless the student has been in mathcounts for three years


Ms. M leads all the math teams in tpms. The math teams including students from 6th- 8th grade. Shortly after school begins, kids who love math will stay in school after bell to work on math sheet for a few weeks. The cut off scores for each grade are different with the lowest score for 6th graders. Most of the kids who end up in Function class from tpms are part of the mathteam. Very few kids are in mathcount team but a lots of kids are in other math team.
[Post New]02/04/2020 20:22
quote
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If your DC is from tpms magnet but not recommended for Function, please don't push for it. It is not worth the struggle. Ms. M knows your child for three years so she has a good idea if your child fits the Function class or not.
Signed

Function mom of two


Ms. M only teaches at 8th grade, she would not a student for three years unless the student has been in mathcounts for three years


Ms. M leads all the math teams in tpms. The math teams including students from 6th- 8th grade. Shortly after school begins, kids who love math will stay in school after bell to work on math sheet for a few weeks. The cut off scores for each grade are different with the lowest score for 6th graders. Most of the kids who end up in Function class from tpms are part of the mathteam. Very few kids are in mathcount team but a lots of kids are in other math team.


Only two mathcounts teams

Junior varsity team and varsity team. 8th graders can only join varsity team which is a little more advanced. Ms M certainly does not know each of the magnets until 8th grade, yes some very advanced math kids at 6th or 7th grades join varsity team.

Again, Ms M may know all the mathcounts team members -- that is less than 1/3 of the whole magnets


[Post New]02/04/2020 20:29
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Anonymous
I would like also add even though Ms M may only know a magnet for one year at 8th grade, that is enough for her to know if the student is ready to take functions/pre-cal etc. Normally, Ms M would recommend TPMS magnets to take pre-cal instead Algebra II if they don't go to Blair (like going back to home schools or private schools)

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