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.
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
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
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
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.
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.
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.