Founder of The Algebra Project motivates incoming freshmen

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[When featured speaker Bob Moses took the microphone during Eldorado's freshmen orientation, it was apparent he has his own method of reaching students.

Moses, civil rights leader and founder of The Algebra Project, made it clear the eighth-graders were his target audience.

"I'd actually like to talk to the eighth-graders. All eighth-graders pick up your chairs and come sit up here," he said.

They complied, and after a few minutes of banging chairs Moses challenged them.

"We are going to ask you to do math with us every day, double time," he said.

A normal math class at Eldorado High School is 50 minutes. The $500,000 grant from The Algebra Project to the school through Southern Illinois University requires two algebra periods a day.

"You will have 100 minutes a day, every day, for four years," Moses said.

As Moses questioned the pupils, he handed them the microphone and insisted they answer all questions not looking at him, but looking at their classmates. Talking to each other and looking at each other when they talk is an important part of Moses' teaching.

The Algebra Project to him is much more than learning concepts. It is a continuing part of the civil rights movement of the 1960s; giving the tools to the underprivileged to be competitive in the modern world.

In the 1960s he was fighting for the right of illiterate sharecroppers to vote. He was arrested and helped to get the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965.

Today, in a world where careers are increasingly dependent on knowledge of computers and other technology, he sees algebra as a kind of knowledge that can separate the haves from the have-nots.

Moses began teaching algebra to his eighth-grade daughter in Cambridge, Mass., because algebra was not taught at her school. When his daughter became frustrated, she had to spend her day learning the math the school taught, then coming home to learn the algebra her father taught, she complained. In 1982 he began teaching algebra to his daughter in school and to two other students.

But Moses' algebra is not traditional.

Moses seems to regard the ability to solve equations on paper as a byproduct of the students' ability to understand concepts.

He said The Algebra Project's classrooms will need to be renovated, very likely with desks pushed off to the side to make room for walking.

Gregory Budzban, professor of mathematics at SIU, in talking during the orientation about the project, called student volunteers up to literally walk across the cafeteria as he illustrated algebra concepts.

Moses said the incoming freshmen may not be required to take the 100 minutes of algebra a day for the four years, but hopes they will want to for the sake of future job skills.

"We can't make you take all that math, but we can offer it to you and, as Dr. Budzban said, offer it in a way that's interesting to you," Moses said.

During the question and answer period presenters clarified The Algebra Project is for the incoming freshmen and they will be in the program until they graduate. That does not mean other classes will not benefit. The math teachers who will be trained in "The Algebra Project" teach multiple grade levels and expect to be using that training in all of their math classes.

The teachers will undergo training from July 13 to July 24 at DePaul University in Chicago and in future years will take two weeks of training during the summer at SIU.

A father was concerned that children were learning a whole new method of teaching algebra and parents may not know how to help them at home.

"How do we know how to teach our kids?" he asked.

"How willing are you, as parents, to participate in workshops?" Moses asked him.

The Algebra Project is geared not only to youth, but the goal is to benefit the community and get the community excited about learning. Moses asked the father if he would be willing to be a leader in a workshop for parents. The man agreed he would be willing to try.

"I don't want you to feel uncomfortable as parents wondering how do you present this to your sons and daughters," Moses said.

"We will come to your community and provide support."

Superintendent Gary Siebert said next year the school will make days available for workshops for parents with training materials.

Siebert also said he anticipates the board will hire an additional math teacher for next year.

-- DeNeal receives e-mail at bdeneal@yourclearwave.com.