>>Today is what date?
>>Class: 10/04/05.
>>Narrator: It begins in the first
five minutes of first period.
>>Teacher: What kind
of a number do I have?
Is it a composite number?
A prime number or a square number?
>>Class: Square.
>>Narrator: It continues
throughout the day.
>>Boy: 3666.
>>Girl: Isn't it one square, though?
>>Narrator: In history class.
>>Neyhart: We're going to measure
the length of Titanic outside.
>>Narrator: Art class.
>>Art teacher: Whatever you
make, has to be cut out...
>>Class: Symmetrical.
>>Symmetrically.
>>Narrator: Computer Lab.
>>Gould: And the next one.
>>Class: Four negative four.
>>Narrator: And it ends in
last period, music class.
>>Music teacher: We're
going to take the math idea
of below zero, and
turn it into music.
>>Narrator: It is part
of most everything
that happens at Fullerton IV.
A K-5 school in Roseburg,
Oregon, it is...
>>Girl: But time would be
only times-ing it by what?
So it can be any number at all.
>>Narrator: The magic of math.
>>Teacher: You are
absolutely correct!
>>Garrison: To me, math
is really not a subject.
It really allows kids to learn
how to reason and problem-solve,
and learn how to effectively
communicate.
>>Music teacher: Now music is sound,
so what would be the
opposite of sound?
Yeah?
>>Girl: Silence?
>>Music teacher: Silence.
How many of you...
>>Music teacher: If they
can't think conceptually,
it opens up not just math.
It opens up thinking.
It makes connections for
them in the real world.
>>Music teacher: Now remember to
put some silence in your pattern.
>>Music teacher: It allows
them to explore music and art.
And so math is really the foundation.
>>Music teacher: Oh, I see some
really wonderful positive/negatives.
Just like those math numbers.
Great!
>>Narrator: With all the
engaging ways to learn here,
it's not surprising most
Fullerton students say...
>>Girl: My favorite subject is math.
>>Girl: Doing math.
>>Girl: Probably math.
>>Girl: Math.
>>Boy: I like math a lot.
>>Boy: Probably soccer.
>>Girl: Probably reading and math.
>>Boy: I just like
to add and subtract.
>>Interviewer: What's your
second favorite subject?
>>Boy: Playing with friends.
>>I like division the most.
>>Girl: Math.
>>Interviewer: What do you
like to do in the classroom?
>>Boy: Probably math.
[laughs]
>>Girl: My favorite
subject is actually math!
>>Interviewer: How come?
>>Girl: I just like it!
>>Rasmussen: Ooh, and we raise a
quiet hand if you notice something.
Give everyone...
>>Narrator: Fullerton's
math curriculum is based
on a continuous review
of best practices.
And delivered by highly trained
teachers, beginning in kindergarten.
>>Rasmussen: Tell me about
green/blue, green/blue, green/blue.
>>Boy: It's a pattern.
>>Rasmussen: It's a pattern.
>>Rasmussen: The kids will look
for me, oftentimes for the answer.
And I can give them the
correct answer every time.
But what I want them to do is to
talk their way through the problem.
>>Whisper to your neighbor
what you notice about his.
>>Rasmussen: We use a word at
our school called "discourse."
And it's the ability for kids
to communicate back and forth
between each other, so that
they can start to understand
that problem, or communicate
it to me.
>>Rasmussen: Do you think
it's still a pattern?
>>Girl: No, if you just took
this part off, and put the green
in the middle and then the blue
on the top, it would be a pattern.
>>Rasmussen: This would be a pattern.
>>Narrator: Since the new math
curriculum was instituted in 2000,
math test scores have soared.
Now 98 percent of third
grade students score
at or above grade level.
This, despite the fact that
the number of students on free
and reduced lunch has also
climbed to 60 percent.
>>Garrison: When you look at children
who have personal life struggles,
too often adults make excuses and
minimize their ability to learn.
And one of the things that
I said to the staff is,
"Socio-economics does not
put a cap on achievement."
>>Gould: So there's about
how many possibilities?
>>Boy: One Hundred.
>>Gould: One hundred.
Very good.
Excellent.
>>Narrator: To further
support math instruction,
the district provides
a part-time math coach
in Master Teacher, Mike Gould.
>>Gould: We've come
to the realization
that everybody can learn mathematics.
And it's not a question
of capacity anymore.
It's a question of
how do you deliver it
and how do you allow
people to think about it?
>>You got to hone in on
those thinking skills.
>>I think a perfect example
is four-and-a-half divided
by one-and-a-half.
What's the first thing
that comes into your mind?
>>Interviewer: I have no clue.
>>Gould: Yep, that's
the typical answer.
Where if you were to hear a story,
"If I have four-and-a-half dollars
and I'm going to give a
dollar-fifty to each of my friends,
how many friends do I have?"
Well, it's an obvious answer, three.
Rather than, "Oh, I can't do this.
I never did understand how to
flip and invert and multiply
and all those other weird things.
So it's making the
mathematics come alive.
>>Class: Three negative four.
>>Gould: Everybody has
an avenue to learn.
We just have to find
that right avenue.
>>Narrator: Everybody
includes the students
in Steph Neyhart's
Alternative Learning Center.
>>Neyhart: The program is for kids
who have emotional, behavioral,
maybe social disorders that get
in the way of their learning
in a regular classroom setting.
>>Neyhart: You know,
walk up there and stand
where you think 100 feet is.
>>Neyhart: And the goal is
to help these kids to learn
and to be passionate and
excited about learning.
>>Neyhart: Well, that's what we're
learning here is how to estimate,
because it's really hard to estimate.
>>Narrator: With help from
some of their friends...
>>Teacher's assistant:
Think that's 100 feet?
>>Narrator: ...Mrs.
Neyhart's charges set out
to measure off the Titanic.
All 882-and-a-half feet of
it in their own backyard.
>>Neyhart: We began by researching
it and gathering books and looking
at pictures and doing
some internet studies.
And our goal initially
was to write about it.
But in that process, we
came up with all this math!
>>Neyhart: Hey you
guys were really close!
Your estimates have
gotten a lot closer.
Go ahead and mark that.
>>Neyhart: We discovered that the
Titanic was 882-and-a-half feet long.
And we realized we had
no idea what that was.
>>Neyhart: We're at 800.
So we kind of got to shift
gears here, don't we?
>>Neyhart: When you do a project
like this, I'm always impressed
with the long-term effects of the
learning, and how it incorporates
so many different kinds
of math into it.
>>Neyhart: One, two, three, sixty.
One, two, three, seventy.
>>Neyhart: These are also
hands-on learners, most of them.
And they prefer to be able to be
doing things when they're learning.
And so it gets them
very excited about it.
>>Neyhart: Let's look and see.
Are there any cars?
>>Neyhart: They love math.
>>Neyhart: See that
white square down there?
Can you imagine a ship
that is that long?
How can a ship that big float?
Maybe that's our next investigation.
>>Gould: What we're going to do today
is I'm going to give you a problem.
>>Narrator: Teachers are
excited about math here, too.
>>Gould: And so the
problem is 133 subtract 87.
You have to do it at least
three different ways.
>>Narrator: Ongoing workshops
like this one bring teachers
of all grade levels
together to hone their craft.
>>Teacher: And I knew if I put the 80
with the 100, it was an automatic 20,
it was an easy number
for me to work with.
And then that left me with
the seven that I didn't use.
If I put it there, it was confusing.
So I put it with the 30.
>>Gould: As adults, we were taught
that we didn't have to justify why.
We just had to get the right answer.
And quite often we didn't-- you
know, I'm speaking for myself--
I didn't know how to
get the right answer.
It just showed up.
>>Teacher: So I'm breaking
it apart into place values,
as well as using common
numbers that I understood.
>>Rasmussen: Our school
district did a phenomenal job
of adopting a curriculum that allows
children to communicate about math.
And then they trained us.
And they trained us really well.
>>Teacher: Get each one to 100,
and then add those two numbers...
Oh! [laughs] And you
wanted to know...
>>Gould: Benchmarks.
>>Rasmussen: Everyone
is on the same page.
Everyone's really working
together really well.
And I think that's what it takes.
>>You need to think like your kids,
because they will come up with
that wacky idea, and darn
it, it's going to work!
>>Gould: Yeah, absolutely.
>>Narrator: In addition to wacky
solutions to math problems,
Fullerton students came
up with a unique solution
to a problem many schools face.
>>Garrison: Our custodians work hard,
but we've been cut in
all areas of support.
And so I said, "What
do you want to do?"
And they said, "We could
go and clean classrooms."
And so they now know how to
clean blinds the right way.
And clean countertops
and clean desks.
And I mean, they have it down.
And they make a huge contribution.
>>Narrator: Nearly half
of the students here spend their
midday recess cleaning desks,
scrubbing floors, and raking leaves
in exchange for small treats,
and a chance to have
lunch with the principal.
>>Garrison: You have
children who have never had
to follow directions
and do a careful job.
They've never had to listen to
another student and actually follow
that student's direction.
And so they're getting a sense
of what a work ethic really looks
like on a day-to-day
basis in a bigger arena.
>>Narrator: Whether the problems are
big or small, the common denominator
for success at Fullerton
seems to be "math."
>>Girl: My number is even.
So you could just cross
off all the odd rows.
>>Garrison: To listen to
children actually say,
"This is what I was thinking
when I solved this problem.
And here's why I thought that, and
for them to learn how to listen
to each other, it goes beyond math."
>>Rasmussen: You can
solve small problems,
still have time left to play.
>>Garrison: It really allows
them to be great problem solvers.
And my personal belief is if
you can problem-solve in life,
you can do anything you want.
>>Kids: Yeah!
>>For more information on what works
in public education
go to edutopia.org
