• Math Course Descriptions
  Click on the link above to review course descriptions and prerequisites.
• Math Pathways
  Here's a linked version of the visual chart that shows the possible ways to complete the math sequence at Woodside High School.

The 2010-2011 Woodside High School Mathematics Department. To paraphrase Sir Isacc Newton, "We stand on the shoulders of giants," and therefore recognize the legacy of all our math collegues who have ever taught at Woodside.

From left to right and top to bottom:

Josh Rubin, Binh Nguyen, Cary Hoste, David Shannon, Glenn Carpenter, Michael Moses, Josh Gelb, Eric Ettlin, Harvey Becker

Bich Nga Lam, Noelle Mendoza, Stephanie Finander, Catherine Wachtler, Lucie Barling

Samer Malouf, Abdulhadi Kaddoura, Sarah-Mei Estrada

The best way to contact your student's math teacher is via email. Email is checked more frequently by the teachers and can be accessed remotely from anywhere with an internet connection. The limitations on the voicemail sytem (the phone extensions provided) do not permit us to be as responsive as with email.

Woodside is fortunate this year to have Canada College Instructor, Po Tong, teaching our College Calculus course. Mr. Tong can be reached via email at potong@sbcglobal.net.

Department Chair . . . . . .Glenn Carpenter

• Purple Math (Algebra help)
  This is a great site to help you with any topic encountered in Algebra I or Algebra II!

Here are other tutoring options available if you are having difficulty in your math class:

1. Check with your teacher. Many math teachers are available to help their students before and after school, during lunch and brunch, or during their prep periods. Check your teacher's posted schedule or make an appointment today!
2. Academic Resource Center E-17. If you have a free period during the day, drop into the Academic Resource Center, Room E-17. Often times there is a math teacher on duty to help you.
3. Private tutors. The counseling office maintains a list of private tutors who offer their services for a fee.
4. Peer Tutors. Get help from your fellow students! Your peers often will tutor for a nominal fee or as a community service. Check in the counseling office for a list.
5. AVID/MESA. If you are a member of AVID/MESA, your group can help you first period.

If you feel the need for help, you should come and see your teacher or a tutor ASAP; do not wait until you are overwhelmed! Not much can be done 3 weeks before the end of the semester.

The Five Habits of Successful Math Students

You are responsible for your own learning, not the teacher. Students who are successful in this endeavor demonstrate the following five effective habits:

Habit 1: Get the thinking out in the open. Thinking-an active commitment from the learner-is different from just memorizing. Merely memorizing a rule or procedure by itself is often not helpful when it comes to solving an unfamiliar problem or applying your knowledge.

Habit 2: Monitor personal understanding. The learner's next priority (after habit # 1) is to "make sense" out of mathematical activity. Effective students of math become personal authorities on the mathematics they learn; they realize the onus is on them-they must monitor their own understanding.

Habit 3: Seek understanding when seeking help. Effective student mathematicians realize that when self-monitoring (habit # 2) has failed, they seek understanding through dialogue with others, including peers, teachers, and parents. Often, merely articulating an issue to another leads to comprehension. Look to understand so you can do a similar problem rather than just to get the answer to the current one.

Habit 4: Play the academic game. Playing the academic game means the student puts understanding first, allowing personal meaning to follow. This occurs if the student first focuses on ideas or thoughts; then plays around with the ideas-shaping them, reflecting upon them, making conjectures, refining conjectures, making connections to prior knowledge, and generally trying to understand ideas. Finally, in a process of reflection, a strong student creates personal meaning out of that experience.

• Example: As an illustration, consider the defining characteristics of a bird. Both a novice and sophisticated learner might initially conjecture that flight is the distinguishing feature. The novice learner tests the hypothesis against the example of a hippopotamus and stops the inquiry. The sophisticated learner, on the other hand, searches for the limits of her conjecture and tests it against the examples of bats, bumblebees, penguins, and kiwis. These examples allow the sophisticated learner to refine and reformulate her conjecture.

Habit 5: Set learning goals first, performance goals second. Effective student mathematicians demonstrate a willingness to learn for the sake of learning, as opposed to those who merely learn for the sake of external rewards (grades, for example).

Above is the grading scale used across the board in all math classes.

• Math Dept Retake Policy
  If did everything you were supposed to, including all your homework and quizzes, but you still bombed your math test, you may retake that test and get up to a 70% (C-)! Find out more by clicking the link above.

Do you want to accelerate in your Math sequence at Woodside High School? Do you wish to have the opportunity to take some of our more advanced Math offerings such as AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, or AP Statistics?

Woodside High School is offering Geometry, Algebra II, and Precalculus this summer at no cost to incoming 9th-graders and current WHS students.

Please see the flyer below for details.

Thank you,

Glenn Carpenter

WHS Math Department Chair

• Click here for the Accelerated Math Course Offerings for Summer 2010 at WHS
• Click here for the Accelerated Math Course Application