Back to Math Class with Mrs. Miles!
Come on a journey with us to Mrs. Miles theoretical math class and learn how your generosity impacts the lives and the lessons of children and teachers in our community.
We all know Huntsville is a place of innovation and experiment, and that couldn’t be a better description for Leigh Ann Miles’ theoretical math class at Buckhorn High School. When she shops at our free supply store each month, Mrs. Miles is able to gather not only basic supplies, but materials and resources for creative projects to make learning come alive for students. We spent the day with Mrs. Miles to learn about how your support enriches her lessons and expands the type of projects students engage in.
“In this course, we are using the mathematical modeling cycle for everything,” says Mrs. Miles. “For this project, students are designing in three dimensions.”
She worked with an art teacher to think through how students could apply principles from Algebra 2 to a project that would help them learn about one and two point perspective. “We learned how to do oblique and isometric drawings. I was able to use graph and dot paper from Free 2 Teach. They then use their drawings and construct their scale models which is their exam grade.”
“Free 2 Teach was where I went to get all of the cardboard and all of the materials for the projects the kids are working on. We’ve kept a list on the front board and anything they need they can write it down and I can pick it up there,” says, Mrs. Miles.
“That’s one of the biggest hiccups for us teachers: I can’t bring in everything that they would need – I can’t go buy it all. I was able to get all of the materials for this incredible project for free because of you. My students didn’t have to buy it and many wouldn’t have been able to. Our school is just under 30% free and reduced lunch and that is spread out. When you’ve got that many students you want to make sure you get them what they need so they grow and learn, without them having the pressure of oh no can my parents afford to do this.”
Mrs. Miles understands the challenges many parents face: “I grew up with my parents living paycheck to paycheck, and they worked hard for me to have what I needed, but things like a T85 calculator weren’t things I could have bought.”
“Thank you for what you and the donors do for us teachers. For my kids, this was a fun project without the stress. They knew they could just come in, start working, and have fun. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
