Our Approach
Academically, our goal is to help kids think clearly. Socially, our goal is getting kids to care about kids. The first features of The Math Movement that would appear when zooming in are:
Near-Peer Mentors
High Schoolers Teaching Middle Schoolers
Our paid high school Teaching Assistants are the backbone of our program. TAs create a sense of family, as their job is to be responsible for the safety, learning, and overall happiness of one or two students. When 1/3 of the classroom is composed of near-peer mentors, the deck is stacked towards having awesome lectures.
Learning as a Team
Students Organized into Teams
We approach learning as a team effort, so students are organized into teams. Our summer camp is divided into teams where 10 middle school students are guided through the curriculum by their high school TAs, with on average 1 TA responsible for 2 students. College Instructors monitor students’ progress and work with TAs to create individualized work plans. Teams help create a sense of group identity, allowing students to work together and compete with each other in a constructive way.
Shared Responsibility
Staff Work as One Team
From TAs up, all Math Movement staff members recognize that our camp is what we make of it. Giving TAs responsibility for the well-being of their students tends to change how they interact with each other, senior staff, and even their own studies. Staff work together through TA debriefings and senior staff dialogues.
Our Values
What we want to see
Our Vision
We aim to add to the moments and experiences that make life worth living
We see ourselves as extensions of one another, individual expressions of the same humanity. We see value in the full development of each expression.
We respect our students as we would like to be respected ourselves
We find beauty in sharing and developing our individuality in community
We want our students to be excited to learn and inspired to add their part to life
How we grow
Our Habits
Doing something amazing requires high standards of our behavior and work ethic
We aim to always treat each other as members of the same team
The point is not for our students to do the right thing, but for them to make the right choice.
We are all works in progress, so we are gentle with our students but firm in our standards of behavior
Failure is normal on the path to success
How we grow
Our Habits
Solving problems often requires new ways of thinking
The little things add up
The point is not where we arrive, but how we get there
The world is what we make of it.
Because, again, the world is what we make of it