This
article is taken from our February 2006 newsletter. To subscribe
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|
Making
It All Add Up for Shoestring Youth
|
When
Joe Handy talks about the importance of math to the
development of young people, his eyes light up like
a computer screen.
“It’s
absolutely crucial for young kids to begin learning
about the concepts of higher math,” says Handy, one
of Operation Shoestring’s senior instructors and a
former teacher in the Jackson Public School system.
“It’s one of the keys to future success.”
|
Shoestring student Marlisha Johnson has fun playing
Laffy Taffy as part of the Algebra Project program
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|
With
this truism in mind, Operation Shoestring has partnered with the
Algebra Project, an innovative math literacy program founded by
civil rights pioneer Bob Moses. Moses, who was the field director
of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the
director of SNCC's Mississippi Project during the turbulent 1960s,
continued his work on behalf of the disenfranchised by founding
the Algebra Project during the 1980s.
The
Algebra Project targets minority schools and communities where
math education needs improvement, utilizing bright high school
students as tutors for younger children. Based at Lanier High
School, where Moses teaches algebra and geometry, the Project
focuses on college preparatory math education.
Students
at Operation Shoestring work together with Lanier High School
students, who coach the younger kids in competitive math games
and memorization drills that introduce concepts like prime numbers
and variables. The games emphasize teamwork and interdependence
as well as basic math skills.
"Kids
need reinforcement of the skills that are supposed to be taught
in school, and the Algebra Project helps provide that," says Handy.
"It's a good age [4th and 5th grade] for kids to start learning
and becoming comfortable with these concepts."
One
Shoestring student who'll vouch for the program is young Marlisha
Johnson, a fourth grader attending Galloway Elementary School,
whose two older sisters have both worked as teachers in the Algebra
Project.
"It's
fun," says Marlisha. "We learn new stuff like prime numbers. We
play a game called Prime Out, and another one called Laffy Taffy.
We played last time against the fifth graders, and we beat them!"
The
prize? "We each got a Laffy Taffy!" says Marlisha.
For
more about the Algebra Project, go to their website at www.algebra.org.
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