About J.A.M.

 

Chris Jones (Coyle High School)

Phone: 405-466-2242

E-mail: cjones@coyle.k12.ok.us

From the desk of Christopher Michael Jones:

(Coyle High School Mathematics Teacher - Coyle, OK)

Ten years ago I walked into my own high school classroom for the first time. On that very day, I made it my goal to completely transform the typical high school mathematics classroom into an entirely unique and engaging experience for students. In 2010, the room was full of desks that were arranged in rows and columns like you would expect to see nearly every high school classroom across the country. Those desks were quickly replaced with tables and chairs that encouraged group work and conversation. Outdated old floor tile was covered up with brand new carpet tiles to make the room look more modern, clean and professional. A plain white cinder block wall was painted jet black to give the room a unique edge. And that's just a part of the transformation. Textbooks were permanently stored in the closet and replaced with individualized and personalized instruction. Printed out worksheets became obsolete as students were assigned their own personal tablets that they would use to work all of their class work on.

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In 2015, I began filming and daily classroom lessons that went along with the hand-written notes that I created for each class and posted the videos on YouTube. Today there are more than 100 lessons posted and that number will continue to grow when school starts back up in August. Has it been worth it? Has it made a difference for the students? One exhibit of evidence that the transformation has made a huge difference in student achievement comes from the results of our Algebra II state test that we administered this past month. 46 out of 47 Woodland High School Algebra II students passed the test with 26 scoring "Advanced." Historically the state's Algebra II "End of Instruction" exam is passed by less than 70% of Algebra II students statewide.

This summer I decided to expand the experience that has been created beyond the classroom walls with the Jones Academy of Mathematics. It will be a complete online math experience. Once the website is complete, video lessons and their respective notes will be organized and easily accessible online. The goal will be to offer help with Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II to all parents, teachers, students and administrators across the globe.

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