GEOMETRY STANDARD

2017-2018

This was one of the first courses I was assigned at The Haverford School and I couldn't have picked a better course to get a feel for the Haverford students in general and the math department in particular.  The text was written by our very own Sam Walters and it reflected his voice and teaching philosophies, with which I found I was very much in alignment.  The course covered all the traditional topics in a Standard Level Geo class beginning with the fundamental definitions of points, lines and angles, and ending with in depth analysis of some complex 3D shapes, but what makes the text unique in my opinion is Chapter 4, which deals exclusively with the introductory ideas of formal Logic.  This chapter gives our first year upper school students the structure and vocabulary in which to debate each other by establishing premises, drawing valid inferences and coherently organizing argument, but perhaps even more importantly, it sets the expectations for these young students as to what will be expected of them academically at Haverford in the math department and across the entire school.  The course is appropriately challenging intellectually but excellently scaffolded to provide access to learning for all our students. 

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Additionally, the standardization of the course across class sections inspired my to make my first tangible contribution to THS Math Department in the form of a YouTube Channel in which I work out and narrate the solution to a geometry problem from textbook Khan Academy style per student request.  The Youtube Channel stands for any THS Geometry student to subscribe and benefit from over 50 tutorial videos.