Synthesis

//**Synthesis of Contextual Information Regarding our Students**//
One alignment that we saw in our experiences is that students bored with the fact that the teacher taught primarily with methods of drill and practice. The students were not motivated to do math and often related on many occasions that they dont like math. We both sensed that the students were willing to try new approaches such as group work and manipulative activities. Additionally, the students were lacking the necessary mathematical rigor to approach math in a meaningful way. It is this aptitude that we felt was particularly depressing. Below are some pictures that humorously represents the students dispositions, which we discussed during our meeting.
 * Cynthia, Deborah & Jackson's Synthesis of Mathematical Dispositions:**



In sharing her specific perspective, Cynthia's relates that **s**tudents’ homework is an effort grade, and copying the answers from the back of the book is measured as effort. Quizzes come from the homework and the students are allowed to use it to take their quizzes. Both tests and quizzes can be redone for partial credit. Under these conditions, the students have pretty good attitudes regarding their mathematics, unfortunately it does not peak their curiosity to want to understand or discover how mathematics works. Most of the students are flexible in how they do mathematics and are willing to work through alterations in their daily mathematics program. The numbers are few concerning those students who are persistence in their mathematics, few opt to correct their homework during classroom time when homework is being corrected, less come in for retest or redo their quizzes.

In many cases, direct communication between student and teacher is the factor that maintained the student interest (albeit limited). The students' low levels of academic rigor often prevented them from engaging the lecture beyond a procedural level. In most cases, the students motivational levels limited their acquisition and implementation of academic language and stifled their abilities to conceptually navigate the problem or work with effectively in groups. On top of that, the students would be distracted by the handful of disruptive students talking in the back of the class. Another area of social concern that Jackson observed was how the teacher and his students would often sarcastically tease each other. Specifically, Cynthia relates how o nly a few students are distant from their peers and unwillingly to work as a group. The majority enjoy working with each other especially the girls. They are more inclined to work with another girl, together they problem solve and correct their mistakes. Boys are more prone to work individually, not wanting or willing to ask for assistance. **Cynthia's School:**Currently, there are 981 seventh and eighth graders, with 40% being White, 49% Hispanic or Latino, with the remaining students being of African, American Indian, Asian, Filipino Pacific Islander descent. More than 50% of the population receives free or reduced priced lunches. There is less than 1% of parental involvement, and there are only a couple community outreach programs for the school (Education, C.D. (2011(. //School Enrollement by// Ethnicity. Retrieved 11/15/2011, from []).
 * Cynthia, Deborah & Jackson's Synthesis of Social Development:**
 * Cynthia, Deborah & Jackson's Synthesis of Family & Community Context:**