Below are a few pre-approved activities. There are four types.

1. Observe (mostly grades 1-8). No preparation is necessary. You earn as many hours as the time spent observing the activity. You may choose up to 10 hours of activties you would like to observe.
2. Participate (mostly grades 9-12). No preparation is necessary. You earn as many hours as the time spent participating in the activity.
3. Proctor. No preparation is necessary. You earn as many hours as the time spent proctoring the activity.
4. Lead/assist. You will often team up with other people in our class, and work in small groups (of 2-4 people). We will need to meet (sometimes once or twice, sometimes more than that) before each problem solving session to go over the concepts, problems, and solutions. Sometimes we may discuss your service learning in class. Pre-approved group meetings outside of class count toward your service learning hours.

   Rules and expectations:

   • If you sign up to lead/help with an activity, make sure you work on it and attend all scheduled prep meetings. If you do not prepare, you will not be allowed to lead/help with the session. Also make sure you show up to the session. A no show may receive 0 points.
   • If you sign up to observe an activity, no preparation is necessary. Make sure you show up to the session. A no show may receive 0 points.
   • If you signed up for an acitivty and soon realized that you have a conflict, notify your group members and your instructor as soon as possible.
   • If you prepared for a activity, remember that you have a certain role. So if you are late or do not show up, your team members will have a harder time leading the session. If you truly have an emergency on the day of the activity, notify your group members and your instructor (cell phone: 559-960-9420, email: mnogin@csufresno.edu) as soon as possible.
   • Whenever you schdedule a meeting with your group members, please copy to your instructor so that the instructor can attend your meeting if possible. Also make sure that the whole group is aware of the meeting and everyone in the group is welcome to join. Meetings have to be via Zoom (unless approved otherwise) during reasonable hours. Whenever you email your group members regarding meetings/preparation, make sure to reply to all.
   • In your group meetings, you will decide on what to include, how to distribute the work, discuss solutions, finalize the materials, and practice your presentations. You may often be required to do some "homework" between meetings. This homework does not count towards your hours, only your group meetings do.
     Exception for Spring 2021: due to the distance learning format, in an effort to reduce screen time and provide a bit of flexibility, a small number of hours (usually just 1-2 hours per activity) of group meetings may be converted to individual preparation time. However, please do understand that you will still need to spend some individual time preparing that won't count towards your hours.
   • Whenever original materials are developed for a session (e.g. a Math Field Day prep session), have all your materials ready at least one week in advance. This will give you and the instructor/teacher in charge time to proofread them.
   • Make sure you are properly prepared. Proofread all your materials really carefully. The goal is to have error-free problems/solutions/anwers for all sessions. Make sure you understand all solutions very well and are ready to lead the class discussion. If you have any difficulty, work with your group members and your instructor until you are confident. Remember that your prep meetings count towards your service learning hours. It is better to lead fewer activities and spend more time preparing for each one so that you are most ready and confident.
   • Be professional, inclusive, considerate, and prompt. Check your email regularly and reply in a timely manner. If your group prefers other means of communication, please notify and include the whole group. I already use text and WhatsApp. I will gladly learn other ways as well. However, email is considered the main mean of communication at the university, thus you are expected to use email unless the whole group agrees to use something else.
   • When observing an activity lead by other people, please be respectful. No talking, eating, driving/riding, or other distractions.

   Pre-approved activities:

   • Math Circle, grades 3-8
     • for all dates below: 9:50-11:15 AM for grades 3-4, and 9:50-11:30 AM for grades 5-6 and 7-8
     1. Saturday, January 30
     2. Saturday, February 13
     3. Saturday, February 27
     4. Saturday, March 13
     5. Saturday, March 27
     6. Saturday, April 10
     7. Saturday, April 24
     8. Saturday, May 8, time TBD
     Observers are welcome in all groups: grades 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8 on almost all dates (some groups on some dates are reserved for another class; the number of observers for each meeting is limited to 2-3). No preparation neccessary. Your instructor is in charge of these.
     Sign up here.
     Fresno Math Circle website

   • Math Circle, grades 9-12 (regular sessions)
     1. Wednesday, February 17, 5:30-7:30 PM
     2. Wednesday, March 3, 5:30-7:30 PM
     3. Wednesday, April 14, 5:30-7:30 PM
     4. Wednesday, April 28, 5:30-7:30 PM
     No preparation neccessary. Participate in the activities along with the high school students. Dr. Khang Tran is teaching this group.
     Sign up here.

   • AMC 10/12 Preparation, grades 7-12
     1. Thursday, February 3, 5:30-7:30 PM - AMC 10/12 practice
     No preparation neccessary. Participate in the activities along with the high school students. Dr. Khang Tran is teaching this group.
     Sign up here.
     AMC Problems

   • AMC 10/12 Competition, grades 7-12
     1. Wednesday, February 10, 5:00-7:30 PM - AMC 10/12 competition
     No preparation neccessary. Proctors needed (the competition will be held via Zoom). Dr. Khang Tran is in charge of this competition.
     Sign up here.

   • Math Kangaroo Preparation
     1. Saturday, February 6
     2. Saturday, February 20
     3. Saturday, March 6
     • 10:00-11:30am - grades 1-2
     • 10:00-11:45am - grades 5-6, 9-10
     • 2:00-3:30pm - grades 3-4
     • 2:00-3:45pm - grades 7-8, 11-12
     Leaders are needed for grades 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8, at least 2-5 hours of preparation is needed for each session depending on grade level. Your instructor is in charge of these.
     Observers are welcome in most sessions.
     Sign up here.
     Math Kangaroo web page

   • Math Field Day Preparation at Fresno State
     1. Wednesday, March 10, 5:00-6:30PM, grades 6-8, coordinated by Dr. Agnes Tuska, leaders needed
     2. Wednesday, March 17, 5:30-7:30PM, grades 9-12, taught by Dr. Khang Tran, participants welcome
     3. Thursday, March 25, 5:30-7:30PM, grades 9-12, coordinated by your instructor, leaders needed
     4. Wednesday, April 7, 5:00PM-6:30PM, grades 6-8, coordinated by Dr. Agnes Tuska, leaders needed
     5. Thursday, April 8, 5:30-7:30PM, grades 9-12, coordinated by your instructor, leaders needed
     Leaders are needed for grades 6-8 and 9-12, see above. You will work with Dr. Agnes Tuska (agnest@csufresno.edu) to help with grades 6-8, and your instructor to help with grades 9-12. At least 6-8 hours of preparation will be needed, depending on the grade level.
     Observers are welcome on April 7; Participants are welcome in all sessions for grades 9-12.
     Sign up here.
     Math Field Day website
     Math Field Day Prep Sessions website

   • Math Field Day Prep Sessions at Local Schools, grades 6-12
     Please let your instructor know if you are interested and/or have any ideas.

   • Math Field Day Event, grades 6-12
     Saturday, April 17, the event is usually in the morning, however, the time is TBD for this year. The exact time of your assignment will be determined by you and the Math Field Day coordinator. Typically assignments are approx. 3-4 hours long. No preparation necessary. As many volunteers as possible are welcome. Sign up to volunteer at the Math Field Day. Dr. Kay Kelm (kbyler@csufresno.edu) is the Math Field Day coordinator this year.

   Upon completion, you must turn in:

   • time sheet (template here),
   • notes taken if you were observing.
   • materials developed if you developed your own materials for the activity.
   • reflections/thoughts/suggestions for improvement. Describe the concepts taught, including, if any, definitions given, theorems stated and/or proved, and procedures/algorithms described; were the definitions and statements and/or proofs rigorous? Could they be given more rigorously? If so, how? If not, why not (i.e. what additional knowledge would be needed that is not covered in elementary/middle/high school)? Were the procedures/algorithms explained (i.e. explained why they would work, under which conditions they would work, etc.)? Which questions did the students ask? In particular, did they ask to clarify any concepts/theorems/procedures? Which of the teacher's answers or examples were most helpful to the students? What problems were given/discussed? Which problems allow interesting extensions? Which problems lead to learning more advanced mathematics? Did the participants have interesting approaches/solutions, insightful questions or observations? What mathematics or a problem solving technique did you learn while working on these problems or observing or leading the activity? Feel free to include any of your thoughts or comments or suggestions. While our main focus is on the content, comments on any teaching styles observed are welcome too. When you led an activity, feel free to reflect on what you learned mathematically or as a future teacher (so, mathematical content and pedagogy are both welcome). A satisfactory paper should be at least one full page for each hour observed or lead (longer is better). Reflections must be typed. 12pt font, 1.5 or double spacing would be best.
   • evaluation filled out by you (top part) and the teacher (bottom part) - if your instructor was not the faculty in charge of this activity.
   • peer evaluation filled out by you for each group member - if had any group prep meetings with peers without your instructor present.
   • peer evaluations filled out by your group members will be submitted by your group members directly to the instructor.

   Timeline for turning in papers: All papers (time sheets, materials developed, notes, reflections, peer evaluations, teacher's evaluations) related to meetings/activities held during dates 1-15 should be turned in by the end of the same month. Papers related to meetings/activities held during dates 16-31 should be turned in by the 15th of the following month. Exception: all papers related to meetings/activities held in the month of May should be turned in by May 15.

   Grading: Your reflections will be evaluated by your instructor. Your performance will be evaluated by the teacher (if applicable), group members, and instructor.

   Finally, you should prepare a short presentation about your field experience. You may choose the topic you want to present on: a class activity you liked (whether the class was taugh by you or the teacher you observed), your lesson plan, teaching strategies you learned, etc. Since you will be often working in groups, presentations may be prepared by groups as well. However, in this case, make sure that all of the group members are involved in preparing the presentation as well as presenting.

   For extra credit
   Complete additional hours (i.e. in excess of 24 hours) leading/helping with extracurricular activities. You will get 0.5 points (0.5% of your grade) for each additional hour.

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   This page was last revised on 1/25/21.