Fauquier County Public Schools News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 26, 2016
Karen Parkinson, Coordinator of Information
Phone (540) 422-7031
[email protected]
MATH NOT SO ‘SQUARE’ TO MIDDLE SCHOOLERS
AT SOUTHEASTERN
Even for a math enthusiast (is that an oxymoron?), finding a square root can be as enjoyable as a root canal. (In the
interest of full disclosure, I admit I’m an English major.)
Square roots? Painfully dull. Tiresome. Boring. Ho-hum.
Yet, somehow, things didn’t look all that uninteresting on a recent morning at Southeastern Alternative School
when middle school students in teacher Matt Anzivino’s class gathered to spray paint the grass in the interest of square
roots. In fact, it looked pretty enjoyable.
The project began with the traditional study of perfect squares and square roots in the classroom setting. Since
project-based learning (PBL) is the over-riding approach taken at Southeastern, Anzivino thought about how he could
incorporate the students’ study on a bigger scale than what they did in class with oversized graph paper. He and SAS art
teacher Sandy Ritchie decided they could make perfect squares with stakes and colored tape. They asked the middle
schoolers to decide what perfect square they wanted to use. They chose 5 squared with each square 4’ by 4’ for a total of
400 square feet.
“While the idea was coming forth, the students then decided to implement their introduction to graphing by
conducting a school-wide survey with questions relevant to our population,” Anzivino said. The students developed
five questions and then administered the survey to more than half their school peers at Southeastern. They decided to
incorporate each question into the perfect square by labeling and incorporating the data form the survey questions into
each row of their perfect square. “The students pre-planned everything together and then measured and staked their
perfect square (5-squared) using four-foot
intervals making their perfect square 20’
by 20’.” Then they used spray paint on their
perfect square to create an oversized bar
graph of the data they had collected. In
the end the students opted to pull up the
perfect square so only the data and graph
were left on the field.
Turns out the students didn’t seem
to think that math was, well, square at all,
to use a slang word from the 60’s.
“The perfect-square project allowed
us to be creative,” said student Ray Timbers,
“and I learned more than I would’ve from
just a piece of paper.”
“We all worked together and
helped each other with the design,” said Rudy Villatoro. “We made some mistakes, but we looked over it and fixed what
went wrong.”
“I will have to tell you it was not easy,” said Michael McIntire. “We had to design, create, analyze, calculate and
produce this whole project, which took a lot of hard work and teamwork on our part.”
Anzivino said that since Southeastern Alternative School is a PBL-based program and since students have to apply
for the program, they know what they are about to get into.
“Students not only go through an application process, they get to tour the school and see PBL in classrooms
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before joining our community of learners,” he said. “Our population is students who struggle with traditional learning
and need curriculum presented in different avenues, whether that is hands-on, technology-based, or just in a smaller
environment.”
A Fauquier County native and a product of Fauquier County Public Schools (Fauquier High School Class of 1999),
Anzivino taught elsewhere for eight years before acting on his growing realization that there’s no place like home. Four
years ago he came back, landing a teaching position at Southeastern where he discovered the merits of PBL.
“I taught in a big traditional high school in Richmond for eight years [as a special education math teacher], and
while we were technology driven and a traditional learning environment, I still strived to come home and work with a
different population. While I wasn’t used to PBL,” he said, “it has allowed me to learn that I am creative myself, but more
importantly my students teach me just as much as I hope they take from me. Educators that stay in our profession will
confess to learning something every day, and that’s the beauty of the PBL program.” He easily sings the praises of his
school’s administration and colleagues. “I can truly say that our staff is one in a million, and we all work together so well,
which makes Southeastern continue to be an unbelievable place for students and educators.”
Anzivino also serves as the head coach of Fauquier High School’s junior varsity baseball team and assistant to the
varsity.
“I couldn’t be happier being in a place that has been instrumental in my life,” he said. “There are many educators
still in the county that coached me or taught me as a students, and it’s awesome to do my part for our youth.”
In order to do just that, Anzivino has set definite goals for his eighth-grade students at SAS:
“My goal is to present learning in a completely different manner and to let the students’ minds expand. It sometimes
throws them off when they first come to SAS as they are so groomed in traditional learning,” he said, “and we present
questions and activities that allow them to be themselves – creative geniuses in their own minds.”
And the survey says...
For anyone trying to read the survey results, the middle data point
should have had “The Beach” at 37
percent for favorite vacation spot;
unfortunately, the sign had blown
down — unnoticed — just before
pictures were taken.