Mason City High School - Masonian Yearbook (Mason City, IA)

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lVlath Department tries new innovations to help students The Math Department added two teachers to its staff this year when the ninth graders moved to the high school. Mr. Robert Macek trans- ferred from John Adams while Nlr. Gary Mott also made the switch from Roosevelt. Other changes in assignments saw Mr. Yarrow and Dr. Martin teaching General Math this year. While these two teachers were not new to the high school the change meant a change in preps. However, THE RESULTS ARE . . . -Senior Kevin Smith concentrates on his computer programming. gg xv YOU SEE -Mr. Meskel explains another ap- COMPUTATION -John Jamison works on the prgach, YIGXT pI'0blefT1.

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could take courses such as Oral ln- terp, Acting Workshop, or Chamber Players. Speech classes gave students a chance to learn to organize thoughts and present them with greater confidence before an audi- ence. Literature classes such as World Literature and Contemporary Fic- tion gave students a chance to read and react to a wide variety of writ- ings. Some classes undertook spe- cial projects such as the Greek Fest in World Literature. Creative students had a chance to express themselves in written form in Creative Writing and Advanced Comp classes. As a department, the language arts area, led by coordinator Helen Klussman, attempted to establish files for teachers which provided in- formation regarding students' read- ing levels, writing samples and other types of information to aid instruc- tors who will have students in the next year or semester. An effort to establish vertical ar- ticulation within the department was also made. Students at Mason City High School continued to have a wide se- lection of courses available to them to help prepare them for either col- lege or work. FRIDAY MORNING READING-Senior Scott Walters takes a minute from his class to read the Mohawk Press. -fy ! ..f- 1? ,xg as S , : t, N r -,. .4 2 if E ,z re X 1-L GREEK T0 ME- Kevin Smith, Kris Decker, and Jennifer Allen perform during Greek Fest. X..- gxikdlgf 1. ,. WHAT NEXT?-Sophomore John Udelhofen listens to Mr. Stouffer's directions.

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the course was revised to include more graph reading and to put more emphasis on the calculator. During the second semester stu- dents had math problems given to them on tapes to help improve their listening skills. These changes were not due to the addition of the ninth grade but initiated to help improve the department. The Math Department offers a wide variety of classes for different levels of interest and ability. These courses range from Gener- al Math, Pre Algebra, Informal Ge- ometry, Algebra I 81 ll, Plane and Sol- id Geometry, Trig, Pre Calculus, Problem Stat, Math Analysis, and Computer Programming. The Math Department isn't all work. The Math Club sponsors a number of activities. The club participated in a trip to Iowa City to tour the University's Math Department. On January 7 the department held Math Career Day where representatives from NIACC, ISU, UNI, and the University of Iowa made presentations related to Math. Post graduates of MCHS also talked to students about college and how their high school math benefit- ed them. At the end of the day the high school teachers sat down with post grads and lecturers to get new ideas on how to improve the math pro- gram at the high school. calculation. IT'S RIGHT HERE -Mr. Macek explains that , . lt's really very simple. A MATH STUDENTS BEST FRIEND - Kristy Frieden uses her calculator to figure another problem. THAT FIGURES -Sara Dixon completes her i is