About Me
Bio
My name is Benjamin Leis and I've been leading Math Circles in the public schools for the last 8 years at both the Elementary and for the last five years at the Middle School Level. In the path I mostly focused on doing in school clubs at the schools my own children were attending. Covid has changed everything and since I've been operating virtually for the last year and a quarter I've decided to open access more broadly.
So why did you start leading a group your own kids aren't in?
"The first is simply the benefits of forming a math club. You can get students together. I know some of the parents out here have run Math Circles or have run math clubs at their school. In so doing, you are probably providing most of the students in that club with the most important educational experience they’re getting in their school, even though it’s no t happening in the regular classroom. You can offer more challenging mathematics." Richard Rusczyk
Eight years ago the elementary school my son goes to had an after school math club that was mostly for the fourth and fifth graders. The focus in the past was on organizing the kids to go to the various math competitions that occur over the year. After last year the previous volunteer parent "graduated" to middle school and the club almost disappeared. Some time went by and I responded to the call for a new volunteer at the end of October and have been running one ever since then.
Motivation
Math is a passion of mine and I had some key mentoring experiences at the end of elementary school that I would love to provide for others. More generally I've found that I really enjoy watching kids learn. Its been very rewarding over the last years doing Math with various students. I've found that I always look forward to this time of the week. My goal is to see every kid have an "Aha!" moment and develop their joy doing math.
What does a Math Circle Look Like
Slide Presentation I gave a few years back at the Northwest Math Conference
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