This year, we decided that it would be useful to make sure that the skills picked up by older girls were passed on to the younger ones. We therefore set up the ‘Supermentoring’ scheme, pairing up enthusiasts from the Senior Challenge club with their younger counterparts from the Junior Challenge club. Younger girls work on mentoring sheets and then go through their solutions (and their problems!) with their supermentor, who shows them some tricks. More information about the scheme (and the problem sheets) can be found on http://www.nlcsmaths.com/super-mentoring.
A mentor writes:
When I was asked to take part in the mentoring scheme, I was both excited and nervous. I had memories of the questions as particularly fearsome, and I was afraid that even returning to them four years later, I would be unable to answer any of them. Luckily, I spent some enjoyable afternoons of procrastination on the questions during half term, and was able to meet my mentee, Amy, with a clear conscience. I mapped out a quick plan of the topics related to each of the questions, as several of them were made much easier by a knowledge of niche maths tricks beyond the syllabus. I am not great at explaining ideas, but my mentee caught on quickly to the basics of modular arithmetic, and I hope to pass on lots more maths hacks over the next month. I am already enjoying the excuse to do some maths for fun, and am looking forward to seeing Amy outstrip me in ability at these problems
A mentee writes:
I have been finding the Supermentoring scheme a great experience as my mentor teaches me shortcuts and various useful methods in which I can solve difficult problems. My mentor and I go through intermediate maths challenge papers and work through them thoroughly and find solutions together and separately. As well as giving me a chance to improve my mathematical skills it’s a great opportunity to interact with the older years. I am very glad that this scheme was set up and hope it will be introduced to lower years as well.
A mentor writes:
When I was asked to take part in the mentoring scheme, I was both excited and nervous. I had memories of the questions as particularly fearsome, and I was afraid that even returning to them four years later, I would be unable to answer any of them. Luckily, I spent some enjoyable afternoons of procrastination on the questions during half term, and was able to meet my mentee, Amy, with a clear conscience. I mapped out a quick plan of the topics related to each of the questions, as several of them were made much easier by a knowledge of niche maths tricks beyond the syllabus. I am not great at explaining ideas, but my mentee caught on quickly to the basics of modular arithmetic, and I hope to pass on lots more maths hacks over the next month. I am already enjoying the excuse to do some maths for fun, and am looking forward to seeing Amy outstrip me in ability at these problems
A mentee writes:
I have been finding the Supermentoring scheme a great experience as my mentor teaches me shortcuts and various useful methods in which I can solve difficult problems. My mentor and I go through intermediate maths challenge papers and work through them thoroughly and find solutions together and separately. As well as giving me a chance to improve my mathematical skills it’s a great opportunity to interact with the older years. I am very glad that this scheme was set up and hope it will be introduced to lower years as well.
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