The Math Forum tries to make free mentoring available to its subscribers in several ways. A limited amount of free mentoring is provided by volunteers and staff.

During some weeks you will see an asterisk (*) next to the problem title and a notice that a mentor group is at work. These are usually future teachers who have participated in our Online Mentoring Project, which prepares them to give students feedback. During this time we can provide mentoring to a larger than normal number of submitters, all under the supervision of their college faculty. Most of this mentoring takes place in the Math Fundamentals PoW and the Pre-Algebra PoW, but watch for mentor groups at work in Algebra and Geometry as well.

As mentor groups are scheduled for the 2008-2009 school year, they will be posted here.

FunPoW

• September 15 – Northwest Missouri State University
• September 29 – Columbus State University (GA)
• October 13 – Appalachian State University
• October 27 – Math educators from several colleges and universities
• November 10 – Northwest Missouri State University, Western Oregon University
• November 24 – Plymouth State University (NH)
• February 23 – Western Oregon University
• April 6 – Mount Saint Mary's College
• April 20 – Plymouth State University (NH)

PreAlgPoW

• October 6 – Rhode Island College
• October 20 – Northwest Missouri State University
• November 17 – Western Oregon University
• February 16 – Western Oregon University
• May 11 – Western Oregon University

AlgPoW

• February 9 – Eastern Kentucky University
• February 23 – Northwest Missouri State University

GeoPoW

• October 20 – Minnesota State University Moorhead

Students selected for mentoring will receive scores based on our rubric as well as suggestions on how to improve their math thinking and communication. Please revise your work if you receive a response! The process of revision helps turn short-term learning into long-term learning. The mentors are learning important lessons as well.

Free mentoring does not mean that everyone receives mentoring. The volunteer mentors are able to respond to only some of the submissions. You can increase your chances of being mentored by doing the following:

• Submit problem solutions early in the problem cycle, rather than later.
• Demonstrate an effort to address the criteria we look for. We give mentoring priority to students who seem most likely to take advantage of the feedback.
• Use the Check Answer feature after submitting your solution to see if you're correct.
• Revise your answer if you can improve it, or follow the other suggestions on the answer check page.

This information helps mentors provide more useful recommendations. It may also help you to think more about your problem solving techniques and habits.