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The focus of the math night that I just had was on games that parents and children could play at home to work on math facts, just using decks of cards and things. These are things they can work on with their kids that are fun and easy to do. I don’t want to spend a half hour in class memorizing multiplication. We have far greater things, bigger things to think about.
Math Trailblazers (pdf file)
see also:
teaching math facts is brain surgery
somewhere on another planet far from my own
33 comments:
"We have far greater things, bigger things to think about."
It's too bad that, without actually having internalized the math that underlies those "things", "you" are incapable of understanding them now and most of "your" students will be forever forbidden this understanding.
This is child abuse, not education.
This is child abuse, not education.
which brings us back to Christian, who is 28, and has 3rd grade level math
unless he plows through fractions, decimals, percents & algebra 1 he's not getting a college degree
this is a seriously brainy person with HUGE background knowledge
(it's pretty horrifying watching Jeopardy with this guy)
Ed heard an amazing interview on NPR with a young black guy (I'll get the narrative messed up but the jist is correct) who had a whole long dysfunctional saga and then turned his life around
he joined the army, went to Iraq, became an upstanding guy in every way, and then tried to go to college
there was no way he could do it
none
he didn't have the math, he didn't have the reading comprehension, and he didn't have the background knowledge
all he had was the character, and character, contra the middle school model is not enough
Getting math facts into children's long-term memory is not easy.
I've talked to parents who failed to teach math facts to their very bright children
These bright children are now young adults
from Anne Dwyer
Those of you who know me know that I teach a Math Booster class because I hate EM and I think that kids deserve better.
So I was seriously annoyed to find an advertising flyer for a Math Plus class given by the teachers at the school where I put on my class.... they used the exact same description that I use for my class!!! So here are teachers who are not teaching math offering an afterschool class that student have to pay for. Can you say conflict of interest???
Also, tonight in class, one of the student brought in her EM homework that she couldn't do. It was homework on division. She was trying to do the partial quotient method (or some such idiotic name). Come to find out, she can already do long division. She just couldn't do the parital quotient method. I told her grandmother: just have her do the traditional method. I told her what I told Erin's teacher: Teaching Erin any other method other than traditional long division is a waste of her time.
So I was seriously annoyed to find an advertising flyer for a Math Plus class given by the teachers at the school where I put on my class.... they used the exact same description that I use for my class!!! So here are teachers who are not teaching math offering an afterschool class that student have to pay for. Can you say conflict of interest???
They used your words?
That you wrote?
On their flier?
We need watchdog organizations for public schools.
".... they used the exact same description that I use for my class!!! So here are teachers who are not teaching math offering an afterschool class that student have to pay for. Can you say conflict of interest???"
We have heard a lot of bad things at KTM, but this ranks near the worst. Are these the teachers who teach EM? The students have to pay? This is not a conflict of interest, it's a criminal activity. On top of it all, they ripped you off. I can only imagine how you feel.
Teaching Erin any other method other than traditional long division is a waste of her time.
I'm becoming bitter on the subject of time.
Things are closing in on us here.
Christopher had a D- on his last math test; we need all the time we have to reteach math and provide distributed practice.
We also have him on a 25-page a day reading program here at home, since the school assigns two books a year, both years below the kids' grade level.
We need to work on writing; we need to do spelling (we're barely making it through Megawords); we need to do Vocabulary Workshop.
So tonight the school sends home a pointless cut-out-and-fold-up-a-cootie "homework" assignment.
We have heard a lot of bad things at KTM, but this ranks near the worst.
At our school the guidance counselor sends the parents of "struggling" students emails recommending teachers to hire as tutors at $80/hr.
Grades go up as soon as you get that tutor.
otoh, it could be worse, and it has been worse
I know a parent who hired the tutor who was actually the teacher of her child's class AND THE TUTOR DIDN'T HELP (can't go into more detail than that, but if you imagine the worst you've got the picture)
"So I was seriously annoyed to find an advertising flyer for a Math Plus class given by the teachers at the school where I put on my class.... they used the exact same description that I use for my class!"
If you wrote the flyer yourself, send them a cease-and-desist letter, since they are violating your copyright.
Copyright attaches at the moment of publication whether you put a copyright notice on the work or not. If there was no notice, the only effect is to change the date from which you can start collecting damages.
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer; the above is my layman's understanding of the law. Talk to a lawyer for legal advice.
This is really bizarre.
Maybe we need another term besides "math facts." They are much more fundamental than contingent facts like, say, dates when certain historical events occurred.
Do kids still learn "letter facts" like the names of the letters and alphabetical order?
"Getting math facts into children's long-term memory is not easy."
You can certainly say that again! My third grader has difficulty with remembering addition and subtraction facts. However, KUMON is helping with this, but it has been a slow process. Multiplication has been easier for him to retain, but I drill him constantly.
What bothers me is that my son constantly tells me he doesn't have to learn this or that. "The teacher doesn't care." His teacher is pretty relaxed. Someone described her as not being very academic. I hear that term a great deal from other parents. One parent wanted a particular teacher because her child required a highly academic program. Um, this is elementary school, right? I didn't realize there was an academic track and a voc-tech track.
--PaulaV
What bothers me is that my son constantly tells me he doesn't have to learn this or that. "The teacher doesn't care."
You're going to be hearing this all the way through.
Although...it's possible Christopher has let up some with this.
School is important to kids. They love their teachers, their friends.
When the school conveys to a student the feeling that a topic isn't important, or extra effort isn't important, it's very difficult to overcome that message at home.
I'm sure this is one of the reasons the now-retired middle school math teacher was so successful.
She told all her classes that the secret to success in math was to "do more problems."
I know at least one parent who would simply send his son back upstairs to "do more problems." No argument.
That kid has done great in math.
Doug's right.
All you need to do is ask them to take your copy off of their flier.
This will be resolved quickly.
These are teachers!
Plagiarism is a bad thing!
I'd probably just point out calmly that teachers can't be "modeling" plagiarism, words to that effect.
(imo!)
Steve never liked the term "math facts," either.
I always meant to ask him why - I'm assuming he has the same reason.
"When the school conveys to a student the feeling that a topic isn't important, or extra effort isn't important, it's very difficult to overcome that message at home."
How right you are! I do feel I am waging an uphill battle when it comes to extra effort. However, I am persistent and he does extra work despite a lot of complaining.
I explained to him that he wouldn't dream of not giving the extra effort in soccer so why should school be any different?
Regarding topics that are important, shouldn't spelling and writing in complete sentences be important?
Our teachers went through training last year on the 6 + 1 Traits, a writing program. So it puzzles me why grammar would not be important in third grade, but every week my son brings home some paper with incomplete sentences and spelling errors galore. Sometimes I feel coloring neatly matters a whole lot more than grammar. That is scary!
--PaulaV
"One parent wanted a particular teacher because her child required a highly academic program. Um, this is elementary school, right? I didn't realize there was an academic track and a voc-tech track."
My wife and I grew up in public schools 40+ years ago. There may have been plenty of problems, but there were much higher grade-by-grade expectations of basic knowledge and skills. Those expectations are now gone. All expectations have to come from the child or the parents. Education has become much more vague and fuzzy.
All of the parents I talk to may not know much about educational philosophy and pedagogy, but they know low expectations when they see them. Schools expect less in terms of hard facts and skills. They expect parents to work with their kids on learning the times table. It's up to parents to set the bar higher than the absolute minimum. Nobody stays back a grade anymore. It's now completely up to parents.
If a parent talks about their child needing a "highly academic program", they are probably referring to the basics, not some sort of TAG or GATE program. It's not about Vo-Tech. It's about low versus high expectations.
Coloring neatly is more important than grammar in middle school also.
My son has been aceing his grammar tests to the point where they think he's just naturally good at it. They don't realize that I spent three years pounding it down him with homeschooling curriculums and practice sheets on a daily basis.
The good part is that it has given him some confidence in at least one component of his writing. It has also helped him appreciate what he did with me in grade school as he watches his peers struggle.
Grammar isn't rocket science, but it does have a lot of little pieces to it that can't all be crammed successfully in middle school. Like math, it is remembered better if it is taught in sequence with a lot of practice.
My son also asked the one other kid who was making all A's on the grammar quizzes if her parents helped her with any of it. She just nodded yes to him.
The vo-tech comment was made in jest to my husband. It certainly is about low versus high expectations. Parents know low expectations when they see them and so do children.
Paula V
While my inclination is to support the teacher's authority, I'm drifting toward the position that the appropriate response to "My teacher doesn't care" is "Your teacher is an idiot." Oh, I'll probably never actually say that (and my son is in a Core Knowledge/Saxon charter school precisely to reduce the probability), but the temptation is strong.
That said, I'm not sure I could keep myself away from, "Your teacher only knows how to work in a unionized school district. In a real job, you need to know these things."
Just to update:
Catherine says it's always worse that you think.
Apparently, the school surveys show that parents want more academic classes offered by the teachers. (This according to the Rec Dept) So it's a top down thing. The principals are asking the teachers to teach afterschool classes. (And they started with math...why?)
So they are trying to keep parents mollified while not changing things and making money off it.
Anne Dwyer
nd they started with math...why?)
lol
My son has been aceing his grammar tests to the point where they think he's just naturally good at it. They don't realize that I spent three years pounding it down him with homeschooling curriculums and practice sheets on a daily basis.
You need to tell them.
I'm serious.
It doesn't have to be a fight.
Just tell them what you did and how you did it.
While my inclination is to support the teacher's authority, I'm drifting toward the position that the appropriate response to "My teacher doesn't care" is "Your teacher is an idiot." Oh, I'll probably never actually say that (and my son is in a Core Knowledge/Saxon charter school precisely to reduce the probability), but the temptation is strong.
That said, I'm not sure I could keep myself away from, "Your teacher only knows how to work in a unionized school district. In a real job, you need to know these things."
hahahahaha
actually the correct response to "My teacher doesn't care" is "Yes she does"
then if your kid gives you an argument you point out that maybe this teacher doesn't care but the next one will
It's up to parents to set the bar higher than the absolute minimum.
right
and then you're pushy
that's what I'm realizing
the pushy parent meme is about parents refusing to sign off on the school's low opinion of their kids' intelligence and ability to learn
feature article writers interview teachers & administrators and voila
a meme is born
kill the meme
the appropriate response to "My teacher doesn't care" is "Your teacher is an idiot."
Now, that was funny! haha
Of course, I would never say that, but I must confess sometimes I do think it..a lot.
PaulaV
You need to tell them.
I probably will, but I think I'd like to do it face to face. It cracks me up that they think one just sort of "discovers" the 8 parts of speech and all the little ways they apply.
Why, he's so darn smart he just Knows.
I've decided I'm pulling out the Latin again. He's gonna be real happy about that.
I have, however, said these kinds of things before and I've mostly gotten a sort of disinterested smile. Sort of like "good little parent helping us out and all."
They never see it as a criticism of what they're doing. And if they do, they don't change a thing.
They don't want to burden grade schoolers minds with too much grammar. It might stifle their creativity. Why, I might not have gotten to read my son's most common sentence from grade school, the ever trusty "It was fun", had they imposed such awful things on him such as the 8 parts of speech.
So tonight the school sends home a pointless cut-out-and-fold-up-a-cootie "homework" assignment.
Would be spending any more time than you do now if you home-schooled your ciriculum and didn't have to deal with the school's?
he's so darn smart he just Knows
that's what my school thinks about accelerated math
They don't want to burden grade schoolers minds with too much grammar. It might stifle their creativity. Why, I might not have gotten to read my son's most common sentence from grade school, the ever trusty "It was fun", had they imposed such awful things on him such as the 8 parts of speech.
I love it!
hi Ben -
Actually, as to homeschooling & time, I've made an interesting discovery.
Christopher's best classes this year are social studies and science. He comes home practically every day tellling us things he learned in them; my friend Kris says her son has gotten so turned on to science he's saying he wants to be a doctor.
Now, this isn't due to Christopher's having better teachers in science and social studies, because he doesn't.
His science teacher is fantastic, but his English teacher is just as fantastic. (I don't know as much about his social studies teacher. She seems terrific, too, but the class is a bit more distant from home for some reason.)
This also isn't due to Christopher having a specific interest in science. He has a specific interest in history, not science.
I discovered the explanation for this when I was looking at Fordham's reviews of state standards.
It turns out that they grade our standards as:
science A
social studies A
ELA B
math C
These grades precisely track Christopher's experience of his courses.
Science and social studies are fantastic; English has an excellent teacher with a mediocre curriculum; math is a mess.
This is turning me into a believer in national standars.
Circling back to your question, at this point Christopher is absolutely getting from school something we couldn't give him - or that would take massive amounts of time to give him.
He's getting a very good science curriculum with an experienced teacher.
We could do history simply because Ed's a historian; otherwise we couldn't beat the school on that, either.
We could do English simply because the curriculum isn't good; the teacher is better than we would be.
So...for all the aggravation we're now net positive vis a vis homeschooling I would say.
At least in terms of time.
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