concerned ct parent said:
I am so done with the "I was so terrible in math," comment I could scream.
Tex said:
How stupid was that Saxon math comment?? Sheesh!
And, her co-anchor joined the gleeful group of adults who proudly claim, “I was the worst math student on the planet”.
I am so with you (as my 13 yr-old would say).
When training teachers in Singapore Math, I always spend 20-30 minutes talking about math anxiety, which begins with a completely blank powerpoint slide with the words:
I can't read
in 120 pt font or so. We discuss how this makes them feel, and most are pretty uncomfortable. Then we talk about how people would never admit something like this to their friends, yet think about how many times we've been out to dinner or having coffee with people that say "I just can't do math" or "I am so bad at math". And everyone chuckles...tee hee, it's sooo funny.
Why aren't these people embarrassed? Why is this socially acceptable? What are you going to do about this in your school?
It's a great professional development starter, I can tell you!
Why don't you write on your instructivist blog anymore??? I loved it !
ReplyDeleteI also do not like the characterization of Singapore Math as solving problems by drawing pictures. Bar modeling is one part of Singapore, but definitely not the whole thing, and the bar modeling is built upon from 3rd grade on up as an extension of part whole relationships, starting with the concept of, say, 5 being a part of 9 in terms of whole numbers (5+4=9) and then later as fractions (5/9 + 4/9 = 1). There are other aspects of Singapore Math, just as important, such as its presentation of fractions and its presentation of decimals.
ReplyDeleteThere are some professional trainers who concentrate so heavily on bar modeling that they ultimately sell courses on how to solve problems using bar modeling--which defeats the purpose. Singapore leads the way to algebra. There are some problems that do not lend themselves to bar modeling. You can solve the following with bar modeling for example: John spends $20 on a radio, which is 2/5 of his weekly salary. How much is his weekly salary?
But this problem does not lend itself to a bar model: A 20 mile stretch of road has a marker placed every 2/5 mile. How many markers are on the 20 mile stretch?
Both problems are solved by dividing 20 by 2/5. The first problem lends itself to bar model solution by seeing that each fifth of John's salary is $20/2 which is then multiplied by 5 to get the total, or 20/2 x 5 which can be expressed as (20 x 5)/2, which can again be expressed as 20 x 5/2. Which of course is the same as dividing 20 by 2/5. The second problem requires an understanding of fractional division.
Hmm, would you be thinking of the 8 Step Bar Modeling method? It's true, I also have seen many trainers that seem to think that that is all there is to SM.
ReplyDeleteOne nice thing about the bar modeling is that it makes for good tv. In Los Angeles, the local Fox channel did a story on Ramona school that only showed the students doing sprints, which have nothing really to do with Singapore Math, except as a way to compensate for cultural differences.
Hmm, would you be thinking of the 8 Step Bar Modeling method?
ReplyDeleteYes, in fact it was talked about here.
I commented that such a focus was like putting wheels on crutches and still maintain that. Bar modeling is a means to an end, not the end result. It is a pathway to algebraic problem solving.