Who am I?

I’m a former Air Force statistician who has been promoted to Mom. My husband is still in the Air Force, and we’ve moved 5 times in the last 6 years. We’ve seen a lot of school districts! I’ve been tutoring with phonics since 1994, so have observed the schools everywhere we’ve lived with interest since then. I gave my life to Jesus Christ in 1997.

I wanted to be a volunteer math tutor, but it was not to be. I have tutored a few students in Algebra through the years, but when I signed up to tutor inner-city students in San Antonio, the Air Force moved us to another city. This large city had no math tutoring programs, only a volunteer literacy organization. I signed up—I had always liked to read. I figured I could try that for a while.

The local literacy organization used whole word methods and language experience stories, and made this seem exciting and like the best thing since sliced bread. They raved about the wonders of teaching this way. I bought it and was excited to teach my student to read. After a month of tutoring, she had learned 3 words, and there seemed to be no pattern to her progress or lack thereof. I called my dad, a public school teacher and a very smart man. He said, "teach her phonics."

All I could find at the time (This was 1994, the internet had just barely started, and bookstores were not selling any phonics products) was an old teacher's copy of Hay and Wingo's Reading With Phonics. It seemed too juvenile to me, so I made up my own lessons from the concepts in it, starting with 2 and 3 syllable words from the first lesson. I later found she didn't mind working from 1st grade texts as long as she was learning, but I didn't know that at the time, and I'm glad I decided to make my own lessons. (By the way, she learned more in her first lesson than in that month of sight words, and I made a few mistakes with sounds at the beginning, I myself had a limited phonics background and had just picked up reading after being taught a few letter sounds. I did not, however, pick up spelling, although I have always been a prolific reader. My spelling improved after tutoring with phonics and learning the associated spelling rules and syllable division rules.)

With small children and frequent moves, I could no longer teach many students to read. I put all my phonics lessons online a little over 3 years ago while pregnant with our second child—a difficult pregnancy, the online work was accomplished only through God’s strength, I had no strength of my own.

About a year ago I added spelling lessons. They teach spelling rules, syllable division rules, and everything you need to know to teach someone to read with phonics.

Shortly after starting my website, I “met” Don Potter. He had similar experiences tutoring remedial students, but had taught even more students than I had and also had insight into what they were doing in the public schools. He has a great website with a lot of phonics information. He also convinced me of the power and utility of the MWIA, a test to determine if someone has been harmed by too many sight words.

About 2 years ago, I also “met” Geraldine Rodgers. Her book “The Case for The Prosecution” is an eye opener. Even better is her “History of Beginning Reading,” available in e-book format for $8.95 from Author House.

While I had always used syllables and spelling in my lessons, reading Rodgers’ works made me even more convinced of their importance, and led me to teach my daughter using syllables and spelling with Webster’s Blue-Blacked Speller. The results have been amazing, to say the least. I’ll leave that for another post.

a science of teaching

Allison left this comment on the Troublemaker post, re: the war of ideas:

This "war of ideas" really is where it's at.

I'm in the Twin Cities, MN. Well, specifically, I'm in St. Paul, but the available educational system I'd consider taking my kid to is well over half of the greater Twin Cities metro.

There are over a hundred schools here available to a parent of grammar school or middle schools aged student. There are over two dozen high school options available. The public school system allows you to attend any public school which has space--you lottery in for the most wanted ones, of course, but usually, people get what they want. We also have charter schools. We have magnet schools. We have DOZENS of Catholic schools and at least a dozen other religious schools. We have private non religious schools. And we've got homeschoolers. Tuition ranges from 0-22k for each and every possible grade, preK to 12. I mean, from the outside, this is a mecca of educational opportunities!

And yet everywhere I go, I meet parents desperate to start new schools, pulling their kids out of schools, switching between private, public, and homeschooling mid year, and parents organizing to try and change their schools.

From the outside, it looks like madness: how can NONE of these schools fit the bill? how come NO ONE can find something that works for their kids? If parents just want what works, what is the problem? [ed.: Just like having 5 gazillion cable channels with nothing to watch! Sorry. Couldn't resist.]

For all of these so called choices, the answer is: for the grammar schools: no one here has a school that is excellent academically with a reasonable price point (and the unreasonable price points aren't always better academically either), and some of them still have (regardless of their religious ed or claim of religious culture) terrible problems with bullying, fights, and social problems in the classroom. For the high schools, almost none of them are excellent in all academic subjects. I've yet to hear ANYONE tell me of any high school that was excellent in science here, even though several offer IB and AP courses. I've yet to hear anyone say they have even moderately decent science in the grammar or middle schools, and that includes a magnet school.

Parents keep moving their kids around trying to find something that works for them, but they don't seem to get any traction. That's because, on some level, most of these parents still don't have a way to wage the war of ideas. All they can do it opt in or opt out, and hope something is close enough to work for them.

The ones who start a charter school or a private school are waging a different war--and sometimes, they fail too, because they still don't know how to HIRE people with ideas that work. While my homeschooling and charter schooling friends know about Saxon Math and Core Knowledge, none of them have heard of Direct Instruction or Precision Teaching. They are always reinventing wheels trying to find a way to hire faculty that won't make their school have the same problems as every other school they've got around them.

The war of ideas matters. More than anything else, because without it, we lose the way to communicate what it is we really want

I'm midway through Vicki Snider's book.

Snider says we need "a science of teaching," and she's right.

Now that I've discovered Precision Teaching I realize we already have one; we're just not using it. Nor are we sufficiently developing it. (Snider says, for instance, that we really don't know, yet, how to teach critical thinking.)

I majored in psychology in college, and of course studied behaviorism as part of the major. When Jimmy was diagnosed with autism I learned more behaviorism and used the principles fairly effectively with him. (I would have used them very effectively if I'd learned and practiced more. Behavioral analysis with autistic kids is a major undertaking, and it's long past time for me to refresh my skills. Andrew needs managing.)

In the past 3 or 4 years, dealing with C., I've let my home-grown knowledge and practice of behavioral principles lapse. I became much more focused on cognitive science, which was my area of interest in college.

That was a mistake. My focus, now, is Precision Teaching in particular and learning theory - especially Pryor's work on positive reinforcement - in general.

I've seen big changes around here in just the few weeks since reading Don't Shoot the Dog.

When it comes to Precision Teaching, Americans haven't reached the level of a war of ideas yet. No one's even heard of it.

I'm going to start bugging people around here about Precision Teaching.



Myths and Misconceptions about Teaching: What Really Goes on Inside the Classroom by Viki Snider
A Comparison of Teacher Attitudes and Beliefs about issues Across Conventional and Direct Instructional Schools Vicki Snider and Rebecca Schumitsch (full article here)

call for comment

Jay Mathews on Two Million Minutes.

Column here.

differentiated instruction in action

C's math class has graduated from Glencoe Algebra to Glencoe Geometry, thank God.

I say "Thank God" because last fall my neighbor managed to track down a Teacher Wraparound Edition of Glencoe Geometry, which she's loaned to me.

I do not have a Teacher Wrapround Edition for Glencoe Algebra. I've been working without a net. In order to check C's homework — which I have to do because here in Irvington Union Free School District (per pupil funding: $22,000) teachers stop collecting and correcting homework around grade 3 — I have to work every homework set myself, check my answers against C's, then figure out which one of us is wrong when the answers don't agree, and, finally, after all that is out of the way & my book deadline has receded further into the distance, have C. re-do the problem(s) in question if he's the one who got them wrong.

I have to do all this because the school refuses to supply answers to kids or their parents.

All the answers are belong to us.

For geometry, I have the answers. (The answers, they are belong to me.)

Boy, does that save time.

I work the problems quickly and efficiently, then I check my answers in the book.

If an answer is wrong, I re-do quickly and efficiently. I can afford to be quick and efficient, because I have the answers.

"speed and accuracy": the KUMON mantra. Have I mentioned the fact that KUMON provides the parent with the answer key? The parent quickly checks her children's work, then has them re-do problems they missed.

Without the answer key, I work problems painstakingly, doubting myself at every turn, sometimes re-working because I think maybe the answer could be wrong. From time to time an answer will come out the same wrong-seeming way 3, 4 times in a row, so that's more time, and in the end I still suffer doubt.

Having to work every problem without an answer key is a huge waste of time. A FWOT, actually. As Carolyn used to say.

So glad the paid professionals who teach my kid don't have to do it.


differentiated instruction 'round Glencoe way

Back on topic. The topic being: differentiated instruction.

I think a lot of us have wondered what differentiated instruction actually is when it's taking place inside the black box.

Sure, sure, I know the concept: if you have 20 students in a class, they are taught in 20 different ways. That is the concept here in Irvington, anyway, or so I gather from the Principal's Message in the Main Street School newsletter.

But what does that look like?

What might those 20 different instructional ways be on any given day?

Tonight, looking up the answers in my neighbor's Glencoe Geometry Teacher Wrapround Edition, I noticed that the book includes, in each Lesson, a "Daily Intervention" labeled "Differentiated Instruction."

Here is the Differentiated Instruction for Lesson 1.4 Angles Measures:

Auditory/Musical A metronome is a tool used to keep a constant tempo in music. It is composed of a pendulum that swings back and forth at varying speeds. The fulcrum of the pendulum acts as a vertex of the angle through which the pendulum swings. Demonstrate this by holding two pens at an angle in one hand and tapping another pen between the first two, creating a series of "ticks."

source: Glencoe Geometry Teacher Wraparound Edition
North Carolina Edition, p. 30
ISBN 0078601789

Daily Intervention Number 2: Inferential Thinking Activity

I am going to infer from the above that:

• it is normal for a high school geometry teacher not to know what a metronome is, what it looks like, or how it works
• a differentiated instruction activity is likely to command the attention of all 20 or 30 students in the room, seeing as how it involves the teacher performing a noisy classroom demonstration
• a differentiated instruction activity accompanying a lesson on angle measures doesn't have to have anything to do with angle measures, necessarily
  

I don't think this differentiated instruction thing is going to work out.


update from redkudu:

This is not a differentiated strategy. It is an engagement strategy. This is what I talk about when I say there is such little knowledge about the difference between the two.

That clears things up.

redkudu had mentioned this earlier and I didn't know what she meant.

She's absolutely right.

These are engagement strategies, pure and simple -- although they are labeled with the type of learner the "strategy" is supposed to address (auditory/musical; ELL; etc.)

What a mess.


update 2-13-2008: Steve H analyzes the US News & Newsweek rankings of high schools in the Comments thread.


woo hoo, Friday edition
differentiated instruction in action
can you FOIL the answers?
the Gambill method

Troublemaker

from Chester Finn's new book:

Governor Lamar Alexander's "Better Schools Program" was presented to the Tennessee legislature in January 1983 as the centerpiece of his second-term agenda. It had multiple elements, of which the boldest and most contentious was a "career ladder" for teachers--in effect, a merit pay plan.

I was thrilled to be a member of the governor's brain trust, batting out memos, drafts, talking points, explanations, and questions-and-answers on my Vanderbilt typewriter, and joining innumerable meetings at the statehouse and executive mansion. I also relished introducing Lamar to Al Shanker--we lunched at the Baltimore airport during a day trip via state plane--who responded with interest to the governor's "master teacher" plan, wrote supportively about it in his New York Times column, and invited Alexander to address the AFT convention later that year.

After much arm-twisting, compromising and revising, legislators agreed to key parts of the "Better Schools Program," including the contentious career ladder. Lamar thus won his spurs as an "education governor," among the first such. But neither of us fully appreciated the rubber-band-like nature of k-12 policy and how it yearns to snap back into its previous shape as soon as the tension eases. Once Alexander's term ended, the Tennessee Education Association and its allies began to "revise," "improve," "make fairer," and generally erode the performance-pay scheme and other prickly parts of his plan.

Any lasting policy change in education, I was coming to realize, must include a vigorous "war of ideas" because the broader political culture either subscribes to obsolete beliefs or has delegated responsibility to a priesthood that stubbornly clings to them. Just as important, however, is Alexander-style political leadership--astute, brave, goal driven, results oriented, and relentless. Yet even with those assets in place, a leader's boldest reforms are apt to prove transitory once he/she leaves the scene and the establishment strikes back.

I'm going to have to get the book.

Probably Al Shanker's book, too.


tattoo this to your forehead

Any lasting policy change in education, I was coming to realize, must include a vigorous "war of ideas" because the broader political culture either subscribes to obsolete beliefs or has delegated responsibility to a priesthood that stubbornly clings to them.

Not to be grandiose about it, but what we do here at ktm-2 -- what the whole crew of bloggers and web sites linked to on the sidebar do -- is important.

The war of ideas needs boots on the ground, and we're the boots.

help desk - how to study geometry

If you've got a minute, which you don't, let us know what you think of these Amazon reviewers' advice on how to study geometry.

Thanks!

dual enrollment

benefits of dual enrollment

Schaum's outlines

from Allison --

Ever hear of Schaum's Outlines?

Have they gone the way of the dodo? Why did Barron's replace them--were they bought out, or is it name recognition?

I made it through college because of Schaum's Outlines. They just had problem after problem after problem, plus all solutions, so you could just do the problems over and over and over until you got it.

Friends of mine from S. Korea and India say all of their math and science college courses were taught with Schaum's as the textbooks.

If I'm remembering correctly, Allison went to Cal Tech. (Is that right?)

update: wrong

Allison attended MIT.

I'm becoming a loyal customer of Schaum's today.

how to bypass high school

an email from my sister:

Speaking of just sending C. to community college and being done with it...as you know that's what we are doing with M. out here in California. She's halfway through her first year of high school and hates it. The solution: we will homeschool her through one of the zillions of charter schools until she turns 16. [ed. note: My sister isn't talking about homeschooling as the rest of us know it. I believe the CA term is "independent schools." I'll check. Better yet, I'll get her to explain!]

What the home schooled high school kid does is enroll in the local community college. During what would be her 10th grade year, she will be working on UC general education requirements. JCs are designed to meet needs of very basic learners on up, so high school kids can complete the necessary pre-reqs (tranlation: high school level classes) needed should they not test into the college level class.

Now there's a bit more to this. At 16, M. will proficiency out of high school. A proficiency is a bad thing if that's all you plan to do as it ranks below the GED. Essentially, to pass, all a student needs is a pulse. Why proficiency out? If he proficiencies out of high school, the youth is free to enroll full time in college (prior to proficiencying out of high school, students are limited to 11 units a semester; plus you do have to play some games with the charter school that get tedious).

Now, why this plan?

First of all, you avoid high school craziness.

Second, you avoid all the stress of AP, SAT testing, etc. You see, what parents don't realize, or seem to disbelieve despite admissions officers stating this fact, is that transfer students do not submit high school transcripts. All that matters is your college record along with any unique entry requirements in the school/major of choice.

Third, if you've got a mature kid, they get a jump on college. At 18 when Michelle's friends are graduating from high school, she will be ready to transfer into the UC system as a junior.

Fourth, it's a huge money saver. CC classes are $12 a unit (and for homeschool students that fee is waived; plus the homeschool charter pays for many of the college textbooks). Additionally, we'll save $27,000 a year (tuition/housing at UCLA) for the two years Michelle attends the local CC fulfilling the general education requirements she would have had to take during her first two years at UCLA.

Fifth, admissions officers at the universities will tell you it's easier to get accepted as a transfer than a freshman.

I tell you, this is a huge discovery. I asked the admissions officer at our CC why tons of high school kids weren't flocking in and her exact words were, "It's because their parents can't wrap their heads around the concept." She said she will tell parents what I just spelled out here and they don't believe her. Parents are that engrained in the belief that their kids must suffer through high school and take those AP classes.

Classic example: Michelle's dear friend is going to enroll in a $37,000 a year boarding school in the Bay Area as a 10th grader. He hates high school and figures this will solve his problems and be his ticket into college.

Of course, our plan isn't for everyone. You do need a level of emotional maturity that some kids don't have. But, it really should be an option seriously considered.

I'm trying to figure out how this might work here in New York state where we don't have an independent study option that I know of. I should see whether we have any kind of proficiency-ing out option.

What I also don't know is whether kids can take the Regents exams on their own. As far as I can tell, your school district controls the tests - but that can't be, right? Homeschooled kids would have to be able to take Regents.

I wonder if Chris' guidance counselor knows.

Learning & The Brain Conference in SF, Next in

I have come back from the Learning and the Brain conference every day with noble intentions of transcribing my posts into meaningful summaries of what I have heard and what I have learned....only to fall asleep over the computer. As I am now, and it is only 8:45.

If you are interested in the intersection of cognitive neuroscience and education, you might want to join the International Mind, Brain, and Education Society:

The mission of the International Mind, Brain, and Education Society (IMBES) is to facilitate cross-cultural collaboration in biology, education and the cognitive and developmental sciences. Science and practice will benefit from rich, bi-directional interaction. As research contributes to usable knowledge for education, practice can help to define promising research directions and contribute to the refinement of testable hypotheses. The Society invites researchers and practitioners at all levels of education to explore the questions and proposed solutions that emerge at the intersection of mind, brain and education. We seek to create environments where ideas are welcomed and at the same time critically and rigorously examined.

The Society’s principal goal is to foster dynamic relations between neuroscience, genetics, cognitive science, development, and education so that each field benefits from and influences work in the others, including questions asked, phenomena addressed, and methods employed.

The next Learning and the Brain conference is April 26-29 , 2008, in Cambridge, MA, which is more focused on brain plasticity and adult learning. Go check it out.

making every possible mistake

I'm a new soul.
I came to this strange world hoping I could learn a bit ‘bout how to give and take.
But since I came here…..felt the joy and the fear.....finding myself making every possible mistake.

la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la...

I'm a young soul in this very strange world hoping I could learn a bit ‘bout what is true and fake.
But why all this hate?
Try to communicate.
Finding trust and love is not always easy to make.

la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la...

This is a happy end.
'course you don't understand.
Everything you have done......
why's everything so wrong?

This is a happy end.
Come and give me your hand.
I'll take you far away.

[Refrain]:
I'm a new soul I came to this strange world hoping I could learn a bit ‘bout how to give and take. But since I came here…..felt the joy and the fear…..finding myself making every possible mistake.

la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la...

la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la....

I am moved by this song.

Given that it's the number 1 download on iTunes, that's me and everyone else, I guess.

woo hoo! (Friday edition)

C. earned 36 out of 34 points on his math quiz this week.

A+

Sure takes the sting out of the 79 he got on his midterm a couple of weeks back. (Can you say "mixed review"?)^*

This week's test included the following problems:

One year ago, the average price of a h ome computer system was $1500. Today, the average price is $1100. By what percent has the average cost of a home computer system decreased?

and

Lauren bought organic crackers for $4 after receiving a 25% discount., What was the original price of the crackers?

Seven months ago, in July, C. had no idea how to figure a 10% discount. Five months ago he began this school year with a D- on his first math test.

C+ first quarter grade.

B- second quarter.

More recently: scattered As on quizzes.

Now this.

He's going to make it.

Knock on wood.


tutors and more tutors

I keep hearing about tutors. Lots of kids in the class, it seems, are being tutored. More and more as the year goes along, I gather. C. says one of his pals "has a whole brigade of tutors."

Swell.

This week I learn that at least 2 of the kids are being tutored by other math teachers in the school.

Hiring a math teacher in the school to tutor your child is definitely a good idea, because a math teacher from the school comes to tutoring sessions equipped with:

• class syllabus

• course scope and sequence

• teacher’s edition of the textbook

• answer key

• solution manual

• supplemental Glencoe practice workbooks and answer keys aligned to Glencoe Algebra textbook

• attendance at department meetings; access to informal conversations amongst colleagues, etc.

• knowledge of material to be covered on upcoming quizzes and tests

As C. said when he mentioned the teacher-tutors of Irvington, "It's sort of like insider trading."

Yes, it is, son.

Poor C. He has no one but his mother to help, and I don't have any of these things. No syllabus. No scope and sequence. No answer key. And certainly no aforeknowledge of what's going to be on the test. ^**

It's not that I haven't asked for these things. I have. I've asked. I've asked repeatedly.

I don't have them.

Because I don't have any of these things, and because math teachers here in Irvington ($22,000 per pupil funding) don't collect or correct math homework, I have had to work every homework set myself so that I could correct C's homework.

I finished Homework #73 during the Super Bowl.

After I complete each assignment, C. and I compare notes, figure out which one of us got the wrong answer when our answers differ, and then re-do the problems we missed.

My situation reminds me of Ginger Rogers.

She did everything Fred Astaire did, but she did it backwards and wearing heels.


^* more on this subject anon

^** It's possible the other kids' teacher-tutors don't have aforeknowledge of what's going to be on the test, either. But how would I know?


can you FOIL the answers?
woo hoo, Friday edition
differentiated instruction in action

code of silence, part 2

more on why parents don't criticize their schools:


from Molly:

I have 2 in public school and 1 who now homeschools.

Once I pulled out of the neighborhood school, I suddenly started hearing all sorts of misgivings from other parents. It was as if they felt it was "safe" to talk to me about how they really felt about the school after I made my feelings public. Parents are concerned, but think that everyone else is happy with the school so they must be wrong.

from Tex:

Many people see their own kids as the problem, NOT the school. That attitude was enormously appealing to me. However, when I began to see the nonsense that sometimes passes as teaching, I changed my tune and started to consider that the school was not holding up their end of the bargain. I began to call them on it, and their response has been to do nothing differently. And, to sometimes ignore me.

Sense of futility.

and:

People who don't have kids in the schools need to get involved.

I absolutely agree. Unfortunately, I think people who don’t have kids in the schools usually cannot know the problems as well as the parents with school kids. They’re not as motivated and they view it as someone else’s problem. Of course, their protestations are often discounted by the powers that be and by the other parents.

Steve H on the same subject:

Many of the best advocates for change did have kids in the public schools. They got fed up and went elsewhere. Now they wash their hands of the problem.

Twenty to twenty-five percent of the kids in our town go to other schools. Some of the parents worked very hard to get the public schools to change or offer alternatives. They wouldn't. Now, these parents are accused of wanting an "elite" education and dismissed out-of-hand. The schools know that this is not true.

They just want to do what they want to do, and they try to focus all arguments on money. They would do more, but they just don't have the money.

concerned parent:

Of course, I know of a few people who do. We are, of course, the exception. People move here for the schools. It would never cross their minds that homeschooling would be an option-- a very good option, in fact.

Strangely enough, my daughter is promoting the value of homeschooling whenever she can. She has friends begging their parents to homeschool them. When parents hear all the interesting things my daughter has to say, how eloquently and coherently she can present her ideas, and that she is not socially dwarfed by being educated at home, whatever stereotypes they may have had about homeschooling are challenged.

In some way, this may open up a dialogue between parents are their own children about what is going on in school and what they are learning (or not learning). It just may cause parents to take pause and re-evaluate what's happening in our schools with a more critical eye.

I love it!

Excellent.


homeschooling in the D.C. area:

In the Washington, D.C., area, which is probably just as affluent as that of the above poster, homeschooling is very popular, attracting people of diverse educational philosophies. Many of the posters on this blog would be candidates for homeschooling. My wife and I homeschool our two daughters.

That is very encouraging to hear.

another student taking ownership of his learning

more from Amazon.com:

Barron's Regents Exams and Answers : Earth Science is one of the most valuable tools in studying for the New York state regents exam in Earth Science. It has many of the past regents to practice from, answers explained, and tips for when you take the regents. In the answers explained section it will tell you why the answer is right and even why other answers are wrong! I got a 95 on the regents with the help of this book. If you are taking Earth Science I would highly recommend that you get this book.

Why have teachers at all?

Just buy the kids a bunch of Barron's test prep books and tell them when and where.


a student taking ownership of his learning
another student taking ownership of his learning

a student taking ownership of his learning

from Amazon.com:

I reccomend that the best way for studying for the regents is taking practice tests after practice tests. You soon to being to basically memorize the questions on it. I got a 98 on the regents and tauight myself the whole course.

Sold.


a student taking ownership of his learning
another student taking ownership of his learning

book club - Don't Shoot the Dog - money for grades

I've finished Don't Shoot the Dog - amazing.

Life-altering.

And, best of all: will get a 13-year old to do math with his mother!

Have been trying to steal time to write posts about the book, and then for some reason was inspired to compose what should have been a first post here as a Comment on Ken's blog instead.

subject: "extinguishing" a behavior you don't like by putting the behavior on cue.

Code of silence?

In a comment that Catherine pulled out, I suggested that it's practically taboo for people to talk critically about the school their children attend. (Obviously that's not the case at KTMII, but this group is the exception to the rule.)

The question is - why?

Why is it that people are so accustomed to talking openly about every service they receive - cable, air travel, house painting, phone service, retail, etc. - except for public education?

If you have a problem with most services, you complain to the service provider, and you're not afraid to talk with other people about your experiences. But that doesn't happen in education. Again, why?

Is it a sense of futility? Are people afraid that their children will be punished somehow because their parents are rabble-rousers? Do people feel outmatched - on the wrong side of "the expert advantage"? Is it because people don't have any hard proof on which to base their arguments? Is it just because that's how it is - there's community pressure to hold your tongue? Or is it something else?

Why?

Non-linear Rubric Grading

After two semesters, here are the results of 4 tests and 1 quiz.

29/35 = 83% - A rubric grade of 3

39/45 = 87% - A rubric grade of 3

11/12 = 92% - A rubric grade of 4

31/33 = 94% - A rubric grade of 4

41/42 = 98% - A rubric grade of 5


All of the questions were simple problems that were either right or wrong. There was no partial credit.

The teachers say that a 3 is supposed to be "Meeting Expectations", as defined by the state, but clearly, an 87% is much better than that. Many kids think a 3 is a 'C'. A 4 is clearly an A, and a 5 is an A+, although one teacher said that a 5 is really more than an A+. You have to show "critical thinking" that goes beyond the assignment definition. So, to get a 5, you have to do more than what they tell you to do, but they won't tell you what that is. They added the 5 in the last few years. I guess that's their solution to giving more to the capable students ... but it's up to them to figure out what that is. The other benefit of this is that if students don't get 5's, then it's not the school's fault, and parents can't complain that they aren't doing enough. Adding 5's didn't mean that teachers had to do an ounce more work.

If kids don't master the material when they are young, then it's a developmentally appropriate issue. When kids do poorly when they get older, then they aren't taking responsibility for their own learning. It's a no-lose situation for them. That's why they like Everyday Math. No expectations of mastery when they are young and then flunk them when they struggle with the Math Boxes in sixth grade.

Smileyface

neat

Somebody on the animal ethology list linked to his page. Haven't read yet; apparently he was an assistant to Konrad Lorenz.

Fun with decimal conversion

I am tutoring a supersmart, high-SES seventh grader, and his class is converting repeating decimals to fractions using algebra. This is in a Chicago public school in a "gentrified" neighborhood.

Now, I have been happily converting repeating decimals of the type 0.3333..., 0.6666..., 0.232323... and 0.753753753... for a while using algebra. I was initially thrown when the decimals he was given for homework were of the type 0.244444..., 0.3020202... and 0.4213213213. I hadn't encountered those before.

I thought some KTM readers might enjoy trying their hands on those.