The second grade student I was working with was doing well in math but he had trouble reading. Now he is no longer at grade level in math. Why, he can't read the problems. Yes the new common core wants students to be able to read. But now students who have trouble reading are feeling more of a failure because they can't do math either.
The New York Times article, "Math Under Common Core Has Even Parents Stumbling" by Motoko Rich, states that parents are finding math too difficult to do. So now students don't just do the formula to arrive at the answer. They must draw and explain their logic about how to solve the problem.
Math used to be like a foreign language. A student just needed to learn the symbols and the formulas and they could be successful even if reading was difficult for them. With the transition to common core happening so quickly, there are not textbooks available, so many teachers are just using workbook pages.
"The new methods (for math) are particularly challenging for student with learning disabilities, or those who struggle orally or with writing." Much of the work is now busy work with students drawing 42 dots to solve the problem...
When I was involved with the common core with the county of Santa Clara, I noticed that special education students might never pass so of the area they were to master each year. So I wondered what will happen to them. Do they deserve to flunk classes?
I think each child will have to take a pretest to determine which skills they learned and remembered over the summer. Then at the end of the year, the teacher can administer a post test and see how each child has improved over the year. This will be a true test to show how much the teacher helped each student learn over the year. Having every student take a 4th grade test at the end of the year doesn't show how the teacher helped a particular student learn 2nd grade and 3 grade material. They may not have mastered 4th grade material but they did learn two years worth of material.
Parents will have to be in touch with their child's teacher and learn the math to help their child success during this transition to the "Common Core".
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Schools in San Diego Unified
I love teaching but I am finding students are falling through the cracks in the local schools. Teachers have so many students. It is hard for them to meet the needs of each student. Especially when a student is in middle school that don't want to seem dumb in front of classmates.
As a parent, you should be able to review all your child's homework and see where they are misunderstanding. Fourth grade is the year to have the best math teacher as that is when fractions are taught. When a student is weak in fractions it can hurt them in every math class after that.
Finding a tutor to help with certain math concepts is a good idea. It does not mean your student needs a tutor forever. When your student is in high level math classes you need to have them attend all study sessions with their teacher and possibly find them a tutor if you can't help them with their homework.
I also have had a student who has trouble reading. He was denied an IEP because he is smart. But today, the common core questions, even math, all involve reading. So even though you are smart if you can't read you end up being below basic. So if your child is having trouble with reading, you might want to hire a tutor to help them with phonics and whole language learning. Also fight for additional testing or another IEP.
Remember in your child's classroom there could be 5 or more students that are still learning English. There can be students whose parents work two or more jobs just to survive in this economy and have no time to help their child learn. There can be students with autism and other special needs in their classroom. More and more is being expected by teachers from the administration. Many teachers are overwhelmed. Your teacher isn't a bad teacher but could just have a large class where she/he can not meet the needs of every student.
As a parent, you should be able to review all your child's homework and see where they are misunderstanding. Fourth grade is the year to have the best math teacher as that is when fractions are taught. When a student is weak in fractions it can hurt them in every math class after that.
Finding a tutor to help with certain math concepts is a good idea. It does not mean your student needs a tutor forever. When your student is in high level math classes you need to have them attend all study sessions with their teacher and possibly find them a tutor if you can't help them with their homework.
I also have had a student who has trouble reading. He was denied an IEP because he is smart. But today, the common core questions, even math, all involve reading. So even though you are smart if you can't read you end up being below basic. So if your child is having trouble with reading, you might want to hire a tutor to help them with phonics and whole language learning. Also fight for additional testing or another IEP.
Remember in your child's classroom there could be 5 or more students that are still learning English. There can be students whose parents work two or more jobs just to survive in this economy and have no time to help their child learn. There can be students with autism and other special needs in their classroom. More and more is being expected by teachers from the administration. Many teachers are overwhelmed. Your teacher isn't a bad teacher but could just have a large class where she/he can not meet the needs of every student.
Google Helps with Autism Research
Parents - I hope you will participate in the Autism Speaks Genome-mapping program. Google plans to put the information in the cloud so more researchers can have access to this information.
This gene study was done on heart disease and was found helpful. So far all the research has shown is that there isn't just one form of autism.
So when researchers come to your house, please participate. This particular research is called AUT1OK and will be available to all researchers to sign the standard research agreement.
There is also a similar program going on withe Alzheimer's research where five universities have sequenced 580 genomes.
This takes so much storage space so going to the cloud with Google should help everyone.
From
Genes in the Cloud: Google Steps Into Autism Research by Shirley S. Wang, Wall Street Journal, June 10, 2014
This gene study was done on heart disease and was found helpful. So far all the research has shown is that there isn't just one form of autism.
So when researchers come to your house, please participate. This particular research is called AUT1OK and will be available to all researchers to sign the standard research agreement.
There is also a similar program going on withe Alzheimer's research where five universities have sequenced 580 genomes.
This takes so much storage space so going to the cloud with Google should help everyone.
From
Genes in the Cloud: Google Steps Into Autism Research by Shirley S. Wang, Wall Street Journal, June 10, 2014
Thursday, March 6, 2014
And the parents cried, "Help!"
I try to be low key about tutoring. If you do a good job, your students grow and no longer need you as a tutor. I try to be happy about that but it means I should be recruiting new students.
Then the grades come in after a period of no tutoring and I am called back to service. One mother called with a SOS. The teacher won't even help her with her homework. So I put on my algebra 1 hat and went through two homework assignments.
The teacher had a great trick for simplifying equations but the student had trouble remembering how to do it. So I did the low tech method. What two numbers multiplied together can give you the answer. After that we figured out what the middle number needed to be so we could get the positive and negative signs with the correct variable. After we found one in either the bottom of the equation or the top of the equations, I reminded the student, "I bet the book has one of these equations on the top so we can cancel it out." We try it and meet with success. I did check all the odd problems answers in the back of the book and we were correct.
We were so happy and were sharing with the mom about how great we did and we observed her blank stare, as she was not understanding the job of algebra. I guess that is why I am trying to tutor. I want to make life easier for parents so they can enjoy their children and leave the painful, tense experience of 'trying to learn' with someone else.
2n2 - 5n -3 divided by 4n + 5 equals n - 3
4n2 - 12n -7 2n-7 4n + 5
I could not figure out to make the number to the second power using this blog. :)
Then the grades come in after a period of no tutoring and I am called back to service. One mother called with a SOS. The teacher won't even help her with her homework. So I put on my algebra 1 hat and went through two homework assignments.
The teacher had a great trick for simplifying equations but the student had trouble remembering how to do it. So I did the low tech method. What two numbers multiplied together can give you the answer. After that we figured out what the middle number needed to be so we could get the positive and negative signs with the correct variable. After we found one in either the bottom of the equation or the top of the equations, I reminded the student, "I bet the book has one of these equations on the top so we can cancel it out." We try it and meet with success. I did check all the odd problems answers in the back of the book and we were correct.
We were so happy and were sharing with the mom about how great we did and we observed her blank stare, as she was not understanding the job of algebra. I guess that is why I am trying to tutor. I want to make life easier for parents so they can enjoy their children and leave the painful, tense experience of 'trying to learn' with someone else.
2n2 - 5n -3 divided by 4n + 5 equals n - 3
4n2 - 12n -7 2n-7 4n + 5
I could not figure out to make the number to the second power using this blog. :)
Monday, February 3, 2014
Screen TIme Study FInds Education Drop-Off
This article is from the New York Times January 24, 2014 written by Motoko RIck
Basically, parents do you know what games your child is playing on the computer and the educational benefits from them ? I find parents using technology to keep their child quiet sometimes.
This survey found less that 1/2 of the time a children ages 2 to 10 is "not" educational material but watch mostly entertaining videos on electronic devices.
It is easy to say "oh my child is playing educational games" so it is fine. But think how many hours your child is on-line for and what is he or she giving up to do that. Children click on a new game and if it does not provide 'fun' they move to something else.
More hours in from of electronics means fewer hours connecting with human beings, playing with neighborhood kids, playing sports. Perhaps there are more times to snack while being engaged with your electronic friend.
Michael Thornton, a second grade teacher, has parents asking for for referrals for education apps, like Geared and Glass Tower for teach math and spacial recognition skills, and 'Chicktionary', for vocabulary.
The real question today is to determine what your children and playing to to notice the educational value of the game. Try to limit over all time hooked up to an electronic devise including television. I have observed children viewing the television and they can't make conversation. They just are stuck viewing and can hardly move.
It is important to check in with what they are learning. Have them teach you how to play so you can interact more.
If kids are being entertained all the time how will they find the classroom when they are sent off to school?
I welcome your comments and observations.
Basically, parents do you know what games your child is playing on the computer and the educational benefits from them ? I find parents using technology to keep their child quiet sometimes.
This survey found less that 1/2 of the time a children ages 2 to 10 is "not" educational material but watch mostly entertaining videos on electronic devices.
It is easy to say "oh my child is playing educational games" so it is fine. But think how many hours your child is on-line for and what is he or she giving up to do that. Children click on a new game and if it does not provide 'fun' they move to something else.
More hours in from of electronics means fewer hours connecting with human beings, playing with neighborhood kids, playing sports. Perhaps there are more times to snack while being engaged with your electronic friend.
Michael Thornton, a second grade teacher, has parents asking for for referrals for education apps, like Geared and Glass Tower for teach math and spacial recognition skills, and 'Chicktionary', for vocabulary.
It is important to check in with what they are learning. Have them teach you how to play so you can interact more.
If kids are being entertained all the time how will they find the classroom when they are sent off to school?
I welcome your comments and observations.
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Take Your Child to Art Museums
I have always taken my children to art museums in addition to most any kind of museum. It has always been thought that arts increase thinking skills but there was never any real proof.
I read an article in The New York Times on Nov. 24. 2013 by Brian Kisida called, "Art Makes You Smart". A study was done in Arkansas where students were able to visit museums by lottery. This museum was set up by the daughter of Sam Walton and is 50,000 square feet and has an endowment of over $800 million. Over 11,000 students and 500 teachers participated in this study. The benefits were higher for minority, low income, and rural students.
"Visiting an art museum exposes students to a diversity of ideas that challenge them with different perspectives on the human condition. Expanding access to art.. should be a central part of any school's curriculum."
Here in California, where the budget is tight and classrooms are overflowing, museum trips are sparse. So as a parent, take your child to museums and explore together. This beats watching a TV show together.
Google Learning in Museums to start finding resources that will work for you.
http://www.mylearning.org
http://www.imls.gov/about/learning_labs.aspx
I read an article in The New York Times on Nov. 24. 2013 by Brian Kisida called, "Art Makes You Smart". A study was done in Arkansas where students were able to visit museums by lottery. This museum was set up by the daughter of Sam Walton and is 50,000 square feet and has an endowment of over $800 million. Over 11,000 students and 500 teachers participated in this study. The benefits were higher for minority, low income, and rural students.
"Visiting an art museum exposes students to a diversity of ideas that challenge them with different perspectives on the human condition. Expanding access to art.. should be a central part of any school's curriculum."
Here in California, where the budget is tight and classrooms are overflowing, museum trips are sparse. So as a parent, take your child to museums and explore together. This beats watching a TV show together.
Google Learning in Museums to start finding resources that will work for you.
http://www.mylearning.org
http://www.imls.gov/about/learning_labs.aspx
Help Your Child Play With Math
I found this article from the New York Times, 11/14/2013 "With Apps, Children Can Play the Game of Math by Kit Eaton. Somehow, children like to play games. Children like to play games on the computer and they like to play on tablets. How many parents allow their children to use their tablet or phone when having dinner, waiting for appointments, or driving in the car? I still would prefer parents to limit this time because interacting with real human beings should be more important. But I do agree sometimes it is nice to not be around children screaming.
But parents should look for apps that can help your child learn. In this article she recommends "Dragonbox Algebra 5+" It is $6.00 but she feels it is worth the money. If you do use it please let me know what you think.
Next she recommends "Yodeloh Math Mountain". This is more of an introductory math program. many newspapers recommend it. The link shows many positive reviews.
The third app she recommends is "Madagascar Math Ops".
". There is a free version to try it out but both of these last two programs cost around $3.00 each. This use the "Madagascar" cartoon as a carrot to involve your child. Short movies are the reward.
Finally a traditional math app she recommends is "Mathboard" I have to admit this one does not look exciting. With all the wonderful graphics available, I would not be excited to play a game that looks like a chalkboard.
I am using MobyMax. This can be used on the computer or tablets but it is geared more for the teacher to give to her students. The reward after working on worksheets which the text can be given in audio for the child who has trouble reading, is time available to play their games.
Bottom line use parents should use learning apps when something electronic is needed to keep your child interested, focused and not out of control.
But parents should look for apps that can help your child learn. In this article she recommends "Dragonbox Algebra 5+" It is $6.00 but she feels it is worth the money. If you do use it please let me know what you think.
Next she recommends "Yodeloh Math Mountain". This is more of an introductory math program. many newspapers recommend it. The link shows many positive reviews.
". There is a free version to try it out but both of these last two programs cost around $3.00 each. This use the "Madagascar" cartoon as a carrot to involve your child. Short movies are the reward.
Bottom line use parents should use learning apps when something electronic is needed to keep your child interested, focused and not out of control.
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