A few words on the state of schools and how to teach kids

So Last night we went to the Open House at the local school for my daughter.
Because she is in the 4th grade now things are very different then in kindergarten or 1st grade.

You find a lot less "crafty" projects.  You know  the cut and paste or glue type projects so common down at that grade level.  Instead we found 4-5 stories or reports.  Group project posters, a computer generated paper with area/perimeter exercises and the like.  Much more sterile and frankly I remember almost all of the projects since I helped her go find a book or two on the topic, did some editing with her or the like.

What I did find a bit disturbing is the fact that several of the stories had major spelling errors in them.
Like Loin instead of lion in the title of the story - How the loin got his mane.
I know the students write most if not all of the story out by hand and then type it into the computer to eventually be printed out.  So where is the spell check feature?  Where is the peer review for errors in grammar and spelling?
I asked my daughter about spell check and she says no one ever told them how to use it.  They just get the words underlined in red.  No granted loin to lion is a huge mistake though no spell check or grammar checker would ever pick that up.  Though a peer review might.  They might just not understand the way the sentence is written and ask questions or flag it as being unclear or misspelled.

I know I'm talking about 4th grade and all but, you'd think there would be a bit more proof reading of stories or projects.  So I though what would be the best way to help a bunch of upper grade elementary students learn the best?  Is it a bunch of busy work?  Is it a bunch of work sheets the answer.  Do you have them do major projects that you know the parents if they care get heavily involved in?  Likely not!
It also seems that many of the students are bringing back homework for math that obviously has extensive help from someone else.  I some cases doing it for them.

So how do you combat the problem of making it too hard or complicated that the parent steps in and does the majority of the project?  How, do you make it so they can see the application of math for example and decide they really want to learn it.  In the beginning I can imagine many think it is just a bunch of busy work to be memorized.  True you eventually, have to memorize the multiplication tables.  True that sometimes doing is what helps them learn.  However, where does the application come in?  When will they finally realize the importance of proper addition with decimals as they are handed back the wrong change at the store, or go through the embarrassment of giving way to much money to the clerk and the confusion it causes.
I've seen this with my daughter because calculating a rounded percentage (ie. tax) is still a hard concept for her.  So many cases she will give a $1.50 for a 99¢ packet of gum.

I like the idea she is buying something with what she deems her own money.  She learns, though I can tell if I question her to much on the change she gets frustrated and not interested in figuring it out.
So there is a max point and a point of fatigue with just about anything.

And there is also the issue with group projects.  How many groups have you been in that one or two members seems to be leaving everything to the last minute.  They don't seem to care and you grade will be adversely effected?


So where is the balance point?  Where is the point at which you will engage a majority of the students, with maximum learning ability.
I do know there are special cases.  People with dyslexia, autism or other learning disabilities.  Maybe even English as a second language.


And how to do balance things so that the class is all learning without leaving out one or two people specially if they are getting the material faster or slower then the rest of the class?



I like how in the past they were using the accelerated math program.  One student was 1 grade or 2 head of the rest of the class in math topics because he was grasping the topics quickly.

They do something similar with reading under the same type of name.  They take some type of quiz quarterly or so and it sets their level.   This level sets what type of book they can read and the point value.  The level indicates a grade level and the point value of the book is set per things such as length, over all concept, vocabulary and things of this level.  What we found is our daughter was reading a ton of 1 point books.  Barely in her level and basically you had to get a 100% to go anywhere.  Then she switched over to more appropriate books with a higher point value but, still in her general reading level.  Books like Heidi, Pollyanna, Series of Unfortunate Events, and other typical young reader books.  These books with an average point value of say 5 got her past her goal in no time flat.



Why?  The book would take say the time that was needed to read 3 or 4  of the 1 point books.  Though they were worth far more points.  So for a little bit more effort you could get more points even if you missed a few of the questions on the comprehension quizzes.

All this allows them to read at their level and move up as they are improving.  It gives a change for content review so you know if they are getting anything out of the reading and can provide assistance if needed.

And as is clear every method will not work with every type of student.  The challenge of the teachers of today is to figure out who is having troubles under the traditional system and get them help.  To help the visual learn as well as the on that has to do thing hands on.  Catering to each style is important.  I heard that some that getting boys to read comic books is  at least better then having them read nothing.   You have to start at some point.  and yes maybe this will stimulate them to move on to larger more complicated books.  Though when I had to find a book at the school library in high school by an author of my choice it opened up a whole new dimension.  I was the one choosing.  I was not forced to read something under protest or because someone thought it was a classic.  No guarantee it was any good though I was the one being stuck figuring out why.  That critical thinking component so important.  That is what we want in the end right?

Do we want a bunch of people that can spit out memorized facts that mean nothing to them or the student that can take that information and as an informed individual give some of the reasons why something happened (ie. War between the states, World war II, Viking age).



This also leads back to the common core that is being pushed so much.  It seems to state that the whole country should be learning the same thing.  Though they claim in as much as what you teach will be decided for you..... how you teach it will be up to the individual teacher.  Hum, that should be happening already if the teacher is any good.

"While the standards set grade-specific goals, they do not define how the standards should be taught or which materials should be used to support students. States and districts recognize that there will need to be a range of supports in place to ensure that all students, including those with special needs and English language learners, can master the standards. It is up to the states to define the full range of supports appropriate for these students"  Read the Standards - Common Core

There is heavy controversy on this topic and could be a whole other post by itself.  What is clear is that we may not be challenging our students enough and getting through to some that need extra attention.

There are no easy solutions to this problem.... but, holding our students and teachers accountable is a good start.

So help your child get their creative juices flowing...... and maybe while they are at it they can learn to use spell check, a dictionary and proof read their material.

Buaidh - NO - Bas

Math and the current state of Education

Recently at my daughter's school they have decided to concentrate on the Accelerated math program every morning as the first part of class.  This allows those students that are picking up the concepts to move along at a quicker pace and those that are having more trouble to deal with those issues and get reinforcement.  There is the same program for reading as well.

One student in the first grade was doing fractions because of this program.  So this is wonderful.   But, after a discussion with a coworker I came to the realization that maybe we don't have a good math tradition in the US.

Recently they had some professors of education from UCI (University of California Irvine) come and relay some information on helping our children to better understand math and achieve better.
What we found from the professor dealing with the lower grades (k-3) is that some concepts like subtract 10 (subtracting from 10 instead of the actual number and adding back in the extra) is taught in almost all the more mathematically advanced countries like Japan, Russia, Korea and even France.   We are still dealing with issues of young children counting on their fingers.  and not so much the alternate ways to get an answer.  My daughter does this all the time.  But, as we help them to think outside the box and/or use alternative method of coming up with the solution they will be more secure in their math skills and be able to tackle harder and harder problems without shutting down.


I believe we don't have a very good math tradition in the USA.  In fact sometimes what is happening with the homework is busy work and/or work that helps you to take a test.  Albeit helpful some of this is not very good in the real world.  There is not enough application of the information learned.  I know this might seem strange to be talking about this for a 1st grader though it would be much more helpful then just doing 50 addition problems in a row.   There does have to be some repetition to help drill things into the psyche.


I wish I could help my daughter to not want to count on her fingers when resolving a math problem.  But, I do see some rays of hope.  Some times she gets out little erasers or other objects to represent the numbers she is dealing with.  Not a bad start to alternate thinking. She is better able to visualize the final number whether it be addition or subtraction.  But, at the same time I see that in simple word problems some things just go right over her head.  She might identify the numbers involved but, has not,  for some unknown reason, figured out whether they are to be subtracted or added together.  She is simply not taking the time to read the problem.

So have we in our new digital, instant access world become lazy?  Have we come to the point that since everything has to be so fast we apply this in our own school work, or lives?  Are we falling back on tricks, short cuts or the like, instead of taking the time to really do the math?


Are we really better off then our Slide rule, punch card, abacus using forebears?

Are we so dependent on a calculator that we can't we handle some simple math  or count out change at the cash register?.

As the professor/researcher gave her presentation she talked about rounding out and the like.  Coping strategies that we may use to get a rough idea what the answer will be.  It hit home as I do that many a time.  I just hope I can impart these and other mathematical strategies onto my daughter so that she is not counting on her finders when she's thirty (don't laugh a teacher supposedly told the professor she was still doing finger counting).

So the challenge is in front of us.  How do we make Math fun, practical and applicable in the lives of our Children so we can have a rising generation with a chance and not just a bunch of burger flippers that can't even make change.  We can import plenty of that if we wanted to!  But this is not the time to discuss legal and illegal immigration.


Please provide any suggestions on how to help our children with their math.

Buaidh - NO - BAS