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Oh, for goodness sakes, a box and whisker plot is a way to graph the characteristics of a data set. It's VERY basic statistics, folks, and perfectly within reach for a fifth-to-sixth grader. It is a simple -- yes, I said simple -- way to show the relationship between range, median, and distribution.
Last edited by randomparent; 02-22-2014 at 11:25 AM..
Oh, for goodness sakes, a box and whisker plot is a way to graph the characteristics of a data set. It's VERY basic statistics, folks, and perfectly within reach for a fifth-to-sixth grader. It is a simple -- yes, I said simple -- way to show the relationship between range, median, and distribution.
No one is saying anything bad about the method ---- just that if you tell a parent (or an unfamiliar sub teacher) "Don't forget to use 'cat whiskers'." You will probably get a blank stare.
Just last night I was talking to a relative and he was describing the huge difficulty he had helping his 2nd grade grandson with his math homework. He told me that he had straight A's in his high school & college math classes and is totally bewildered by the methods and math terminology used by his grandson. He said that his grandson "doesn't get it (2nd grade math)" and he (Grandpa) feels "like a total idiot" because he can't help him.
BTW Mom asked Grandpa to help with math because she couldn't figure it out either.
No one is saying anything bad about the method ---- just that if you tell a parent (or an unfamiliar sub teacher) "Don't forget to use 'cat whiskers'." You will probably get a blank stare.
Just last night I was talking to a relative and he was describing the huge difficulty he had helping his 2nd grade grandson with his math homework. He told me that he had straight A's in his high school & college math classes and is totally bewildered by the methods and math terminology used by his grandson. He said that his grandson "doesn't get it (2nd grade math)" and he (Grandpa) feels "like a total idiot" because he can't help him.
BTW Mom asked Grandpa to help with math because she couldn't figure it out either.
This is the real issue. People react violently and negatively towards anything that makes them feel stupid.
I have to wonder if anyone ever reads the parent letter that comes home at the beginning of each math unit. Even if a letter doesn't show up in a kid's take home folder, it seems every math curriculum used in elementary school offers on-line resources these days. All of my kids' teachers mentioned the math website during parent orientation, and it was followed up with a letter explaining log-in procedures, etc. Is this not the case any longer?
By the time my kids got to middle school/high school, Khan Academy was the place to go for help. When my sixth grader came home with Box-and-Whisker homework, that was my first stop. Five minutes of Sal and both of us had it down. I understand that not everyone has an internet connection, but many of the complaints about math homework come from people who are on-line for hours each day, yet seem to have forgotten how to use Google.
Last edited by randomparent; 02-22-2014 at 06:34 PM..
I calculate ages, dates, etc. in my head exactly the way you described. I don't think it is appropriate however to put this kind of question on a test. When I looked at the question, I first thought it was an error. My second thought was I was missing something with where the toys are located between the chest and shelf. Why can't they just ask the question:
Isn't that what is important, that the student can add 8 + 6 and get an answer of 14?
My daughter started getting this last question ("How many are there together?") to answer at the very end of 1st grade/into 2nd grade. In first grade it was all about identifying how to solve the problem. You solve the question "how many toys" by realizing that you add together the 8 and the 6. Every once in a while the teacher would throw in two answers:
8 + 6 = 10
8 + 6 = 14
and the kids had to be able to actually do the math and learn which was correct. For the most part, though, they were parsing word problems.
It's an incredibly important skill to learn (and useful outside of math, too, as she is finding when she does her reading comprehension work).
This type of refactoring answer...I don't know what I think about that.
My four-year-old is a number whiz. If I read this question to him, he would get the right answer. My second-grader could have done it with a little thought (she also has a math brain, but not like her brother). The first grader would cry (she is, so far, wired differently...math is not her friend).
I have to wonder if anyone ever reads the parent letter that comes home at the beginning of each math unit. Even if a letter doesn't show up in a kid's take home folder, it seems every math curriculum used in elementary school offers on-line resources these days. All of my kids' teachers mentioned the math website during parent orientation, and it was followed up with a letter explaining log-in procedures, etc. Is this not the case any longer?
By the time my kids got to middle school/high school, Khan Academy was the place to go for help. When my sixth grader came home with Box-and-Whisker homework, that was my first stop. Five minutes of Sal and both of us had it down. I understand that not everyone has an internet connection, but many of the complaints about math homework come from people who are on-line for hours each day, yet seem to have forgotten how to use Google.
My kids have been in 3 different school districts. We don't get a letter home about the math unit, and we didn't get offered online resources for math.
In two of the districts, at the beginning of the year at the parent-teacher orientation meeting the teachers went over some "new" math vocabulary so we wouldn't be lost.
I don't think it's INAPPROPRIATE, especially if they are learning math other ways as well. To just show a question like this, with no context, isn't logical and you can't argue about it. I'm bad at math (a victim of "new math" a few decades ago) but good at logic and admitting that I'm not always right.
There is nothing wrong with exposing those who are ready to concepts they are ready to understand. There is something wrong with putting it on a standardized test and expecting all kids to understand something that many are not developmentally capable of understanding. This is especially true in the primary grades where differences in normal development can vary as much as 24 months.
The CCSS are tied to age-based grades. Perhaps the child should be able to move to the level of standards they are developmentally capable of handling. However, this would be a huge problem given the current structure of our schools since there is no financially or physically efficient way to do this while meeting the social, emotional and maturity needs of the child as well.
I read everything, but it really is not the parents' responsibility to teach the curriculum.
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and admitting that I'm not always right.
