Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
9,781 posts, read 15,817,228 times
Reputation: 10894
Advertisements
Quote:
Originally Posted by goodbyesnow
Everyday math had some good parts to it-needed more of the "explaining/justifying but did make us teach multiple strategies. Before teaching everyday math, I taught Math Investigations which focused heavily on the critical thinking aspects of math so kids understood what they were doing and why.
The math program we have here is so old-fashioned and boring that many teachers where I work are not using it or have to do a lot of supplementing.
I wouldn't have minded that if they also taught the traditional way of mathematics and then gave them other strategies. But they didn't. Just thinking about the lattice method gives me nightmares. I'm so glad our school does not use EM!
I teach 8thgrade, not in Wake, and find very few children are prepared for the concepts of pre algebra. It was tough enuf teaching facts, but nearly all lack the ability to translate concepts into problem solving.
Oh, before you think we are a bunch of dummies our EOG math is always 95% plus.
As I have posted before, City Data has a phenomenal percentage of gifted children. Who would think.
My dd1 loves the Lattice Method! But I don't think she learned it in CHCCS. I think that came from another source. She's a very visual learner and it really helps her.
I have not seen a whole lot of difference in Core Curriculum Math in 3rd grade for dd2 vs Envisions Math for 2nd grade except it's more on her level, but I think that has to do with the teacher, too. She is being challenged more appropriately overall in 3rd grade, not just in math.
What county do you teach in LLN? I know that parents of older kids in CHCCS were really concerned that the Core Curriculum didn't mess up their kids' opportunities for advanced math in high school. Algebra (not Pre-Algebra) has been regularly taught in 8th grade in CHCCS. They made adjustments to make it work with Core Curriculum so kids could get to advanced math classes (Calculus, etc) by 12th grade and it sounds like they did in Wake Co, too.
I know when I was in 8th grade back in the Dark Ages my graduating year had the same issue because we all went to a brand new middle school (6, 7, 8) instead of Junior High (7,8,9) where we had been the year before and where the gifted kids were able to take Algebra (usu offered in 9th grade) in 8th. Because of the middle school being brand new they didn't offer Algebra to the gifted kids that first year and I had a whole bunch of friends who ended up going to summer school so that they could get Calculus in 12th grade. I just went with the program and did Trig in 12th grade. Math was not my fave and I didn't see the point of going to summer school for it.
I teach 8thgrade, not in Wake, and find very few children are prepared for the concepts of pre algebra. It was tough enuf teaching facts, but nearly all lack the ability to translate concepts into problem solving.
Oh, before you think we are a bunch of dummies our EOG math is always 95% plus.
As I have posted before, City Data has a phenomenal percentage of gifted children. Who would think.
Actually, it is not surprising at all to me. This is a highly educated area and many kids around here are growing up in households that are willing and able to support their development beyond what is standard for their age group. If a kid has a natural talent or sincere interest in a subject and a parent is trying to nurture it, I think that is a great thing, not a reason to be scornful.
Thank you for the perspectives! I am very encouraged by what I am seeing at the local public school. They seem very capable of handling both the kids who need a little more help and kids that need a little more challenge. I am glad to hear the switch to common core will not change that.
I really like the comment about having to "show your work" , since I often see where my one son who is intuitively good in math leaps to the right answer without perhaps thinking it through. Slowing him down a bit to explain why it is the right answer will undoubtably give him a better foundation for more complex problems in the future.
I am just thrilled that he LIKES it so much and is in an environment where is it not "cool" to dislike math and science (or the kids who enjoy them).
. I am glad to hear the switch to common core will not change that.
I really like the comment about having to "show your work" , since I often see where my one son who is intuitively good in math leaps to the right answer without perhaps thinking it through. .
It's funny, my DS who struggles so with math often does not show his work and still gets the right answer. I am not really sure what his issue is - I honestly think he just does not want to be bothered going through all the steps of the increasingly complex problems. His math teacher even wrote on his last classwork "if you don't start showing your work I am going to start deducting points" - and he had gotten a 97. For a kid who often DOESN'T get a 97 ( ) I can understand her frustration, because you want to know what is going through his head!
One thing that drives me crazy with my kids is they all want to ERASE their work. My sister is a teacher and she said her students do it all.the.time. It's very odd.
I'm curious about the lattice method - what is that?
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
9,781 posts, read 15,817,228 times
Reputation: 10894
Quote:
Originally Posted by twingles
It's funny, my DS who struggles so with math often does not show his work and still gets the right answer. I am not really sure what his issue is - I honestly think he just does not want to be bothered going through all the steps of the increasingly complex problems. His math teacher even wrote on his last classwork "if you don't start showing your work I am going to start deducting points" - and he had gotten a 97. For a kid who often DOESN'T get a 97 ( ) I can understand her frustration, because you want to know what is going through his head!
One thing that drives me crazy with my kids is they all want to ERASE their work. My sister is a teacher and she said her students do it all.the.time. It's very odd.
My old algebra teacher in high school had a great way of grading. She said, if you don't show the work and get the answer right, it's right. If you don't show the work, and the answer is wrong then it's wrong. But if you show the work, and the answer is wrong, you might get partial credit. So there was incentive to show the work, but if some students didn't need to, they didn't have to.
Poppydog, my daughter didn't learn lattice method in CHCC; she learned it in Fairfax County schools.
My old algebra teacher in high school had a great way of grading. She said, if you don't show the work and get the answer right, it's right. If you don't show the work, and the answer is wrong then it's wrong. But if you show the work, and the answer is wrong, you might get partial credit. So there was incentive to show the work, but if some students didn't need to, they didn't have to.
Poppydog, my daughter didn't learn lattice method in CHCC; she learned it in Fairfax County schools.
That's why I keep telling them to show their work!!! Math teachers will almost always give partial credit.
I just learned via Wikipedia that it's actually very old from the 12th or 13th C at least, so not "New Math" just a different way of looking at multiplying large numbers.
I wouldn't have minded that if they also taught the traditional way of mathematics and then gave them other strategies. But they didn't. Just thinking about the lattice method gives me nightmares. I'm so glad our school does not use EM!
Too funny! I only taught Everday math for two years-we had to show traditional methods too. Where my kids went to school, they had Everyday Math until we came here. My 7th grade ONLY uses the lattice method! I told her kids here are going to think she's nuts!
5th grader uses Envision Math-unsure how I feel about that.
Where I teach we have Houghton Mifflin something or other-not my favorite. Luckily, as long as we follow common core, we can deviate from that.
I do like that in Wake we grade with 1-4 and to get a 4, they have to show level 4 effort to include a level 4 answer to a question which shows the higher level thinking.
My kids are in Johnston and they still just use the % grading where it's looking only for a right/wrong answer and I don't see them being required to show that higher level of thinking/explaining. My daughter gets tons of worksheets that are not from their math curriculum and dont align with common core-some things they havent even been exposed to yet, but those grades go into the average and on the report card, which doesnt seem right to me. I know it's easier for a teacher to just grade a number answer, but gosh, it seems so old-fashioned.
AND: Is it normal here for a 92% to be a B? My youngest bombed a social studies "pop quiz" with a 70%, which was failing!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm so glad our school does not use EM!
