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We can all agree that it is ideal for kids to learn basic, fundamental skills early on in their academic careers. Learning basic calculation skills like multiplication facts, how to divide and other integer operations in elementary school is of course the best plan for young students. The question I have is, what is the best course of action to take for students who come to you having already fallen way behind? How do you handle an 8th grader who often fails to correctly answer a question like 'what is 4 times 3'? I think we can agree that emphasizing to the student that he/she needs to learn/memorize skills like this is important. But, do we withhold the rest of the curriculum that is considered more advanced? Or do we teach the basic skills alongside the more advanced, grade level material? Or do we just give up on the kids all together and complain about it on city-data?
Anybody can speak to how important basic skill acquisition in the early grades is to student success. And anybody can lament the fact that those who make it to secondary grades without really acquiring the basic skills will likely struggle mightily. But, what is the role of teachers who inherit students who've made it to the higher grade levels and still lack skills they should have learned many years prior?
Curriculum in my district allows for a little leeway, but hardly enough to remediate students who don't know their multiplication facts. If a student passes with a D or better, they go on. We do not limit their exposure to more advance topics. Their limited understanding of foundational material is what place limits on the students.
Here's what I do:
After identifying students who are lagging, I conference with them and their parents and give advice to the parents how to work with their child at home. Although I don't have time during my voluntary after-school tutoring sessions to do multiplication drills (and can be done at home), I will work with students on algorithms as needed.
Some schools will offer an elective foundations math class. Sometimes, if done properly, it is helpful.
I do what I can to help, but, I have to place limits on my time. I only work 9 hours a day during the week and about 6-8 hours on the weekend.
I find it frustrating and I do complain because, I have worked as much as 14 hour days 5 days a week and continually contact the same parents, but things almost never change.
We can all agree that it is ideal for kids to learn basic, fundamental skills early on in their academic careers. Learning basic calculation skills like multiplication facts, how to divide and other integer operations in elementary school is of course the best plan for young students. The question I have is, what is the best course of action to take for students who come to you having already fallen way behind? How do you handle an 8th grader who often fails to correctly answer a question like 'what is 4 times 3'? I think we can agree that emphasizing to the student that he/she needs to learn/memorize skills like this is important. But, do we withhold the rest of the curriculum that is considered more advanced? Or do we teach the basic skills alongside the more advanced, grade level material? Or do we just give up on the kids all together and complain about it on city-data?
Anybody can speak to how important basic skill acquisition in the early grades is to student success. And anybody can lament the fact that those who make it to secondary grades without really acquiring the basic skills will likely struggle mightily. But, what is the role of teachers who inherit students who've made it to the higher grade levels and still lack skills they should have learned many years prior?
I don't think you withhold advanced curriculum, but in math, at least students are often unsuccessful in advanced curriculum unless the master the basic concepts.
For kids who do not have the multiplication tables memorized, you have to ask whether or not they understand what multiplication is first. Even in 8th grade, you can use manipulatives to help kids get these skills and if they can become successful using manipulatives, they can decide to put in the time to memorize the facts to make things easier for themselves. I am also a big proponent of using music to memorize addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts. I might have these playing in the classroom at least sometimes. You can also do some of these as refreshers for the whole class when doing a more advanced concept. When you teach area, it is logical to use it to teach multiplication as well.
You can also use books even in a jr. high math classroom. Even older kids like being read to. You might encourage the language arts team to bring in books that have a math subtext. You can also find websites where these kids can use games to practice on the internet.
Curriculum in my district allows for a little leeway, but hardly enough to remediate students who don't know their multiplication facts. If a student passes with a D or better, they go on. We do not limit their exposure to more advance topics. Their limited understanding of foundational material is what place limits on the students.
Here's what I do:
After identifying students who are lagging, I conference with them and their parents and give advice to the parents how to work with their child at home. Although I don't have time during my voluntary after-school tutoring sessions to do multiplication drills (and can be done at home), I will work with students on algorithms as needed.
Some schools will offer an elective foundations math class. Sometimes, if done properly, it is helpful.
I do what I can to help, but, I have to place limits on my time. I only work 9 hours a day during the week and about 6-8 hours on the weekend.
I find it frustrating and I do complain because, I have worked as much as 14 hour days 5 days a week and continually contact the same parents, but things almost never change.
I have more to say on this, but my lunch is over.
Great plan.
Congrats to you. I'm glad that you realize that you need a life outside of work.
I spent most of my teaching career with "at-risk" 9th graders. The basic profile was either very bright, but didn't care, or very low skills, and have given up. The low ones typically read at no higher than a 2nd grade level, and their math skills ended at basic addition and subtraction - even borrowing and carrying was beyond what they could manage. What I found in their files, almost without exception, is these students had been tested at least once for special ed. They either qualified, but their parents didn't follow through on paperwork, or they didn't qualify because their test scores were low enough, it showed they probably weren't able to master the more abstract concepts.
By the time they're in middle school, they're well aware that they're lower than their peers, and they're also very resistant to using manipulatives. When it came to adding and subtracting, I encouraged them to use their fingers to keep track. With multiplication and division, I let them use multiplication charts. Interestingly, many of them could follow the steps to solve a basic/simple algebra problems, once they didn't get hung up on the computations. (And, with the daily exposure to the multiplication charts, some of them were even able to strengthen their memorization of facts.)
I realize some here will say this isn't right, and that these students SHOULD have already learned these things. Absolutely! And they SHOULD be fed every morning, and they SHOULD at least have their free lunch form filled out, and they SHOULD get to see their fathers without visiting the county jail...The reality is they don't have any of these things, and if a multiplication chart can help them, I'm giving them that tool.
I spent most of my teaching career with "at-risk" 9th graders. The basic profile was either very bright, but didn't care, or very low skills, and have given up. The low ones typically read at no higher than a 2nd grade level, and their math skills ended at basic addition and subtraction - even borrowing and carrying was beyond what they could manage. What I found in their files, almost without exception, is these students had been tested at least once for special ed. They either qualified, but their parents didn't follow through on paperwork, or they didn't qualify because their test scores were low enough, it showed they probably weren't able to master the more abstract concepts.
By the time they're in middle school, they're well aware that they're lower than their peers, and they're also very resistant to using manipulatives. When it came to adding and subtracting, I encouraged them to use their fingers to keep track. With multiplication and division, I let them use multiplication charts. Interestingly, many of them could follow the steps to solve a basic/simple algebra problems, once they didn't get hung up on the computations. (And, with the daily exposure to the multiplication charts, some of them were even able to strengthen their memorization of facts.)
I realize some here will say this isn't right, and that these students SHOULD have already learned these things. Absolutely! And they SHOULD be fed every morning, and they SHOULD at least have their free lunch form filled out, and they SHOULD get to see their fathers without visiting the county jail...The reality is they don't have any of these things, and if a multiplication chart can help them, I'm giving them that tool.
Math is one of those subjects, that if you are not ready developmentally, and you lag behind, you are pretty stuck. As a child I moved around so much, I missed division, skipped decimals, went to fracrions and algebra, then, was tested in ninth grade and put in a special education class for remedial math! And this ended my entire school career, I was so bored, I dropped out of school.
So, with that dismal information, if students can do work above multiplication, let them, and don't force a skill. I can do algebra and calculus, but still struggle with decimals. Does this go against the "rules"? Yes. The rules are stupid.
Math is one of those subjects, that if you are not ready developmentally, and you lag behind, you are pretty stuck. As a child I moved around so much, I missed division, skipped decimals, went to fracrions and algebra, then, was tested in ninth grade and put in a special education class for remedial math! And this ended my entire school career, I was so bored, I dropped out of school.
So, with that dismal information, if students can do work above multiplication, let them, and don't force a skill. I can do algebra and calculus, but still struggle with decimals. Does this go against the "rules"? Yes. The rules are stupid.
Yes, but it's teachers' responsibility to figure out how to best work around this with these students. It's not easy, but we can't just say "they're stuck" and then forget about them.
What you say after the bolded part really says it all. This remedial class in 9th grade you speak of, I'm guessing it was a lot of basic calculation? Fractions, decimals, multiplication tables etc? In other words, stuff you'd been doing for the last many years?
Yes, but it's teachers' responsibility to figure out how to best work around this with these students. It's not easy, but we can't just say "they're stuck" and then forget about them.
Based on what I have read on this forum, I would say that no one here would say "they're stuck" and forget about them. I hope that's not what you are implying.
I, like a previous poster, give students a multiplication chart if they don't know their facts. I also instruct them on how to use it to do single digit long division. Most of those kids just struggle until they gain mastery over basic facts. Worse, they make the assumption that they are one of those people who are just not good at math and develop a math phobia. It is so unnecessary. Until education policy changes so that mastery over this very basic material is accomplished in elementary school, we will continue to see math scores in the tank.
Sadly, there are many teachers who do not wish to seek new ways to teach students lacking basic skills. They use the same strategy for all the students and/or give struggling students worksheets covering basic material not aligned with grade level standards.
Obviously, it is very difficult teaching a class with wide variances in skills and skill defecits. I'd like to see more of us get creative and come up with new strategies. One size doesn't fit all in education...
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