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Ekkk - Everyday Math...


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I tutored for a family with a part-time attendance arrangement. I'm here in WA, too; this was in the Bellevue school district.

 

I know the mom had to really push, but she was pleased with the arrangement in the end.

 

If you don't mind saying, what district are you in? I've never seen heavy calculator use in an elementary class around here. We pull them out for an occasional lesson -- they are truly a novelty. (And half the time the batteries have drained while sitting in storage, so those rare calculator lessons never last long anyway. ;))

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If you don't mind saying, what district are you in?

 

I'll answer that privately.

 

 

Dd's 3rd grade teacher for next year let me look through the Investigations curriculum and I'd say about half the lessons listed calculators in their materials lists.

 

I'm not familiar with Connected Math that's being used at the middle school level, but I've heard it's the worst reform curriculum yet.

 

And ds16 is using Core-Plus in high school, in which a calculator is required for the course. After realizing how dependent they've made ds16 on his calculator, I want to head off any notions in my younger two that calculators will be an option for them.

 

Msjones, I see that you're tutoring math at an elementary school. A friend and I are trying to do this at dc's school and are facing some obsticles. Can you tell me more about how you began doing that? What specifically do you teach? Is it homework help, basics?

Edited by BabyBre
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Breann, I'm in Oregon, near Portland. Our school district has few choices. No full time gifted program, no part time schooling program, only one charter school. Our principal happens to be a very open minded man who needs our headcount because he has a shrinking population. We are in the country. The rest of the district is mostly in the city and have a growing population.

 

I'm very involved at school. I volunteer to teach special science units when I can and I do PTA stuff even though its not my favorite thing. I also run a robotics club and coach one of the school's First Lego League teams. So I think the principal and teachers think that I am worth the trouble. The first year I did the part time arrangement the third grade teacher clearly looked down her nose at me. But she still made it easy for me to pull ds out and I started sending some work samples with ds for him to show her. That did the trick. She did not believe in homeschooling and thought I wouldn't be teaching him anything. At the end of the year she gushed over what I great job I had done and how it was the only example of homeschooling she had ever seen work. She was still against homeschooling but decided we were a special case.

 

I can imagine the teachers probably roll their eyes when they talk about me in the teacher's lounge and I'm sure the parents roll their eyes when they see what we do. But everyone is nice and the kids have a lot of friends there. So do I, among the parents. Which is good, its the main reason I have them go. I don't mind being an oddball. :lol:

 

Terry

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I'll answer that privately.

 

 

Dd's 3rd grade teacher for next year let me look through the Investigations curriculum and I'd say about half the lessons listed calculators in their materials lists.

 

I'm not familiar with Connected Math that's being used at the middle school level, but I've heard it's the worst reform curriculum yet.

 

And ds16 is using Core-Plus in high school, in which a calculator is required for the course. After realizing how dependent they've made ds16 on his calculator, I want to head off any notions in my younger two that calculators will be an option for them.

 

Msjones, I see that you're tutoring math at an elementary school. A friend and I are trying to do this at dc's school and are facing some obsticles. Can you tell me more about how you began doing that? What specifically do you teach? Is it homework help, basics?

 

I do hear your concerns regarding calculators, but want to suggest that you ask the specific teacher how often they will actually be used. I taught with grade 2 Investigations one year, and although the lesson plans listed calculators, I rarely used them. I know few teachers who did. They may be heavily used at your school, but they may not.

 

Also, I was just discussing calculators with my husband. He is quite sure that very, very few high schools (public or private) forbid the use of calculators these days. He is aware of some through an AP Calculus message board, but he believes they are few and far between. Indeed, efficient use of a graphing calculator is required if a student is to pass the AP Calculus and AP Statistics tests.

 

I'm sure you'll get a kick out of my tutoring job. I am there to 'fill in the holes' for the Everyday Math curriculum. ;) I have gone through the curriculum, found areas of weakness, and work with struggling kids in those areas. I have a current teaching certificate, but am paid by the PTA, not the school district. Many PTAs in our area fund tutoring programs.

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She was still against homeschooling but decided we were a special case.

 

 

You must be a very special case if could actually make homeschooling work!

 

I'm sorry your options in Oregon are so limited. I've always been told we have pretty good homeschooling and part-time attendance laws in Washington. I've never been anywhere else to compare them to, so I'm always interested to hear from other people. Thanks.

 

I do hear your concerns regarding calculators, but want to suggest that you ask the specific teacher how often they will actually be used.

 

He is quite sure that very, very few high schools (public or private) forbid the use of calculators these days.

 

I have a current teaching certificate, but am paid by the PTA, not the school district. Many PTAs in our area fund tutoring programs.

 

Requesting that the teacher not let my dd use a calculator was my first thought, but after two years in this school, I feel completely let down by dc's teachers. I know they have large classes, but I was promised that my dc would receive certain things and none of the teachers have delivered as promised. So, while I know and like the teacher dd will have next year, I'm through trusting them to do (or be able to do) what I hope they will. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I'm a homeschooling mom and see dc's educations as my ultimate responsibility, especially because here in WA we do have so many choices. Ps isn't my only option, but I choose it (because dh makes me!).

 

I'm not worried about their not being allowed to use calculators in high school, but about their not being taught to use their brains in math. Besides, they're not teaching graphing calculator use in 3rd grade. They have plenty of time before that's something that they may need, and no one needs to be taught how to use a simple calculator.

 

In trying to start a tutoring program, we're running into obstacles mainly from our teacher's union. Neither of us are certificated teachers, but the union requires one to be on site, supervising activities held at the school. We haven't (believe it or not) found a teacher that would be willing to do that yet.

 

Thanks for sharing, you two!

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Dd's 3rd grade teacher for next year let me look through the Investigations curriculum and I'd say about half the lessons listed calculators in their materials lists.

 

 

 

You know what's interesting to do? Compare the Investigations curriculum side by side with Saxon and Singapore. I did this with the 4th grade materials and it was a very eye opening experience.

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I'm somewhat new to this board, having lurked mostly on the advanced learners page. But since my children are public schooled, this might be a better fit.

 

I teach/tutor math myself, and had to "learn" the graphing calculator last year to work with an AP calculus student. A strong understanding of such a device can really enhance a child's mathematical understanding. I too cringe when kids grab them for the very basics, but it really is a useful tool in the upper maths, and many textbooks work their use into some of the teachings. A child that knows how to use such a tool will go far. (But yes, please do keep enforcing some basic pen/pencil and mental math!) I recommend that a child start working with one in algebra, if not sooner.

 

And yes, there are problems on the AP calculus exam that really can't be solved without using such a tool. (Other parts forbid their use, for what to me is a nice balance.)

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And Breann snuck in there while I was posting my thoughts. I absolutely agree about their use in early elementary, and forced my own children to ignore the "use calculator" directions on their Everyday Math homework. I let them check their answers only. It really is sad that they get to use them on state tests as early as 3rd grade, :scared: .

 

Yes, we do use Everyday Math, but fortunately our teachers have learned what works and what doesn't, and we supplement the weak areas at this time. My kids are now all "graduates" but I have one more that has to survive another year of Connected Math before moving on to algebra.

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You know what's interesting to do? Compare the Investigations curriculum side by side with Saxon and Singapore. I did this with the 4th grade materials and it was a very eye opening experience.

 

Can you ellaborate?

 

We've used Saxon for years and I was very surprised at how similar Investigations was (in grades 1 and 2). There are lots of similar strategies taught at that level, but Investigations is missing the algorithms.

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My son does TERC Investigations in school and he only used a calculator in one short unit in 4th grade, and the unit was specifically about estimating and calculators. The point was that you should be able to do a mental answer while or before you do the calculator computation, and use your mental estimate to check your calculator answer. That didn't bother me since that's a unit most cash register operators these days could use.:001_smile:

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My son does TERC Investigations in school and he only used a calculator in one short unit in 4th grade, and the unit was specifically about estimating and calculators. The point was that you should be able to do a mental answer while or before you do the calculator computation, and use your mental estimate to check your calculator answer. That didn't bother me since that's a unit most cash register operators these days could use.:001_smile:

 

This is interesting to me. The one lesson for which I REALLY wanted each of my 2nd graders to have a calculator was an Investigations lesson designed to show the kids that they could calculate faster than a calculator. The kids loved this lesson! It 'proved' to them that they could do mental math (for 2-digit sums like 36+48) faster than they could use a calculator. They always seemed surprised and quite proud.

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One specific thing I did was to compare the number and types of practice problems for various topics. So, for example, I looked at multidigit by multidigit multiplication. Investigations had, I believe it was, less than 10 practice problems. Singapore had something like 50 and Saxon had more that 100 (I actually had to stop counting). Also, in looking at things like fractions, Investigations only worked with standard fraction amounts, I think up to 12ths or something and the other two progressed into non-standard fractions, like 17/29, things like that. The Investigations fractions work was mostly shading different parts of rectangles and the other two got much more abstract. Investigations also spent quite a lot of time on things like creating a set of instructions to build a figure out of cubes.

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One specific thing I did was to compare the number and types of practice problems for various topics. So, for example, I looked at multidigit by multidigit multiplication. Investigations had, I believe it was, less than 10 practice problems. Singapore had something like 50 and Saxon had more that 100 (I actually had to stop counting). Also, in looking at things like fractions, Investigations only worked with standard fraction amounts, I think up to 12ths or something and the other two progressed into non-standard fractions, like 17/29, things like that. The Investigations fractions work was mostly shading different parts of rectangles and the other two got much more abstract. Investigations also spent quite a lot of time on things like creating a set of instructions to build a figure out of cubes.

 

Wow! That must have taken you quite a while to dig so deep into all three. These things I can see in comparing Investigations to Saxon. I guess they seem like little things that could be easily missed, but I think it goes to demonstrate the depth of the curricula. They don't do much practice in class (with Investigations), nor do they have the time to. Thanks so much for posting your findings!

 

Breann, I would love for you to keep us updated on your tutoring program.

 

Sure, thanks for your interest, Caroline. My friend is a tireless advocate and she's starting to get discouraged that there's so much opposition to something so well-intended, nevermind so potentially beneficial to the students. I'll follow-up and let you know if we can manage to get it off the ground.

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  • 1 month later...
Breann, I would love for you to keep us updated on your tutoring program.

 

 

Well, after great effort and much debate with administrators in all levels of our school district, the tutoring program is a no go. My friend pushed and pushed for this, sitting down with our principal in the last weeks of summer for an hour trying to convince him that free math tutoring for kids is a good thing that would benefit his students, not to mention his standardized test scores. She couldn't do it! :banghead:

 

Between the beauracracy of the teachers' union and the stubborn love affair our principal has with reform math, :001_wub: she couldn't get him to support FREE tutoring in traditional math at his school, despite the fact that algorithms have once again been made standard at the state level. :glare: You can't tell me there's not something wrong with this picture, and no there's not more to it. The teachers' union insists any academic program on site is supervised by a certificated teacher, a task none of our teachers were both willing and able to take on. My friend tried every different avenue she could think of (tutoring at the library, at her home, making house calls, etc.) but this makes transportation an issue and renders the service unavailable to many students.

 

She's written some about it in her current blog.

http://betrayed-whyeducationisfailing.blogspot.com/

 

God bless her for trying. She's instead volunteering at a church that offers free tutoring, which is great she says, but there the kids have to come to you seeking help whereas the same thing offered in the school would be readily available to all students.

 

This world would be a better place if there were more like her. And we'd be better at math!

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