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this is so bizarre (comparing my class to my kid's class)


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We are both taking the same subject, but different instructors (at the same school).  Today I sat down as moral support while he studied for an exam.  It's like he is taking a different course altogether!  The approach is radically different.  Hard to give exact examples, but yeah it's really something to me.

 

Don't know what to make of that.

 

 

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I sat down with dd#1 last night to help with a math lesson where she just wasn't understanding what the section was trying to teach (upper & lower bound theorems). I thought the text explanation was lacking (which is rare), so we watched a few videos. Almost all the videos showed the same technique, but the textbook must have assumed the teacher would fill in the technique because their example missed just about everything the videos laid out. (I admit we skipped quite a bit of the videos once we both figured out what the textbook hadn't shown. There are definitely still holes in understanding on these two theorems.)

 

I think math classes can definitely have different approaches for the same topic.

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I sat down with dd#1 last night to help with a math lesson where she just wasn't understanding what the section was trying to teach (upper & lower bound theorems). I thought the text explanation was lacking (which is rare), so we watched a few videos. Almost all the videos showed the same technique, but the textbook must have assumed the teacher would fill in the technique because their example missed just about everything the videos laid out. (I admit we skipped quite a bit of the videos once we both figured out what the textbook hadn't shown. There are definitely still holes in understanding on these two theorems.)

 

I think math classes can definitely have different approaches for the same topic.

 

Interestingly neither instructor assigns reading from the book. 

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Interestingly neither instructor assigns reading from the book. 

 

In a college math class, I think it is assumed that the student will read the relevant material in the textbook.

 

With regard to your original point, I have come to the conclusion that the teacher can singlehandedly make or break a student's experience in a class.  The good students are able to figure out how to work around bad teachers.

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In a college math class, I think it is assumed that the student will read the relevant material in the textbook.

 

With regard to your original point, I have come to the conclusion that the teacher can singlehandedly make or break a student's experience in a class.  The good students are able to figure out how to work around bad teachers.

 

Actually no.  My instructor flat out said he doesn't assign reading from the book.  He doesn't like the book and knows students won't read it anyway.  Obviously that doesn't stop me from reading the book, but since he does stuff in his own order/way I can't always quite find the relevant section. 

 

My kid's teacher prints up tons of hand outs with the major points on them.  And according to my kid she pretty much said the same thing about the reading.

 

My last instructor assigned reading.  

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