teaching textbooks - book content versus cd content lower grade levels

[kemilie]

Quick Question for those of you that use teaching textbooks with the lower grade levels (3/4/5/6....).

 

I purchased just the textbooks, because they are cheap (!) and I figured that for lower level math I didn't really need the computer to grade it for me. Plus, my six year old is a quick study and I didn't want him to spend tons of time watching videos on basic topics that might bore him.

 

BUT! We're on about lesson 10 of book 3, and I'm wondering - how does the written lesson in the book compare to the lecture available on the CD? Is there a LOT more content on the CD? Sometimes I read a sentence in the book and I am left thinking that it could use some more explanation for a young child. And I'm wondering if that extra *something* is offered in the CD or if it's a pretty close script to the book.

 

Thanks for your input/thoughts on this!

[zenjenn]

Yes, there is a lot more content on the CD. I can't imagine using the book as stand-alone at all - if you want something cheap and thorough for about the same price, Math Mammoth is your answer.

 

Just as an example - each and every problem on TT (except for tests) has an optional audio/visual explanation if the student does not know how to solve the problem. That's not even including the lecture. And often, the lecture/explanations have animated bits - so for example, if the student is doing long division, they can see the problem being solved step by step before their eyes on the computer, with audio explanation going along with it.

 

That said I don't think TT is perfect. We supplement with extra fact practice and this year, ALEKS and Life of Fred. But it solidly covers the fundamentals and spirals back to content that may have been forgotten. Also I love the computer component for teaching more than one student, as while one student is doing the computer component, I can work with the other student with one-on-one attention.

 

For the record, I have used level 3 twice (two students), level 4 once, and this year student #1 is starting on level 5 and student #2 is reusing level 4.

[kemilie]

Thanks for the info, Jenn. That's what I was starting to suspect (that the CD most explain a lot more).

 

So as for the lecture portion of the CD - it's more than just a verbatim reading of the summary in the textbook? I know you mention it adds in animations/examples like that, but are there also additional words to better describe some of the concepts?

 

I first saw Teaching Textbooks at a conference this past spring. I am normally very "hands on" with the math teaching (I use math on the level and teach all the concepts myself), but have a baby due in the fall so was looking for a "solution" that was more hands off that would get us through this late summer/fall and help us avoid falling off track! Right now it's mostly review/getting up to where he should be in the book, so the one page summary isn't a big deal, but thinking that if the content were trickier he would start to feel lost just reading the narration in the book. Off to ponder what to do... ! Suppose I might be back tracking and buying CDs now?! Live and learn.

[zenjenn]

It depends on the lesson. I think the biggest thing the lecture brings to the table is the lecture is interactive. So in the book, there may just be two or three problems in the explanation "header", but if you actually run the lecture there is an interactive component where the student has to - with prompting - interactively solve several additional problems (or parts of problems) as part of the lecture component (and the lecture is then prompted to offer an alternate explanation or repeat something if the student gets those wrong.)

 

Your best bet will be to go to the Teaching Textbooks web site and decide for yourself by looking at the sample lessons and comparing those to the book you have. Since you have the book you could follow along with the lectures and see the difference for yourself.

[kemilie]

sample lessons - duh! Obvious now that you state it. :) Thanks for all the great input to consider!

[Hoot]

What I love on the discs as well, is that if you get a problem wrong there is the option to watch a clip explaining why and how to get the correct answer.

[NanceXToo]

Yeah, I would never want to use just the book. The lecture is more detailed, conversational, animated, and interactive, so it engages the kids more and makes everything easier to understand. There are prompts during the lecture for the kids to fill something in to show they are getting it, etc.

 

The lesson in the book just summarizes what's in the lecture.

 

Then when the child fills in their answers on the computer, they can have an animated buddy who will sometimes give hints and will always give encouragement for correct answers. If they get it wrong, they have a chance to try again in case it was a simple error, and if they still get it wrong, they have the option to "view solution," which shows and tells step by step what they should have done to get it right (mandatory here if you get an answer wrong). It keeps a gradebook of all the lessons and quizzes. It has some cute cartoons to further engage the student. To me, TT without the CD's just wouldn't be TT and I wouldn't bother using it.

[Pat in MI]

Nance,

Thank you for this explanation. I was asking this on a different thread. Kind of what I thought, but dd started liking to just do the workbook at the end of last year. I think we will go back to using the CD this fall. I like when she watches the lecture better even if it does take her longer to complete a lesson.

Blessings,

Pat

[zenjenn]

TT is kind of Spiraly so often my kids will ask if they can "just do the book" when it spirals back to something they feel they already know - especially at the beginning of a year (because it is WAY quicker to just do the book).

 

My answer is always "no". Often the kids do not have the mastery over a topic that they think they do. Nor should they, necessarily - they ARE using a spiral curriculum and not a mastery-based one, after all. I think interacting with the audio-visual program helps solidify concepts - even concepts they already more or less know. If anything, extra problems can help TT, not fewer. And doing the program without the CD does really end up being fewer problems in terms of the way the lecture/practice is run. I'll often hear my child by admonished by the CD to do several re-attempts doing the lecture or practice problems, but they get very few wrong once they get to the problems themselves.

 

That said, I wouldn't advise JUST the CD either, even though some people do that. The workbook can help foster the habit of writing things down and showing their work (and I require my kids to show their work most of the time.) And it gets them used to having a text as a tool.

 

An example - we finished TT early last year and we were doing some other sort of conceptual math-games, etc. After a few weeks I figured I'd throw up some problems on the board to test my daughter's retention of the year's concepts (she had finished TT4.) I was almost SURE long division I included would confuse her, as TT4 didn't belabor the topic, just introduced it, and it wasn't the easiest of topics for her to pick up on.

 

So I was surprised to return to find the long division problems completed, correct, and with all work shown. There was the TT workbook sitting on the table. When she couldn't remember the algorithm, she independently pulled out her text and refreshed her memory. I loved that - I think I loved that even more than if she had, at this point, simply remembered it. I think part of what made that an accessible approach to a 9 yr old is the TT book is very simple and not overwrought like some school texts are - and enough was in there to *remind* her even though the entire lesson wasn't written in black-and-white.