Finding My Way...

Giving Math a Makeover

It was just a few months ago that a friend posted a link on Facebook to a talk on TED by Sir Ken Robinson about how schools kill creativity. At the time it was contributing to the decision I was struggling to make about whether my daughter was ready for middle school, or whether I should home school her. She applied for - and was admitted to - the arts magnet program for her school. That quelled some of my concerns, and we decided that the middle school would work for our family at this time.

Since then, I have started the process of renewing my teaching license. My goal is to be licensed to teach and actively job searching for the 2011-12 school year. I have registered for my first online course through PBS TeacherLine, and it begins in June. Now I view that video and the one I link to below as a teaching professional, rather than as a parent. I want to understand the way that people think the school system is failing children and strive to overcome that in my own classroom.

Yesterday, my friend Erica posted a link to this video on TED about how "Math Class Needs a Makeover." 

I will admit my first reactions to this talk were as a parent of a 10 year old who struggles with math. When Mr. Meyer describes students that look for the formula or think they don't have the math comprehension to participate in a discussion of a math problem, I immediately think of my daughter. She is not what Meyer calls a "patient problem solver." That's why I love his idea of taking the details out of a textbook problem and make it into a life problem. He examines a word problem for a high school math class where they are to calculate how long it will take to fill an octagonal beverage dispenser with water. The textbook provides a 2 dimensional diagram with measurements and numbers and symbols. Even I look at it and think, "Jeez, I have no idea." Then Meyer removes elements of the word problem. He removes the question and multiple choice answers. He removes the dimensions noted on the diagram. He changes the line drawing to a photograph of a beverage dispenser like the one described. He makes it a video of said beverage dispenser being filled by a hose.

He took a problem that high schoolers, and even I as an adult, think that they have no expertise to answer and he turned it into a real life situation that everyone has experience with. Even my 10 year old would look at this new version of the problem and have an idea about it. Everyone has experience with filling a container with liquid. Whether or not they can then get the correct answer, Meyer is recommending that we at least get students to join the discussion and feel like they have a contribution to make by first, making it relevant to their experiences, and second, not feeding them the details to plug into a formula, but to enlist their help in developing the problem.

A couple of weeks ago I was subbing in an elementary school. I was a subbing for a paraprofessional who assists in the classroom. The teacher was also absent that day, and the other substitute was introducing a lesson on capacity to third graders. The textbook included clip art of items to represent a cup, pint, quart, and gallon. That was very abstract though, and I saw some students struggle on the classwork comparing these capacities.

The next day I was in for the same paraprofessional, and the regular classroom teacher was back in the classroom. They moved on to metric capacity and were talking about milliliters, liters, and the like. The classroom teacher walked around the room with a dropper and water and placed a milliliter of water in her hand at each group of student desks to allow them to see what a milliliter looked like. I noticed a difference in student comprehension that day as they completed the classwork. Just that small amount of concrete experience with the capacity increased their understanding and ability to compare capacities.

Math in classrooms of early learners (PK-1) is most often full of manipulatives and hands on math experiences for concrete understanding of math concepts. As children progress, math becomes more and more abstract in the classroom. It becomes more worksheets and line art, and strays further and further from real experiences. Mr. Meyer reminds us to keep math within the realm of real life experiences, to engage the students in developing the problem, and get everyone involved in the conversation to build confident math students who can perform patient problem solving.

Miss Popularity

Today I was folding the laundry and I came across Em's shirt from the Broadway show Wicked. It is pink and simply says "Popular" across the front. That prompted some humming of this catchy tune. Here are some excerpts:

Popular!
You're gonna be popular!
I'll teach you the proper ploys
When you talk to boys
Little ways to flirt and flounce
I'll show you what shoes to wear
How to fix your hair
Everything that really counts

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When I see depressing creatures
With unprepossessing features
I remind them on their own behalf
To think of 
Celebrated heads of state or
Specially great communicators
Did they have brains or knowledge?
Don't make me laugh!
They were popular! Please -
It's all about popular!
It's not about aptitude
It's the way you're viewed
So it's very shrewd to be
Very very popular
Like me!

Now, my daughter is 10, and in the dreaded fifth grade. The year the drama begins. The year it starts to mean more and more to be "popular." My kid is well-liked, and she's a pip, but I'm not sure that she's popular. And I can't decided if that bothers me or not.

I was an unpopular kid in school. I got good grades, I liked school and my Grandmother sewed most of my clothes. Actually, it's a wonder I didn't eat dirt more on the playground. I recently turned 40 and I still claim that eighth grade was the WORST year of my LIFE. I ticked off the wrong person, and she made it her mission to hurt and humiliate me every chance she could. As soon as I hit puberty I chunked up big time, and never slimmed down again. When you go through that experience, you think you want it different for your daughter. You hope upon hope that your daughter will be popular and not experience the same moments that crushed your fragile self-esteem when you were younger.

Yet I look around at the popular kids in her grade and I am unimpressed by some of them! Some are growing up way too fast and they have "boyfriends" and they are holding hands. They are TEN! Others are snobby and cliquey, and the stereotypical popular girls. If that is what it takes to be popular, then I don't want that for her either!

Just sedate me for the next 8 years, ok?

Mythbusters as Science Instruction?

Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman from Mythbusters were interviewed this morning on NPR's Morning Edition. You can read the article and listen to the story HERE. The story talks about how their show demonstrates science principles, and models well the scientific process without being a "boring educational show." B and I have loved this show for years, and it really channels B's inner 12 year old. He loves it when they blow stuff up.

We have just recently started letting Emily watch it at age 10. Mostly because just about each episode has some language bleeped out. There are certain episodes she doesn't need to watch, like the one where they are deliberately getting intoxicated to test out sobering techniques. And the commercials aren't always appropriate, so we TiVo to be able to skip certain ads.

Lately Em's been watching this episode:

They tried this experiment at school, and she reported with delight that Mr. S "should have worn a raincoat" as he did not get clear of the soda fountain before it shot up. She has been fascinated with the analysis of why this reaction happens, and I love that she is seeing and hearing their thought process as they test with a control and remove and add variables to hone in on the actual cause of the reaction.

Emily loves science programs, but as the NPR article outlines, there aren't many science programs for kids out there now. They mention some new ones for the preschool set, but other than reruns and videos of Magic School Bus and Bill Nye (both of which my daughter loves), there isn't much for the tween group.

Are there any science gems out there that I am missing? What sorts of things do your science lovers get jazzed about?

The plagues of homework and an evil mommy...

I am currently taking a break from cleaning out a corner of the office. In a few minutes, when I am finished, I plan to bring a desk sized folding table in from the garage, wipe it down and create a study desk for my daughter. She will hate it. She will glare at me. She will whine. She will stall. I will want to shoot myself. It's gotta happen.

I am preschool teacher by trade, but I've largely been a stay-at-home-mom since Emily came home to us at age 5 months. She loved school and learning through kindergarten and I loved teaching her and helping in her classes. Then first grade came, and real work began.  We were both out of our comfort zone and it all fell apart.

I will summarize the last four years by telling you that a child who loved kindergarten and spent August begging to start first grade was crying and having stomach aches by October. We got a diagnosis of mild dysgraphia, and motor integration issues. We've learned to work with that. It has improved a little over the years, but every time things get better, school gets harder and we struggle to catch up again.

Now add pre-pubescence...a creative child who can live in disorganized squalor...a child who "forgets" things all the time...a child who never thinks things are her fault. That's where we are now. Her interim came back a week ago and it did not reflect the work of my daughter who made AB honor roll all of last year. I come to find she has told me every day for a week her homework is done, yet she did not complete her math log one single day last week. It was a hard week, a crazy week. She is in the school play and it was tech week. But you can't just skip homework and hope it will go away and you won't have to do it.

So the study desk downstairs, in the office, on the main floor of the house, in a high traffic area. I have e-mailed with her teacher, and we are meeting to strategize ways to help Emily be more successful. I will will be devising ways to force her to be more accountable. And while I have reminded her numerous times in the last 24-48 hours that I love her no matter what her grades are, I will also be telling her that my job is to teach her how to manage school and homework in order to be successful. 

It's going to be a tense week around here...