Numbers

I am working with numbers today because I am trying to do your report cards.  Those of you who have not recited or handed in journals . . . let's get that done before Tuesday.  (I have until Thursday to revise your marks, so you have to give me some time to fix things, if we want your mark to go up!)  Of course, this is your mid-term mark so it is not carved in stone.  It is an indication of how you're doing halfway through the semester, so if it isn't what you'd like, pull up your socks!  (Not that "pulling up your socks" is going to help.  Doing journals in a timely way, or focusing on rehearsal instead of trying to sneak a peak at your phone are ways you can improve!)

I don't like doing report cards and I don't think the letters or numbers really say much about what you are or are not doing.  Make sure you read the comments because that's where I try to give you advice!  In life after school, you won't be getting report cards, but you'll have a sense of how you're doing in most cases.  If people you work with trust you and give you chances to prove yourself, it's likely you're doing well.  If they have to remind you about what to do, and then you don't do it at that point and if they keep sniping at you and/or avoiding you, that's not a good sign.  But sometimes, it's not you; it's them!

I read an interesting article about math instruction.  Apparently, Canadian kids' math scores are not very good and they aren't getting better.  There's a debate about whether the way kids are being taught is effective or not.  When I was a kid, we watched the teacher solve a problem and then we did a lot of practicing with that sort of problem-solving.  We memorized the "times" tables and added up long columns of numbers and practiced "long" division.  I still use those functions now.  I did math up to Grade 12 and for the most part, I did pretty well, but I didn't like it and didn't find it interesting, although I certainly found it a challenge.

Now, apparently (I haven't been in a math classroom for a long time, but this is how it looks for my kids) teachers are using the "discovery" method.  There isn't just one way to solve a problem and they present it to kids and ask them to figure out how to solve it.  They don't spend time adding up numbers or memorizing things (because kids will use a calculator for that when they have to).  They can use drawings or blocks to figure things out.  I don't know what I think about all of it.  I know both my children have had struggles with math as have many of you.  Is it, as one person in the article said, because teachers haven't fully committed to "discovery" methods?  Or because, as someone else suggested, students don't understand the basics of how numbers work because they haven't done the memorization and practice?  I don't know the answer but I am interested in anyone's experience in this area.  And now I'm off to add long columns of numbers!