Astro Findings
Since 1990, I have taken on students of every skill level and age you can imagine, from 3 to 83, from those who could not yet count to those who just needed some brush up in preparation for calculus. A recurring theme among those students who are getting the poorest grades and that are saying they aren’t “getting it” is the inability to make tens (or nines).
Seems basic enough, but you’d be surprised at how many students come to me because they are failing algebra who can’t add fractions, multiply quickly and easily in their heads or answer simple questions like 6 plus what makes 10? Seriously: they don’t know their addends and their parents are mystified that their smart little 14 year old isn’t doing well in algebra, or worse expect they won’t do well because they themselves didn’t do well, as if poor math skills can “run in the family” due to poor math genes.
The problem, especially for girls is once they start getting bad grades in math ALL the grades suffer; not always but certainly often enough and although it is not specific to females, it is more pronounced. Studies from the University of Women and others have borne my anecdotal evidence out.
There have been long dissertations written as to why this is but the point is that it is a fact not just my opinion and further discussion is beyond the scope of this essay. Let it suffice to say males preserve their ego by thinking there is something wrong with math or the teacher if they don’t “get it” while women tend to think “there must be something wrong with me” if they don’t get it. This leads to all manner of self esteem issues and to students who graduate high school and then go on to college asking important questions like “what kind of degree can I get out of this university without taking much math?”
Recently I started doing some work at a local intermediate school, grades 6 through 8, where I am exposed to larger groups of students and can notice some trends and commonalities. I set it up so that I was allowed to work with “honors” and “accelerated” students sometimes labeled gifted and talented (”GT” for short) as well as the students who were “challenged” or receiving “F’s”.
Consistently the F students were confounded by questions like “what does four need to make ten?”, or “what does five need to make nine?” Even some of the GT kids were slow to answer or needed the aid of their fingers.
To some this is stunning. I had a parent sit in on their student’s first lesson. The parent was mortified to see that when asked some basic addends like those already mentioned and also ones past ten like “what’s 6 + 7?” or “8 + 5?” their child either responded incorrectly or took quite a bit of time to arrive at an answer. When presented with a simple fractions problem 1/2 + 1/3 the expression was one of horror. “2/5″ was the sheepish reply…
Gee, why are they having trouble in algebra?
I see it all the time. So I simply get back to basics as part of my tutoring. I remind students and parents of the five basic concepts, and make simple addition and subtraction part of their sessions every time.
The 45 addends are foundational math. It has been said that you can do all math with just addition and subtraction…it just takes longer. Multiplication is just adding repeatedly, division can be thought of as subtracting repeatedly although I personally don’t teach it that way. I find that concept based teaching makes learning math much easier but students will still run into trouble if they get bogged down in computation while they are trying to figure out what to do to solve a problem. This applies to all areas of math…whether it’s algebra or calculus or just percentages and fractions.
I can teach them what to do, but they still have problems with how to do it because they lack the most basic skill sets. The good news is these skill sets are easily learned and with a little practice easily mastered.
Any student who does not suffer from serious learning disabilities (and even then) can learn to add 3 + 7 to get 10. I have one student who is considered severely disabled but if you ask him any of the combinations for 10 he can tell you without hesitation, and certainly faster than the “normal” students twice his age at the intermediate school.
Knowing all the addends, but at leaste the two digit combinations for nine and ten are quite useful for adding any two numbers with ease. Very young students can now see that adding 7 + 5 to get 12 and adding 57 + 5 to get 62 is basically the same problem with some extra tens along for the ride…7 + 5 is always 12; the way I teach them do this is 7 needs 3 to be ten so it takes the 3 out of the 5 and there are 2 left over:
7 + 5 = 7 + (3 + 2) = (7 + 3) + 2 = 10 + 2 = 12 that process takes a long time to type out but takes a fraction of second in your head, once you understand what you are doing.
The next step is subtracting, which the way I teach it is just small addition. I taught a couple of 13 year old girls how to make change for 100.00 They were quite pleased with themselves once they figured out all they had to do was make three nines and a ten. Suddenly a problem like this took seconds:
100.00
-64.57
————
The way they did it (and this make take you a few seconds to “get”) was 6 needs 3 to make 9, 4 needs 5 to make 9, 5 needs 4 to make 9, and 7 needs 3 to make 10. We did it from left to right, not right to left and we didn’t count backwards, borrow or otherwise consternate ourselves.
100.00
-64.57
————
35.43
After just a little practice I have students who can tell me the answers to these kinds of problems as fast as I can write them on the board. Often exclaiming “WOW, that’s EASY!”
Then we can move on to problems like this:
34
-7
——
We can’t “take 7 out of 4″ (subtract 7 from 4) so we take it out of one of the 10s…so skipping a step we just add 3 to 4 and get 27. Instead of counting backwards, we just turned it into a small addition problem…we didn’t do 14 minus 7, we did 3 plus 4…ask any kid which is easier.
34
-7
——
27
Parents and teachers often have a hard time with this one even after they see it a few times, and see more examples. The point is knowing your addends makes subtraction easy and fast once you know how.
It also makes integers easy, negative numbers and their differences are a snap. Be sure to visit Crewton Ramone’s House of Math for more.
I have developed a iphone App that helps students practice the combinations for nines and tens, go to the iapp store and search Crewton Ramone or go to my website…it’s FREE.
In another article I will go on to show how knowing your addends makes learning multiplication much easier too. Addends along with simple patterning make multiplication simple, and multiplication is the first “milestone” in the mathematics because it allows you to count very, very quickly.
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Tags: math
Posted in Primary Education · January 31st, 2010 · Comments (0)
elementary school ranking.
A School District or school division is an organization of public schools in a particular state that gives the residents their basic educational needs. It is headed by a school committee or school board. They are usually called school administrators. They ensure that all policies are implemented and that school activities, functions and even student-employee activities are carried out smoothly.
Most of the school districts support and participate in the city’s business operations, including television stations, public libraries, kitchens, medical clinics, school bus yard, school laundries, warehouses and police departments. There are also recreational areas available in a school district. Oftentimes, school districts become a contributing factor to the success or the recession of the city’s economic and political status.
The performance of a school district can be equated to the performance of the schools itself. Schools are not just for students. Schools are community centers. They cater to a number of different people and different businesses. Therefore, a good school should include a good learning environment. Discover why these unified district schools are making a reputable name.
Flagstaff Unified School District
The success of Flagstaff in Arizona is through the collaboration and commitment of parents, educators and its community. They have qualified teachers, wherein, most of them have a master’s degree, are certified counselors, librarians and administrators. A number of their teachers are also recipients of citations and awards.
In 2002, the National Principal of the Year came from their district. Flagstaff Middle School received the Golden Bell award, the highest commendation for innovative instruction in Arizona. This district, founded in a log cabin, has now 6 elementary schools, 3 high schools, 4 middle schools and 1 alternative combination of high school and middle school. It also has a number of school buildings, libraries and recreational areas. Magnet schools were also opened to concentrate on academics, especially in Science, Arts and Citizenship and Character Education and Technology.
Flagstaff has a rich mix culture, excellent tourist destinations along with a scientific but family-oriented community that knows how to established good schools and a good quality of life. The community supports the districts’ entire program by opening opportunities for both faculty and students alike. Some companies that provide it include a Lowell Observatory, W.L. Gore & Associates, a number of museums and symphony orchestras.
For the schools comfortable and safe environment, the community provides bus fleets, food services, health services and basic social services. In return, the students consistently score above national average on achievement exams, in which, drop out rates are lower than the state average. They garner gold medals in state and national competitions. They are also well prepared for careers in technology, trade and business. Graduates have been accepted at prestige universities including Princeton, Stanford and Yale.
Lake Elsinore Unified School District
Lake Elsinore in California is fast growing when it comes to commerce, retails, residential and light industry. The city provides excellent public service programs that include fire and police protection, public and commercial transportation and job opportunities in industries like tourism, computer animation, telecommunication, machining, aero sports and construction products. This school division provides students opportunities for academic excellence, extra curricular and athletic programs along with scholarship and employment opportunities.
This district consists of 15 elementary schools, 5 middle schools, 3 high schools, and 4 alternative education schools. For the last two years, this school district is making a name in academic achievement and was even placed in the top 10 in riverside County ranking. Schools in this area are also known for its community involvement doing charitable works.
This school district has implemented a magnet program called Visual and Performing Arts and is now proving to be a success specifically in Butterfield Elementary School. It is making a name for arts and theaters in its 14 yrs of successful performances. They have received a number of honors and awards including Golden Bell, Los Angeles Music Center “BRAVO” award, healthy Start Grant and as a Treatment School for Reading and Arts Integrated for Student Excellence.
This school alone offers great amenities which make the school district unique. These include computer labs with eMacs for research, a theater fully equipped with lighting and sound system and BESTv green-screen, Reader’s theater and classrooms with document cameras; plus Internet access.
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Tags: Elementary School Ranking
Posted in Primary Education · December 8th, 2009 · Comments (0)