effing "no child left behind"

[GracieRuth]

I hate it when politics screws little kids. I want to tar and feather the folks that put together "no child left behind" because it leaves so many kids behind.

To teach well, you examine first the level the student is at. We'll call it level X. You challenge them by giving them problems at level X+1. NOT X+15. If you are stupid enough to give a child at level X problems to do at level X+15, the only thing they learn (in error) is that they are a dumb bunny.

I tutor a lot of the neighborhood kids, and I'm continually scandalized by problems they are given for homework on an X+15 level. It does nothing to teach the kids. All it does is make California Educators feel like "I did what I was asked." Most of the second graders on my street are still learning to skip count by 10's, 5's and 2's. They are learning two digit addition and subtraction with regrouping (carrying and borrowing). They are only testing the waters of multiplication, and they certainly do NOT do long division. Here is the final problem on tonight's worksheet:

Table of votes by students for field trip
38 Museum
26 Zoo
42 Aquarium
24 Airport

If each student had two votes, how many students are there in the club?

There is more than one way to solve the problem, but the most commonly used one would go like this: If every student had two votes, then the total is 2x the number of students. First you total the votes. Then you REALIZE that you need to work in reverse, meaning division, so you divide by 2.

I do not think a typical seven year old understands the reverse nature of multiplication and division. Nor can a typical second grader do long division, or divide in half such a large number.

I was FUMING. I told the girl I wasn't going to make her do the problem. I wrote a little note on her math sheet stating the problem was too complex for second grade and gave my name and phone number.

I think they assume the PARENTS will simply do the problems for their kids. WRONG. That's encouraging cheating. I refuse to do it.

So who can I skewer??? GRRRR.

 

[Sriracha]

I'm firmly against "no child left behind." I believe it is more suited for parents to apply for "school choice" when their child is accelerated in academics. My mother-in-law is a retired teacher, retiring from a high risk middle school last year. The school's outline for academics is "normal", however it is lack of parental involvement as to why the children fail to learn. Not always is the parent totally at fault b/c of extenuating circumstances (such as: having to work longer shifts.)

Schools in high risk areas increase their special needs classes. http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/intelligence.html So I agree that forcing a kid who falls below average IQ to go to a school where there is elevated academics is absurd. They need more remedial attention.

I agree with you on 1st graders not being able to understand long division and memorizing multiplication tables. In my child's school, it is taught at the 3rd grade level. I even remember for myself the records that would play singing multiplication tables in the 3rd grade as well (AZ). So WOW at the last problem. Do you think it was thrown in there just to see if the child knew the question?

 

[Stu]

I say pillory the parents of children in failing schools.

..........however it is lack of parental involvement as to why the children fail to learn..............

We lavish "the family" in general and "motherhood" in particular with lip service while providing little to no economic support. To do so would incur rapid claims of "socialism" which is portrayed as an attack on "the family".

That said, fathers in particular are generally clueless about the "intellectual" needs of their newborns and babies. You do not need a high school diploma to sit and read to your children every day.

I want to see local news pestering parents of children in failing schools with questions about what kind of learning environment and emotional support they are providing at home. Have "60 Minuets" banging at the door demanding to know how the Moms and Dads are instilling the self discipline in their kids to sit in a classroom and learn.

 

[this is only temporary]

I have a second grader and I am constantly stunned at what they are being asked to understand at that age. My bright second grader (7 y.o.) is doing long division -- but on a somewhat simpler scale that that monster of a word problem. Jeez.

I certainly think it is not appropriate for most 7 y.o.s since many of them are still learning how to read fluently. You can't do word problems when your reading is still iffy.

We were not taught long division until 4th grade (approx 10 y.o). Sadly, the accelerated pace is leaving many kids behind.

I will say that teachers at my local school seem to be working really, really hard to see that students understand the work. And there are new (to me) ways of conceptualizing arithmetic that are working well for many kids.

I don't know who to skewer. Surely someone. :sad:

...You do not need a high school diploma to sit and read to your children every day.

Amen brotha.

...I want to see local news pestering parents of children in failing schools with questions about what kind of learning environment and emotional support they are providing at home. Have "60 Minuets" at the banging at the door demanding to know how the Moms and Dads are instilling the self discipline in their kids to sit in a classroom and learn.

I'll tell you what kind of learning environment and emotional support many parents are providing at home: Unlimited Wii time.

 

[GracieRuth]

I was actually a flipping lazy student. I never did a lick of homework. I always seemed to manage getting my stuff done before school was out, but I'd be sloppy about it, and get A's or B's. In truth, I didn't master long division until grade seven, and it wasn't until high school algebra that I finally memorized my basic math facts (all my mistakes on tests were from math fact errors even though I got the algebraic concepts no problem). I figured that in high school, my grades would matter when it came time for college, so I got more serious. Instead of homework, I spent my home hours cooking from scratch, learning piano, reading voraciously, and watching shows like Bugs Bunny, I Love Lucy, and Flintstones. I think I actually came out ahead -- music and cooking did more to teach me math than anything in the classroom.

What we call play is simply children exploring the physical world and its laws. A good education requires lots of play. I'm pro-recess. Kids having problems in math most often have had a deficit of time playing around with measurements, sifting, nesting, sorting, and putting things in order. And there is no substitute for quality time with a parent. So play monopoly with your kids and have them be the banker. Get them lincoln logs to learn proportion, legos for sorting and patterns. Let them bake cookies to learn fractions and measurement and multiplication (arrays), let them sew, let them build, them them take apart the clock -- trust me the day will come when they will put the clock back together.

 

[GracieRuth]

More pictures of kids learning math:

 

[MindYourHead]

No Child Left Behind is another prime example of what happens when government gets too involved in something.

[MENTION=4576]GracieRuth[/MENTION]
I remember both my Wife and myself trying to help our Son with his grade school math homework, and being absolutely dumbfounded as to the methods being taught.
It seemed (to us anyway) far more difficult than how we learned the basics at his age in the 60's.
If we showed him how to arrive at an answer the traditional old school way, the teacher would give it a bad mark since he didn't follow the proper procedure.

.

 

[GracieRuth]

If we showed him how to arrive at an answer the traditional old school way, the teacher would give it a bad mark since he didn't follow the proper procedure.

.

YIKES!!!!! Off with her head!!!!

 

[uuu]

The second graders might be asked crazy stuff like that, but there will also be some easier problems. Leaving the X+15 problems in there lets educators find the extraordinarily gifted mathematicians and (ironically) leave the others behind.
But I think that the whole point is to include problems from level X-15 all the way up to X+15. That way they can curve it. I seriously doubt that anyone expects everyone to be able to solve that problem.

Also, California schools kinda suck. No Child Left Behind is a national standard and your students will typically come out below average unless the state's entire approach changes.

I oppose the law, but for different reasons - namely that it forces kids to consider their academic competitiveness at far too young an age. Getting numerical grades is disheartening enough as a sophomore in high school (and that's coming from someone who gets awesome grades). But, as you've pointed out, 2nd graders don't even know what "25th percentile" means.

(And 2nd graders are usually ages 8-9, not 7.)

Here's a poem I think you might enjoy.

"Cartoon Physics, part 1"
By Nick Flynn

Children under, say, ten, shouldn't know
that the universe is ever-expanding,
inexorably pushing into the vacuum, galaxies

swallowed by galaxies, whole

solar systems collapsing, all of it
acted out in silence. At ten we are still learning

the rules of cartoon animation,

that if a man draws a door on a rock
only he can pass through it.
Anyone else who tries

will crash into the rock. Ten-year-olds
should stick with burning houses, car wrecks,
ships going down

 

[Feelings]

LOL that question is mad hard for a 7 yr old. It's not just mechanical procedure, but requires quite some reading comprehension to understand the problem, and critical thinking to figure out how to solve it. Seems more like something that would be given to a 10 year old, and even then only the more intelligent ones would get it.

I'm pretty academically strong, and mathematically inclined. I don't expect others to be able to do what I can do, except if I categorize them as 'intelligent'. I think I'm a pretty good teacher, on the rare occasions that I've had to teach someone something. I kind of assume that the other person is an idiot, and that I have to really spell things out for them. I'm really good at seeing things from another person's perspective in this way.