Some math talk

Hello,

These Math in Focus tests are difficult.  They contain problems that make you think about what you know.  They expose anyone with a shaky understanding of the concepts.  For example, in our current chapter a student may understand how to figure out the average of a group of numbers, but that doesn't show mastery of the concept.  Students must be able to work backward and forward with a given set of data.  In these tests, the average is often given and the students need to find the total.  I like many of the questions.  Students can't learn "the pattern" of the worksheet and then get by without totally understanding what they are doing. 

Careless mistakes are going to happen from time to time.  They are unavoidable.  Unfortunately, there are enough truly difficult questions on each of these math tests to make it so students cannot afford many careless errors.

My math class had a rough go on this latest test.  I was just notified by email that it may become our school policy not to let any of the math tests go home.  I felt like I needed the tests to go home so that you could see what types of questions they are being asked and how they are handling them.  I hope you will go over it with your child.  We have already done that in class, but as you all know, the best education happens when we are all together.  Our kids have to learn that while careless mistakes may happen, there are many things that they can do to make them much less frequent.  I have sent that message, but when it comes from home as well, it is much more likely to get through.  Please have a conversation with your child about the test and the strategies that they will use to do better next time.

I wrote the percentage grade out of 100 on these tests as well.  The grading system on these tests and our new report cards is still unfamiliar, but I don't want that to make poor grades more acceptable.  16/25 or a PM shouldn't be any more digestable than a 64% or an F.  I am as up front as possible with the class.  Patience and attention to detail separates the great from the good.  On a difficult test, like the one we just took, it separated the passing grades from the failing grades. 

Like always, I take my share of blame for the test results.  Tests show all of us where we can do better.  I can pinpoint a couple of the class weaknesses.  In problems that give the average of a set of numbers up front, a third of the class continues to mistake the average as a sum.  That one third of students changes from day to day, however.  We will continue to work on it.  The second problem, and this is the biggest one, is that most of the class still believes that they should be able to solve word problems in their head because they always have been able to.  I've told them that those days are over.  ESPECIALLY ON TESTS!!!!  Drawing a picture is a great strategy.  Using smaller numbers in the problem is a great strategy.  Rewriting what you know is a great strategy.  Rereading the problem after writing down an answer is a great strategy.  They should be attacking these word problems like a good reader attacks a paragraph when they know that there will be a comprehension test later: word by word, sentence by sentence, reading for understanding, predicting, verifying. 

I am recruiting your help.  I know many of you like to check your child's homework and I appreciate that.  From now on, before looking at it, please ask, "Do your answers make sense?"  Just like in writing class, we should never be the first one to read what they have written.  We have to hold them to this standard.  They have to know what "self-check" means.  It is the difference between doing really well and doing... less well.  I can call it laziness, but it is hard to put too much blame on them when it is obviously a learned behavior.  It is time we teach them something else.  I've got some consequences in mind if it comes to that.  We'll learn what motivates them.  The difference between an M or a PM on a report card doesn't seem to.

This chapter was all about median, mean, mode, range and a little probability.  It was the first chapter that we've done where all of the concepts came easy to them.  We'll take another week or so to see if they really got it or not. 

Thanks for reading.

Mr. Shea