Showing posts with label enrichment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label enrichment. Show all posts
Friday, April 27, 2012
stop the multiverse
"We provide classroom teachers with lessons that allow them to teach standards-based math using topics students care about...Instead of teaching fractions and percent, teachers get to teach "Is The Wheel of Fortune Rigged?"I left a comment at eduwonk.
Mathalicious
and see: stop the multiverse, I want to get off
Saturday, September 13, 2008
sauve qui peut...
...which I personally translate as "Save yourself if you can..."*
Here is eduwonk of all people promoting Education through Exploration. It's worth reading the comments. The anti-NCLB comment is pro-education through exploration. That's not an accident.
* usual translation: every man for himself
Here is eduwonk of all people promoting Education through Exploration. It's worth reading the comments. The anti-NCLB comment is pro-education through exploration. That's not an accident.
* usual translation: every man for himself
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Enrichment or deterrent?
My child's school encouraged parents to request math "enrichment" for their second graders if they felt they needed it. I said, "sign my child up" even though I know this means extra homework in addition to whatever else he is already doing. We received the packet today and I'm not sure what to think. I think I'll be sending it back. (How to do this diplomatically is another matter altogether.)
This "enrichment" packet is designed for grades 3-8 (Numbers and Words: A Problem Per Day), which sounds impressive at first glance, but then you open it up and *blech*. There's no rhyme or reason. There is no gradual building of skills, no sequence of topics and it doesn't progressively follow anything they learned in first grade or will learn in second grade. I think the objective is to make my child feel inadequate and for me to think he doesn't really require "enrichment." It's like a subliminal message to parents to back off and be happy with the existing curriculum (Everyday Math).
Here's a sample of a week's worth of enrichment from the very first page:
Monday: Estimate...On the average, how many hours per week is the television set "on" in American homes?
Tuesday: How many inches are in five feet? Do you add, subtract, multiply, or divide?
Wednesday: A basketball team has five players. Only three scored in today's game. One player made 16 points, while each of the other two made double that amount. How many points were scored in today's game? Can you solve the problem? If not, what do you need to know?
Thursday: In a parking lot, five cars are parked in a row. If there are seven rows just like this, how many cars are parked in the lot? Draw a diagram to show your answer.
Friday: If one gallon of lemonade will serve __ people, how many people will five gallons serve? Write the equation. Let N stand for the answer. (If one gallon serves 20 people, can you solve the equation?)
My feeling is that if I have him work on this enrichment, I will be explaining topics that are obviously out of sequence and beyond his current level of understanding. I don't see how this will challenge him appropriately. This would surely end in frustration.
At the same time, he will not be learning anything he doesn't already know in Everyday Math this year. I've checked out the year's curriculum and given him a pre-test so I don't say this subjectively. He's ready to master and apply multiplication and division and they won't even get there until the end of the year and only very superficially at that.
My gut tells me this is not enrichment, it's a deterrent. It's a distraction intended to make Everyday Math look like a good alternative and convince me that my child doesn't need anymore challenge than he's already receiving.
Thank goodness for Singapore and Saxon.
This "enrichment" packet is designed for grades 3-8 (Numbers and Words: A Problem Per Day), which sounds impressive at first glance, but then you open it up and *blech*. There's no rhyme or reason. There is no gradual building of skills, no sequence of topics and it doesn't progressively follow anything they learned in first grade or will learn in second grade. I think the objective is to make my child feel inadequate and for me to think he doesn't really require "enrichment." It's like a subliminal message to parents to back off and be happy with the existing curriculum (Everyday Math).
Here's a sample of a week's worth of enrichment from the very first page:
Monday: Estimate...On the average, how many hours per week is the television set "on" in American homes?
Tuesday: How many inches are in five feet? Do you add, subtract, multiply, or divide?
Wednesday: A basketball team has five players. Only three scored in today's game. One player made 16 points, while each of the other two made double that amount. How many points were scored in today's game? Can you solve the problem? If not, what do you need to know?
Thursday: In a parking lot, five cars are parked in a row. If there are seven rows just like this, how many cars are parked in the lot? Draw a diagram to show your answer.
Friday: If one gallon of lemonade will serve __ people, how many people will five gallons serve? Write the equation. Let N stand for the answer. (If one gallon serves 20 people, can you solve the equation?)
My feeling is that if I have him work on this enrichment, I will be explaining topics that are obviously out of sequence and beyond his current level of understanding. I don't see how this will challenge him appropriately. This would surely end in frustration.
At the same time, he will not be learning anything he doesn't already know in Everyday Math this year. I've checked out the year's curriculum and given him a pre-test so I don't say this subjectively. He's ready to master and apply multiplication and division and they won't even get there until the end of the year and only very superficially at that.
My gut tells me this is not enrichment, it's a deterrent. It's a distraction intended to make Everyday Math look like a good alternative and convince me that my child doesn't need anymore challenge than he's already receiving.
Thank goodness for Singapore and Saxon.
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