I feel I'm all over the place here, as I have just commented on the Maths Insider blog about using fingers to count. But I think I needed to comment on this issue. I know that fingers are a great tool to use when you don't know your maths facts. They are always there when you need them and they can be used in groups of ones, fives and tens. When I see some of my students struggling with some simple questions, I suggest they use their fingers and a look of relief comes over their face as they can go to something they know works for them. You can't force kids to learn anything, but if you show them an easier path then they may put in some effort on their own. Finger counting can be that easier path. I've been teaching math for 20+ years and I still use my fingers in some situations. There is nothing wrong with that. Remember the real issues are that the kids need to feel better about themselves and what they do. If parents and teachers come down hard on them for using their fingers then the student will feel that they backward and they will find it hard to move ahead. They will eventually stop using their fingers (most of the time). Remember, we are teaching people, not a subject.

Let me know what you think.

The math curriculum and school curriculum in general is getting increasingly jam packed with more and more content. Teachers are struggling to keep up with all they have to teach and each year there is more and more added.

IT is supposed to make thing easier, but it looks like it has complicated matters somewhat. Try to get kids to do a computer task without Facebook being open in the background or maybe do a math task on computer because there is a new program which will teach them better, but they need to learn the new program first before they can do the math. Then there is no time to do the math because all their time was spent on the new program (and Facebook).

Well, Facebook isn’t the problem. If the kids could do their work easily then they would do it. Kids like to feel success. The problem is the fact that the kids aren’t being taught properly because teachers have to keep pushing through the curriculum because they are expected to cover a certain amount of work by the end of the year.

Parents get frustrated for their kids because many feel that they can’t help their kids.

Well you can.Start revising some of the work with them. Learn the math again. If you didn’t get it when you were in school you will probably get it now (you have a different motivation). If you say to you kids I didn’t get it either when I was in school, your kids will think  “if its ok for my parents to not learn it, it will be ok for me too.” But the negative feeling of failure won’t go away and they will creep into other areas of life.

So get off your bum and learn the multiplication tables. Buy some books that have table races and race your kids. They will enjoy the time you’re spending with them also.

Let me know what you think.

Maths Can Be Easy

My wife and I watched the documentary "Waiting For Superman" when it came to TV here in Australia a couple of weeks ago and we were amazed by what we saw. However we thought that this film is only showing us the negative aspects of the public school system in the US. Surely the situation isn't as bad as what its being made out be. Is it?

We have both been teachers for the past 20+ years and although we get our share of students who don't know their math, it is usually because they haven't been taught properly in the first instance so they think its too hard or that they are too dumb and they give up.

Their 'learning difficulties' are usually a result of lack of ability to teach on the part of the primary school teacher and of course the kids aren't going to go home and try to learn the work on their own if it isn't explained properly, so they develop the attitude that the work is too hard and they can't do it and eventually they stop trying and they fall so far behind that it gets harder and harder to catch up.

Unfortunately knowing math is mistaken for being able to teach math. All work can be taught if the explanation is simple enough. That seems to be one way to get success, but explanations aren’t usually simple and when they are given, they are forgotten, because of all the steps required to solve a problem.

What do you think?