We just transferred my youngest back into our district middle school. One reason is that our straight A kid was suddenly struggling to get a 'c' in math. Part of his issue was that in spite of being reassured before enrolling him that Accelerated Math was only used to assess (29 objectives in less than that many school days...), they used it constantly and my kiddo thought it was dumb, and after struggling to catch up after a week of illness, just gave up. However the teacher talked about a new text bookthat was written in such a way as to be incomprehensible. She was watching grades drop for all of her kids and offered her own frustration with the text. This was in a school where poverty is not an issue--in fact, it is a bit like Lake Wobegon.
As an example of the confusion, one question said something to the effect of why is 5 + 2 x 6 confusing. My son wrote in his answer that it wasn't confusing because he knew that the rule for soling equations without paranthesis is to solve from left to right, so that the answer is 42 because 5 and 2 is seven and when you multiply by 7, that is 42. The textbook answer was it is confusing because they didn't use paranthesis. He got his answer counted wrong. I realize this is not entirely an issue of the textbook, but when he moved back and rejoined a DDN pre-algebra class that is considered to be very rigorous, he insisted on taking the unit test and scored an 92%. I definitely think the textbook was an issue in his sudden struggle with math (as was his own decision not to try to keep up with Accelerated Math). I am sorry. This has not been the answer you wanted; I only wanted to point out that textbooks can be poorly written and overwhelming to LOTS of kids. I have found the strategies delineated in this book to be very helpful. Teaching Reading in Mathematics, 2nd Edition http://shop.ascd.org/ProductDisplay.cfm?ProductID=302053 Lori On 10/16/07 5:10 PM, "Mark Destler" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Some comments from a calculus class at a high-poverty high school where I > work half-time as Title One Director. > > > > Student1: "Ms. Teacher, the math book is college level reading. I can't do > it by myself." > > > > Student2: "It takes me too long to understand what the text book is saying. > I need you to put it into words for me." > > > > Any suggestions for resources to help our teachers and students? > > > > > > > > Many thanks in advance, > > > > Mark Destler > > Founder, Reading MD > > www.readingmd.org > > 617 504 6021 > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > -- Lori Jackson District Literacy Coach & Mentor Todd County School District Box 87 Mission SD 57555 http:www.tcsdk12.org ph. 605.856.2211 Literacies for All Summer Institute July 17-20. 2008 Tucson, Arizona _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
