What do you like about the way math is taught at your school?

[Anonymous]

I actually find EDM kind of cool compared to the way I learned math. I think it's more interesting. I think it could be a good program if it's supplemented with back to basics drilling at home to memorize the basic math facts. But i'm not a math educator -- just a mom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BTW, my colleagues who do professional development for math teachers say EDM is a good program. The issue is most teachers are not trained how to use it and don't really understand the underlying math concepts.

It has been described that way. But to me, it should be able to be easily used by the wort teachers. We have some bad teachers out there, so they need a no goof curriculum, which EDM is not. It is easier to get rid of EDM (and others) than than to get rid of bad teachers.

[Anonymous]

OP, my child's school uses the Houghton Mifflin Math curriculum, which seems OK. His previous school used Saxon Math. Saxon was adequate, but the pace moved very slowly. I think it can be a good curriculum if the teachers divide the kids into ability groups, and let the ones who can work faster move at a more rapid pace. My son found the pace to be excruciatingly slow.

The best curriculum I have seen and one I would like my son's school to use, is called Singapore Math.

Here is a detailed review of many math curricula.

http://mathematicallycorrect.com/books.htm

[Anonymous]

My DD's ES in FCPS uses Houghton Mifflin. I thought it was pretty good. She is in third grade now in the GT program and they use Mentoring Mathematical Minds (M3) and also still use HM and some EDM. They also use a program called Hands on Equations, which teaches algebra in a very hands on way. I like that they are not drilling, but are going broad and introducing many algebraic and other advanced concepts.

My DD is the kind of kid who digs math workbooks, so we have also used Singapore Math at home, and we like it a lot as well.

[Anonymous]

How are people coming to the conclusions about this topic? What is the comaprison? Data? Reference?

[Anonymous]

OP again. Obviously I can't stop anyone from talking about and comparing different math curricula! But I what I would really love to hear about is things that your school does that could be replicated in any school, regardless of the curriculum it uses. Any takers?

[Anonymous]

My child' school uses flashcards to drill math facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How are people coming to the conclusions about this topic? What is the comaprison? Data? Reference?

What do you like about the way math is taught at *your* child's school? (Please show your work.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child' school uses flashcards to drill math facts.

OMG! DRILL? OH NO, they will never be normal.

Just kidding.

[Anonymous]

I really like the drill of the basic facts. I can't figure out any other way to learn them quickly, so I'm glad my child's teacher is using that method in school, not requiring us to do it at home.

Another thing my child's teacher does is have the children play "war" against each other with a deck of card (face cards removed). They first played the traditional way, then they played by drawing two cards each time and either adding them or dubtracting them mentally. So I child who pulled 7 and 8 would say "15" and a child who pulled 6 and 9 would also say "15" and that would be a tie, so they would do a battle against each other.... so they are using arithmetic over and over, but in a meaningful and fun way.

[Anonymous]

My dd's school uses EDM, but supplements with drilling of facts.

[Anonymous]

OMG! DRILL? OH NO, they will never be normal.

Just kidding.

Just like all the elite swimmers, soccer and lacrosse players and pianists!

[Anonymous]

Why use bad curricula that you have to modify or tweak?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, my child's school uses the Houghton Mifflin Math curriculum, which seems OK. His previous school used Saxon Math. Saxon was adequate, but the pace moved very slowly. I think it can be a good curriculum if the teachers divide the kids into ability groups, and let the ones who can work faster move at a more rapid pace. My son found the pace to be excruciatingly slow.

The best curriculum I have seen and one I would like my son's school to use, is called Singapore Math.

Here is a detailed review of many math curricula.

http://mathematicallycorrect.com/books.htm

The above chart is old. There have been some much better, newer curicula that have come along that were not evaluated back then, including Singapore Math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why use bad curricula that you have to modify or tweak?

Every curriculum can benefit from tweaking. More important, we will never all agree on what constitutes a good curriculum, but there may be non-curricular best practices that can be applied in any school.