Honors Math classes being poorly taught (Churchill)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It might be that my kids aren't that smart, but I noticed that my friends kids in other HSs do honors math classes and always get As. My kids who I assumed were of the same intelligence (as I said, I might be wrong), struggle to get Bs at Churchill. Also, it is the only class that they struggle in.

We've noticed this as well. Our friend's kids who are at other high schools all take honors math classes and do not report any struggling like we and others have at Churchill.

[Anonymous]

This problem has been reported by parents to Central Office for YEARS. Why doesn't Central Office do on spot investigations to see what math teachers are doing at Churchill? They are either teaching the curriculum or just faking it. Central Office is supposed to help teachers who are struggling to improve but nothing has happened with all the complaints.

[Anonymous]

Another question is why isn't Heckert going into math classes and doing classroom observations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another question is why isn't Heckert going into math classes and doing classroom observations?

She should be there, but I suspect that sitting in on a class here and there won't do much. It might be a very deep problem.
This situation seems to need a simple fix: Textbooks and shuffling of teachers to other schools. Each local school should have to take one Churchill math teacher in exchange for one of theirs (anyone).
DON'T WASTE MONEY ON CONSULTANTS!!!!

[Anonymous]

Friends daughter did honors geometry in 8th grade at Cabin John. Honors algebra 2 at Churchill in 9th grade and so on. All As in those classes. SAT scored 575 math. Not pretty. Parents disappointed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Friends daughter did honors geometry in 8th grade at Cabin John. Honors algebra 2 at Churchill in 9th grade and so on. All As in those classes. SAT scored 575 math. Not pretty. Parents disappointed

Yes, unfortunately a very similar situation for us. It would be great if they can just clean house in the math department.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Friends daughter did honors geometry in 8th grade at Cabin John. Honors algebra 2 at Churchill in 9th grade and so on. All As in those classes. SAT scored 575 math. Not pretty. Parents disappointed

How are you different from a Tiger mah parent who wants to have their GT kids abilities and needs for better curriculum, better teachers, textbooks and enrichment met?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Friends daughter did honors geometry in 8th grade at Cabin John. Honors algebra 2 at Churchill in 9th grade and so on. All As in those classes. SAT scored 575 math. Not pretty. Parents disappointed

How are you different from a Tiger magnet parent who wants to have their GT kids abilities and needs for better curriculum, better teachers, textbooks and enrichment met?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Friends daughter did honors geometry in 8th grade at Cabin John. Honors algebra 2 at Churchill in 9th grade and so on. All As in those classes. SAT scored 575 math. Not pretty. Parents disappointed

Yes, unfortunately a very similar situation for us. It would be great if they can just clean house in the math department.

This is why I took my DC out of honors math. I don't trust poor teachers with advanced curricula. It's too easy to mess it up if you don't know what you are doing, and these guys don't know what they are doing. DC seems to be leaning the material more thoroughly.

[Anonymous]

My kids are doing their part. They work hard, so I feel guilty that the adults are failing them .

[Anonymous]

My son learned more from Kahn Academy than he did in a Churchill math class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids are doing their part. They work hard, so I feel guilty that the adults are failing them .

You can't have people teaching advanced classes that don't have the background to teach the content. No one should be teaching high school math without either an undergraduate or graduate degree in math or a related subject (physics etc.). Having subject matter expertise is the only way that a teacher can be a competent teacher. You can't have a surface understanding of a topic to be teaching at the high school level or just reading the answer key. This is part of the reason that education programs in this country are being lambasted. Education pedagogy is fine, but subject matter expertise and the ability to communicate with teens is very important. We literally had a teacher a few years back tell parents that he would be learning the material (AP Calc) along with the students. Completely UNACCEPTABLE!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are doing their part. They work hard, so I feel guilty that the adults are failing them .

You can't have people teaching advanced classes that don't have the background to teach the content. No one should be teaching high school math without either an undergraduate or graduate degree in math or a related subject (physics etc.). Having subject matter expertise is the only way that a teacher can be a competent teacher. You can't have a surface understanding of a topic to be teaching at the high school level or just reading the answer key. This is part of the reason that education programs in this country are being lambasted. Education pedagogy is fine, but subject matter expertise and the ability to communicate with teens is very important. We literally had a teacher a few years back tell parents that he would be learning the material (AP Calc) along with the students. Completely UNACCEPTABLE!

This is all true and what I find extremely frustrating. Even if the HS level course is appropriately taught as a handful of problem solving techniques, the teacher needs to be modeling more advanced skills like stating definitions and theorems concisely, because mimesis is a large part of how students eventually learn these skills. This is where HS is really loosing ground and why some of these classes do more harm than good (and really these types of omissions start in MS level classes).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are doing their part. They work hard, so I feel guilty that the adults are failing them .

You can't have people teaching advanced classes that don't have the background to teach the content. No one should be teaching high school math without either an undergraduate or graduate degree in math or a related subject (physics etc.). Having subject matter expertise is the only way that a teacher can be a competent teacher. You can't have a surface understanding of a topic to be teaching at the high school level or just reading the answer key. This is part of the reason that education programs in this country are being lambasted. Education pedagogy is fine, but subject matter expertise and the ability to communicate with teens is very important. We literally had a teacher a few years back tell parents that he would be learning the material (AP Calc) along with the students. Completely UNACCEPTABLE!

This is all true and what I find extremely frustrating. Even if the HS level course is appropriately taught as a handful of problem solving techniques, the teacher needs to be modeling more advanced skills like stating definitions and theorems concisely, because mimesis is a large part of how students eventually learn these skills. This is where HS is really loosing ground and why some of these classes do more harm than good (and really these types of omissions start in MS level classes).

Yes, at the honors level this is the case. I simply do not trust MCPS to teach advanced math. It does end up being a more harm than good. My dd who took honors geometry and got Ds and worse, switched to regular geometry and started getting 99s on tests. This is a problem. She also said that she was understanding the material better. My other dd is more talented in math, but even so, she will take on grade geometry.

[Anonymous]

Serious question-- are ya'll's comments on poor math instruction based on this year or based on history?

The reason I ask is that dd's friends have the same teacher dd had last year. And from what they say, she is taking the instruction much more seriously. Dd complained that last year, she didn't really teach and spent a lot of her time on her phone. But this year, the friends say she is actively teaching.

I'm wondering if math teachers are preparing more and trying to be more serious because there is a new sheriff in town, or if this is an isolated anecdote.