Reply to 2.0 1st grade curriculum: Carbon Dioxide? Yes! Telling time? No!

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][

I'm an engineer, I've had more math than most math teachers, I've done 3D calculus long hand before computers.  I've never had a bad math textbook in my life.  It's pretty damn simple, there is an explanation, some sample problems and exercises.  Answers to the evens or odds, usually in the back of the book.  Front and back of the books, have charts and tables of properties, which you learn to reference to be able to apply to solve problems.

Teacher explains the lesson, if the explanation does not stick you ask him/her the next day, come in before or after school to get help.  Does that sound familiar?  Haven't seen an MCPS teacher yet that offers help outside of class time, but that may change as my children get older.  I can't tell you how many times I have heard "my child doesn't remember how the teacher told them to do x, but when I tell my kid they tell me I'm not doing it the way the teacher did."  All because there is no reference.

What I have seen is chaotic classrooms with unsure kids working in groups by themselves.  I've seen them draw sticks and dots for years to the point they are so bored they can do it blindfolded.  Maybe this remedial work helps those who can't grasp math or do not have the home life that supports learning, but the rest of the children also matter.  It's gotten so the pendulum has slid all the way to remedial without consideration of the needs of the average or above average learner.

Meanwhile we are facing an increase in property tax, to support a 2 Billion (that is Billion with a B) plus school budget for a school system that can't buy a book or implement a curriculum.  How much of that property tax increase will benefit my kids? None, it's going to salary increases and to prepare for the onslaught of non english speaking kids that will overwhelm our school system.

Okay so drawing 3 rows of 5 dots can be beneficial for understanding the concept of 3 x 5 = 15.  But year after year, my kids do busy work without learning the core facts.

I refuse to buy books any more, and will only go to the library.  My kids are so bored with school, they just read the whole day.  The only feedback I get from teachers is that my kids are reading too much and not paying attention, while the cruise through with A's and the younger ones with P's.  This system is killing their love of learning.[/quote]

Yes, it's a very common belief that if you know how to learn math, then you know how to teach math. But it's an incorrect belief.
[b]
(It's also a very common belief, on DCUM, that the entire purpose of MCPS is to keep my sweet, bright Larlo dumb while throwing money down a hole at undeserving future gang members only there for the free baby-sitting.)[/quote][/b]

You can peddle your racist bull$hit somewhere else.  The lack of curriculum hurts all kids.  A textbook would be an incredibly helpful tool for an immigrant family to have as a reference.

Just because I advocate for a real curriculum and textbooks does not mean that I think immigrant children are future gang members.  That is a disgusting accusation.   I can guarantee that I have done way more voluntary tutoring for at risk children than.you have.  I have found the children whose parents engage and care, will work their way out of poverty.  It doesn't matter of they are working three jobs they make time for their kids and stay on top of them.

The ones whose parents don't care, stop coming because they don't want to be bothered with the followup or extra time it takes.[/quote]

I don't agree with everything you said but 100 percent agree with the need for textbooks.  So important for kids who learn a little differently.  I was a very successful student (as successful as it gets, if grades and college admissions are the measure) and I never learned in class.  I learned at home when I went over what we learned on my own with the book.  Think of all the ADd-inattentive kids.  It's so much easier to learn from a book at home when there aren't 25 other kids providing a distraction in the classroom.  That's what I did.  Having a book that tracks what your teacher is doing in the classroom is crucial. [/quote]

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