Reply to 92% in 4 to 5 in Algebra 1 - teacher attributes success to "old-fashioned" algebra

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[quote=Anonymous][quote]Damn straight! Exactly what's going on. Math teachers have been hit or miss all my life, clearly we're not going to find enough good teachers, but at least there were books. Now, they've taken those away. [/quote]

This.  I am so frustrated with the lack of text books.  We live in one of the wealthiest counties in the entire United States, and no damn text books in 6th grade.  Really?!!!

I think my DD is a similar math student to me.  I was a good math student, actually quite good by the standards of the day (AP Calc senior year).  But I always had to work at math.  It did not come easily to me.  I needed to do lots and lots and lots of practice problems to get comfortable/confident with the concept.  The only way I knew to study for a test was: get out my text book.  Not every single problem had been assigned as HW.  Do the problems that I hadn't done for HW and check the answer in the back of the book. Repeat until I understood the concept and could answer easily.

DD has had some difficulty quickly grasping concepts this year (she is in an IM math class with 35 students).  She is told: it's on her to figure out that she needs to see her teacher at STTAR for "re-teaching" and she should study her "notes" from class for quizzes and assessments.  If she gets problems wrong on an assessment, she should "study" those same problems, then take a re-assessment.  Sorry, I don't think studying math "notes" or a solved math problem is the answer and I don't think it's realistic to expect an 11 year old to have the self-awareness/confidence to know that because she didn't grasp every concept immediately in class she needs to go to STTAR for re-teaching.  I think she needs a damn textbook to provide her with the opportunity to do many, many more practice problems, and the light bulb will go on.

We have not gone the route of a tutor (yet) but we are now starting to supplement at home with Khan Academy.  (Which by the way, seems to teach the "old fashioned" way, as far as I can tell!)

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