STUDENTS Archives | Math for Grownups

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Back to School for Teachers, Students and Parents

Now that Labor Day is behind us, it’s safe to say that most of country is back at school. In honor of this new beginning, I decided to share three of my most favorite posts for teachers, students and parents.

Five Things Math Teachers Wish Parents Knew

In this post, I asked veteran middle school teacher, Tiffany Choice, to share her advice for parents on how to help their kids succeed in math class. Her advice is golden, and stupid-easy to follow. In fact, none of her ideas involve learning new math methods. Huzzah!

Ten Things Students Wish Math Teachers Knew

I polled the high school and middle school students I know to get this great advice for teachers. If you teach math — at any level — do yourself a favor and take these to heart. Students aren’t asking for the moon.

Ten Things Parents Wish Math Teachers Knew

And there’s one more for teachers. Those of you who are parents see both sides of this equation. The homework wars are real, kids are stressed out and parents feel sometimes powerless to help.

If you’re a parent who needs even more support — and who among us doesn’t? — check out these bonus posts, where I outline ways that you can help your child become a master mathematician — or at least leave math class not feeling like a dummy!

Lowering Homework Stress: 5 easy steps for parents

Five Math Resources for Confused Parents

And of course, I’m around to answer your questions and give you support. Let’s get this school year off to a great, mathy start!

Photo Credit: loop_oh via Compfight cc

Got a question or comment about any of the above resources, share in the comments section!

Math at Work Monday: Julia the financial aid professional

Any college student who receives financial aid knows the drill. Folks in the financial aid office look carefully at many of the numbers that define a college student’s life — from income to GPA. Financial aid is reserved for those who need the funds the most and maintain good grades, while moving through a degree program in a reasonable amount of time.

Financial aid is also one big reason that some people are able to attend college — and ultimately land a good job in the hopes of remaining financially stable. Julia Dennis just left her job as a financial aid professional for a community college in North Carolina. She offered to share how she used math in her job.

Can you explain what you did for a living? I awarded financial aid (grants, loans, scholarships, and work study) to college students.

When did you use basic math in your job? Mostly adding and subtracting, but also some division and a small amount of multiplication. Here’s an example.

Students are federally required to maintain a 2.0 or higher cumulative GPA and at least a 67% cumulative completion rate. Being able to look at the number of completed versus attempted classes and know at a glance whether the student hit the 67% mark is decidedly helpful. (When it’s close, I always break out the calculator or adding machine to be certain.) The student also is required to complete their degree in 150% of the allotted time for their program. In other words, if their program is 100 credit hours, they have to complete their degree by the time they have finished attempting no more than 150 credit hours. Math is helpful for that as well.

Did you use any technology to help with this math? Some things I can do without it. For the numbers that look close, I always use a calculator or an adding machine.

How do you think math helped you do your job better? Sometimes students are right on the line. Being able to do the correct calculations to determine their eligibility for aid means the difference between that student going to school or not. In my job, the usefulness of math is a no-brainer.

How comfortable with math do you feel? I’ve always been comfortable with math. I scored higher on the math portion of the SAT than the English, which was weird because English was my favorite subject. I am one of those weird people who actually enjoys balancing the checkbook. I like the preciseness of it.

What kind of math did you take in high school? I took Algebra II, Geometry, Trigonometry and Pre-Calculus. I can’t say I loved it, but I did pretty well at it.

Did you have to learn new skills in order to do the math you used in your job? No new skills required. Most financial aid math involves things you learned in grade school.

Anything else you want to mention? If math is something you enjoy, then being a financial aid professional is something you might want to consider as a career. On the other hand, it’s important to be good with people too, since so much of being a Financial Aid Counselor or Director is having to give people bad news. You have to be prepared for lots of misplaced anger and a fair amount of stress and overtime.

Stay tuned for more details about financial aid math, along with repaying student loans!

Ten Things Students Wish Math Teachers Knew

Two weeks ago, I posted Five Things Math Teachers Wish Parents Knew. Now it’s the teachers’ turn to be on the hot seat. I asked a handful of the middle and high school students that I knew to chime in with some advice or helpful feedback for math teachers. And this is what they came up with:

Make the math relatable.

These kids get it — you honestly like pure mathematics and the State Board of Education has dictated that you cover x amount of material in y period of time. (See what I did there?) But when all students are doing is solving algebraic equations with no connection to the real world, the stuff won’t stick — and eyelids will shut.

Do more “interactive stuff instead of book work.”

Get rid of boring worksheets. Spend a few days applying the material to larger projects. Have the students design carnival games based on probability. Or track March Madness results. Or use special right triangles to find the length of a shadow and compare it to an actual shadow.

Ensure that everyone is ready to move on — before moving on.

Again, these students know that you have some constraints. And I’m willing to bet that most students understand that the class doesn’t revolve around them. (Okay, maybe many students, rather than most.) But if a good portion of the class isn’t following, there’s no point in barreling through to the next concept. I’ll add this: some students won’t tell you that they’re not ready to move forward. Teachers have to get creative in assessing readiness.

Don’t call on the same students all the time.

Everyone knows who the mathy kids are. Don’t let them dominate the discussion. A few days ago, a parent told me that her daughter’s school is really clamping down on “blurters” — kids who get the answers quickly and blurt them out. These blurters can suck all of the life out of a classroom, especially when the majority of students need a little more time and a lot more confidence. And it’s a good lesson for anyone to learn: keep your mouth shut and sit on your hands once and a while.

Don’t refuse to call on a student who usually has the answer.

This one’s personal. In middle school, my daughter was told to stop raising her hand all of the time — and not in a nice, encouraging way. She was crushed by this harsh order. Everyone deserves a chance to participate, at least part of the time. And besides, there are different methods for encouraging participation that don’t require teachers to single out and call on individual students. Learn these methods and use them.

Skip the timed tests.

They freak students out and can bring down a grade in a heartbeat. Fact is, faster isn’t smarter. Speed tests don’t allow different approaches to problems. Besides, what’s more important: automatic recall of the times tables or really understanding where these facts come from? (Please say the latter. Please say the latter.)

Grade as much as possible.

Give students a chance to bring up their grades with graded homework assignments. And give them feedback on their understanding as often as you can. It’s not enough for a student to know that the answer is wrong. Detailed feedback on why is critical for deeper understanding. Kids know this.

Recognize that not all kids learn in the same way.

Remember, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. If students don’t understand the concept, try explaining it in a different way. Or ask the kids to come up with their own ideas. Discovery is a great tool, and it’s often very engaging.

Stop talking down to students.

Yep, students really said this. And I could wallpaper my bathroom with the number of emails I’ve received from adults who felt shamed by a math teacher. Every adult that a kid meets has the power to make a positive difference in that kid’s life. Belittling, shaming and talking down to kids will have the opposite effect.

And I’ll add #10:

Don’t ever, ever tell students that they’re bad at math.

Want to insure that a kid will never try at math again? Want to smash his confidence? Want to send a lasting message that she won’t be able to balance her checkbook or become an engineer or help her kid with math homework? This is a one-way ticket to that bleek future, and it can happen in a split second with an offhand remark. Remember what it was like to be a student and follow the Golden Rule.

Do you have suggestions for math teachers? Share them (nicely) in the comments section. I’d also love to hear from students and former students who had great experiences with their math teachers. Are you a math teacher? Feel free to offer your feedback, too!