Re: Math bring taught today in school

WORKING GAL · ‎11-15-2011

@Laura14- That is so sad. I hope her parents got involved and faught against her being "labeled".

Laura14 · ‎06-09-2014

@WORKING GAL Her mom was a single, working mother and helped her daughter with her homework based on what she knew, which of course was the "old" way.

The school really blamed her and, as a kid of a single mom who worked three jobs trying to keep a roof over our heads, the lack of empathy and insight was outrageous there as well. Some kids don't have the village or stay at home parent experience.

I got out of teaching all together within months.

chrystaltree · ‎05-10-2010

@Ainhisg wrote:
I have been retired from teaching for 14 years. During the last year that I taught (third grade), we had to teach "new math" with the problems being written horizontally. The kids not only had to get the correct answer, but they also had to explain why it was the correct answer. The problem? Third graders don't have the life knowledge and experience to understand what they're doing let alone explain it. Math can be very abstract for younger children. If they did manage to explain it correctly, they were just regurgitating what I had taught with really no understanding for the most part. They also had to do lots of extra steps to come up with the correct answer. I found the whole thing ridiculous and was very glad that it was my last year of teaching.

As far as cursive, I taught it to students my whole life...until I didn't. The last year I taught, we third grade teachers were told not to teach it at all--that the fourth grade teachers would teach how to write in cursive. I have no idea if they did or not, since I retired. But in today's world, the skill really isn't needed except to sign a check or legal documents.

Cursive actually is not required for anything, even checks and documents. More often than not now we sign legal documents on our phones, tablets or laptops and we sign electronically. It feels crazy to me because I'm in my 60s. My niece really wants to learn cursive, I'm going to teach her next summer when she's a little older and can better understand that should not use it in class.

Ainhisg · ‎03-09-2010

@chrystaltree yes, another poster already corrected me, which I was glad to know.

Lucky Charm · ‎03-09-2010

Luckily, the math I was taught in the 60s and 70s--still works!

And another good thing is, I've never had a check returned because it was written in cursive.

Yes, I still write checks.

We're working with an architect firm (and many other businesses) that charge a credit card fee---I'm not paying that.

And I'm not sending my bank routing code and acct number online to these places as my city tax dept wants, they too get a check--in cursive.

Luckily, the ATM accepts checks--written in cursive!, too.

I'm glad there are still humans (and robots) that read cursive. Because I have lots of Christmas cards that are printed in cursive. I hope everyone can read the lovely messages inside.

Sorry for the long post. Be glad it's not in cursive, because if I could, I would.