What do I have to do....

[sweety]

???dd goes to math tutoring every tuesday. It doesn't seem to help much. The teacher keeps saying things like "I go over this every day and I always write it on the overhead." I am getting to the point where I am thinking that the teacher doesn't "get" her and that dd is a little too carefree about the teacher not understanding.

We have a parent teacher conference next week. I hope I don't need my sister's "Mother from Hell" tee shirt. (My sister's adopted daughter has fetal alcohol syndrome and is now home schooled) All of dd's teachers up to this point have been very good. This one just doesn't seem to understand. We will see

[camismom]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm taing it all in. Keep 'em coming!

[rosyred45]

Well, I was debating on saying this or not, but I know there are a coupel of people that might agree with me. At least I hope so anyhow.

Some kids are just not cut out for "schooling". NOT meaning they can't learn, BUT the way the system is set up, they are taught for the test, not for the knowlege. I can't stand it, and I see it getting worse here.

Is she trying, not trying, just not gettin gsome things? I could NOT get geometry or algebra. Pretty much figured I'd never be a mathmatician, but I have other strengths.

I wish I could help you out more.

[camismom]

Kaiti.. In some ways I see her trying ... in some ways I don't. Meaning she does the work required of her (most of it anyway) but just never studies. I know she doen't get Pre-Algebra. It just doesn't click for her. The teacher goes over it at school, we go over it with her again at home, but she just can't grasp it. This is her second year taking it as well! This teacher constantly notes on her web-page that she had very bad test scores on her lat test, etc. etc. I want so bad to reply to her that since she consistly has all students making poor grades, maybe she's not doing such a fab job in teaching the leasson. Ya know?

[Sorka]

Yep.. a teacher.. should be taught that if their students are ALL getting low grades on their tests, then there is something wrong with the delivery of the material.

I was taught that..

That is what those nice Bell curves are for.. or perhaps when this teacher was in school they didn't have an educational statistics class..hehe

You are supposed to see a nice bell shaped curve if you were to chart the scores.. if it is tilted to the high side then your test/assignment may have been too easy,
If it is tilted to the low side it was too hard or you need to try teaching it another way..

So chart out the scores if you have access.. put the number of kids on the up and down part, and the scores in incriments of 5 along the bottom.. then put dots on the chart for the scores and connect the dots..
There should be a nice bell shaped curve if she is doing things right.. if not.. ask her simply why do you think you are not getting a nice bell curve on your classes scores?

Makes you look smart.. makes her think
Denise

[camismom]

Thanks Denise.... I'll have to remember that, and USE it!!

[sweety]

:-[Well, dd came home and told me she got a 68 on the math test. ARRRRGGGHHH! She said "Well at least I passed" We went over test tips and and studying tips.
We have been curtailing the game boy. I can't wait till the parent teacher meeting.

[rosyred45]

I never saw the point in Algebra, so stubborn me in 11th grade decided I was going to do the work MY way and get the same answer..........

HMMMM, for some reason she would go on about formulas
But I still got the right answer. Maybe that is behind Cami's thinking, if she doesn't think that she'll need it, she won't worry about it.

Well, a few months ago I actually used algebra to figure something out :oSo, for those that say you'll never use algebra.....like me, we're wrong

[tridlette]

I always have believed that a good teacher can teach a subject 5 different ways. If you don't understand something, having it repeated to you exactly the same way again isn't going to change it!

Try this web site:
www.purplemath.com/

My son's awesome Algebra teacher from last year recommended it. We used a few times to get the hang of certain lessons and it is dedicated to Algebra!

Also try this:
www.lehigh.edu/~kpe2/algebra1.htm

This is the teachers web page that he had last year. She has some good links on the page. Only problem is, last year she kind of dropped off updating the page as the year progressed, so when the stuff got harder, we had less resources to go to.

She is a second year teacher, very energetic, and very much "outside the box" in her teaching style. She likes to give the kids projects to apply the lessons to a real life purpose. Maybe Cami can at least get a bit of inspiration, even if she doesn't get A's!