|
Post by doubletrouble on Oct 17, 2014 12:00:30 GMT
I had cause to go and speak to our 10 year old DD's teacher as she had a complete melt down whilst we were trying to do some fairly simple subtraction problems. The problem was the way the questions were phrased. The words 'difference between' were used a lot and slowly we got through those. But when the word 'more' was used in a question it became just impossible. She takes everything literally and that word does not mean subtract in her world. Apparently there will be loads more of these types of questions coming up in future!! Why? she can subtract and I thought that is what they were trying to teach her. She has problems with language, she has sensory problems, ADHD and ASD - talk about setting her up to fail!!!
|
|
|
Post by pingu on Oct 17, 2014 13:23:45 GMT
My son is very literal too, present him with 123-45 and he can get the answer, but 123 minus 45 was yielding a different answer to 123 minus, or subtract 45 or 123 take away 45. And , like your DD doubletrouble , the concept of " more than" really threw him into " I don't understand, I am rubbish at maths " mode.,
We only made progress on subtraction sums that were in words, once I had explained what the phrases meant. Also, I had to explain long division without mentioning " remainder" recently as they " didn't use that word" . " you try it..... As regards original homework, it seems an incredibly large project for an eight year old. I would have struggled with this at eight, and I went to grammar school eventually..
Personally , I might explain how to tackle a project, maybe give a few ideas or help find some material, or tidy up what they produce a bit, but I wouldn't do too much of the actual project writing for them, not only are they not learning, but it hides from the teacher the real level they are at, so they don't get stuff explained /taught by the teacher as she thinks they are doing ok. It might be hard for them in the short term, as they don't score very well in that project, but it pays dividends in the longer term as they learn how to do better in the future.
This is the mistake I made by trying to explain a lot of maths stuff recently, that I knew ds2 had missed at old school last year. I wanted him to do well at new school. However they do long division rather differently and he was saying that, even though he found my " old" way made sense, whereas the school way didn't, he wouldn't be allowed to do the sums that way, so I informed the teacher that he was struggling with long division and left it to her. A week later I got an email saying he had worked hard with her on the subject and now really had a grasp on how to do it! And he seems to be beginning to recover his lost general maths confidence! Of course it does depend on the school, but unless I felt they were failing to teach him, I try to be more hands off with maths these days.
|
|
|
Post by milly on Oct 17, 2014 13:44:37 GMT
I agree Pingu that as far as possible we should not do the work for them (DH is less good at keeping to that than me but I couldnt face any more of the history project mentioned above!) But, speaking as a teacher, we are aware of our pupils abilities. I know immediately if someone else has done the work. You can also tell if a child has been helped in an appropriate way - that's what I like to see and it's what I try to do with my children. But I wouldn't use homework to assess the child's learning, or at least, not in isolation.
My older dd has had comments in reports about her homework being a better standard than her classwork, but that's because she focuses better in a quiet environment and has me on hand to answer questions.
So I do agree - don't do it for them. But also tell the teacher if it is way too much or too difficult. Dd2's teacher now puts a parent response sheet in - so that's what I give her. But I used to always write notes on the work if there was a problem with it.
To me Sooz, that sounds like a list of choices. You've possibly done double the work already!
|
|
|
Post by milly on Oct 17, 2014 13:46:42 GMT
Double trouble - they are trying to teach children to apply their maths to real life. Exams will demand the same. It is what a lot of children find hard though.
|
|
|
Post by pingu on Oct 17, 2014 14:10:29 GMT
Thanks Milly, glad to hear I am on the right track generally, I DO think teachers generally know who did the homework, but what I meant was that,, it presumably helps the teacher , if they can see where the specific wrong bits are , in the homework, so you can correct or reinforce what they do, just like you presumably would with their daytime work.
|
|
|
Post by sooz on Oct 17, 2014 17:06:31 GMT
There is a choice of bits to do, 4 sections, each section has one or two things to do and each section has points, you have to get to at least 5 points, which means 3 sections to be done in our case.
|
|
|
Post by doubletrouble on Oct 17, 2014 20:26:50 GMT
Yes Milly I can see what your saying. I understand that they should be learning problem solving in everyday situations. Unfortunately our DD won't sit and listen to an explanation from me as to why the question is phrased like this she just starts to shout and scream and sticks her fingers in her ears. She tells me all the things she is useless at and says she is useless at maths and can't do it. It went on for ages the other night and it took an extra hour to get her calmed down to go sleep.
|
|
|
Post by pingu on Oct 18, 2014 8:36:29 GMT
Yup, recognise the distress, and the " I'm useless ,I can't do maths. " thing. Getting my ds2 calm enough to listen for two minutes, meant an hour of meltdown for a few sums last time it happened. We only got there that night because his fear of not handing in the homework done, was greater than his belief that he couldn't do it.
|
|
|
Post by milly on Oct 18, 2014 9:28:04 GMT
Yes I have had that panic here too. Although dd doesn't care much if she hands in homework (think school believe in letting the kids decide or something unhelpful) she does get very stressed as soon as there is the slightest thing she doesn't understand. We do have it sorted better now. Some months back I decided to be dd's maths tutor as we couldn't find a good one. So every Saturday she knows we will do maths. We just go over whatever she has been doing at school - she either has homework or finds something in a textbook or online. I don't try to teach her or explain anything UNLESS she asks me. I just hover. Sooner or later she asks for help. Works for us.
|
|
|
Post by ceci on Nov 6, 2014 19:49:54 GMT
I've just finished a project on Roman Houses (P6 - year 5 I think). It was very interesting but totally not within the ability of my almost 10 year old. No concentration or ability to focus on what she needed to do, no connection to the topic, not able to extract simple information from the internet, not accepting of help, and then when it came to sticking everything together (her contribution), she started and stopped several times because she panicked about what everyone would think of it. It's just easier to get on with it myself. I look forward to her moving to high school in a couple of years!!!
|
|
|
Post by corkwing on Nov 7, 2014 12:16:47 GMT
...she started and stopped several times because she panicked about what everyone would think of it. That's very familiar! Hope you get a good mark for your homework, Ceci.
|
|
|
Post by milly on Nov 7, 2014 12:25:23 GMT
DH "helped" dd with a complicated history project on a subject she knew nothing about. Dd saw her history teacher earlier this week who told her her project was one of the best in the class! DH insists it was her work, he just helped with the organisation.... Yeh, right!
|
|