Home

Services

Math and Instruction

About

Notebook and self-help skills

  • Art = Critical Thinking

    In my MATH class I use Picasso’s Guernica to get students to think – shaping critical thinking. This is a tribute to my art and architecture class which was the coolest class I had as an undergrad – the act of art speaking to life blew me away. I show them a photo with the following…

  • Lone Ranger vs Self-Help

    In leadership class I studied the Lone Ranger approach to problem-solving. When a problem arose in an organization the boss would ride in and solve the problem. Afterwards he or she would ride off and the employees would be no better prepared for the next crisis or problem. The point of the analogy is empowerment…

  • Post-Secondary Outcomes as Accountability Measure

    Unprepared College Freshmen Could Be The Cost Of High Schools Huffington Post Education has a story about states considering action to hold school districts accountable for their graduates having to take remedial courses upon entering college. Of course there are many factors that affect a student’s performance in college but high schools can do more…

  • Homework as a Challenge Part 1

    In another post  I describe a former 7th grade student of mine who was classified as having asperger’s and tested at a 1st grade or kindergarten math and reading level. He was not doing his homework. His science teacher explained that he was prompting the student to copy the homework. The student’s guardian explained that she…

  • Shaping Critical Thinking and Self-help Skills

    Below is an example of a puzzle I use to train students to make an effort and to think about problems. I have found that many students not only have a learned helplessness when it comes to math but they have been trained to follow steps mindlessly. Following a task analysis approach the first step…

  • Addressing Homework Completion Problems

    Addressing Homework Completion Problems Nice article Dr. Gary Brannigan (@GaryBrannigan) with 9 suggestions for helping a student with homework completion problems. #3 is especially pertinent to math: Initially assign homework with which the struggling learner is unlikely to have difficulty. Mark the homework for punctual submission and content. Gradually increase difficulty but never beyond the…

  • Manchester CC Survey about Student Struggles

    Manchester Community College (CT) surveyed their students and asked for reasons why students struggle in their classes. The number two most common response was that students didn’t know how to study effectively. If the students in the general population struggle with this imagine students with special needs. As I’ve posted elsewhere on this blog, students with…

  • Notebook Strategy

    I use what I call a table of contents notebook strategy. Each item (notes, handout etc.) that is to be placed into the notebook is dated and labeled with a “page” number. Each page is recorded in the table of contents. This helps students maintain work in chronological order. For example, on a single day…

  • Math Work is like a Maze

    Students in math often believe they should know exactly what to do to complete a problem. If not they think they cannot do the problem. Effective math students have learned how to tinker with a problem until they find a path. This is called academic discipline. I use a maze as an analogy. When we…