I agree that the “they were never taught” fallacy is common among new teachers- as is the attempt to cover years worth of material in a few short weeks at the beginning the syllabus. I see this all the time with new teachers, and often have to insist that they are taking the wrong approach- students who can’t add fractions aren’t going to acquire it in two weeks.
Where I disagree is the idea that these student can’t learn the material (they just can’t catch up to the material in a few extra weeks of time)- I’ve known a few teachers whose students consistently perform better then their peer group, and retain the information into their next few courses. For one fifth grade teacher we tracked, by highschool his students were moving into advanced math courses at a much higher rate than students who passed through other fifth grade teachers at the same school. The value-added teacher research bares out the facts that good, experienced teachers can produce long-term learning gains in most of their students.
My suspicion is that many grade-school level teachers don’t understand the material they teach (a surprising number of grade school teachers are essentially mathematically illiterate) and can inflict a fair amount of damage to student’s understanding.
students who can’t add fractions aren’t going to acquire it in two weeks.
The original post seems to say that the students do acquire it in two weeks, they just forget as the class moves on to the next topic. Does that sound right to you?
I will be starting as a high school maths teacher next year. I really really wish I knew how to fix students who arrive in year N and haven’t learned the critical skills they were supposed to have mastered at the end of year N-1. Teachers don’t choose curricula, and curricula are too dense for mainstream students. We already have more than one semester’s worth of material to get through in a semester.
If a bunch of students arrive in my class in February, and the mid year exam is in June, and they don’t know any of the stuff they need for this year, how do I fit all the extra material in? This is not a rhetorical question!
how do I fit all the extra material in? This is not a rhetorical question!
Extra lessons for those who want to do it.
This means extra work for you, but you could try some strategy to reduce the work. For example make a list of Khan Academy videos related to the missing materials, put it on your web page, start your first lesson with a (not graded) background knowledge test, and recommend everyone to watch those videos. You could also make some additional exercises for voluntary homework. -- The general idea is to do something once and reuse it every year.
First, relax and realize you can’t fix everything. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try, but you need to set realistic goals or you’ll burn yourself out really quickly. The students really need more lesson time, and more practice time. If the student has resources you can refer them to one of the many tutoring centers designed to address this sort of thing. If they don’t have resources, most attempts at solutions will involve a lot of your personal time, which will already be highly strained as a new teacher.
Ask the other highschool teachers you work with if they can recommend a good tutoring service to refer students to. Also, ask them how they attempt to solve these sort of problems? At one charter school, the math teachers set up an after school program attempting to mimic the structure of the chain tutoring centers (Sylvan learning center, etc). Not something to think about setting up your first year, but if you keep an eye towards the future...
A school district outside DC. Tthe district was hoping to implement metrics to gauge teacher quality to determine pay under the previous administration. The project was scrapped when the new chancellor of schools came in.
I agree that the “they were never taught” fallacy is common among new teachers- as is the attempt to cover years worth of material in a few short weeks at the beginning the syllabus. I see this all the time with new teachers, and often have to insist that they are taking the wrong approach- students who can’t add fractions aren’t going to acquire it in two weeks.
Where I disagree is the idea that these student can’t learn the material (they just can’t catch up to the material in a few extra weeks of time)- I’ve known a few teachers whose students consistently perform better then their peer group, and retain the information into their next few courses. For one fifth grade teacher we tracked, by highschool his students were moving into advanced math courses at a much higher rate than students who passed through other fifth grade teachers at the same school. The value-added teacher research bares out the facts that good, experienced teachers can produce long-term learning gains in most of their students.
My suspicion is that many grade-school level teachers don’t understand the material they teach (a surprising number of grade school teachers are essentially mathematically illiterate) and can inflict a fair amount of damage to student’s understanding.
The original post seems to say that the students do acquire it in two weeks, they just forget as the class moves on to the next topic. Does that sound right to you?
I will be starting as a high school maths teacher next year. I really really wish I knew how to fix students who arrive in year N and haven’t learned the critical skills they were supposed to have mastered at the end of year N-1. Teachers don’t choose curricula, and curricula are too dense for mainstream students. We already have more than one semester’s worth of material to get through in a semester.
If a bunch of students arrive in my class in February, and the mid year exam is in June, and they don’t know any of the stuff they need for this year, how do I fit all the extra material in? This is not a rhetorical question!
Extra lessons for those who want to do it.
This means extra work for you, but you could try some strategy to reduce the work. For example make a list of Khan Academy videos related to the missing materials, put it on your web page, start your first lesson with a (not graded) background knowledge test, and recommend everyone to watch those videos. You could also make some additional exercises for voluntary homework. -- The general idea is to do something once and reuse it every year.
First, relax and realize you can’t fix everything. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try, but you need to set realistic goals or you’ll burn yourself out really quickly. The students really need more lesson time, and more practice time. If the student has resources you can refer them to one of the many tutoring centers designed to address this sort of thing. If they don’t have resources, most attempts at solutions will involve a lot of your personal time, which will already be highly strained as a new teacher.
Ask the other highschool teachers you work with if they can recommend a good tutoring service to refer students to. Also, ask them how they attempt to solve these sort of problems? At one charter school, the math teachers set up an after school program attempting to mimic the structure of the chain tutoring centers (Sylvan learning center, etc). Not something to think about setting up your first year, but if you keep an eye towards the future...
Who is “we”?
A school district outside DC. Tthe district was hoping to implement metrics to gauge teacher quality to determine pay under the previous administration. The project was scrapped when the new chancellor of schools came in.