math help.

Perhaps Canadians ordered 4 pizzas from the USA and paid in CAD funds. Hence only got 3.25 pizza.

 

Holy shit this is comical.

 

any self respecting student eats at least half of a pizza in one sitting.

 

I see a lot of these nonsensical questions in my time working and volunteering in schools. The prevalence of it shows the lack of understanding among those who prepare math education materials of how math relates to the real world. When I'm tutoring I make up the majority of my material on my own. It gets results. It's sad to see how many young kids are turned away from math and other subjects because of overpaid people who are poor educators.

Edit: I work in schools where most if not all of the kids are poor and often don't have people at home who can teach them fundamental concepts like algebra and arithmetic. That said it went all the way up to the university where I was a calculus and algebra tutor. The professors who were getting paid to teach their classes would have students who were failing come into the learning center and get the concepts quickly from someone getting paid $11.50 an hour.

 

.

 

Dalasander,

If this issue you speak of is truly the fault of poor educators, please share your solution to the problem. Not trying to be difficult, just would like to hear your opinion on the subject.

 

Teaching is like surfing - surfing a student. If someone's not familiar with surfing then I will explain it in this way - when you're surfing a wave you either get too far ahead of the breaking wave and lose momentum and sink because the wave is now behind you or you end up getting crushed because you fall too far back in the breaking part of the wave because you didn't have enough speed. Teaching works the same way where if someone can't work within the zone of proximal development of a student (where they're "at" and one step ahead of that) then they either go way "over their heads" and the students are lost or they give them busy work and are inundated by disinterested students who end up swamping the room with problematic behaviors. Now the gifted teacher like the gifted surfer can ride the snot out of a wave or a student's ability level and come all the way to shore - ready to paddle out another day.

This takes the ability of a teacher to assess their students' interests, differentiate the material to match their students' ability levels, and an effective method of pre and post testing to keep a realistic idea of what their students are learning and how well their teaching techniques are working. I've worked with a range of students from college engineering students in Calculus to Kindergarten students with severe learning disabilities learning how to first draw a circle or a straight line and the principles I have shared have been found to apply to each and every one of them. There are great teachers out there, however they're not found often in the areas where I work - location-wise and population-wise where I work with urban students with learning disabilities that seem to be a magnet for people who a. don't know how to teach and b. are deficient in their knowledge of their own subject areas or at least their ability to apply their knowledge to their students' ability and potential.

 

And you got to use a common core math solution, which is 4 times as much work. Because the rest of us who were tought the "new math" don't really understand math.

 

Great analogy and response sir. I thoroughly respect and commend you for your efforts, passion, and overall work in helping others.

 

This is why I don't have children, that and dirty diapers!

 

Save dat $

Err'body special.

 

I always tell parents I have the easy job. I get nights and weekends off while they can't even call in sick!

I learned about new math in my master's and math classes and it was found that the program failed because of a lack of adequate training for teachers in the new style of teaching. Based on my experience in observing other students in the teaching program I was in a few years ago, the same thing is happening again with common core math.

 

Thanks a lot. That means a lot - it's been a tough semester. Keep asking the important questions! Have a good day.