Migraines and Math Wars


And I was able to get up past 22K yesterday even though I had a huge migraine (or, as a friend of mine likes to say, the Mount Rushmore of headaches). So I officially rule. It is getting easier from one day to the next, esp. as I abandon things like standards.

Interesting couple of articles on how badly our students are doing academically, esp. WRT math and science (and also an interesting article on how educational agencies are in bed with the publishers of certain curricula). Also, second pendulum-swing article in the Times in the past few weeks on moves away from constructivist "fuzzy math." I wonder if it's true or if it's just a meme that's caught hold. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in our district: we have Investigations, which, I get the impression, is worse than Everyday Math. It's been in place for five years, which probably means that the kids who were taught with it, and who didn't have teachers or parents pushing computational fluency on their own, are not going to get it and will need calculators the rest of their lives. I first went hardcore with Saxon Math, then went streamlined with Singapore Math, then got lazy and started taking the kids to Kumon. It's turned out to be a much better deal for Primera: she's the type who finds computation a strength, versus reasoning, which Investigations is better for, so I sort of feel like she's getting the best of both.

Secundo, OTOH, genuinely loves math and needs an approach that emphasizes reasoning more. I don't have the time/training to do it, and Kumon is completely rigid re what it teaches. In short, I need to find another option for him, probably over the summer.

A parent of a younger child is just entering the Math Wars and getting angry about it. I can't tell if I'm jaded or just wiser: my basic attitude was, it's entrenched at this point and administration has shown itself impervious to arguments against it (at least from parents). Fortunately or otherwise, our district's math scores in middle school were SPECTACULARLY bad, so much so that the Board of Ed was speechless when the results came out. There are study groups and committees being formed, one of which I wangled my way onto. I can hardly wait....