Several years ago, when my daughter was much younger than she is now (17, in human years), I was sitting alongside her with the intention of reviewing her homework assignment for that day. “Don’t bother reading it, Dad,” she advised me, “you wouldn’t understand it.” “Why don’t you let me give it a try?” I asked, as by this time I did have an MS in elementary education (specializing in mathematics), as well as 2 decades of teaching mathematics from pre-K through college under my belt. “This is different from what you teach,” she explained as she pulled the paper away from me. I gently pulled it back, perused the assignment and stated, “no, actually it’s the exact same curriculum I’ve been training teachers to use for the past 3 years.”
Her voice started to express the same irritation that mine might have had when I was explaining the incomprehensibility of math homework to my parents back in the long-lost decade known affectionately as “the sixties.” “No, Dad, the teacher wants us to do it a different way!,” she announced, pulling the paper back. “How different could it be?” I shouted, “you’re only comparing two fractions!” She terminated the argument with a quick “forget it, Dad, you wouldn’t understand” and rushed back to her bedroom, with a loud slam of the door to emphasize her point.
It dawned on me then and there that if a math specialist at a prestigious Manhattan private school was helpless to aid his 10-year-old daughter in her understanding of mathematics, what chance would anyone else have who was not as proficient with current theory and practice in this very emotional subject? During my 25 years of teaching mathematics in private and public schools, I have been asked by more than a few parents the same question: what can I do to help my little (insert name here) with his/her math homework? I usually start with my version of the Hippocratic Oath, which is, in effect, “above all, do no arguing.” As you can see, following this prescription is much more difficult than dispensing it.
Learning mathematics is a very emotional subject for everyone involved: for the teacher, it is frustrating to instruct children in the concepts, skills and problem solving techniques that come so easily to yourself. To parents, it arouses all the insecurities that they no doubt experienced for themselves when they were studying this same material when they were young. Finally, it forces us to confront the strengths and weaknesses of those for whom we care so much. As Deborah Loewenberg Ball, the dean at the University of Michigan School of Education explained it, teaching mathematics is difficult and intricate work, which requires a high level of skill to communicate.
In this column I hope to examine the practice of mathematics education from all sides, especially in the mysterious culture of private schools. Among the questions that will be examined are issues of curriculum (‘what should my child know and when should she/he know it?”), cognition (“why does my child say math is too easy or too hard?”), assessment (“what should I do if my child gets a bad grade in math?”) and even the emotional aspects (“why does my child cry when asked to add two numbers?”). I look forward to a rich and rewarding exploration of the issues, with a minimum of door slamming.
About the Contributor: Robert Berkman is a regular contributor to the NYC Private Schools Blog in the area of mathematics education.
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