Don't keep your mouth shut

A piece in the New York Times relayed a story of a dad who attended a Parent Night at his child’s school. A math teacher talked about the curriculum, put an example on the board and asked if there were any questions. This dad did the unthinkable and raised his hand.

He asked a simple content question based on the equation, what x to the 0 power is. The teacher answered incorrectly and the dad knew it and told him so. The title of the article, Parent-Night Hint: Keep Mouth Shut gives away the author’s opinion of the event.

Taking an active part in your child’s education can certainly be a double-edged sword and often ends with you stabbing yourself in the back (or committing hari-kari). This parent didn’t attend the event with the intention of alienating the teacher. Shouldn’t your child’s teacher be required to know the content of what they are teaching?

Recently our school district underwent a change in the focus of our elementary and middle school math curriculum. How to teach kids to add, subtract, multiply and divide was under fire. Fuzzy, constructivist discovery methods were not working. Parents courageously asked a lot of hard questions and demanded change so our kids could be successful in math: a return to basics, recognizable homework and old-fashioned memorization of math facts. Dubbed an “over-reaction” by some, the district’s math neglect needed (and still needs) quite a bit of attention and work to get it back on track.

Hopefully our teachers are prepared for this challenge and, if not, our administration is carefully taking note and giving them the training and tools they need to be successful. Whoever is up at the blackboard is the most influential person in our child’s education and they need to get it right. Our kids only have one shot at each grade and there is no time like the present to make things happen.

Administration has made strong, positive statements regarding the newly revamped math program at recent BOE meetings. Outlines of grade-by-grade math expectations distinctly void of Investigations-speak were distributed and are available on-line. Many teachers are embracing the change although, in some cases, messages coming home are mixed. The WHAT is agreed upon, but it’s the HOW TO that may need some fine tuning. No one wants to be the parent with the big mouth on Back-To-School Night.

How is the rubber hitting the road for your kids? POBMath.com wants to know. The good, the bad and the ugly. We certainly hope it’s mostly good. Be sure to include your child’s school, teacher and grade. E-mail your comments to info@pobmath.com. Everything will remain confidential. We welcome your interests in other subject areas as well.

Read Woody Hochswender’s full article