Tutoring+Mathematics


 * Anxiety Affects Learning ** ||

** Use this heading for the journal entry: ** ** Your Name ** ** Week's Topic: Tutoring Mathematics ** ** Date ** **Tutoring Site** **Hours tutored this week**

**Assignment due 02/14/12 in class**
**PART 1: TUTORING MATHEMATICS: 3 resources**

Dr. Bob Moses, Founder of the Algebra Project , past recipient of a MacArthur Genius Grant, young leader in the student activist group, SNCC, formed in the late 1960s Civil Rights Era, speaks about the importance of learning algebra for all high school students and why, today, math and algebra are the new civil rights for American students.

**1. View the 13 minute video about Robert Moses and the Algebra Project** **by advancing the video player to 12:30 in the video timeline: ** @http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/328/video.html

**2. Read the synopsis ** of **__//Reading Coaching for Math Word Problems//__** by Robert Maloy, Sharon Edwards, Gordon Anderson on this page below.

**"Most of the literature describes student engagement and motivation as having to do with their attitudes about math -- whether they like it or not," Schorr says. "That's different from the engagement we've found. When students are working on conceptually complex problems in a supportive environment, they do better. They report feeling frustrated, but also satisfaction, pride and a willingness to work harder next time ."**

**3. Read the article** Kids Master Mathematics When They're Challenged, But Supported.

**PART 2: JOURNAL Questions** **Please write each question above your response to it:** 1. What do you think might happen to drop out rates if all schools with students who are not succeeding in math were able to participate in **The Algebra Project**? Why do you think as you do: state 3-4 reasons.

2. Which of the strategies from the synopsis of ** " Reading Coaching for Math Word Problems " ** might have helped you when learning math in elementary and middle and high school? Did you use any of these or different ones? Are there strategies you still use today?

3. What are you thinking about math and yourself as a math learner after reading, **//"Kids Master Mathematics When They Are Challenged But Supported"//**?

4. What are you wondering about tutoring math and tutoring in general ?

===//__Synopsis of Reading Coaching for Math Word Problems :__// ===

//Math word problems are intricate language constructions —they contain unfamiliar words, complex combinations of// text and numbers, and considerable amounts of information to decode and organize. Young readers who are confused and distracted by everyday language, math words, or combinations of both may know how to do the necessary math operations, yet answer incorrectly because they do not clearly comprehend what the question is asking them to do. Others may be confused about the math operations needed for the problem. Those who struggle with both the reading and the math face the biggest challenges. These youngsters are the least successful with math word problems, performing worse than students with only math difficulties or students experiencing neither reading nor math difficulties (Fuchs & Fuchs, 2002).

**Challenge:** ** Math word problems are small stories **with characters and problems to be solved. They do not appear to be stories to many students because they are** written in formal syntax ** that does not sound familiar. ** The formality of the language obscures the meaning. ** = Strategy: = ** If the language of the stories were simplified **, many students could understand the intent of the problems. ** Rewrite the language of the problem, orally or in writing **. Compare the two versions with the student and ask which version feels more familiar and comfortable to solve.

**Challenge:** ** Unfamiliar vocabulary words block understanding **. //“Haley swam 22 laps each day for 18 days. Then// //she swam 25 laps each day for 10 days What was// //the total number of laps she swam over the 28// //days?”// (Massachusetts Department of Education, 2006)

**Strategies**:

**If a student does not understand words in a problem** (swimming laps)**, substitute familiar vocabulary in the context ** : shooting hoops, running bases, biking miles. ** Use familiar actions or activities to solve the problem :** 22 hoops for 18 days, 25 hoops for 10 days, what was the total number of hoops shot over 28 days. ** Use only the numbers and ignore the story ****. Do 22 ** something **each day for 18** days, **25** something **each day for 10** days, to find the ** total number ** over **28** days. If the student understands **“total number over 28 days”** of both actions, the problem may be solvable. ** Draw a visual **. A visual helps illustrate the meaning of the words is. Make a calendar, write 22 into 18 days and 25 into 10 days.
 * OR**
 * OR**

**Challenge:** ** Proper names, like Miguel, **if students do not know them, ** slow reading and may confuse the reader **.

**Strategy**: ** Change the name ** to the student's or a friend’s name, or ** say only the first letter **, D for Darnae or R for Rafael.

**Challenge:** ** Math vocabulary means something different from what it may sound like: ** — **"how many more"** **requires subtracting the smaller amount from the larger one;** — **"how many"** **requires combining things to make a total.**

**Strategy**: ** Make math placemats or book covers ** so students design, in their own unique styles, visual displays of information through comics or design of graphics, that explain the terms. They will reread what they draw more than a sheet of printed definitions given to them. ** Let students define and give examples of terms in their own math glossary **. Review these with them often, adding more terms that appear in problems.

**Challenge:** ** Students do not reread the problem before answering to make sure that they understand ** what they are asked to do.

**Strategy**: ** Invite students to write problems for classmates or a tutor to solve **. **You write problems for them and with them**. In this way students become conscious, through their writing and drafting, of the importance of each word. In writing the problems and supplying answers that are deliberately crafted to be tricky, as they are on the tests, students learn that closely reading and attending to both questions and answer choices is helpful. ===__// [|Reading Coaching for Math Word Problems] original article is at this link. //__ === Written by Sharon Edwards, Robert Maloy and Gordon Anderson

in Edutopia magazine.
 * Kids Master Mathematics When They're Challenged But Supported**

"Motivation is a key aspect of achievement that we often ignore in math; it's the missing link," Schorr says. "We need to provide kids with conceptually challenging math problems in an emotionally safe environment, and the teacher plays a critical role in that. Kids can view frustration as an opportunity for success instead of an indication of failure, but that won't happen without teachers letting the students experience productive struggles."

Research: Students can be motivated by tough math A study conducted by Rutgers University discovered that allowing students to grapple with difficult math problems had the potential to improve their achievement. Researchers -- working with minority and low-income students in Newark, N.J., for seven years -- found that a healthy amount of frustration in a supportive environment fostered student interest. Students "report feeling frustrated, but also satisfaction, pride and a willingness to work harder next time," a researcher reports. []

**Math Anxiety and Teacher Attitudes ** New research by psychologists at the University of Chicago indicates that teacher attitudes toward math affect their FEMALE students' attitudes, particularly in the case of young girls. In a study of first and second grade teachers, nearly all of whom were women, it was found that **high math anxiety levels among teachers resulted in lower math achievement of girls over the course of the school year**.

**It appears that the girls were learning and confirming the "girls are not good at math stereotype" from their teachers**. Boys were relatively unaffected by whether their teacher was math anxious or not. For more see, [|"Female Teachers' Math Anxiety Affects Girls' Math Achievement,"] Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, February 2, 2010.

= Interactive Math Dictionaries and Math Learning Experiences =
 * **[|Mathematics Glossary] from LearnAlberta, a math dictionary website maintained by the government of Alberta, Canada**.


 * **[|A Maths Dictionary for Kids 2010], a site maintained by Australian educator Jenny Eather**.


 * **[|National Library of Virtual Manipulatives] from Utah State University.**


 * **[|Illustrated Mathematics Dictionary] from mathisfun.com**


 * **[|NCES Kids Zone] from the National Center for Education Statistics**

[[image:Picture_6.png link="http://macmillanmh.com/math/mathtoolchest/mtc_online/"]]
[]

// __Getting Started with Scratch__ //
Scratch is a programming language that is easy enough for kindergartners to play with and challenging enough for college students and everyone beyond the age of 18 to learn. As an interactive activity, the language utilizes creativity and multiple intelligences first, appeals to both girls and boys, teaches far more than is obvious, and is a way for teachers to differentiate instruction with computers. Please view the video and consider its usefulness for teaching math. [|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvpZ23dx]

**Smartphones**
[|9th grade students in North Carolina are receiving smartphones]that enable them to access math learning help related to teacher lesson plans. Click here for more details about [|Project K-NECT].

Dropout Rates of Secondary Students
//AT LEAST ONE OUT OF EVERY SEVEN STUDENTS ENTERING NINTH GRADE IN MASSACHUSETTS DROPS OUT BEFORE GRADUATION.// ===//“[|Locating the Dropout Crisis],” a report released by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Social Organization of Schools in June 2004 found that nationally://===


 * //Nearly **HALF of our nation’s African American students**, nearly **40% of Latino students** , and only **11% of white students** ** attend high schools in which graduation is NOT the norm **.//


 * //Between 1993 and 2002, **the number of high schools with the lowest levels of success in promoting freshmen to senior status** **on time** (a strong correlate of high dropout and low graduation rates) i**ncreased by 75%**, compared with only an 8% increase in the total number of high schools.//


 * // ** There are currently between 900 and 1,000 high schools in the country in which graduating is at best a 50/50 proposition. In 2,000 high schools, a typical freshman class shrinks by 40% or more by the time the students reach their senior year. This represents nearly one in five regular or vocational high schools in the U.S. that enroll 300 or more students.** //


 * //A **majority minority high school is five times more likely to have weak promoting power (promote 50% or fewer freshmen to senior status on time)** than a majority white school.//


 * //**Poverty appears to be the key correlate of high schools with weak promoting power. Majority minority high schools with more resources (e.g., selective programs, higher per pupil expenditures, suburban location) successfully promote students to senior status at the same rate as majority white schools**//


 * //The majority of high schools with weak promoting power are located in northern and western cities and throughout the southern states.//

= THESE RESOURCES ARE NOT THE ASSIGNMENT: =