Math Discussion on KUOW at 12:40 pm Today
From KUOW:
Last year Seattle Public Schools picked new, ‘inquiry-based’ math textbooks. Yesterday a King County Superior Court judge ordered the Seattle School District to review its choice of the ‘Discovering Math’ series of textbooks. Do you have a kid in school that’s using the new math books? What’s your experience with inquiry-based math education? Call our listener feedback line now at 206 221 3663 or email conversation@kuow.org We’re talking math today at 12:40 pm on KUOW 94.9 Seattle.
Note: I put this in as a service to our readers, not for KUOW. Their education coverage since Phyllis Fletcher left has not been good. There is a decided lack of interest in these issues and it's quite puzzling.
Comments
This was brought up by the coalition group I belong to that is trying to include parents/community in the teacher contract negotiations. During our discussions about what to put in our Values Statement, Ramona Hattendorf, the president of the Seattle Council PTSA, said that this inability to access resources was something she heard a lot of frustration over. Indeed, we put it into the statement that all parents and students should have equal access to any on-line resources.
Furthermore, such online "additional resources" would not be needed if the curriculum didn't fall so short and fail so badly to deliver basic math instruction. It's a virtual admission that the curriculum sucks that one can "make it work" with the plethora of resources out there. It's like a used car salesman saying, "hey, you can get a used windshield for this baby at any junkyard." Wow, is that supposed to make me feel better? Give me a break.
This is the new design of curriculum, kind of like software. Sell a bunch of it, and when the problems inevitably arise, send out updates and patches ("If you can't figure out what's in the book, try our constantly updated and amended online materials." ("We're bound to come up with a workable method at some point!")). Ick. Enough.
But your basic message is right for sure.
I cannot say enough about the Key to... workbooks. So far they are the best books available on the market enabling individuals to teach themselves. In the disciplines of mathematics and science, it is extremely difficult to find teachers who know how to deliver the material in manageable and understandable chunks. As a result, as homeschoolers, we’ve really had to become persistent in the area of teaching ourselves. The resources offered by Key Curriculum Press have been indispensable.
And guess what? Each workbook costs $3.75 each. One for Adding, Subtracting, Fractions, Decimals, you name it, you got it.
The textbook gets you half way there. If you really want to learn it, line our pockets $3.75 at a time, and then we'll teach you math.
And don't you love the "math teachers can't teach math" comment from the home-schooler above?
It always, always comes down to turning each student into a profit-center doesn't it? So sad.
The Discovering books and the "Key to" series are two very different products.