What a wonderful way to think out of the box... Every kid learns differently. I also applaud this teacher for making work fun for the children - way to go!

With stories like this, it's easy to see why kids are failing to learn math in public schools. Ipod blogging skills should be at the bottom of the list of priorities for kids to learn in math class. Kids are having no problem learning how to use these gadgets on their own time, so it's ridiculous that math class time is being wasted on this.

I think you're missing the point of the article, rjames. The WASL requires students to articulate in word the work they are doing with numbers. By blogging about the math work are doing, they are sharpening their skills for that component of the standardized tests.

I didn't see in the article where they stated the time to blog about math was taking time away from math instruction. Could it not be possible that the time for this comes from other subject areas, such as writing?

Anony-Moose,
I don't buy it. Typing on an ipod is a very impractical and time consuming method of developing math writing skills, and students will not be using ipods when taking the WASL exam. Schools need to get back to traditional methods of teaching math which worked much better. When 55% of 10th graders are failing the math section of the WASL test, there is something very wrong.

rjames your are still missing the point. If we want to continue to fall behind every other industrialized nation in math, then we should ask our teachers to resume traditional methods. The fact is the traditional methods failed us. These teachers are being innovative and getting results. Dont judge these kids on passing the wasl. I suspect most of us would not. When these kids blog their understanding the teacher can see where they misunderstand the lesson. Better than giving a good old fashioned F and moving on like my traditional teachers did. Thank God for progress.

honestly,
"These teachers are being innovative and getting results. Dont judge these kids on passing the wasl. I suspect most of us would not."

What else should we judge them on? If students can't demonstrate their math skills on a test, then why are you so sure that these new methods are getting good results? Any college math professor will tell you that most public school students are not learning the needed math skills in high school. Many college students are taking classes in college to learn the skills that they should have learned in K-12. I'm sure the test is imperfect, as all tests are, but it's not the test that is the biggest problem.



"Only about 25% of the 2009 high school graduates taking the ACT (American College Test) admissions test have the appropriate skills needed to succeed in college, according to a study released by ACT. The study shows very little improvement compared to the 2008 graduating class....."

http://www.top-colleges.com/blog/2009/09/15/act-study-students-unprepared/

Rj,

I find it interesting that you lay all of the blame for poor performing students at the the feet of teachers and their instructional practices. I suppose no culpability exists with the exponentially increasing number parents who allow their kids to watch hours and hours of television or play video games after school instead of helping them with their homework.

"Kids and teens 8 to 18 years spend nearly 4 hours a day in front of a TV screen and almost 2 additional hours on the computer (outside of schoolwork) and playing video games." http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/tv_affects_child.html

Kind of hard to fit in homework when kids are spending upwards of six hours a day in front of a television or computer (not doing homework on that computer). Hmmm... I wonder if there's any correlation there?

Anonymoose,
"Kids and teens 8 to 18 years spend nearly 4 hours a day in front of a TV screen and almost 2 additional hours on the computer (outside of schoolwork) and playing video games."

So let's stick them in front of an ipod while they're at school? You made my point for me. Kids don't need to be spending school time blogging on ipods when it's hard enough to keep them from texting on their cell phones during class time.

The way to help kids learn math and how to write out their math answers, is to make them practice math and hand write their answers like they will need to do on the wasl test. Tediously writing messages on glorified cell phones is a waste of class time.

Actually, I didn't make your point. They are in front of the iPods articulating how they solved a math problem, not watching movies or playing games. Let's not be intellectually dishonest by assuming there is no value in this unique approach to getting students interested in writing out the processes they use to solve a problem.

You're falling into the trap of not seeing the iPod Touches for their worth. Would it make a difference If I told you they were using laptops, instead of iPods, to articulate and instantaneously share their logic about how they solved a math problem with their classmates? Because, that is essentially what they are doing. The iPods act as releatively inexpensive laptops. I doubt that teacher could have bought 25-30 laptops with a $10,000 grant, but she was smart and got 25-30 machines that have enough function to accomplish the same task at a cheaper price.

By the way, I believe the newest WASL (or wahtever they renamed it) will all be done on computers, so there will be no handwriting of the processes they used, they'll have to type it.

I don't expect logical reasoning to sway your myopic view of this issue, so I'll just leave it at that.

Personally, I don't think calculators, ipods, laptops, or any electronic devices belong in elementary school math classes until students have mastered the basic skills of solving problems on paper. Clearly, students are not learning proficiency in these skills, so handing them calculators to do their work for them, and handing them ipods to help them get the answers to their homework from their friends, is doing a disservice. Do we honestly expect elementary school kids to learn math from their peers?

On a positive note, there should be plenty of business for private math tutors.

Wow, you're really grasping at straws now. Where in this article does it mention using them as calculators? That's right, it doesn't. Creating facts that don't exist to support your own arguments is tantamount to intellectual suicide.

I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but peer-to-peer tuturoing has been occurring for decades. It helps those students who may be struggling to understand the material by giving them a different perspective from which to look at it, and it reinforces the knowledge of those who are helping the other students through the self analysis and repetition that comes with showing others. So, yes, it is a well researched fact that we CAN expect elementary students to learn from their peers.