Filed under: math | Tags: communication, effective effort, homework, math, parents
I see parents as my partners in their children’s education. The obvious reason is that parents are absolutely the most important people in their children’s lives. They know their children better than anyone else, and they are an essential resource for information and problem solving.
And philosophically, I think it matters to kids when they see their parents and teachers working as a team, supporting them. When I was a kid, my mom and my teachers were friends. My mom was always involved — president of the PTA one year, making talent show sets the next — and school felt like an extension of home, a place where I belonged and was cared for.
There’s a practical component to this partnership, too. (more…)
It seems every year, I have at least one girl in my class who says, “I can’t do it. I’m no good at math.” These students believe that math comes “naturally” to other people (and not to them) and that there is little they can do to become strong math students.
Nowadays, the words “I’m no good at math,” just get me fired up. I hear them, and I think, “that’s a student who is going to have a transformative year.” Because I know that effective effort + time = success, and soon, she will, too.
I’m far from the only one who thinks this way. Check out this research summarized in the most recent Marshall Memo (9/14/09): (more…)
