Watching Our Language

I often give talks about math to groups of parents.  So often parents come up to me afterwards with a question or a comment.  They preface it by saying, “I’m not a math person.”  This comment always makes me wonder, “Have you figured out how to double a recipe?  Do you manage your bank account?  Can you tell how much the pants will cost if they are 25% off?”  Yes, you are a math person.  You may not love math, but you are a math person.

We cannot deny how much math affects our modern lives.  Each morning when my son wakes up he checks the temperature for the day and compares it to the day before.  “Oh, mom, it is going to be 13* cooler than yesterday.”  My daughter collects snacks for her Girl Scout troop.  “If we have 12 girls and each box of granola bars holds 8 snacks then I need to bring two boxes.”  We get in the car and I calculate if ¼ of a tank of gas will get me the 30 miles to school and back.  Every hour of the day we are involved in some sort of math.

Two hundred years ago women were considered too delicate to think about math.  We need to stop perpetuating this idea and give our daughters (and sons) the confidence that they CAN do math.  It is OK to say, “I don’t know how to do this problem,” but follow it up with, “Let’s figure it out together.”  Your child will get the idea that they can do math if they stick with it and talk about it.

Most parents know that it is important to read to their children at night but so few parents know that it is also important to do math with their children.  No, I don’t mean worksheets.  I mean, real-life math.  First you need to realize when you are using math in your life and then you need to talk about it with your children. 

Has the price of gas gone up?  If it goes up five cents per gallon how much does that change your weekly gas bill?  Talk about it. 

Are you wearing a fitness tracker?  Have you hit your 10,000 steps for the day?  How far do you have to go?  Talk about it. 

Just this morning the DJ on my radio said that she didn’t like doing math.  Talk about it.  Break down those perceptions.

My children are now in middle school so they are studying decimals and percents.  I have been using that language to give them answers to their questions.  How much longer until we get to the birthday party?  We are 50% of the way there.  Do we have any cake left?  75% of it is gone.  Talk about it.

So many of the jobs of the 21^st century require math skills.  We are doing our children a disservice when we set them up to think that they are not a math person and thus cannot do many of our modern jobs.  Change the language in your house.  Change your child’s attitude and tell them we are all math people.

Building a Strong Mathematical Foundation

Before the days of GPS systems if you needed to go somewhere in a new town you would get out a map and take a look at what route you might take.  You might decide to take the freeway.  You would do that route for many days since that was the one route you had learned and each day it would get a bit more comfortable and familiar. 

After many days of following the same route, you would move to an abstract level.  You wouldn’t need to consult your map anymore to double check the name of the exit.  You would be sure to turn right at the T in the road rather than turning left.  If you wanted to stop and get a coffee on your way, you would know how to alter your route slightly to hit the Starbucks.   If you were on the freeway one day and there was a traffic jam, chances are you would have a good sense of how to exit and take some side streets because you had studied the map and had an idea of the surrounding area. 

Building a strong mathematical foundation with students proceeds in much the same way.  We want them to move from a concrete understanding to an abstract understanding but this process takes time.  We start with the students using tools and building models to develop their understanding of a concept just as you used a map to plan your route.  Once students develop some comfort and skill at this concrete level we can start moving them to more and more abstract levels of understanding just as you did when you were able to alter your route to grab a coffee on your way.

We want students to have a good sense of the surrounding area.  If they get stuck in one place, they should have ideas for how to go in another direction.  The new math practices call for students to “Use appropriate tools strategically.”  In order to chose a route and decide upon the best course of action, students need to have options available.  When we were in school most of us only learned one method for solving a problem.  Teachers have learned, however, that we do students a disservice when we only teach them one method of solving a problem.  If they get stuck or want to check their answer, they don’t have any other tools to choose from.

Additionally, teaching multiple strategies helps to meet the diverse needs of a class.  At any point in time students will be spread out along the continuum of understanding of a concept from concrete to abstract.  All students can be working on the same problem but they might not all be working on it in the same way, at the same level.  Students can learn from their classmates’ methods and ideas about solutions.  The whole group grows mathematically stronger as their consider the problem from different perspectives.

Recently I have been studying some of the math programs that are available for elementary schools.  Though Common Core standards are very clear about having students work at a concrete level before moving on to an abstract level, most of the math programs are not aligned with this thinking.

One program I reviewed had pictures of a few models but then when it came time for students to work independently, all of the work was abstract.  It takes time for students to move from a concrete to an abstract understanding.  Considering the example of the route in a new town again, you might have needed to consult your map each day for a few days before you could travel the route unassisted.  You traveled the route over and over and soon you became very comfortable with it.  We cannot just show students a few pictures of objects and assume that they are now ready for abstract thought about the topic.  Students need to build, model, and discuss their ideas.  They need to consider other students’ models of the concept and look at theirs in light of the new information.  The only way that students can build a strong foundation is to move through these steps from a concrete to an abstract understanding of the concept.

I see too many fifth graders who tell me they hate math.  It doesn’t make sense they say.  It isn’t interesting to them.  When I talk with them further I realize that most of these students never had an opportunity to explore concepts at the concrete level.  They were given algorithms and told to memorize them.  They were then able to apply those algorithms if the new problems looked just like the problems they had practiced.  If they hit a problem that looked slightly different or asked them to use their skill in a new way, they did not have enough of a mental image of the concept to be able to choose a new route.

Teaching students multiple ways to solve problems gives them a stronger mathematical foundation.  They can consider new problems from different perspectives and then choose the best method for solving them. They are flexible thinkers who can try new approaches when the one they are using doesn’t work out.  Teaching in this way also helps to meet the diverse needs of a group of students.  This is one of the strengths of the new Common Core Standards.

Scarcity

Wow, thank you Lynne Twist for giving us a lens through which to view the current culture in many schools.  In her book, The Soul of Money, Ms. Twist writes about the culture of scarcity. “No matter who we are or what our circumstances, we swim in conversations about what there isn’t enough of.”  Parents devote great amounts of time to avoiding scarcity by filling their children with extracurricular activities and tutoring, worried that their children are not getting enough education at school.  Parents are working so hard to make sure their children are at the top of the pack in academic subjects.  They are also driving hither and yon to make sure that their children are well rounded and skilled in many areas.  Will the extras be enough for my child to get into a good college they wonder?  Perhaps we could do a little more.  So they push and sign up for one more activity, all at the expense of family time, friend time, and play time.

What if we didn’t need to do all of this?  What if we just said, “This is enough.”

Angelique, a good friend of mine, with children the same age as mine once said, “They don’t need that much, Alison, they really don’t.”  In so many ways she is right.  Our children don’t need five winter jackets.  One will do.  They don’t need birthday parties with 30 friends who each bring a present resulting in a mountain of new toys they won’t have time to play with.  They don’t need special activities every day of summer.  Time spent reading books, digging in the dirt with friends or sorting collections of coins can be just as fun as a big trip to a museum. 

Lynne Twist writes, “Scarcity is a lie.  Independent of any actual amount of resources, it is an unexamined and false system of assumption, opinions, and beliefs from which we view the world as a place where we are in constant danger of having our needs unmet.”  Let us think more deeply about what we want for our children.  Parents of school age children voice great concern about getting their children into the “right” college.  Is that our end goal?  Will life be glorious if our children get one of the coveted spots?  Perhaps our energies would be better spent teaching our children how to build and sustain relationships with others. 

Dan Buettner has studied people who live 100+ years.  He went to “blue zones” around the earth.  His goal was to figure out what lifestyle habits the people followed.  Sure, there were the expected habits of eating healthy food and exercising but he also found that putting family first, celebrating elders, and laughing with friends were key to a long life.   Today’s family time has been so chopped up by our focus on extracurricular activities and academics.  We would develop healthier habits and save money if we dropped some of the extracurriculars and spent more time with our families.

We need to move from a you OR me culture to a you AND me culture as suggested by Buckminster Fuller.   In this kind of environment children would be supporting each other and looking out for one another rather than competing with each other for coveted spots at Stanford and Harvard.  In a you AND me culture people will use their time, energy, wisdom to work towards common goals.  In every classroom we teach that two heads are better than one. People working together create something greater than one person can working alone. We need to carry this through to a life view that people working together are better than people competing with one another.  We all will be better off if we can make this change.  There is enough for everyone.

  

Plan For Success

The new school year is almost upon us.  As you are helping your child pick out a new binder and highlighter markers for the new year, there is something that you can do to get ready for the year too.  Think about your goals for your child for this year.  How do you want them to grow this year? 

You might chose something academic like, “I’d like my child to consistently use capital letters appropriately 90% of the time.”  It might be something more metacognitive like, “I’d like my child to manage their homework time independently.”  It might even be something about friendships like, “I’d like my child to broaden their friendship circle by playing with two new friends this year.”  Whatever you choose, make it something small enough that your child can accomplish it in the next few months.  You may want to pick more than one goal but don’t pick more than three.  Your child can only stay focused on a few goals at a time and it will help their teacher be focused in their efforts as well.

Once you have your goals, be sure to share them with your child’s teacher.  If you have an intake conference early in the year this would be the time to share your goals.  If your school does not have intake conferences then you can either send the teacher an email or request a conference (you would want to choose this option if you have a fairly large or serious goal you are working on). 

At the end of my daughter’s second grade year we received her standardized test scores.  Oh boy, did she struggle with the writing mechanics section of the test.  Yes, I saw this at home too.  Her use of capital letters and punctuation was haphazard.  At the beginning of her third grade year I shared my goal of focusing on punctuation with her teacher.  This teacher had a more holistic approach to teaching writing but she knew this aspect was important to me so she was sure to spend time working on it with my daughter.  By the end of year, through work at home and at school, my daughter’s skills had improved a great deal.

I always reach the end of the school year and think about how much my children have grown.  They will grow in so many ways that we cannot name them all but by picking a few goals you can focus your energy as well as build a strong connection between the classroom and home and ensure that those particular goals receive attention. 

Dr. Phil McGraw discusses the importance of knowing where you want to go so that you can get there.  Without a clear goal, it is hard to know where you are going or even if you arrive.  “People that are successful have a strategy from getting where they are to that success. The difference between goals and dreams is a timeline. “Someday” is not a day of the week. You have to work for what you want; not for what you don’t want… every day.”

I think we do children a disservice when we don’t teach them how to work towards goals.  I am NOT recommending that you pick huge, lofty goals and have your child work many hours a day towards them.  A balanced approach is necessary. I do think, however, that it is healthy for children to learn to work towards goals.  This is a life skill that you can help your child develop now.   There is a great deal of discussion in education circles now about the importance of grit in helping children become successful.  Working towards goals, facing setbacks, and forging ahead towards those goals are ways of teaching students grit. 

The beginning of the school year feels like a new beginning each and every year.  What new things do you want to begin with your children?

Plan for success this year.

We Need A Food Revolution

In a few short weeks we will get the emails from my children’s soccer coaches inviting them to show up for the first practices of the season.  As I sit here eating a peach that I plucked from the tree in our garden I am thinking again about the food paradox that exists at so many of my kids’ events.

Everywhere I take my kids they are getting filled up with unhealthy food choices.  When we go to a birthday party the kids are usually served pizza, which is full of saturated fat, sugar, and sodium.  Then they fill up on birthday cake or should I say frosting with a little bit of cake beneath it.  A party at school often involves lots of cookies and candy.  A sleepover with a friend once resulted in my child having eating nothing but banana bread for 24 hours. 

Don’t get me wrong, I like a slice of pizza and a piece of chocolate as much as anyone but I do think we are sending the wrong message to our kids when we are feeding them empty calories at every turn or not encouraging them to eat a wider variety of foods.  My son is twelve and we have only once been to an event where the host provided a healthy spread for the children.  All of those years of birthday parties, school celebrations, and sporting events add up to a lot of missed opportunities to teach children about healthy food choices.

Children’s sports are an arena where I feel we are particularly remiss in the messages we are sending around food.  I sign my kids up for sports so they can get exercise.  I want them to learn new skills and make new friends as well.  I want them to feel strong.  Blocking that shot, making a goal, or swimming a faster time in the pool are all ways they can build their confidence and feel their own power.  All of these are elements of a healthy lifestyle.

I assume many parents have these same goals in mind.  So, if our goal is encouraging healthy behaviors, why are the children given snacks at the end of the event that run so contrary to this goal?  What message are we sending to our children when we teach them to replenish their bodies after a workout by eating all of this unhealthy food?

When my son played baseball each game ended with all of the players sitting in the bleachers sharing a meal together.  It was actually a really nice time.  The players got some time to just hang out and it built community among the parents as we struck up conversations too.  Each family would take a turn bringing the snack/dinner.  My son and I would start discussing our snack weeks beforehand.  My goal was to bring some healthy food that would appeal to the kids.  His goal was to make sure I didn’t embarrass him. 

We watched to see what the families ahead of us in line would bring – Costco pizza, Caesar Caesar Pizza, Round Table Pizza.  Hmm, we were sensing a theme.  The pizzas were often accompanied by huge Gatorades in shocking colors and topped off with a bag of Chips Ahoy or Oreos.  Could we turn this around and create a snack that would appeal to the players but would fit my desire of encouraging better eating habits?

We decided upon hot dogs (nitrate free!) in whole-wheat buns.   Only one kid complained about the whole-wheat bun.  Then we popped popcorn ourselves and added just a touch of salt and butter.  It tasted good but was not overwhelmed with fat like some of the microwave popcorns in a bag.  Lastly, we had 100% apple juice.  Still thirst quenching but free of red dye #40 and yellow dye #5, which are both banned in a number of European countries.  This meal passed my son’s cool test and satisfied the players’ hunger in a healthy way.

During soccer season there is a different protocol in our town.  The kids don’t eat a meal together but instead get snack bags that they take away and eat on their own after the game.  Often my kids get bags that are so full of candy they seem like a trick or treat bag from Halloween.  I don’t think a bag of M and Ms or a Ring Pop really has anything to offer a body that has been running for an hour straight yet family after family follows this model when they put together the snacks.

One year my daughter had a great soccer coach who brought orange slices to every game.  My daughter doesn’t even like oranges but since everyone else was eating them she did too and by the time the snack bags came out she was too full to eat anything in them.  Yay, a little victory for fruit!

A friend of mine has two boys who are actively involved in sports as well.  When it is her family’s turn to do snack my friend makes up a huge batch of smoothies.  She brings those to the park and serves them up.  Thirst quenching and healthy!  She has also done fruit kabobs, which the players gobble up after the games. 

Oprah once said, “… better food is the foundation for a better life.”  We need to show our children the way.  The habits we help our children build now may well last a lifetime.  If we let them eat a steady diet of chicken nuggets, pizza, and sports drinks now these will be the foods they turn to when they are adults.  We need to start seeing the act of providing healthy food choices as important to our job of parenting as helping with homework and encouraging them to play sports.