{"id":344,"date":"2015-05-13T09:43:08","date_gmt":"2015-05-13T16:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.base-ten.com\/tm\/?p=344"},"modified":"2015-05-13T09:43:08","modified_gmt":"2015-05-13T16:43:08","slug":"why-not-helping-is-helping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.base-ten.com\/tm\/why-not-helping-is-helping\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Not Helping is Helping"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I have taught math in\u00a0 public schools for thirteen years.\u00a0 Each new batch of students comes with a handful of parents who grapple with how best to help their children wrestle with math homework.\u00a0 You, yourself, may be one of those parents.\u00a0 When faced with math tasks asking for explanation of reasoning, or when the new-fangled curriculum wields a new strategy in place of familiar algorithms, the kettle of parents minds starts to bubble, roil, and whistle.<\/p>\n

Dear Parents,<\/p>\n

I have good news, a simple mandate which will both alleviate this internal pressure to perform math miracles AND will be better for your child’s math.\u00a0 The advice?\u00a0 BE LESS HELPFUL.<\/p>\n

Don’t answer their questions.\u00a0 Don’t show them shortcuts.\u00a0 Above all, DO NOT teach them the old tried and true shortcuts of the standard algorithm.<\/p>\n

I am not giving you a free pass, here.\u00a0 Notice, I did not say, “Make them do their math all by themselves.”\u00a0 Rather, I want you to enter their world of confusion with them.\u00a0 Pull up a chair.\u00a0 Grab some scratch paper.\u00a0 Do the problem with them.\u00a0 Not for them. \u00a0 With them.\u00a0 Answer their question with more questions.\u00a0 Verbalize when you get stuck.\u00a0 Normalize the struggle.<\/p>\n

One common deficit in our students is their inability or unwillingness to ask questions.\u00a0 But if a student can verbalize what they don’t understand, if they can formulate a question, then they are in an infinitely better place than if they quit before really diving head-long into the pool of problems.\u00a0 Your best way of helping them is to role model these skills.\u00a0 Make them teach you.<\/p>\n

When you get stuck on a math problem, don’t give up.\u00a0 Persist.\u00a0 If you have no idea how to do a problem, guess.\u00a0 Make an assumption and run with it.\u00a0 If that assumption helps you solve the problem, hallelujah!\u00a0 If not, even better.\u00a0 Now you can go back to the assumption and say, “Now I know that this is wrong!\u00a0 Therefore, it must mean blah blah blah<\/em> instead!”\u00a0 Then off you go, down another rabbit hole of problem solving.<\/p>\n

Another deficit in our math students is learned helplessness.\u00a0 Many are unwilling to even try.\u00a0 Show them how to make mistakes. Gracefully!\u00a0 With aplomb!\u00a0 With pride!\u00a0<\/em> What’s more, celebrate those moments, for this is where true learning lies.\u00a0 Do a happy dance!\u00a0 Pump your fists!\u00a0 Cheer!<\/p>\n

Now, if on a particular problem, you have reached the dead-end of this logical alleyway, you and your student are in the prime position to express what you don’t understand.\u00a0 Have your kid write down this question in place of an answer.\u00a0 Have them staple together all their failed attempts to turn in.\u00a0 If your math teacher is worth their mustard, they will honor this work and highly appreciate it.\u00a0 This makes their job far easier: they no longer have to guess why their kids aren’t getting this.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, I would like to say thank you.\u00a0 Thank you for being involved in your children’s education.\u00a0 If you are reading this blog, then you are truly exceptional in your level of commitment to their education.\u00a0 You already know that helping kids with their academics is difficult.\u00a0 It is a problem<\/em>.\u00a0 It is your<\/em> homework problem.\u00a0 Math is the process of identifying problems, then methodically going about solving them.\u00a0 This is the perfect opportunity to practice what I’m preaching.<\/p>\n

So don’t look for short cuts.\u00a0 Don’t look for easy fixes.\u00a0 Look for a solution.\u00a0 And this part is probably self obvious (but for some reason, not always in math): don’t give up; persist; the solution is out there somewhere, sitting right next to your kid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have taught math in\u00a0 public schools for thirteen years.\u00a0 Each new batch of students comes with a handful of parents who grapple with how best to help their children wrestle with math homework.\u00a0 You, yourself, may be one of those parents.\u00a0 When faced with math tasks asking for explanation of reasoning, or when the … Continue reading Why Not Helping is Helping<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thoughts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p59e30-5y","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.base-ten.com\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.base-ten.com\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.base-ten.com\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.base-ten.com\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.base-ten.com\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.base-ten.com\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":347,"href":"http:\/\/www.base-ten.com\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions\/347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.base-ten.com\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.base-ten.com\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.base-ten.com\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}