What can parents do about education? "The Good School" has many recommendations from preschool up to help kids learn and keep parents informed. This month begins a new feature on Math Confidence Philosophy -- each issue will highlight 3 - 5 tenets of the ideas and ideals that shape the Math Confidence learning and teaching methodology.
Recommended Reading
This book is aimed at parents but could be recommended for society as a whole. In the preschool chapter, Tyre writes of the importance of non-academic skills like self-regulation and discusses the Tools of the Mind curriculum for Kindergarten and PreK. There are content chapters on Reading, Math and Testing as well as The Perfect School. She advocates for smaller class size and the right balance between schoolwork and recess/art/music during the school day. The best advice is to take action and advocate if you see that your child is not making academic progress and not to wait for the school to take action.
Math Confidence's unique philosophy provides an outlook on Math, education and life. These monthly installments will highlight tips for managing school, work and life. More information is available on Google Docs:
Part I: Math is a Metaphor!
1. It's about the Math, but it's not about the Math!!
2. Engineering school develops long-term perspective
3. The growth mindset and learning are key components
4. "Don't wish it was easier, wish you were better!" (Jim Rohn)
2012 is almost here. As 2011 comes to a close, it's a great time to reflect on the past year and design 2012. Setting goals and tracking them turns ideas and wishes into reality. A recent New York Times article by Carol Dweck and Greg Walton, Willpower: It's in Your Head, refutes the idea that willpower is limited, "when people believe that willpower is self-renewing, people successfully exert more willpower".
In a hallway lined with 100 closed lockers, you begin by opening every locker. Then you close every second locker. Then you go to every third locker and open it (if it's closed) or close it (if it's open). Then you reverse every fourth locker, fifth, sixth , etc. Continue reversing every nth locker on pass number n. After 100 passes, where you toggle only locker #100, how many lockers are open?
