EQAO PART 2

In my last post, I wrote about the undo anxiety created in my granddaughter by a math assignment that was given to her without any instruction or support. Similar assignments, especially in number patterns  (eg 2, 5, 9, 19, 37, ? ) have sometimes left me baffled and I'm the one with the math degree.

I'm all for discovery learning as long as it is supported by time for consolidation and the practice of those discoveries.

Here are a few suggestions that might help reduce the anxiety associated with mathematics in Ontario.

For starters, the government need not test every child in a Grade 3, 6 and 9 classroom every year. If random sampling can help predict the winner of an election, surely it can be used to chart levels of student achievement in mathematics.

When it comes to curriculum revision in elementary schools, suffice it to say that more attention should be given to the basics like decimals and percent while esoteric topics like probability and the study of polyhedra could be delayed beyond elementary school. As one of my mentors used to say, "Just focus on the big ideas."

For teachers who are not comfortable with the "new" approach, why not some trading off. "Here, I'll teach your Grade 3 math lesson while you take my Grade 4 english class." Could it be any simpler.

In regard to student learning, I have an idea stolen from the Kumon folks. Children in the primary grades are taught to read by a variety of methods. However, the actual reading content is carefully set out in books that are structured to take a child from identifying simple words to mastering entire stories. "I'm on Level M," my grandson would share enthusiastically. "My teacher says I'll be reading chapter books soon."

Why not the same approach in mathematics?

Just as all children learn to read at their own pace, surely it's the same for math. I wonder why educators try to expose students to a wide variety of math concepts at an early age in the hopes that some of it will stick? Why not structure student learning so that a child moves through the basic concepts at his or her own pace?  By the end of Grade 3, all students would be on an equal footing when it comes to the basics and teachers could proceed with new topics in Grade 4 with unified classes of confident students. As well, this approach would welcome parents to be partners in their children's learning.

At the high school level, a return to a destreamed Grade 9 math class makes the most sense to me. Again, if reducing anxiety surrounding mathematics is a fundamental objective, breaking kids up after Grade 8 into university and non-university math classes seems premature. A reconfigured Grade 9 program could help students and parents decide after one year of high school whether an academic or applied math program is the best fit.

Changes in math in Ontario are coming, that's a certainty. I can only hope someone at the top is open to ideas like mine.

As I mentioned in my last post, the space race was the catalyst for the "new" math back in the 60's. Today, it's the information age, and not EQAO, that should ultimately help decide a "newer" math that will better serve our young people.

PS..My son-in-law Chris, a high school math teacher in Barrie, informs me that the Toronto District School Board is now in the process of destreaming all its Grade 9 math classes. Well done TDSB!