High School Math

thank you for asking

My high school age boys are not LD but I have a 5th grade LD/ADD kiddo.

For him, language can be a real barrier. He may know how to divide but cannot answer “what is the divisor” as he either cannot read the word or cannot recall which part of the problem is the divisor. This is a huge issue on standardized testing and can turn a kid’s relative stength in math into an apparent weakness. Word problems are also an issue as is anything with multisteps(which is pretty much all high school math is)

I guess if you could realize it may not be the math concept you are working on but the number of steps involved that is causing the problem. Not the math, but the terms used. If you just acknowledged those very real possibilities in how you explained things, it could make a big difference.(Im not aware enough to give specific suggestions)

Definitely breaking it down into the tiniest steps imaginable-maybe even making a handout checklist of those steps and having them cross them off as they do each step for each problem? They forget-they confuse the sequences.

My 5th grader still cannot always recite the alphabet correctly. This is a average/high average IQ kid! Its just a long meaningless sequence to him and he cannot retain it.

Make things meaningful-use an example of a real life experience when you might use this math concept(not always possible but when you can, it will make a big difference) Interest rates on car loans, fencing a yard, designing a ramp for motorcross bikes-try to find a solid connection

Good luck

YOu’ve had good advice on the language end —for lots of ‘em though, the problem *is* the math. I see ‘way too many students in remedial college courses who’ve groped their way through math never really getting good at *any* of it.
They will be ‘way ahead of most of my guys if they know two things: that you can’t add fractions until their denominators are the same, and how to do exponents. (It will be worth at least a full grade level on *any* assessment test to have those exponents down.) I’d start each day with a graded exercise (I”ve heard teachers call them all kinds of cute things like Bell Work…) that’s a simple 2/3 + 1/2 and 3^3… you could have harder levels if students wanted to challenge th emselves (but keep it non-competitive so they’re all worth the same thing…) — and if you counted those things as 10% of the grade then kids would be being rewarded for being on time, handing those puppies in… and they’d have that skill down. (I reckon after a month of them, you could sneak in a mixed number… just be sure to go over the answer…)
And most math classes just go too fast.

I would try to get students to always check to see if they get the correct answer. Do you know about comparing remainders to check calculations?

thank you for asking

My high school age boys are not LD but I have a 5th grade LD/ADD kiddo.

For him, language can be a real barrier. He may know how to divide but cannot answer “what is the divisor” as he either cannot read the word or cannot recall which part of the problem is the divisor. This is a huge issue on standardized testing and can turn a kid’s relative stength in math into an apparent weakness. Word problems are also an issue as is anything with multisteps(which is pretty much all high school math is)

I guess if you could realize it may not be the math concept you are working on but the number of steps involved that is causing the problem. Not the math, but the terms used. If you just acknowledged those very real possibilities in how you explained things, it could make a big difference.(Im not aware enough to give specific suggestions)

Definitely breaking it down into the tiniest steps imaginable-maybe even making a handout checklist of those steps and having them cross them off as they do each step for each problem? They forget-they confuse the sequences.

My 5th grader still cannot always recite the alphabet correctly. This is a average/high average IQ kid! Its just a long meaningless sequence to him and he cannot retain it.

Make things meaningful-use an example of a real life experience when you might use this math concept(not always possible but when you can, it will make a big difference) Interest rates on car loans, fencing a yard, designing a ramp for motorcross bikes-try to find a solid connection

Good luck

YOu’ve had good advice on the language end —for lots of ‘em though, the problem *is* the math. I see ‘way too many students in remedial college courses who’ve groped their way through math never really getting good at *any* of it.
They will be ‘way ahead of most of my guys if they know two things: that you can’t add fractions until their denominators are the same, and how to do exponents. (It will be worth at least a full grade level on *any* assessment test to have those exponents down.) I’d start each day with a graded exercise (I”ve heard teachers call them all kinds of cute things like Bell Work…) that’s a simple 2/3 + 1/2 and 3^3… you could have harder levels if students wanted to challenge th emselves (but keep it non-competitive so they’re all worth the same thing…) — and if you counted those things as 10% of the grade then kids would be being rewarded for being on time, handing those puppies in… and they’d have that skill down. (I reckon after a month of them, you could sneak in a mixed number… just be sure to go over the answer…)
And most math classes just go too fast.

I would try to get students to always check to see if they get the correct answer. Do you know about comparing remainders to check calculations?