I am struggling with what options I might have for my daughter. She is in pre algebra right now, and will go into algebra in 9th grade. I see her struggle with memory problems in math right now. She has a hard time remembering what to do. She seems to understand while doing it, but when a test comes a long she does not do well. What can I do to help her prepare for high school mathematics? :P
Re: 8th grade pre algebra in prep for high school
Focus on trying to determine what your child can do. You said your daughter has memory problems. Does she know her basic math facts? Can she follow through with an algorithm (a method of attacking a problem)? Can she figure out which method to use on a particular type of problem? These are all different areas of learning which require different focuses. Students may be able to reason through algebra without being able to do simple math calculations. Although, the grades may not reflect this if the tests aren’t well written.
Try to figure out a) what your daughter can do in math, b) what weaknesses she has, c) what accommodations can be put in place to deal with her weaknesses, d) how to remediate the weaknesses and e) how to use her strengths to compensate for the weaknesses. This is an ongoing process and in no particular order. To avoid making her feel that she just can’t do math focus your attention on what she can do. Point out the parts where she succeeds.
Math is such a large topic that there are things most people can succeed at. Let your daughter know that math is more than just what she can’t do. I’ve also find it helps some students to see the big picture of why they want to learn math.
Impossible to tell without working with her, but how well does she understand what to do?
I see this phenom every day in students I tutor at the pre-college-math level at college. They understand how to do a procedure if its isolated, but as soon as you mix up problems in a test, they get confused.
Again, your daughter may not be in this category, but consider it. THese folks don’t understand the math well enough to know when to do what, and sometimes they can’t remember *all* the procedures and when to do them. HOwever, the problem isn’t a disability — normal human memory can’t process that much rote stuff without understanding it.
One of the main things I do in tutoring is ask more questions as students work through answers to make sure they know why they’re doing things. SOmetimes things get much easier if there’s one more step added to learning a new procedure — starting with “why am I doing this?” This means that you practice noticing a plus sign with fractions and sayhing “adding fractions means I need (common denominator), multiplying fractions I should try to (cancel)”
Another thing I try to teach is a working attitude towards math. There’s a big tendency to go into “I Get Anxious And Can’t Do Math” mode. SOmetmes the difference between a B and an F on a test is looking at a problem and thinking “okay, I don’t know how to do this… but what *do* I know about it? What is the thing that is scaring me about it and do I know a procedure for taking care of that?” (Generally fractions or variables inspire that glazed-over look.)
But… what is hardest but best is to *understand* beyond the steps of the procedures, but to understand the math. Yes, it is possible, despite what our math teachers teach.