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The Pleasanton school district is scheduled to host a Math Workshop and Instructional Materials Fair on Jan. 10.
The fair will include a display of the mathematics instructional materials being considered for adoption, as well as a variety of “hands-on” sessions that aim to assist parents or guardians in understanding the Common Core math implementation process — such as how to help with homework, Smarter Balanced Assessments, Math Talk, online resources, college and career readiness, problem solving skills, and literacy in mathematics.
The fair will take place from 9 a.m. to noon at Harvest Park Middle School, 4900 Valley Ave.
Pleasanton Weekly will update as more information becomes available.
Ask to check out the English program. Schools got caught on Math but English is still flying under the radar.
Maybe if we need a workshop for parents on how to understand this new math – we should realize there is something wrong with it. The “old” way of math has worked for years – why are we changing it now, and why is it so hard for everyone to understand and implement? Maybe that is why many other states are going back to “non common core” math. We will eventually get there as well – but the poor students have to suffer in the meantime. Very sad that we don’t question things when they are not working – more parents need to say no to common core. Our students will be so far behind and confused by the time they get to college.
Common Core is child abuse, plain and simple. I am not the only one who believes this.
Check out this school teacher’s comments > http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2507882/NY-teacher-brands-Common-Core-reform-child-abuse-gets-rapturous-applause.html
@julie b : ” The “old” way of math has worked for years – why are we changing it now…”
You’re joking, right? Do you really think that the “old” way was that great or haven’t you been reading the news about how kids in the US fare against their counterparts in math?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/us-students-lag-around-average-on-international-science-math-and-reading-test/2013/12/02/2e510f26-5b92-11e3-a49b-90a0e156254b_story.html
Damon,
Interesting article but there are a few gaps. I lived in Japan and in China for almost 8 years and can tell you that they are fiercely competitive academically and go after education with laser focus. In Japan they go to school 6 days a week and Sunday is reserved for 4 hours of what they call “cram” school. Selection to different schools in both Japan and China starts at a very young age. Based on your test scores you are steered towards advanced education or a technical path. Grades and performance are everything over there. High performers move through the ranks and are not held behind as they are here. Lower performing kids go to a different school. Like it or not that is why we are getting destroyed. They are out performing is and working harder and held to a higher standard of achievement. It is not touchy-feely over there. It’s based on performance based evaluation.
To Paul, when do those kids in Japan and China take time to be kids? Sounds like nothing but work work and more work.
@Paul: ” I lived in Japan and in China for almost 8 years and can tell you that they are fiercely competitive academically and go after education with laser focus. In Japan they go to school 6 days a week and Sunday is reserved for 4 hours of what they call “cram” school.”
Yes, I’m aware of the school system in Japan. My daughter goes to a Japanese school on the weekends where they give instruction not just on the Japanese language, but also on mathematics and other subjects based on Japanese textbooks used in Japan. As for how the two systems, American and Japanese, compare it’s not just quantity of instruction, it’s quality. You make a point about how they go to school 6 days per week (btw, I’m not sure if that’s still true in Japan), but the big difference is quality of instruction, at least in regards to mathematics. In glancing through the Japanese mathematics textbook, I can see that the concepts and exercise problems are considerably more challenging than what she encounters at her Pleasanton elementary school. Perhaps that instead of trying to re-invent the wheel with Common Core we should instead be looking to copy some of the educational materials used by some other, more successful countries? Personally, I think that just copying this Japanese mathematics text by translating it directly into English would be a big improvement over the mathematics instructional materials that my daughter’s class now uses.
Damon and Ed,
My point exactly. If our goal is to compete globally Then we must raise the bar of expectations and acceptance. Not all children are created the same and not all can nor should go to college. We have chose since (tribes) remember that? To dumb down our expectations so that everyone has high self esteem even for non achievement. School should be harder not easier if our goal is to compete.
Bob I think there is time for both. Watching tv for hours and personal devices are not being a kid in my opinion. They are just mostly time burners. Turn off the televisions and put away the cellphones and I think we would be amazed at how much more time is available.
Paul and Damon both have good points. Japan has an education system that is different from here (it is hard to say which is better). There are schools for high performing students and for low performing students, private and public. All high schools require entrance exams just like colleges here. Now many schools have classes on Saturday after the failure of “Yutori education” which they introduced between 2000 to 2010. They focused on “thinking” rather than memorizing and also “work with others”. As a result, other countries in Asia surpassed Japan quickly except that the very few top performing students specially in Math became successful. The rest fell behind which was the opposite of their objective when they started. Now they got rid of this method and are back to the old way.
It’s obvious that a good school leads to well educated pupils which is why many of us moved here. I don’t know the specifics of Japan’s or China’s education system but I don’t see anything in the posts about extracurricular activities such as sports, or music, or debate clubs, or time to volunteer somewhere.
It takes more than the 3 R’s to produce a well-rounded individual.
From the posts it sounds like the education systems described are regimented programming to get kids on the hamster wheel ASAP.
@Ed: “It takes more than the 3 R’s to produce a well-rounded individual. ”
As for the Japanese school as a whole that I’m familiar with, I would say that it is highly regimented and that there are a lot of aspects to the Pleasanton elementary school that my daughter attends that I like a lot more than this particular Japanese school. There is indeed some effort to educate young people to show proper respect to others and other such “character-education” efforts in Pleasanton schools, and I support that and think that it is important. But we’re not talking about an “Either-Or” proposition here, are we? I don’t advocate a complete switch-over to a Japanese-style educational system. I’m simply saying that their mathematics textbook is much more rigorous and challenging than the one used by the Pleasanton elementary school, and that simply copying the textbook and translating it into English would be a big improvement over the instructional materials that my daughter’s class now uses.
I am saying the same thing. I am just saying that if we really want to compete we are going to need to get a bit serious here. The Japanese and Chinese for that matter start school at 0830 and they were walking home from school when I got off work and that was around 1730 or so. Just based on hours we need work to do. On the other hand if we want to fall behind everyone we should just keep doing what we are doing.
There are 3 schools we should study, 2 Japanese schools in the San Jose area and one public school Mission San Jose in Fremont. They excel in terms of graduation rates and the number of kids who go on and graduate from 4 year schools. Both have extremely engaged parents who work with the kids every evening for a couple of hours.
Understanding what struggle means in terms of learning is something that every family needs to honestly think about. How are you getting in the way of actual learning? Are you helping or just doing the thinking for your student? At what point is getting the grade more important than actually learning and persevering? This article helps put the discussion into perspective- http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/11/struggle-means-learning-difference-in-eastern-and-western-cultures/