You Got Served.

I used to have a math phobia that continued to produce math anxiety dreams well into my 20s. Phobia is a strong word. I’d say more of a strong indifference coupled with a side of “when am I EVER going to have to use this crap?” In elementary school, I dreaded the math lessons where you were supposed to patiently use the math manipulatives to solve problems, like finding square root with beads and stuff. Once I found a calculator, I pressed that square root button to get the answer and never looked back.

In high school, my dad tried to help me with higher math. Much to my father’s dismay, I didn’t get along well with math, even though I was pretty good at it. As an engineer, my dad loves numbers and math and problem solving and whatnot. He tried to convince me that the process of math was fun (as I was in tears, shredding up my homework in frustration.) I insisted that the answer, not the process, was the fun part. I may or may not have screamed, "I don't care HOW you get the answer, just give me the answers!" His little engineer heart probably broke into 6 equal pieces (1/6ths).

My math teacher in college tried to “sell” math to me by turning my complaints into a snazzy “equation” he liked to call “Confusion minus frustration equals inquiry!” He even made me write a stupid essay on it. I didn’t do so well, because I wrote how the equation was not pertinent to me because I had more frustration than confusion, thus I had negative inquiry. Ha! He got served by my English writing skills! In return, I got served my only C in college (nerd alert).*

Anyhoo, recently I have been writing curriculum for new special education teachers on how to teach the core academic areas to students with disabilities. I was en fuego on the sessions on reading, writing, and oral language. When I got to the part where I had to write three professional development sessions on math for students with special needs, I tried to quit the project. Then, they gave me a raise. I calculated how much of my credit card I could pay off with it and stuck it out. I got served by math, once again.

Around the same time, I started working with a high school student with a math disability (dyscalcula) whose hatred for math made me look like Euclid’s lover. We started with the basics. How can you hate the basic math facts? It took two weeks to convince this kid to even attempt simple problems. We rated her anxiety on a scale of 1-10 when the math was simply in the room with us, and it was always a 9 or 10. There was no way we were going to improve her math skills without working on the anxiety piece of the equation first (pun intended). I asked her to verbalize all her thoughts and beliefs about math as she did the problems (e.g. “when am I EVER going to have to use this crap?” “I should be able to do these easy ones” “I hate math” “I’m going to get all these wrong etc etc). As I looked at high school mini-me, I realized that both she and I needed to reframe our thoughts about math. And girlie needed some confidence in her basic skills.

After a few weeks, the girl could finally bear to practice basic skills with me. We had to use metaphor to get her to not think she was doing “dummy math.” She was a skateboarder, and I told her that in math and skateboarding, she had to practice her basic moves before moving on to other tricks. And like any activity, you have to feel confident in the basics first. You can't do a flip trick without learning the ollie first (skateboarders--right? I was on the spot). We talked about how her learning disability made the basic facts more difficult and she was going to have to practice more than other students. She started attempting math, but then her negative beliefs were getting in the way.

After finishing a page of mixed basic facts:

Girl: I probably got most of them all wrong.
Me: Would you be willing to see if that’s true?
Girl: I guess.
Me: (counting items correct) one..two..three…well it looks like you got 19 out of 25 which is about 2/3 correct. So is it true that you got most of them wrong?
Girl: No...Dang! I got served!
Me: Yes, AND by MATH nonetheless.
Girl: That totally sucks.
Me: I know. I’ve been there.

We ended up laughing about it, and she continues to work with me. As I try to “sell” math to her each week, I hope that on some level, I not only help her through high school, but prevent her from having math anxiety nightmares in her 20s. And when I finish writing these math sessions of my curriculum project, I promise to post how to help students with math disabilities. Until then, your suggestions and resources are most welcome!

*79.89%. He wouldn’t round up. I got served by math.

Study Skill O’ the Week: Swatters!

“If it’s not fun, they won’t learn!” – 5th grade teacher, Inner City Elementary

I overheard this teacher say this the other day, and I must say, her classroom does seem to be pretty fun. Whenever I go in there, the kids are smiling and on-task. Almost every day in her class is a total Learning Party. Wheeeeee!* I don’t know how she does it, working in the inner city, and every day she is so excited about teaching. I wonder if this teacher wakes up on Monday, jolts out of bed, claps her hands together, and exclaims, “TGIM!”

Anyway, with full credit to this teacher, I want to share a technique she uses to help her students memorize facts. I incorporate this in my study skill coaching repertoire, because it really is more fun than traditional “Drill and Kill” techniques with flashcards. It’s called “Swatters” and I thought I’d pass it on as a way to make memorization fun. Do let me know how it goes.

1) Obtain two fly swatters.

2) Explain to the class that they are not to be used for swatting flies. Very important, as I forgot to do this once and had to go buy a new swatter because I was too grossed out to use it again. Bleeh. Fly Guts.

3) Have the students put the answers to certain memorization questions on flash cards. I have used vocabulary words, possible test questions, and math facts. Place the answers on the blackboard in a random array.

4) Have the class line up in two parallel lines, facing the board, with about 6-10 feet in between the board and the first two kids. I’d put a masking tape line there as a start line so you avoid the “He’s cheating!” conversation.

5) Explain the rules. If anyone swats a fly or a classmate, they are disqualified. If anyone pushes anyone, they are disqualified. Whoever hits the flashcard first wins—in the event that both kids hit the correct card, this is determined by whose swatter is on the bottom.

6) Teacher calls out the question, such as “When was the constitution signed?” or “What’s 2 X 5?” and the first two in the rows run up to the board and swat the correct answer. The team with the swatter on the correct card gets a point, and the two return to the back of the line.

7) Proceed until you, or the kids, are bored, or you run out of questions. I have found that even the most ADHD kids ever want to do this game for like 45 minutes, only because they finally get to use that energy.

*Baffling, I know. I want what she has for breakfast.

Multiply THIS!

Every year, at the end of the year, there are one million* referrals for special education testing for students in 5th grade. All have the same referral question/concern: Johnny/Johnisha is behind academically and (insert negative prediction about middle school). The referral then becomes a mad dash to test the kid before the retention decision has to be made or they plunge into the perils of middle school.**

The concerns about these kids’ academics are valid. At one of my elementary schools, there were quite a few 5th grade students who did not know their basic math facts. A few students did not know the 2s times tables, nor the concept of even counting by twos, and meanwhile, the class was working on fractions. Incidentally, the issue I had with these particular surprise 5th grade referrals is that upon reviewing the cumulative folders, there were no discernable interventions attempted to address the students’ difficulties. So are they truly "disabled" or are they instructional casualties? Is it fair to call them special ed because we have not had the resources to help them learn their math facts? At one school, I tested four 5th graders and none qualified for services. While I love testing and it’s great to rule things out, like learning disabilities, I think this is where the RtI movement can really help.

But do you know what’s not fun? Trying to drill multiplication facts into students who have had years of negative experiences with learning multiplication facts.

My wonderful resource specialist at this school agreed to develop a mini-RtI program for these floundering 5th graders. But how could we make it interesting and new to these disengaged students? That’s right, hip hop.

We found this CD called Multiply THIS! and developed a 10-week program that the kids loved. The basic lesson plan goes something like this:

• Introduce the group and develop some group rules that involve prizes and M&Ms.*** Post group rules that you earn tickets for participating and being safe (or whatever rules apply for you). I find that that being safe, responsible, and respectful cover pretty much anything. Explain that the more they participate, the more tickets they can earn. At the end of each group session, there will be a drawing of the tickets and the winner will get a prize. This system saves money, because you only have to get one prize. It can be a pencil or a higher-value prize, like a copy of the CD. We gave each student M&Ms at the end of the group just for participating though. If we were working on our 2s, they got 2 M&Ms that day.

• Conduct some baseline of their multiplication fact fluency, using a timer and a sheet of random multiplication facts. We used “mad minutes” sheets and gave them one minute. As they were working, we gave them tickets with their names on them to keep them going.

• Teach the concept of skip-counting. Start with easy ones like the 2s, 5s, and 10s. So for the 2s, make a worksheet with several rows of numbers 1-12. Model for the student how to circle every other number starting at 2. Show them that if you can skip count, you can do multiplication. Then play the CD for the 2s rap (Twos, twos, I got a beat for you!) and have them circle the numbers 2, 4, 6, 8, as they rap them. If they sing along, or are circling, give them tickets with their names on it for the drawing.

• At the end of each session, draw a prize and give them the number of M&Ms for that day’s number.

• The next session, practice the skip counting worksheet again with the rap for the 2s and do a quick 2s worksheet or “mad minute” for data collection. Then introduce the next number that will be skip-counted. We did it in sequence, but in retrospect, it would be better to do the 5s and 10s next to really reinforce the skip-counting concept. So then give the students sheet of sequential numbers and then possibly a multiplications table where they can skip count by 5s with the rap, rewarding along the way for rapping or circling. They can also color it in or use highlighter if that’s more interesting.

• Continue with this process with the rest of the numbers.

• At the end, give the students the same assessment you did at the beginning with all the numbers, and gauge their progress. Of course, a true research design would have a control group and do some sort of a t-test for statistically significant differences, but unless you are able to defy time, that probably isn’t going to happen. Do measure their progress though and use it as instructional feedback for the teacher (e.g. Johnisha has the 6s down, but the 7s are not automatic). At minimum, be happy with the fact that they have that catchy “3's 3's break 'em Down if you please” burned into every layer of their brains for the rest of their lives. I know I do!

*What, me? Exaggerate? Never.
**I have a retention soap-box which I will bring out later and espouse research on how it is not an intervention.
***I know, I know, you’re supposed to give raisins or something healthy, but really, will a few M&Ms hurt anyone? Of course, they are manufactured in a plant that has peanuts so you have to rule out that allergy first. (Insert curmudgeon voice: In MY day, we ate M&Ms without analyzing the ingredients first!) *PTA presidents across the nation gasp*