July 8

July 8

We are now within the third week of classes, and wish we could have more time to engage in the project. I am amazed by how quickly the kids of all ages have learned to use the Khan Academy website. I have yet to find a student who has not in some way or another benefited from using the website.  Some of our students are now looking at more advanced problems or math subjects than their fellow schoolmates.  Others have perfected previous math concepts and skills, and so their weaknesses have become their strengths.  When I first started working with some of the older kids I noticed most of them wanted to skip basic math concepts such as multiplication and division and pick up from where they left off in their respective grade levels. A great number of them would get stuck and ask for help, and it was while I explained the exercise step by step that I could figure out where the real problem was. I got varied results, some needed to go back and review concepts such as multiplication and division, and others got confused when adding and subtracting or multiply and dividing negative numbers and almost all of them had forgotten how to solve lineal equations.

After explaining the exercise I would come up with a couple of multiplication problems or simple equations, wherever I thought they needed more practice to see if that was the area that troubled them. I noticed that when they were told they had to go back and review some previous material they would do so reluctantly, but as I explained my reasoning, backing it up with the knowledge map they seemed to be more accepting.  As of this week the majority of these older kids have moved on to more challenging concepts or at least worked up their weak areas. I am really proud of their progress. They have come a long way in short amount to time.

Saul, who is more or less ten years old and rather shy was mind blown when I explained he find the answer to the 9’s time table using his hands. We had been trying to figure out the 9’s time table for a while and had tried several approaches, (drawings, adding 9 to the product, writing the table down) but none seemed to work.  When I first explained the finger folding technique he seemed skeptical. After showing him it worked with any number up to 10 he just couldn’t believe it.

Luis Daniel and Ariel, two eleven year old boys who have been sitting next to each other for the past few classes have always been very competitive when it comes to getting the right answer and accumulating as many points as possible. They could often use their ‘‘chanchullas’’ (cheat sheets) or the multiplication and division tables found in back of the notebooks we gave them. When they got caught using them we would laugh about it. I would tell them they could use them if they deemed it necessary, but reminded them they would have to learn them eventually for school. Today I saw a change in them, even though they continue to indulge in a competition, Ariel helped Luis if he got stuck somewhere and Luis did the same.

AP