As well you should be

http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/...th20090519

Time to start making it easier to homeschool...and vouchers would be a good idea too.

Gonna be a time when you can obtain a better education from an iPhone or iPod touch than you can in any public school.

Then again, with the apps I've downloaded, that time is probably already here.

Not to break the subject here, but have you used that iPod touch app that tells you what song you're listening to on the radio? Number 1 coolest thing I've seen.

Sorry, the page you requested was not found

(05-20-2009 11:55 AM)nomad2u2001 Wrote:  Not to break the subject here, but have you used that iPod touch app that tells you what song you're listening to on the radio? Number 1 coolest thing I've seen.

No, what's it called? I'd like to add it to the other 100 or so I've downloaded in 10 days.

It's called "Shazam". If you don't know the name of a song on the radio, you just let Shazam listen to it and it will tell you the name of the song with all of the download information.

working link: Aspiring Teachers Fail in Math

Attn Board Admins: MyBB FAILS in URLs: Aspiring Teachers Fail in Math (for whatever reason, the end of the URL is fubar math20090519 becomes "ma%E2%80%8Bth20090519")

Quote:Aspiring school teachers
fail in math
Only 27 percent of the teaching
candidates pass

Updated: Tuesday, 19 May 2009, 1:47 PM EDT
Published : Tuesday, 19 May 2009, 7:41 AM EDT

* Bruce Morin

MALDEN, Mass. (WPRI) - According to state education officials, nearly three-quarters of the people who took the state elementary school teacher’s licensing exam this year failed the new math section.

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released the results Tuesday. They say that only 27 percent of the more than 600 candidates who took the test passed. The test was administered in March of this year.

The teacher’s licensing exam tested potential teachers on their knowledge of elementary school mathematics. This included geometry, statistics, and probability.

Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester was not surprised by the results. He told the Boston Globe that these results indicate many students are not receiving an adequate math education.

Tom Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents , said "The high failure rate puts a shining light on a deficiency in teacher-prep programs."

Quote:The teacher’s licensing exam tested potential teachers on their knowledge of elementary school mathematics. This included geometry, statistics, and probability.

Is this what my kid has to look forward to in grade school? Man, this ain't the way it was when I went to school. He's gonna need help and I forgot about this stuff decades ago. I better start studying up because he's going to need help.

If elementary students are starting statistics we are gonna be in trouble. Elementary students should be working on the basics for as long as possible and stressing memorization. When they move this fast they lose out on having enough time to memorize times tables and stuff like that.

(05-20-2009 12:39 PM)nomad2u2001 Wrote:  If elementary students are starting statistics we are gonna be in trouble. Elementary students should be working on the basics for as long as possible and stressing memorization. When they move this fast they lose out on having enough time to memorize times tables and stuff like that.

I agree with you, and your point was raised by several people in another discussion forum. But, this was a test for aspiring teachers.

What worries me the most is that teachers may believe that these subjects are appropriate for elementary school children.

I doubt teachers think that these are appropriate for the age group. In NC the state legislature has first and final say on curriculum options. The new teachers are coming in knowing that it is wrong to begin these lessons this early, but what are they going to do about it?

Out here there's a big debate if 8th grade students should pass an algebra course before moving on.

In NC there is a big debate between administrators and the NCGA on our end of grade tests. My mom actually read the problems in the Math portion for 3rd graders and saw that there were nothing but word problems in the book. They even used variables. She told me how the students had to sit for 3.5 hours in one spot with no bathroom breaks or chances to talk and that there were at least 30 students who cried or got sick during the test.

Damn, I didn't take Geometry until the 8th or 9th grade. IIRC, from 8-12 it was Geometry, Algebra I, Algebra II, Trigonometry, and Calculus. I have a better memory of the hot teachers than any of it.

When I was in high school it was Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Pre-cal, and Cal. There was always the possibility of trying to get into the AG program and having Algebra I in the 8th grade. I just took the normal route because my mom said that no 8th grader should have to go through the stress of real Algebra.

(05-20-2009 01:53 PM)nomad2u2001 Wrote:  When I was in high school it was Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Pre-cal, and Cal. There was always the possibility of trying to get into the AG program and having Algebra I in the 8th grade. I just took the normal route because my mom said that no 8th grader should have to go through the stress of real Algebra.

Wish I had your mom when I was in high school.

(05-20-2009 01:45 PM)Rebel Wrote:  Damn, I didn't take Geometry until the 8th or 9th grade. IIRC, from 8-12 it was Geometry, Algebra I, Algebra II, Trigonometry, and Calculus. I have a better memory of the hot teachers than any of it.

I'd bet you were able to calculate sports statistics pretty good in grade school - if you were a sports fan back then like I was. That's statistics. You could figure up how much money you needed for candy and sodas too. I know I could. That's Algebra. If you shoot pool, you are using Geometry. That pretty much covers all the math teachers needed to pass this test...

(05-20-2009 02:43 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  You could figure up how much money you needed for candy and sodas too. I know I could. That's Algebra.

Oh really? Well if two trains leave their stations at 8am, one in New York travelling 75 mph, and one in Chicago travellin 60mph, how are you going to know when they cross paths! Hmm?

There's some critical factors you left out of that equation. You need to know the milage of the track to be able to calculate that accurately. We also need to know if the trains are heading toward each other. If the one in Chicago is going west or south, they may never meet. It's the same for the one in New York. If that train is heading north or south, they'll never meet. You've left way too many variables for any reliable calculation to be made...