September 2009 Blog Posts
Despite our teachers’ best efforts, some students still leave school without rudimentary numeracy skills. The message I keep hearing from parents is simple: watch the maths, because once your child falls behind on the basics, it’s a difficult journey to catch up again.
So how do you watch the maths?
Ask your child whether she likes her maths schoolwork and whether she thinks she’s good at it.
Ask your teacher whether your child is performing below, at, or above expectations for her age group.
Ask yourself what your child’s Learning Style...
Michael Gurian, lecturer and family therapist: “A primary area of concern for nearly every teacher is the difference we each intuit in the males and females we teach.” Although the overlap between the genders is enormous, there is no denying that “boys and girls learn differently”.
Forget amateur wisdoms such as "boys are competitive, girls are collaborative". Scientists have recently discovered that differences between girls and boys are more profound.
Research revealed, for example, that boys and girls see differently: male eyes are attracted to movement and to cooler colours (such as blue, black, grey), while female eyes are enticed by textures,...
In the news today: “Only a third of students are numerate going into secondary school, and the process of teaching mathematics needs to be addressed, an Auckland University maths lecturer says.” And the problem is not limited to New Zealand.
So, if the experts say that the process of teaching mathematics needs to be addressed, the most important thing is to begin with teaching according to the students’ Learning Styles.
A Learning Style is the way in which a student understands new facts and memorises them best.
Some students need to visualise what they’re learning. Others require a tactile tool to...
(by Jacqueline Wales, author of The Fearless Factor)
“Being Fearless is not the absence of fear, but the choices and decisions we make when fear shows up in our lives.”
Fear is one of the most powerful motivating forces in the human experience. It is the clarion call that signals there is something you need to change in order to live a completely fulfilled life. Honoring this feeling is the greatest gift you can give yourself.
It is also normal. We all have it, and we all have to deal with it.
What is Fear?
The dictionary describes it as a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil,...