chhotii: (caffeine)
[personal profile] chhotii
Here's what I don't get: I've been told that the MCAS is un-timed. (Is this true?)

If this is so, why is there so much emphasis on doing the math-fact sheets as fast as possible? Timing them and so forth? For some kids, rising to the challenge will work. But there are some kids (such as Sophia, and at least one other kid you know...) for whom the timer causes so much activation of the sympathetic nervous system that it impairs both performance and learning. In a big way.

Mathematicians are not judged on speed. So why is math treated like a track event in 2nd grade?

Date: 2013-02-07 06:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] chhotii.livejournal.com
the best course is to help the kid learn how to control her emotional state when under time pressure...

Of course, if we knew how to do that, then that would be the best course. If you hear of any techniques for teaching control of emotional state, let me know, I'm all ears.

But I think in the case of my kid, at her age, that skill just involves some neurological maturation that she's delayed in. Meanwhile, though, while we wait for that to happen, she's learning all the wrong things such as "math is hateful" and "I suck at math".

Date: 2013-02-07 08:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gosling.livejournal.com
Schools invariably do an excellent job at teaching emotional attitudes towards various subjects and shaping a student's sense of herself as a competent (or less than competent) learner. Sadly what is learned is too often exactly what she is learning, especially for kids who have any sort of learning disability or emotional immaturity.

Date: 2013-03-01 10:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] achinhibitor.livejournal.com
If you hear of any techniques for teaching control of emotional state, let me know, I'm all ears.

The only technique I know of (and there may well be others) is "systematic desensitization", exposing the subject to increasingly intense experiences of the type they have a phobia regarding, interleaved with time to emotionally recover, introspect, and learn/devise coping strategies. (ah, there is a Wikipedia page on it) I gather it helps a lot if the subject can be guided by someone who has had the same phobia but has overcome it. I've seen press reports of progressive desensitization being used for claustrophobia, and I've used it on myself to reduce my social phobias. (See Zimbardo's Shyness (http://www.amazon.com/Shyness-What-It-Is-About/dp/0201550180) for a series of exercises that are essentially that.)

Of course, no technique will work unless the subject believes it is necessary to change (for one reason or another). But to succeed in the Real World, one must adjust one's emotional processes to match the demands of the world, since the world won't do so. Ideally you can help your daughter realize this before she's 22 and hunting for her first job.

that skill just involves some neurological maturation that she's delayed in.

The question that comes to me is why don't you delay her education until she has the neurological maturity expected/demanded of children in that grade?

she's learning all the wrong things such as "math is hateful" and "I suck at math".

I guess it comes from my personal background, but I don't see these as terribly important. Certainly I was poor at arithmetic and still am (particularly multiplying 6, 7, and 8) and I still don't like it. Other parts of math I like. But I see those likes/dislikes as being intrinsic to my personality, not learned aversions. As for how one conceptualizes one's skills, presumably that is updated based on experience.

Deep under this is the idea that school is not about what one enjoys but what one must do. And an incredibly valuable skill is the ability to diligently do things that are distasteful. Certainly in my life, lack of self-discipline has been much more of a barrier to success than lack of intelligence or other inherent skills. So school is a good place to learn self-discipline. Conversely, if a child learns that raising a fuss when confronted with an unpleasant task gets one out of doing the task, the opposite lesson is learned.

Date: 2013-03-02 11:52 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] chhotii.livejournal.com
The question that comes to me is why don't you delay her education until she has the neurological maturity expected/demanded of children in that grade?

That's a fascinating question, Dale! Clearly you do not have kids.

One reason: My understanding is that my child has to be schooled somehow, under penalty of law. Either public school, private school, or a home-school plan approved by the school system and actually followed (or enough resemblance thereto that you can file progress reports on said home-schooling plan). Parents receive a letter from the school system, to the effect that if the kid doesn't show up for school the parents will be reported to that agency of the state in charge of taking children away from bad parents and putting them into foster homes.

Date: 2013-03-05 03:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] achinhibitor.livejournal.com
(Though this is retrospective by now.) The idea I had some vague inkling of was, "You could ask the school district to hold your daughter back a year on the grounds that she is not developmentally ready for this grade's work." I would expect that would not cost you extra.

This might be worth considering if you daughter is young for her grade. There seem to be significant advantages to being old for one's grade. (Consider its effect on soccer careers: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/07/magazine/07wwln_freak.html?pagewanted=all)
Edited Date: 2013-03-05 03:43 pm (UTC)

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