Wednesday, November 25, 2009

I Don't Do That Kind Of Math


Overheard at the math tutoring table:

Student: Ms. Can you help with my math homework? (Student then shows teacher the worksheet.)

Teacher: No, I don't do pre-calculus.

When I started teaching every math teacher was required to be able to teach every subject. The exam to get a license was tough. How did the standards to become a teacher get so low?

6 comments:

Ricochet said...

Easy - No Child Left Behind lowered the bar for everyone.

S. Rich said...

I try not to work with courses I've not seen in a while, mostly because I don't want to be rusty and look foolish. (If I were to try to help a Calculus student I'd probably waste a batch of time figuring out what it was I was looking at.)

Pissedoffteacher said...

I agree, if there are others around that can help. But, when you are the only math teacher, you should try to figure it out.

S. Rich said...

Oh yeah. I don't refuse a student. But I am very uncomfortable when my knowledge is way in the back of my head and I'm not even sure what they _call_ these things anymore. (There's a method of factoring quadratics with leading coefficient not-one which my school district begins by calling "the illegal move" and I would NEVER have thought of that name, nor is it in my text.)

mathmom said...

Give the teacher a break. 20 years ago, I graduated with a 4-year honors math degree. But I don't use most of my higher math skills in my current profession (computer scientist) although I use the problem-solving skills that I developed while studying math every single day. But in any case, I am now very rusty on many things even though I could have aced the math portion of even a very tough teaching licensing test back when I was a new graduate. So if the teacher has not taught or used pre-calc in many years, it is no surprise or even IMO cause for embarrassment that she cannot help with pre-calc homework. If a teacher is expected to provide tutoring to students for any math course, she should have a schedule that keeps her skills fresh by making sure that over the course of any 3- to 5-year period she teaches each of main subject areas, to keep those skills sharp.

Pissedoffteacher said...

Sorry mathmom, but I don't agree. The pre-calc being asked was not allthat complex. Besides, onlyone teacher is assigned tutor in anyone period so if that teacher can't help, no one can help. The teacher is also very young and a fairly recent graduate.

I had my program changed after the year started because another teacher could not teach geometry. Every math teacher shold be able to teach every subject. and, if a topic is nto remembered, looking t up should refresh a memory pretty quickly.