How Sixth-Graders Can Relate to Math

Giving Compass' Take:

• This article from The Hechinger Report discusses how parent intervention can help six graders adjust and transition into their middle school math courses. 

• How do teachers influence student success? What are some good ways to promote better student-teacher relationships?

• Here's why high school math courses should change for the better. 

Sixth grade can be a difficult year, filled with plenty of pre-teen angst and drama.

Students are engaged in a constant battle, trying to find their own voices without drawing too much attention to themselves.

They are anxious. Their parents are even more anxious.

As a sixth-grade mathematics teacher, I see my job as easing this transition and getting everyone excited about what is to come. So, at the beginning of each new school year, I work tirelessly to prepare for Open House night to make that all-important first impression. In the past, though, I found that no matter how hard I worked, I usually fell short of my own expectations. There were too many faces, names and handshakes. It’s always a busy night — sometimes too busy.

Last year, I decided to do something different to set the tone for the school year: Parent Math Night! There was a lot to get excited about. I had begun using a new problem-based curriculum called Illustrative Mathematics (IM) 6-8 Math, which is available as an open educational resource. Even though it meets expectations across all three review categories — focus and coherence, rigor and mathematical practices, and usability — at EdReports.org, I worried that parents might be skeptical about a new curriculum. I was also concerned that they might have questions about its problem-based, discourse-driven approach to learning math, which is quite different from the traditional “stand-and-deliver” model of instruction that most of us grew up with.

Read the full article about six graders and math by Robert Eiselstein at The Hechinger Report.