The "Minute Math" or as our local school district labeled it "Math Facts" was for our eldest a high source of frustration, not because of the program but because the teachers kept shoving it down kid's throats for three years even after they'd demonstrated mastery....which is when I informed his teacher he wouldn't be participating in that section of the program any longer, simple as that. I'm simply not wasting his valuable time with it any longer.
As far as the teacher's actions and grade assignment, these are issues that really require you or some other parent(s) meeting with the teacher first and perhaps administration later if the teacher doesn't understand the error of his / her ways. For starters, tearing up papers is a childish reaction and sets a childish and poor example of how to deal with the teacher's inability to maintain order in his/her own classroom. Certainly the teacher wouldn't approve of me tearing up the papers on his/her desk if he/she talked while I wanted his/her attention would they? Of course not, then don't demonstrate that behavior to children, someone has to be the grown up here, I suggest it be the teacher rather than the children.
Second, is the test designed to measure work habit or the mathematical ability of the students? Our local school district has adopted a policy that allows teachers to have work habit / behavior be no more than 10% of a student's grade, in this manner, the grade the student receives reflects their abilities, let discipline be handled by school policy, not by an individual teacher's frustration level with a child's behavior.
Last edited by Old Dad; 12/18/13 03:34 PM.
