Yesterday I faced a common occurrence in one of my sessions of having an assignment sheet placed under my nose to do something with! I stopped and asked the student to tell me what their assignment was asking them to do and I received the reply, "It's on the sheet." I persevered and asked for… Continue reading High School Assignment Battle Plan
High school mathematics of students with dyscalculia and/or maths anxiety is a large component of my tutoring caseload. Here are the ways in which I set up and run these sessions. Step One: Need to know what level of maths is being undertaken at school. In Australia we are currently implementing a new Australian curriculum… Continue reading High School Maths Tutoring Sessions
Throughout the week I've noticed a few of my new students experience difficulties when listening to oral directions. Now, so much of this is closely associated with attention, but cannot be ignored I've begun to play with some auditory memory apps on the iPad used sporadically throughout the lesson to both help improve focus within… Continue reading Auditory Memory Apps
In my post earlier this week I began to describe the process I use to introduce the times tables using counting patterns, rules and fingers to reduce the ones left to learn down to just 25. Here are the instructions for the last few tables. You'll need the grid to complete this. Tables Overview After the… Continue reading More Times Tables Tricks – Part Two
Looking at the tricks for nine times tables as I have done in a previous post this week is a good trick to have, but it's certainly not the only part of my times tables program. The system I use to teach times tables to children means that out of the 169 tables they need… Continue reading More Times Tables Tricks – Part One
Not working in a school I have the luxury of not needing to worry about things like pen licenses or the type of lead pencil used in a particular grade. I exploit this heavily, as it is rare to come across a student with learning difficulties who loves to write! I buy lots of specialty… Continue reading Erasable Pens
I have received many requests this week for more information regarding the nine times tables hand tricks demonstrated in my work on the ABC1 documentary, "Kids on Speed?" Well, here it is. The trick works for the nine times tables up to 9x10 = 90. As there is also another nifty rule for the eleven… Continue reading Nine Times Tables Hand Trick
Throughout the week I was working with two of of my high school students who had some homework about globalisation and particle theory (science is definitely not my thing!) where they were required to write summary paragraphs about these concepts. Opening the school textbook or searching the web for written information results in text that… Continue reading Google “Video” for Research
A little while ago I posted an idea I've been working on for a database of maths questions, where high school students answer in worded form to utilise more language based thinking processes. I haven't abandoned this and am still really excited by its possibilities, but like many things I start to work on, the… Continue reading High School Maths Mastery
During the January school holidays I like to switch off and not think about any of the balls I usually juggle in the air during term time. This means I return to the New Year refreshed and energised. It is important to channel that energy into the most fruitful of labours - helping children learn… Continue reading New Year Programs
