Saratoga Springs City School District: Math Night helps parents with their homework

SARATOGA SPRINGS >> Some things are more challenging the second time around – like figuring out math homework, this time as a parent helping your child. But even if you’re an English major, the Saratoga Springs school district is here to help you solve the math problem.

At K-12 Math Night, an event for faculty, teachers and families, Joseph Greco, the district’s K-12 director of math, science and technology integration, introduced his staff and showed a presentation of ways to approach the “new math.”

“We’re here to focus on how the Common Core-aligned math affects you and your family doing homework around the dining room table,” said Greco, who is a father as well as an administrator, and therefore sympathizes. Back in December during a Parent University event, “A Parents Guide to the Common Core State Standards K-6,” he told the audience, “When the homework is challenging, there may be some tears at my home. Sometimes my daughter even cries along with me.”

This is only partly jest. The new math does have many families struggling. But with clear goals, confident, well-prepared students will rise to the challenge, he said.

Greco discussed the six shifts in math under the Common Core: focus, coherence, fluency, deep understanding, application and dual intensity. The aim is to have children understand several possible ways to find the answer, rather than memorize tricks that give one result without understanding the reasoning behind the process.

“Before, we were creating math-testing soldiers,” he said. “If children forgot the tricks, they would be stuck.”

Now content standards, the curriculum and lessons, make up the “what” that the children study. The mathematical practices make up the “how.” Saratoga school district puts these in place with the help of its seven math coaches, one for each elementary school and two for Dorothy Nolan. Caroline Street Elementary School Math Coach Rebecca Pipino also has the dual perspective of a teacher and a parent. She discussed anxiety vs. empowerment, and the importance of freeing children from the math distress of their parents.

“When I was a child, teachers taught us the algorithms, the step-by-step procedures for calculations. We learned how to follow the rules and get the answer,” Pipino said. “Now the focus is on conceptual understanding.”

She said she sees a big change in how the children work now – both her students and her daughters. They show greater comprehension, problem-solving and collaborative discussion.

In a video made at the Saratoga schools, one teacher said the children were gaining more number sense and fluency. Kids can now discuss math in a meaningful way, and they understand how what they learn is applicable to the real world. Saratoga students in the video describe their math work and what they’re doing with it. Fifth-graders told how math would help them in their various careers.

Greco noted that several key skills would help math students: strong reading ability, strong writing, deep understanding and problem-solving stamina. Developing that stamina is what may lead to frustration and tears on everyone’s part, he said.

“My own kids give up on things after about 20 seconds,” he said, smiling. “They say, ‘I can’t do that; it’s too hard. It’s impossible.'”

Scott Igoe, father of a Dorothy Nolan fifth-grader, said his daughter has been struggling with her math. He and his wife take turns assisting. Greco said his own wife is also a great help. Having family members take turns keeps at least one of them fresh and patient.

“To stop frustration from becoming overwhelming, you start with what the kids know,” Greco said. “Start with small successes. Have them tell what they do understand and work from there. You bite off what you can of the apple.”

Igoe said real-life applications have been a boost, since his daughter enjoys watching TV cooking shows and trying recipes.

Dana Bush, a Geyser Road Elementary School reading teacher and the mother of two Lake Ave. students, said she appreciated the evening from both angles. The real-life applications have helped her family do the math as well.

“My fifth-grade son now comes up with different ways to solve problems,” she said. “My second-grade daughter, a real reader, can bring those skills to working on math. The Common Core shifts match up.”

Greco said, “Raising standards is easy.” He pointed to the math coaches, the video and the handouts. “This is the hard stuff.”

To show how math skills are built from kindergarten to seventh grade, Greco presented a series of word problems. The kindergarten screen showed two children gazing at a cookie, with the question, “How can Sarah fairly share her cookie?” Through the next grades, the problems involved dividing a pan of brownies into equal parts for four children and the rest of a pizza shared by three. Finally, in seventh grade, the screen read, “Cindy walks 6/10 of a mile in 15 minutes. What’s her ratio of miles to hour, and what’s her unit rate?”

Parents can help by getting involved; learning, unlearning and relearning; practicing with their children; making real-world connections; not dwelling on parents’ own challenging experiences with math; and knowing their children’s strengths and weaknesses.

“Kids are much more mathematicians now,” said Teresa Ostwald, Maple Avenue Middle School math department head. “I’ve been teaching 28 years, and I’m an advocate of the Common Core. We’re raising kids with a better understanding and aptitude for math.”