math literacy

chrisc4290 said:
Maybe her forte is not maths. I was good at maths at school and wife is an draughtsman, but both daughters terrible at maths. Good in other subjects though - psychology, history. It would be boring if we were all the same.
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Agreed, I had a buddy in school, this guy was insane good with math, 80% on HG hardly lifted a book, but he failed English, and barely made it though Afrikaans most of the time, because his spelling/grammar was just horrible
 
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Giving a kid who struggles with a subject another book is only going to make it worse, because you will think you doing something positive, the book will bore her to tears(literally), and there will yelling and screaming.

Follow the suggestions and get her tutor or deal with the fact that math is not the area where she will contribute. Don't make her feel terrible because she struggles with math.
 
zippy said:
Giving a kid who struggles with a subject another book is only going to make it worse, because you will think you doing something positive, the book will bore her to tears(literally), and there will yelling and screaming.
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Agreed.
 
Wikkels88 said:
Agreed, I had a buddy in school, this guy was insane good with math, 80% on HG hardly lifted a book, but he failed English, and barely made it though Afrikaans most of the time, because his spelling was just horrible.
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Exactly.my sisters brain just refuses to accept anything with numbers, but she could probably recite the whole dictionary.she even won an international poetry comp when she was in high school.
 
dgharmse said:
Unfortunately she has math literacy and still struggle.Some people find maths extremely difficult to master and shes one of them.
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If she is failing math lit then move her class, its either the teacher or something disruptive in class. Its harder to fail maths lit than to pass.
 
lived666 said:
Indeed but usually its the teacher/schools fault.
anyhow old papers can be found online here:
http://www.maths-online.co.za/tutorials.pdf
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What do you base that on?

If the child is struggling with maths literacy its probably because the foundational concepts are not understood. In this case, a tutor will concentrate on helping her to understand the basic concepts. Once this is understood, more complex principles will be taught.

'Fault' isn't the issue here; the child needs help. I assure you, saying to the teacher (who probably teaches upwards of 90 other pupils the same work every day - without the same issues) that it's their fault aint gonna make that duck fly.

Understand the nature of the problem, then try and fix it. A tutor is a good idea, though pricey, but is specifically able to identify backlogs and address them. Also try Kip Mcgrath
 
I went from getting 50s in maths to getting 93% in matric just because of a teacher... Of course i did put the effort in but it would not have happened if it wasnt for the teacher, still in the top 3 teachers ive had to date, probably number 1....
 
zippy said:
Giving a kid who struggles with a subject another book is only going to make it worse, because you will think you doing something positive, the book will bore her to tears(literally), and there will yelling and screaming.

Follow the suggestions and get her tutor or deal with the fact that math is not the area where she will contribute. Don't make her feel terrible because she struggles with math.
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This is VERY good advice. You need someone to that can figure out where the problem stems from and then build on that.
 
EnchanterG said:
'Fault' isn't the issue here; the child needs help. I assure you, saying to the teacher (who probably teaches upwards of 90 other pupils the same work every day - without the same issues) that it's their fault aint gonna make that duck fly.
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Yes, there is no point in laying blame, but it is true that a bad teacher can seriously undermine a child's progress. Particularly critical in a subject like this.
 
in my school the matric maths lit class was 30/65 students and the next year only had around 11/68 - this is because the teacher who taught Maths in Grade 9 (before we could choose between normal or literacy) was a major fail.

No doubt I can believe that the teacher plays a HUGE role in a child's learning.
 
In my opinion parents spent way to much money on tutoring and mathematics extra classes, I did a fair bit of tutoring and to be honest, if the child's attitude doesn't change then you can spend as much money as you like, it won't work. In most cases I came across, children who can't do mathematics missed a building block or two in a previous grade, they sometimes passes say grade 8 with a distinction, but the fundamentals didn't sink in then grade 10 all of a sudden becomes impossible for them.

Teaching is also a very unforgiven job, if the child performs well then it is because he or she is clever, if he does bad then the parents blame the teacher.
 
Failing maths lit is unacceptable and indicates either that she puts in zero effort or should be at a special school. I checked out what the lit guys were doing when I was in matric and I've seen what my step-sister currently does - it's a disgrace that the subject exists. Not even a terrible teacher can account for failing it. Force your daughter to do her homework.
 
sky101 said:
in my school the matric maths lit class was 30/65 students and the next year only had around 11/68 - this is because the teacher who taught Maths in Grade 9 (before we could choose between normal or literacy) was a major fail.

No doubt I can believe that the teacher plays a HUGE role in a child's learning.
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We were 8 in our maths class out of 38 students others had maths lit. We had one of the best maths teachers though.
 
Nicodeamus said:
...and to be honest, if the child's attitude doesn't change then you can spend as much money as you like, it won't work.
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Also very true. If the child is lazy or has given up on understanding it, then it definitely won't work.
 
I have to agree with the last few replies. If you're failing math lit, it's because you didn't put any effort in. Buying her more books isn't going to help for a child who does not spend enough time studying and/or practising her maths.

I might be wrong, but I was matric three years back, and I checked some math lit papers and couldn't believe how easy those things were. Even worse, in the exams, the math lit guys get told which formulas to use to solve the problems, while us normal math people got a formula sheet which became useless if you didn't know which formula was used for what.
 
Graal said:
I have to agree with the last few replies. If you're failing math lit, it's because you didn't put any effort in. Buying her more books isn't going to help for a child who does not spend enough time studying and/or practising her maths.

I might be wrong, but I was matric three years back, and I checked some math lit papers and couldn't believe how easy those things were. Even worse, in the exams, the math lit guys get told which formulas to use to solve the problems, while us normal math people got a formula sheet which became useless if you didn't know which formula was used for what.
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Might I ask what you are studying at varsity right now?
 
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