Ben Orlin is the author of Math with Bad Drawings and Change is the only Constant: The Wisdom of Calculus in a Madcap World. Besides have a good sense of humor, Ben is good at recognizing the differences in the way students and mathematicians see math problems. Take for example, the […]
Extraordinary Artist: Vincent [Premium]
“When you have dyslexia and you don’t know that’s what it is, you assume you’re not intelligent — and your self-confidence is taken away.” – Vincent Fantauzzo Vincent grew up in a crowded public housing flat with his mother and four siblings. He left school at 13, barely able to read and write, and got mixed […]
Keeping Math Alive
Among the many challenges facing dyslexic students in the midst of the pandemic is holding on to skills and continuing to make progress in the midst of disruptions and altered schedules due to the pandemic. Because so much math builds on previous knowledge, many...
Talking Through Math [Premium]
As the pandemic continues, more and more parents and tutors may find themselves supervising students’ math. For dyslexic students, the talking process can be especially valuable, but it may be difficult. If you are a parent or tutor helping explain a lesson or homework, it’s good to help your student talk through the steps of […]
How to Avoid the Pandemic Wrecking Ball
The Boston Globe recently published an article saying that COVID-19 has been a wrecking ball for students struggling to read: "Instead of reading, we got websites and circle time.” "Daniel’s progress came to an abrupt halt after Medford Schools closed down in...
Reading and Mathematics [Premium]
“Mathematics texts are more conceptually dense than almost any other type of text…Additionally, reading mathematics often differs from other types of reading because in addition to reading left to right and top to bottom, students must jump around the page to associate text with tables, graphs, symbols, and vice-versa…” The subject of reading in math […]
Not Falling Behind in MATH
"The studies vary in how severe they gauge the so-called “COVID slide” to be, but all of them found on average, students would lose more ground in math than in reading. Three studies based on NWEA data predicted students could learn half or up to a full year less math...
Schooling From Home, Can You Do It?
Like it or not, when Fall rolls around, many of us may need to school from home whether it's our first choice or not. What if your student is dyslexic? Can it possibly work? There are a lot of people who can't see schooling from home working for their student, but...
Math Education During Pandemic
With many states ordering schools to remain shut for the remainder of the school year AND the prospect fall quarter may also be waived, there are certainly going to be gaps in math education. Parents and teachers must try to make as intelligent decisions as they can...
“LIKE” Terms in Algebra Don’t Let Words Get in the Way
Many students get confused about "like" terms in Math, but it's not their fault. The terminology is confusing. Purple Math has a nice page on this post. In Algebra, "like terms" refers to terms that have the exact same variable raised to the same power. WATCH YOUTUBE...
Learning Doubles to Boost Math Facts Fluency
Learning doubles math facts can help with number flexibility. After learning how to count and "count on", doubles may be the next skill to learn. Origo Education has a nice post about how to introduce and practice doubling facts with students. First, students look for...
Dyslexia and Math: Understanding Decimals [Premium]
WHY DECIMALS ARE HARD There are many confusing aspects to decimals that are helpful to recognize when helping students. Contrary to working with whole numbers, longer sequences of numbers are not larger than shorter ones. For instance, with whole numbers, 245 is greater than 2, but .0245 is smaller than 2. For math processes involving […]