Scott Meltzer - Middle School Math for Parents: 10 Steps to Help Your Child Master Math

About the Author

Scott Meltzer is a National Board-certified early adolescence math teacher with 12 years of experience in education, both as a teacher and a coach (providing professional development and support for teachers). He has worked at all levels, elementary through college, in a variety of schoolspublic, alternative, and charter schoolsin New York City, Seattle, and Philadelphia. His passion is working with inner-city students because he believes that all children can be great mathematicians and deserve a great education.

Meltzer lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Dr. Rachel Fleishman, and their two sons, Jacob and Benjamin. He dreams of writing the Great American Novel when he grows up.

Contents

Chapter 1 Attitude Is Everything: Dealing with Maths Positives and Negatives

Why Your Childs Attitude Matters

Why Your Attitude Matters

Absolute Value: Turning a Negative into a Positive

Integer Addition: Take Control of Math Attitude

Integer Subtraction: Dont Do It!

Multiplication with Signed Numbers

Using Fact Families for Multiplication and Division

Summary

Chapter 2 Fractionphobia: Facing the (Totally Rational) Fear of Rational Numbers

The First Day of Middle School

The Origin of Mathphobia

A Gentle Approach to Fractions

Unit Fractions

Non-Unit Fractions and Mixed Numbers

Equivalent Fractions

Adding and Subtracting Like Fractions

Adding and Subtracting Unlike Fractions

Multiplying a Fraction and a Whole Number

Multiplying Fractions Together

Dividing with Unit Fractions

Dividing with Any Fractions

Summary

Chapter 3 Mental Math Rules!: Unlocking the Secrets of the Base-Ten System and Understanding Decimals

Why Mental Math Matters

What Is the Base-Ten System?

Adding and Subtracting in Base-Ten

Multiplying in Base-Ten

Dividing in Base-Ten

Long Division

Summary So Far

Decimals

Converting Fractions to Decimals

Operating with Decimals

Summary

Chapter 4 Learning the New Way: Why Ratios and Proportions Make More Sense Now Than Ever

Math Hasnt Changed

Following a Recipe vs. a Chefs Craft

Proportions (and the Problem with a Procedural Approach)

Understanding Ratios

Method #1: Ratio Tables

Method #2: Equivalent Fractions

Method #3: Unit Rates

Method #4: Proportional Equations

Which Method, and When?

Percentages: A Special and Very Common Use of Proportions

Summary

Chapter 5 Visualize Everything: How Simple Geometry Concepts Can Make Numbers, Operations, and Algebra Easier

The Power of Visualization

The Three Dimensions

Length and Area

Finding the Area of a Polygon

Using Area as a Visual Tool

Area of a Triangle

Area of Other Polygons

Three-Dimensional Measures

Scale Drawings and Similarity

Similar Figures

Visualizing Word Problems

Summary

Chapter 6 The Joy of Geometry: Having Fun with Math and Why Fun Matters

The Importance of Having Fun

Angle Relationships

The Pythagorean Theorem

Solving Problems with the Pythagorean Theorem

Transformations

Measuring Circles

Summary

Chapter 7 The Two Most Important Words in Mathematics: How Why and Because Can Unlock the Language of Algebra

The Right Parent

Introduction to Algebra

The Basics of Algebraic Language

Writing Expressions from Words

Order of Operations (and the Problem with Dear Aunt Sally)

Equivalent Expressions

Writing Algebraic Equations

Summary

Chapter 8 The Many Meanings of I Dont Know: Learning to Turn Unknowns into Knowns

Three Dreaded Words

The Good Meanings

The Not-So-Good Meanings

Solutions to Equations

Solving One-Step Equations

Solving Proportions

Solving Two-Step Equations

Simplifying Equations

Summary

Chapter 9 Math Is Life: Linear Relationships in Everyday Life and Why They Matter

Linear Relationships in Life

Proportions: The Simplest Linear Relationships

Coordinate Graphs

Multiple Representations

Linear Relationships

Linear Relationships in Other Representations

y = mx + b

Summary

Chapter 10 Life Is Math: How to Make Sense of Data and Statistics All Around You

Data and Statistics Are Everywhere!

What Are Data and Statistics?

Displaying Data

Reading and Comparing Data Displays

Measures of Center

Measures of Variability

Comparing Data Sets

Sampling from Populations

Summary

Final Thoughts

Acknowledgments

Copyright 2014 LearningExpress, LLC.

All rights reserved under International and Pan American Copyright Conventions.

Published in the United States by LearningExpress, LLC, New York.

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ISBN 978-1-57685-944-5

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Introduction

Raise your hand if your parent has ever tried to help you with math, and it ended in tears.

I have often posed this question to my eighth-grade students, with startling results. Even at that most self-conscious age, when everybody is afraid to be teased and emotion and self-doubt are taboo, a majority of students raise their hands.

I imagine a familiar drama playing out in many forms in many homes far too often. The roles may be different, but the core issue is the same.

The child is working on math homework at the kitchen table while Mom prepares supper.

Mom, whats two-thirds divided by one-sixth?

You know Im not a math person. Youll have to ask your father when he gets home .

When Dad walks in, the child approaches him with the homework.

Dad, can you help me with this?

Sure, lets take a look .

But as Dad flips through the pages of the textbook, he finds himself disappointed and frustrated. The examples he was hoping for are not therein fact, there dont seem to be very many numbers at all, for a math book. Its all words and pictures. Math isnt what it used to be. What was wrong with the old way?

Dad comes up with what seems to him like a reasonable solution: Let me show you the way I remember doing it.

Dad works through some of the homework problems for himself. But the answers dont seem right, and when he types them into the calculator it keeps giving him these weird decimals. However, certain he has remembered the method correctly, he forges ahead and shows the child how to do it his way.

As the child tries to follow Dads example, things dont work out. The child is doing it all wrong, and Dad is losing patience. Infuriated by the childs apparent refusal to understand, Dads words and tone become less and less kind, until the child feels he is being outright aggressive. The child cannot take another second of Dads impatience, harsh feedback, and inability to explain. Mom tries to stay out of it, but soon sparks fly. Once again, math has started a war.

If this scenario sounds familiar to you, you are not alone. The math war rages nightly in homes everywhere. Parents want to help and they try so hard, with the best of intentions. But it never seems to work. Some parents, like the mother in our little drama, believe that the best thing is to stay out of it. Others, like the father, want so badly to be helpful, but things always seem to go south.

The father in our example is aware of a generation gap that exists between todays students and their parents, with respect to the math classroom. Math education has changed in the last 10 to 20 years, leaving many parents more confused than ever.