Carolyn Morgan: use the blackboard

Just in case I was wondering why on earth I am suddenly writing a MATH BLIKI, now I have my answer.

I've just this moment ordered a One Minute Reader recommended by Anne Dwyer (no time to explain at the moment, but the One Minute Readers jibe perfectly with other research I've been relying on...)

And here is this from Carolyn Morgan, in the SlideRules comments thread:

Catherine asks, "Are you saying that you prefer the blackboard to pencil and paper?"

For one-on-one tutoring, "Yes, yes, yes!!"

For group review and drill, "Yes!"

First, the tutoring: I've noticed that students do much better, learn much faster, seem to gain understanding much quicker. I never really understood why -- it worked and I kept doing it. Then, our Learning Center Director tells us that new studies and new research show that every time the hand (or foot for that matter) crosses the midline of the body, something important happens in the brain. I need to run up to the school or talk to her to get information to explain this properly. But I'm going to take a stab at it and ask that you give me a chance to reference it and get back to you.

Apparently, the brain cells really fire away and brain activity picks up every time the hand crosses the midline. There are special drills that our L.C. teachers have their students do just to be sure that the hand crosses that imaginary center line of the body. The brain becomes actively involved as the student is working.

Perhaps this is why board work helps my students so much with concepts they've covered before but have never grasped or been able to reason through.

Now, for the group review: I've seen "working at the board" just do wonders to help students nail down procedures or recall. (Those not at the board are working in a spiral notebook at their desks on the same problems.) And sometimes students who have lost their way through a multistep problem can see the missing steps in someone's board work, and it helps them recall.

Group board work also helps me "see" 3-4 students at a time and I can then zero in on areas where students are still struggling.

It helps me "assess" students' needs (assess is a big word right now in education) both as a class and as individuals.

So, "yes" there are times that I definitely prefer board work to paper and pencil. Students love it and beg to get to do it. If they're excited about doing it, all the better.

Like Carolyn, I still don't understand the whole 'crossing midline' thing, but I know it's important. It comes up in virtually every CSE meeting I attend, and my own kids have a very hard problem doing it (including, I think, Christopher).

During our stint in vision therapy, IIRC, I think we found that Jimmy, Christopher & I all found crossing midline challenging under certain conditions.

I'm going to start using the blackboard. We have one in the kitchen.

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Comments

Thank you; that's very interesting. My daughter, who is ADD, when she has harder math problems to do, likes to do them on the white board in our kitchen. She said it's easier for her. I never understood why, and I would get worried because I thought, well they're not going to let her use a blackboard on a test. But now I understand, and will encourage this when we work through problems.

-- BarryGarelick - 02 Jul 2005

Barry, try to get your daughter to stand in the center of the marker board and not move her body. That will cause her to reach across her 'midline', which is the goal. You might also try flat figure 8's, with her standing smack dab in the middle. Make the 8's a little wider than her body. Have her trace over and over the 8, as you ask her to answer other questions that she has think on. Start on easy questions and then give her harder ones. That causes her brain to have to focus on more than one thing at a time! Ideally, she should not stop her tracing movements as she answers your questions. Good luck!

-- CarolynMorgan - 02 Jul 2005

Better yet, you parents try this first. Have someone ask you a good math problem while you're tracing over the '8'. Remember, your tracing motion should be fluid, not stop and start. It's harder than you think!

-- CarolynMorgan - 02 Jul 2005

Better yet, you parents try this first. Have someone ask you a good math problem while you're tracing over the '8'. Remember, your tracing motion should be fluid, not stop and start. It's harder than you think!

We had to trace figure 8s on a blackboard while wearing red-green glasses as part of vision therapy.

It was very taxing.

-- CatherineJohnson - 02 Jul 2005

We had to stay focused on the center of the figure 8, just as Carolyn says.

-- CatherineJohnson - 02 Jul 2005