{"id":22268,"date":"2017-01-17T12:45:28","date_gmt":"2017-01-17T20:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rocketmath.com\/?p=22268"},"modified":"2017-08-17T17:27:31","modified_gmt":"2017-08-18T00:27:31","slug":"what-about-students-who-cant-pass-in-6-tries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocketmath.com\/stagingserver\/what-about-students-who-cant-pass-in-6-tries\/","title":{"rendered":"What about students who can’t pass in 6 tries?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A teacher writes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Help! I’m feeling bogged down in Rocket Math. I have some students who have been working on the same sheet for over 10 times and are no closer to passing. What am I doing wrong?<\/p>\n

Dr. Don answers:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The problem could be one of several things. \u00a0You have to diagnose what it could be. \u00a0I am assuming you have students practicing orally in pairs, with answer keys, for at least two minutes per partner every day (as shown in the picture above). \u00a0I am assuming you already have students, who do not pass, take home the sheet on which they didn\u2019t pass and finish it as homework and practice with someone at home.\u00a0 The extra practice session at home each day can be a big help and the students should be motivated to do that. \u00a0 If this is the case and you still have a problem, below are two possible\u00a0things that may be needed.<\/p>\n

(#1) Need to improve practicing procedures.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Pick one of the students who is stuck and be that student’s partner while they practice orally. \u00a0Make sure they are saying the whole problem and the answer aloud so you can hear what they are saying. \u00a0Correct even any hesitations, not just errors. \u00a0Correct the student by saying the correct problem and answer, having them repeat the correct problem and the answer three times, then back up three problems and move forward again.<\/p>\n

Diagnosis.<\/strong>\u00a0 If, after practicing with you, the student does much better on the one minute timing and passes or nearly passes (this is what I usually found) then you know the problem is poor practicing procedures.\u00a0 If your work with the student makes no difference (they don\u2019t do better on the one-minute timing) and they seem equally slow on all the problems then it is not practicing procedures at fault. \u00a0Try #2<\/p>\n

Solution:<\/strong>\u00a0 Monitor your students closely during oral practice to see if they are all following the correct practice procedures. \u00a0If you have quite a few students who aren’t practicing well you may need to re-teach your class how to practice. \u00a0[Note: Even if they know how to do it but aren\u2019t doing it right, treat it as if they just don\u2019t know how to to do it correctly.]<\/em>\u00a0 Stop them and re-do the modeling of how to practice and how to correct for several days before allowing them to practice again.\u00a0 If your students haven\u2019t been practicing the right way, they won\u2019t be passing frequently, and they will be unmotivated.\u00a0 You have to get them practicing the right way so they can be successful and so they can be motivated by their success.<\/p>\n

Solution:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0If you have poor practicing with only a handful of students you might assign them to more responsible partners and explain to them that they need to practice correctly. During oral practice monitor them more carefully the next few days to be sure they are practicing better and passing more frequently.<\/p>\n

(#2) Need to review test problems also.<\/strong>\u00a0 The problems practiced around the outside are the recently introduced facts.\u00a0 The problems inside the test box are an even mix of all the problems taught so far.\u00a0 If there has been a break for a week or more, or if the student has been stuck for a couple of weeks, the student may have forgotten some of the facts from earlier and may need a review of the test problems.<\/p>\n

Diagnosis.<\/strong>\u00a0 Have the student practice orally on the test problems inside the box with you.\u00a0 If the student hesitates<\/u> on several of the problems that aren\u2019t on the outside practice, then the student needs to review the test items.<\/p>\n

Solution. <\/strong>If you have this problem with quite a few students (for example after Christmas break) then have the whole class do this solution. \u00a0For the next three or four days, after practicing around the outside, instead of taking the 1 minute test in writing, have students practice the test problems orally with each other.\u00a0 Use the same procedures as during the practice\u2014two minutes with answer keys for the test, saying the problem and the answer aloud, correction procedures for hesitations, correct by saying the problem and answer three times, then going back\u2014then switch roles.\u00a0 \u00a0Do this for three or four days and then give the one-minute test. \u00a0\u00a0Just about everyone should pass at that point.<\/p>\n

Solution.<\/strong>\u00a0 If you have this problem with a handful of students, find a time during the day for them to practice the test problems orally in pairs.\u00a0 If the practice occurs before doing Rocket Math so much the better, but it will work if done after as well.\u00a0 They should keep doing this until they pass a couple of levels within six days.<\/p>\n

If neither the first or the second solutions seem to work, write to me again and I\u2019ll give you some more ideas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A teacher writes: Help! I’m feeling bogged down in Rocket Math. I have some students who have been working on the same sheet for over 10 times and are no closer to passing. What am I doing wrong? Dr. Don answers: The problem could be one of several things. \u00a0You have to diagnose what it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":837,"featured_media":22276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0},"categories":[46],"tags":[35,43,47,38],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketmath.com\/stagingserver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22268"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketmath.com\/stagingserver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketmath.com\/stagingserver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketmath.com\/stagingserver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/837"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketmath.com\/stagingserver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22268"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketmath.com\/stagingserver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22277,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketmath.com\/stagingserver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22268\/revisions\/22277"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketmath.com\/stagingserver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketmath.com\/stagingserver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketmath.com\/stagingserver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketmath.com\/stagingserver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}