Teachers, can you spot a difference between kids who use maths websites and those who don't?

[Iamnotminterested]

Am just curious as there seems to be sooo many sites out there vying for parents money and, dare I say it, preying on our insecurities.

Do they make a difference to a childs' classroom ability?
Do they speed up mental maths recall?
Do you recommend them?

Thanks.

You seem determined to misunderstand me rightvswrong. I am saying that being good at something doesn't always mean you are best placed to pass on that knowledge and what is more teaching your own child is a million times harder than teaching a class full of other people's children

Not always! Many children don't ever storm off or cry when they are learning!
You are a very wise lady so please, please don't generalise. Usually you don't:)

Caffein yes please that would be great.

Re the teaching of maths.My father was gifted at maths,my mother wasn't but was a teacher like me.I'd learn more in 1 afternoon from my mum than hours with dad.He used to get soooooo frustrated and just didn't know how to put his knowledge across ie teach. God the tears,makes me shudder just remembering it.

I think the importance of this gets less so maybe in secondary but in primary I personally think the ability to teach is more important than genius.Also the powers that be have decided the best way to teach maths,it's filtered down to teachers.It's taught the way it is because a lot of hours from those in the know have gone into it.I personally want my dc taught the up to date way everybody else is being taught not how I was taught.

differnt people have different experiences. I don't think it is a million time harder to teach my ds than teaching a class. I find it very easy.

I'm not generalising I said IMHE and in my experience that is what happened.

That's great - but it isn't necessarily your PHD which makes you good at it

you don't need to teach the way you were taught.

again different people have different experiences.

Agree totally,utter bloody nightmare teaching my dd. Just done an hour and I'll be starting the wine soon.

We did near doubles which she can do but can't be arsed. We had hair sticking up all over the place,singing,humming and colouring in of all her 6s and 8s with her smelly cherry pen.It took an hour to do a page-give me bloody strength!!!!!!!!!

I also agree - 30 children, piece of cake. One ds, and all my patience goes out of the window

There are many children books that look at all ways and methods including chinese,....imo let the child experience all of them. Maths should be looked at from all angles like a cube.

My experience was similar MrsHeffley.

MrsHeffley & feenie- I am one of the lucky ones then
I have a friend who is experiencing this at home with her ds so he comes over and he does his work with my ds. He is a different person, she tells me.

Feenie I'm the same,it's totally bizarre.

I am sooooo patient with children that need help in school,I used to get a real thrill from plugging away with my SEN groups and got good results.We even had a speech and lang dep attached to the school and I was often chose as the class for these kids to be integrated with.

1 hour with my daughter and I start doubting that I ever had any teaching ability at all.

Dp is doing it tomorrow and I shall be confiscating the smelly pens!

Strange isn't it - I have all the patience in the world at school, but I could happily throw ds's reading book out of the window at times

I have 4DCs and I have never had a problem. They might moan about starting work because they rather play on the computer but when they start they are on task. I guess I am a lucky one as well

I am going to suggest something but please take it easy I am fragile at the moment

They say the best dentists have bad teeth, the accountants don't manage well their own books,.... could there be a patern here?

lol

I haven't got that excuse because I had a different profession when mine were younger

On a serious note, we are all humans and we have strenghts and weaknesses. As long as we recognise them and use/loose them when necessary then no worries.

"I know some wonderful teachers, they love teaching and they have a gift (No PHD can teach that). However there are some who should be nowhere near a school and I am glad you haven't met any " RvsW I have met and seen both in action and I totally agree.

Have to disagree with mrz and feenie here - I'm a teacher (of adults) and find teaching them a lot harder than teaching my dcs, teaching ones own dcs is a joy - brought me much closer to dd1 tutoring her for 11+ - who knows your dc like you do? Who cares like you do?

I've briefly worked with two. One hated kids and openly admitted he didn't know what to do after university and fell into teaching. The other is immensely intelligent (MENSA member etc ) lovely person but completely lacks common sense and struggles with basic day to day living.

Secondary maths teacher here. Re the question in the OP: yes using maths websites can speed up mental maths recall, if you use websites that practise this with timed tasks. I very much recommend their use even at secondary level as a lot of secondary maths benefits e.g. from rapid recall of multiplication facts yet they aren't practised at secondary so many students, especially the weaker ones struggle. I'm currently battling with my top set Y8 over their poor mental arithmetic skills and setting them online homeworks to encourage them to practise (mangahigh.com has some excellent games with some quite advanced mental arithmetic challenges). I also tell them if they have a Nintendo DS to get the Brain Training game (not maths training, I wasn't impressed) and do this regularly as it is brilliant for practising simple calculations and number puzzles - even I could see an improvement when I used it, and students who have got into it have also improved their times.

With regards to websites teaching maths as opposed to just practising, I can't tell if students use them in particular over having parents or a tutor help them. I do know that although mymaths has lessons on it, students aren't that good at learning just from computer screens and often need adult input to provide additional explanation if we use it in a computer room.

breadandbutterfly- you are so right that's how I feel about my ds.We are very closer and I enjoy every minute I spend with him. I don't look at it as I am teaching him and he is learning from me but more like learning together, finding out about things together. He is enjoying it as well and learning a lot.