How would you react if teacher said this to your dc..

[haggisaggis]

ds is in S4 and in top maths set. Maths does not come easily to him but he works hard and gets there eventually. Teacher set a worksheet on surds as homework - ds did not have a clue and asked the teacher to go over it - she told him to check YouTube and hand the homework in on Monday...is this normal? DH is furious and wants to ask for a meeting with the teacher but I'm wondering if it's due to the time pressures to get through so much in their Nat5 year that she simply doesn't have time to go over it in class.
By the way - I checked ds's maths jotter and he had the bare minimum on notes on the subject and had done very few examples in class - and he assures me he had written down everything they'd been shown. Luckily we have purchased 2 maths textbooks and between this and you tube (!!!) we got the homework done.

That sounds awful, I would be fuming to, well done for getting it sorted but does not sound right, I would speak to the teacher. I know they are pushed aren't we all! But it's your child's future. Good luck.

It depends when he asked. Did she have any time to go over it with him?

It is actually considered (by some) to be a valid teaching technique because it teaches pupils to make use of the resources out there, to be responsible for their own learning and to try and find things out for themselves.

I would only use a technique like this if it had previously been used as a focus of a class on "Ways of Learning" - which asked them to get to grips with the multitude of resources out there. However, I think the teacher with a big class, a new curriculum (which is a nightmare- I teach in Scotland) and in a hurry probably did the best she could.

If he does manage to do it, she should make a big fuss of how good he is at finding things out for himelf. If he fails to do it (and others do) it could then be the focus of another lesson. If only he can't do it, then she should offer extra support.

Don't complain - but monitor the follow up, would be my advice.

I think she probably did do it due to time constraints. I am a bit shocked but will keep an eye on it. The maths dept run revision classes twice a week so he'll go to these and hopefully learn a bit more.

the teacher was being eminently sensible
www.youtube.com/results?search_query=math+surds
there is some REALLY good stuff on youtube : DD used it a lot for her revision
(and came out with an A* in maths and an A in further maths)

Hmm, my initial reaction was the same as yours, but actually I look on You Tube to find out how to do most things I need - it's much clearer than referring to a book and more likely to help DS than a rushed explanation that he then has to remember when doing HW hours later.

Did she recommend a specific You Tuber (if that's what they're called?!)

No there was no specific you tube video mentioned - and ds had to filter through quite a few to find anything helpful. He has barely any notes on it either. He likes his maths teacher but says she is useless at explaining stuff so maybe in retrospect YouTube, textbooks and me are the best solution!

when DD gets home tonight I'll check with her .... her teacher gave a list of good channels for maths
she also had some good science ones
and a Geography one that was full of deeply irritating songs that somehow got all of the core facts into her brain

There is an excellent youtube channel called Khan Academy that specialises in tutorials at all levels in Maths, Physics, Science etc.

Not just youtube, it's a whole website

I was also going to suggest trying The Khan Academy

In some schools in the USA they actually teach Maths by getting the children to watch the Khan Academy videos for homework and then the teacher addresses any problems/questions in class. It is apparently extremely effective as kids can stop and start the videos, watch them over etc so everyone can learn the concepts at their own speed.

TalkinPeace - would appreciate the YouTube channel list please - ds is doing Chemistry, Physics and Geography so all helpful.
Will check out the Khan Academy site too - thanks

Also check he really did actually write down all the notes from the class - I have had students swear blind to parents/other teachers I have never shown them how to do a particular topic but comparing to another students notes in the class vastly different.

A topic like Surds looks fairly easy when it is explained so a lot of students will opt out of writing down all examples.

Also find out when he asked for the help - I will bend over backwards to help a student but there is no point asking me when I am about to teach another lesson (different years have different lunches so they don't always match) or when I have to go and do my duty etc. I 'love' students who come and see me at 8:44 (school starts at 8:45) for help with homework that is due in at 9:05!!!

If your searching for tutorial videos, the Khan Academy is as good a place as any to start.

Please bear in mind though that British maths and American math have different terms for some concepts.

Surds are called Radicals. Searching for radicals might produce a lot more results.

Other things are gradient/slope, cuboid/rectangular prism, trapezium/trapezoid, and many others I am sure

Perfectly reasonable to encourage kids, especially top set kids, to be independent learners. It will stand them in good stead later on, especially at Uni.

These are the two that DD suggests ...
www.youtube.com/user/HEGARTYMATHS
www.youtube.com/user/myGCSEscience