The "C" Student - A Discussion

“C” students are “C” students for a variety of reasons… unlock the reason and you unlock the potential…

Who are the ‘C’ students?

-- Intelligence Factors (Intelligence = ability to analyze and/or learn)

    -- “Gifted” = innate talent (learns quickly and easily but won’t always follow the rules and is therefore a “C” student in most classes that are not of interest – they will learn what they want to learn)

    -- Hard worker with average talent (commonly known as the “over-achiever”) – tries hard – but still receives C’s

    -- Learning Disabled - for a variety of reasons that may or may not have been detected (such as dyslexia which has nothing to do with intelligence).

   -- Missing the pre-requisites is the major issue for student non-performance.  When families move, students change schools and often curriculum standards change or are presented in a different order.  When a student is ill for a prolonged period of time, that time lost becomes a gap in the curricular continuum.  The student may have had a bad year (or more) in a failing school.  These are the places to USE THE TOOLS available, such as EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE.

-- Motivational Factors

   -- Home life doesn’t value education

   -- Student sees no purpose in the material being presented

   -- Outside pressures from peers, family, employers

   -- Lack of sleep or nutrition or home stability

   -- Friends who do not value education

   -- Employer’s demands if student has after school job

Solutions

As an educator, we need to see what we can do professionally to give that “C” student the time and attention needed.

If you yourself are a “C” student – and a successful adult, congratulations! There are many very successful C students – usually the ones with innate intelligence coupled with hard work.

If you are a “C” student and wish to excel, take steps to do so:

    Seek 1-to-1 tutoring

    If you cannot afford 1-to-1 tutoring, purchase educational software.

And the reason we need to SAVE our “C” students is that as time goes on, they quickly become “D” and “F” students who dropout.

Many of the “C”, “D”, and “F” students are labeled with all kinds of LD labels when in fact most of them are simply right brain thinkers in a left brain world. And many of them grow up to be very successful adults.

Unfortunately, too many of the "C" students who subsequently become "D" and "F" students will dropout after a year or two of high school and are then faced with a life of hopelessness -- this is not good for society as a whole -- we are all in the same boat -- there's a hole in the boat andwe must all start bailing the water out by doing what we can to save our most ignored students, the "C" students.

CD or Online? Whatever works best!

Each learning setting has different needs.

Some want the flexibility of online learning from anywhere at anytime with automatic updates and the simplicity of distributing a six-digit number for user login. Facilitators may login remotely to check student activity reports with a secure password.

Some do not want or cannot provide online learning and choose to load the learning software on their server or even individual computers. The learning management system is stored locally. Upgrades are available at the discretion of the customer for a nominal charge.

It's whatever works best in YOUR situation. The goal is that students learn.

What if your computer crashes?

Just got a call from a customer whose laptop crashed just as he was getting ready to prepare for a major qualifying exam for entrance into a professional field. He was frantic because the laptop repair would take weeks and he pleaded for a copy to be downloaded to his remaining old desktop. Pleading is not necessary - there is no reason not to accomodate a customer with this dilemma. It's easy on our part - we just email the link. So, if you have our software and your system crashes, you upgrade and need to migrate the programs, can't find the programs, change in personnel causes confusion - just email us at support@mathmedia.com with your order date and name and we'll talk about how we can help you. It's that easy!

Teach Collectively to the Group

We just received a phone call from a pastor who wants to teach at-risk kids math and reading. He wants to teach them collectively where they work together as a group. He will be using a one-computer license to project in front of the group. The introductory concepts will be discussed followed by examples and practice problems the students will do at their desks with paper and pencil. Since the programs reveal each step of the solutions, the facilitator requires minimal math skills (they can all learn together!).

Educating under Enormous Odds

How is a single mom with little or no education, indigent and most likely unemployed supposed to pull herself out of her hopeless lifestyle to study for and pass the GED, obtain gainful employment and improve her quality of life and those living with her? How is she to find the agencies and resources that will help her achieve? All rhetorical questions... but, maybe, there is a magic solution to change these isolated lives... with a computer and an internet connection... with all the funds we are spending on welfare, throw in a computer, a connection to the world, and an hour of instruction... those who want to change their lives for the better will do so and they will have the internet to search for solutions to their issues... just a thought...

Is money the only solution?

This blog originally posted in June 2010.

$4.3 Billion for education financed with money from the economic-stimulus law passed last year. So far, Delaware will receive approximately $100 million and Tennessee $500 million to implement their comprehensive school reform plans over the next four years... 14% distributed, 86% left for the other 48 states to compete for... but is money really the only solution for our suffering school system? And, much of it is earmarked for more testing - this time for exit-type exams similar to those used in Europe. Many of our school systems are at the tipping point - students are fleeing to neighborhood home schools and private schools that attempt to guarantee both safety and an education. Some of these schools are run on a "shoestring" - what are they doing correct that many of our public schools cannot quite master? It's a conundrum... a continuing debate in search of a solution or a matrix of solutions.

The age-old question: Why Learn Algebra?

As teachers we have been asked that question (and its variations) many times. We may have a standard pat answer or we may get creative every time a student asks.

One thing we as educators should not do, is not provide a decent answer to a valid question. If you want some help with those answers, read the article at http://www.mathmedia.com/whystudal.html .