The Miracles Of Modern Teaching Methods
My daughter is a teacher, teaching 7-8 year old children in the school she actually attended some years ago. She often says to them, "That is the desk I sat in when I was here." and they look at her almost in disbelief.
When she moved to that school as a teacher 2 years ago, from another school where her mother attended as a child (another coincidence) she saw a pile of familiar maths books that had been sitting in a cupboard for about 25 years and low and behold the third one she examined revealed her name as its owner as a child, and she nearly flipped. Yet another a coincidence.
I can say right away, that book was very old fashioned and therefore did not feature such a riveting teaching method we are about to see now. I would also mention that the lady teaching us is none other than the very same lady who taught various mathematics teaching approaches to my daughter during her University Studies before she graduated. Another coincidence - life is really full of them.
So, anyone fancy learning their 17 times table in 10 minutes flat?
You never know you might need it one day.
Well, come on then pull up a chair and let's get started.
Needless to say, the 17 times table does not feature in the children's curriculum but my daughter modifies the principle sometimes for the other tables, using the same idea of the counting stick..
In my day we did not have such luxuries and had to learn the lot parrot fashion, including the 13 times table to 12, the hard way by repetition - but I must say I have never forgotten them and I am surprised how often we need them on almost a daily basis.
