Scottsdale, AZ (PRWEB) August 14, 2013
Internationally recognized Singapore math trainer Sherri Adler, just returned from Colombia for the 3rd year in a row after working with teachers in Bogota. With the class system in their schools, the majority of the middle and upper class students attend private schools, having given up on public schools as a good educational institution. Adler worked with a class 6, the top class of schools, where math and science classes are taught in English starting in Kindergarten to help them achieve bilingual fluency. Theres a huge difference between the schools in each class system.
The Common Core State Standards is trying to avoid the separation of the classes in the United States. The goal is to provide all students in the US with a strong education whether a student lives in a small rural community or a bustling, affluent metropolitan area. It is raising the bar for students of all economic status.
Adler provides teachers with a variety of tools that are based on the Singapore Math methods and the Common Core State Standards. She instructs teachers to encourage their students to visualize the math and to provide opportunities for their students to communicate their individual problem solving strategies. Ultimately, she wants teachers to teach the algorithm, but not before students use manipulatives and pictures first. That methodology is based on Jerome Bruener’s, concrete-pictorial-abstract approach that is used in the Singapore curricula. Singapore consistently ranks within the top 3 countries in the world on international math exams. 45 of the states in the US are using the Common Core State Standards which were based on Singapore’s success.
Adler, who has trained teachers throughout the world, has a passion for improving the way to teach math to elementary and middle school students. Her philosophy is to change the attitude of students, parents and teachers on how they feel about math. “All students can learn math, some just have to work harder at it than others” says Adler, “and that’s okay.
Sherri Adler has a personal connection to Singapore Math; not only has she taught it in a variety of grades, but her own children used it during their elementary school years. As high school students, both of her boys entered their freshman years placing in junior math classes. “I attribute my own children’s mathematical success to Singapore Math. They understand WHY math works, not just how to do it. Adler is a founding partner at SMARTTraining, LLC based in Scottsdale, Arizona. For further information on how to bring Adler to your school, contact her at http://www.singaporeamathtraining.com/.