What is the best way to teach Maths to a 10-year-old girl with little motivation and a short attention span?

Question

My girlfriend has a teaching job, teaching individual students English and Maths.
She has started teaching a 10-year-old girl who doesn't seem to have much motivation and has a short attention span. She is slightly interested in English but the Maths is a no-go.

My girlfriend is trying to make it as fun as possible for her student, but has never encountered this before and is finding it frustrating.
She doesn't want the girl to dread her forthcoming lessons.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Answer 1

The biggest block people (and not just kids) have with maths is how it is relevant to their needs and uses... how many times do people say "oh yeah, why learn algebra, or venn diagrams, when will I ever use them?".

If the teacher can give a circumstance that relates to the pupils in question it can engage their attention.

For example with the boys... she can start off say "what was the score at the Chelsea match? Who scored the most goals, made free kicks... what was the percentage.."

with girls, a more relevant topic... how many songs has Pink had in the charts... how does that compare to say, McFly?

Who spent the most time sending texts...

This is probably stuff your girlfriend already knows, using a subject matter that lies in the realms of the pupils interest.

It may be that the child in question has issues or difficulties... is she sitting at the back of the class... can she see the board or is she short sighted and doesn't want to admit it... is she perhaps dyslexic...or having problems at home?

Children can be very complex based on a simple problem.

Good luck !

Answer 2

I am a trainee assessor, but I also work with young travellers that have been removed from school. I have often found this problem with the young people. There are many ways of keeping their attention, it is just a way of finding their interests. Most young people love cooking and baking. If you have these types of facilities, why not get them to read and choose a recipe, work out how much it would cost to make the cake(etc), then tell them that you only want half/double, the recipe. Let them weigh and measure the ingredients. Get them to work out how long it will take to cook. Whilst the cake is baking, get them to go around the class/office etc, making a tally chart of who wants a slice, with cream, with icing etc. Then when the cake is baked, add in some fractions using their tally chart. You could even get them to decorate the cake, marking out the fractions!
Always remember that learning can be fun, but one small bad experience can put a person off, for life!
Hope this helps!!!
n x

Answer 3

The best way to do this is to make it fun i had the same kind of thing with my son you should tell your girlfriend to find out what her favourite hobbies etc are and in corporate it into the math, ie if you have 20 bratz dolls and divided them by 3 bratz dolls how many would be left or some such thing, also games are brilliant, ELC have loads of educational games from board games to playstation games and they really help.


Star charts are also fab make one up on some cardboard and hang in the lesson room then say give a gold star for each good lesson she has where she works hard stays motivated etc and say when she gets to 10 gold stars she gets a prize you'd be suprised how effective that can be.

hope this helps
x

Answer 4

Is there something going on at the little girls home that she's worrying about? Or it could be Attention Defect Disorder. Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity (ADHD) occur as a result of neurological dysfunction in the prefrontal cortex of the brain. This is the newest part of our tri-brain system in evolutionary terms. It is the part of our brain that performs executive functions. The functions of this brain deal with 1) attention span, 2) perseverance, 3) judgement, 4) organisation, 5) impulse control, 6) self-monitoring and supervision, 7) problem solving, 8) critical thinking, 9) forward thinking, 10) learning from experience, 11) ability to feel and express emotions, 12) interaction with the limbic system, and 13) empathy.

Maybe your girlfriend could have a chat with her parents to see what she is like at home. They could then refer her to a doctor to see a specialist.

The other option is that she's bored by the lessons and they need livening up a bit.

Answer 5

A trip to the mall. I tried this with my kid brother once (I was 25, he was 9)

We had planned on going to the movies to catch the latest Star Wars movie. We got there about an hour and a half early and just made an afternoon out of it.

I bought the tickets, then I gave him $15, and told him he could buy whatever he wanted in the mall, BUT, he had to have enough money left over to buy popcorn and drinks, or else he wouldn't get any at the movie. (He really, really, really wanted the popcorn and drinks)

We first went to the consession stand to see what the prices were, then I told him about sales tax.

Whenever he was ready to buy something, I reminded him about the popcorn, and asked him if he would have enough money to get both.

It was good quality time, but it also turned into a lesson on math and money.

Answer 6

At least it is in an one-to-one basis, rather than in a classroom base!

Does she go to school? If so, can your girlfriend contact them and find out if she is having problems there, too? Is that why she is going to extra classes? Is she being bullied - and is afraid that if she does well, it will get worse?

Get your g/f to discuss things with the little girl. What is she interested in? What sort of TV programmes, films, popstars and so on? then perhaps she could link the English and Maths together using what the girl likes? For example, what are the lyrics of a song? How many tracks on a CD? If you start listening to it at 3pm, what time will it be finished - if you are going out at 4:30pm, have you time to listen to the whole thing, and so on.
Try making biscuits or cakes - and she can take home the results! - weighing ingredients, how long will it take, what is the total weight of the ingredients, if you make 10 cakes, 5 with blue icing and 5 with pink icing, what fraction of cakes are blue. If she takes 4 home for her family, how many is she leaving at your house - and so on.
Don't forget bribery and corruption - if she does really well in the lesson, there will be less homework. Also discuss this with her parents. Can they help with this? If she does all her homework in a month, she gets a CD or computer game, for example - or gets let off chores for a weekend!

Ask your g/f to have a look in the shops for good (and cheap!) computer games - my local co-op has some maths programmes for her age group, using things like measuring ancient greek longjumps, decyphering hieroglyphics and so on (unfortunately, I cannot remember what it was called!)

Zoombinis is also a good computer game - and the best thing is that they will not even realise they are using maths when they work out the answers (eg, on one of the games, you have to work out what sort of pizza to make by finding out what the monsters do not eat!)

Oh, and computer games are also good because you have to read to find out what you have to do - improving english and maths!
(and for those of you who say that computer games are no good for children, I am not talking about shoot-em-ups, but more educational ones! Having said that, my son has Age of Empires, the Age of Kings - and has learned an awful lot about history!)

Just tell your g/f not to give up on her - ask her to think of fun ways to work things out mathematically!

(I forgot to say that my son has ADHD but he loves maths! However, you really need to find out more about ADHD and discuss this with his parents/school. We had tried everything before he was diagnosed - including only eating organic food, no chocolate, no squash and so on - but nothing works. All that happened was we had huge food bills (at the time, organic food was twice the price of 'ordinary' food!) but we still had a 'bad' child. Once he was diagnosed, we were all happier - especially my son. He knew it was not his fault that he was always in trouble and his self-esteem has gone through the roof)

Answer 7

she could get the child to set her some maths problems.

Getting the child to get up and move around rather than sitting at the desk. This works well with multiplication in particular. Dance and sing out the times-tables.

Has she worked out whether the girl is finding her level of work too easy or too difficult. Lack of motivation could be a sign of boredom, or feeling out of her depth, then your girlfriend can tailor the lesson to suit the child's ability.

Hope this is helpful

Answer 8

I would use big, bright, visual aids and games that the girl can enjoy. Even flash cards or practising using sand e.g writing numbers in coloured sand or a treasure hunt around school or a question and answer to get to another question etc

I am a teacher so any extra help required just shout

Answer 9

Make it fun - maybe use a sticker chart or something as a reward - every time she gets something right or concentrates on her maths for set periods of time then she is awarded with different levels of stickers and at the end of the week month, whatever your girlfriend finds suitable she could be rewarded with something like a small packet of sweets or a bit of fruit or something like that.

Answer 10

i know of a 12 year old who is the same way as you described your 10 year old. she can do the work, but just doesent want to. her attention span is short & she rebels at authouity. my guess is that something could be a little off kilter at home. have your girlfriend schedule an appointment to have her parents come in telling them she is concerned about their childs progress. being a teacher, she can see things just by talking to them what could be holding up thier childs progress, have them to help at home best & as much as they can. it also might be helpful to have your girlfriend to tackfully ask the girl about life at home as i suspect where her problems may be. find out if she has any brothers or sisters at home. find about as much about her home life as she can, all this info will help bring this young life out of her shell. good luck! [e-mail]