All posts by Mark Trushkowsky

About Mark Trushkowsky

Mark enjoys doing math problems that take weeks, family sing-a-longs and reading late into the night. At 16, he believed the next revolution would be waged through poetry. Now he believes it is adult basic education. But he still likes poetry. Mark has worked in adult literacy and HSE since 2001. He is a founding member of the NYC Community of Adult Math Instructors (CAMI). He was born and raised in Brooklyn. He currently lives happily ever after in Minnesota with his partner Sarah, their daughter Liv, 4 chickens and a dog named French Fry. Follow him on Twitter (@mtrushkowsky)

Do you have students who are parents? (Learn science while reading to kids)

ABE, ESOL, HSE, Math, Pre-HSE, Science
Science & Math Books to Read with Kids
· Appropriate for: For student independent work · Available: · Readiness: Resources can be used as they are · Engagement: 3 = very engaging

I have a 4 year old daughter and she asks a lot of questions about the world. Sometimes she asks questions that I can only kind of answer. It is sometimes challenging to break these big concepts down in ways she can engage with. As a result, we take a lot of children’s science books out of the library. As we read, I often appreciate how well the authors use pictures and simple explanations to make foundational science concepts interesting and accessible. It also occurred to me that these books would be a great way to support our students who are parents (or who have young people in their lives) to develop their own science background knowledge while reading to young children.  Continue reading Do you have students who are parents? (Learn science while reading to kids) →

Bring Math and Student Thinking Alive in the Adult Ed Classroom

ABE, HSE, Math, Pre-HSE, , , , , , , ,
MathMemos
· Appropriate for: Building teacher background knowledge, Use in class, Knowledge of teaching · Available: Problems · Readiness: Resources can be used as they are · Engagement: 3 = very engaging

One of the most common questions we hear from math teachers is “Where can I find good problems for my students?”. There are more than a dozen sites reviewed on CollectEdNY that answer that question but we are really excited to share MathMemos which, like CollectEdNY, is entirely focused on adult education math teachers and students. Continue reading Bring Math and Student Thinking Alive in the Adult Ed Classroom →

CUNY HSE Curriculum Framework for Social Studies, Science and Math

College and Career Readiness, HSE, Math, Pre-HSE, Reading, Science, Social Studies, Writing
CUNY HSE Curriculum Framework
· Appropriate for: Building teacher background knowledge, Use in class, Knowledge of teaching · Available: Lessons, Texts/Readings, Problems, Videos, Assessments, Hands On Activities · Readiness: Resources can be used as they are · Engagement: 3 = very engaging

The CUNY HSE Curriculum Framework provides direction, structure and materials for teaching math, science and social studies (integrated with reading and writing) in the new era of HSE instruction. The complete framework is available for free download. We invite you to share your experiences using it with your students. Continue reading CUNY HSE Curriculum Framework for Social Studies, Science and Math →

Number Sense: Helping Adult Numeracy Students Close the Gap

ABE, ESOL, HSE, Math, Pre-HSE, , , , , , , ,
Estimation 180
· Appropriate for: Use in class, For student independent work · Available: Lessons, Problems, Videos · Readiness: Resources can be used as they are · Engagement: 3 = very engaging

“About 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. lacks the math competence expected of a middle-schooler, meaning they have trouble with those ordinary tasks [calculating a tip, doing fractions to double a recipe, know how much change to expect from a cashier] and aren’t qualified for many of today’s jobs.” 

I came across this quote in an article called “Early Number Sense Plays a Role in Later Math Skills“. The author attempts to trace this statistic back to a root cause and comes up with a University of Missouri study done with 7th graders who were given a test to assess a variety of math skills needed to function in the world as an adult. They found that the students who were behind on the seventh-grade test were the same students who had the least number sense or fluency in mathematics in the first grade.

Continue reading Number Sense: Helping Adult Numeracy Students Close the Gap →

Learning through classification: What makes this number (or shape or graph) different from the others?

ESOL, HSE, Math, Pre-HSE, , , ,
Which One Doesn't Belong
· Appropriate for: Use in class, For student independent work · Available: Problems · Readiness: Resources can be used as they are · Engagement: 3 = very engaging

Which One Doesn’t Belong? (WODB) is a website with a very simple concept. It is “dedicated to providing thought-provoking puzzles for math teachers and students alike”. Basically, it presents four of something and you have to come up with a reason why each one of the four things doesn’t belong. But it is far more than a collection of brain teasers.

One way we can help students develop different ways of thinking in math is to have them work on activities where they have to classify mathematical objects. Continue reading Learning through classification: What makes this number (or shape or graph) different from the others? →