(no subject)
Robert: (grumble grumble grumble)
Me: "What's the problem?"
R: "Math STAR tests. We didn't go over standard deviations last semester. And last week when we did the math review period, Mr. [T] said that since we hadn't studied standard deviations, that we should just not worry about it. And then there were questions on the STAR test about standard deviation!"
Me: "Oh. Well, darn, you should have told me about that. I could have gone over them with you."
R: "That's okay. I got the problems right anyway. But that's not the point --"
Me: "Did you know what a standard deviation is?"
R: "I know what 'standard' and 'deviation' mean. It wasn't hard to figure out what they meant - the average difference from the mean. Besides, on the one problem, they gave four answers and only one of them was a number that was at all reasonable, so I could figure out the formula from that answer, and I used that to solve the second one."
Me: ...
R: "But that's not the point. The point is that if you're going to teach to the test, you should at least do it *right*!"
Me: "What's the problem?"
R: "Math STAR tests. We didn't go over standard deviations last semester. And last week when we did the math review period, Mr. [T] said that since we hadn't studied standard deviations, that we should just not worry about it. And then there were questions on the STAR test about standard deviation!"
Me: "Oh. Well, darn, you should have told me about that. I could have gone over them with you."
R: "That's okay. I got the problems right anyway. But that's not the point --"
Me: "Did you know what a standard deviation is?"
R: "I know what 'standard' and 'deviation' mean. It wasn't hard to figure out what they meant - the average difference from the mean. Besides, on the one problem, they gave four answers and only one of them was a number that was at all reasonable, so I could figure out the formula from that answer, and I used that to solve the second one."
Me: ...
R: "But that's not the point. The point is that if you're going to teach to the test, you should at least do it *right*!"