9th Quick Step: Which would you rather be, a 100% student or a 70% student?

I know a ridiculous question … or is it?

Table of contents

1 Hi math student
2 I’ll ask you three questions
3 You might be thinking
4 A comparison of two grade 9 math students in Grade 8
5 Comparison of those two students in grade 9
6 Final time asking the question
7 Summary

1 Hi math student,

What a Question, 100% or 70% student? Seems like a ridiculously easy question to answer, or is it? I will compare two students I tutored for grade 9; one finished grade 8 with a mark of 100%, the other a 70%. By the end of this ‘100% or 70%’ post, you will understand why habits are essential to learning math. And why it’s quicker for me to have a student improve in math who has positive/good habits versus one who has negative/bad habits. This post follows the Creating Habits 01 on Math by Edison where I write the first part in a series on Habits.

It’s much quicker for a student improve who has positive habits versus one who has negative habits.

2 I’ll ask you three questions,

and it’s possible by the third question (Q#3) you’ll change your answer on the first two. Here goes.

Q#1 Which would you rather be, a 100% or 70% math student?

Q#2 Would you choose to be a 100% student with negative habits* or a 70% student with positive habits**? 
* You’re a 100% student who attends class, does no homework, doesn’t ask questions, doesn’t study for tests and gets a 100%
** You’re a 70% student who shows up to class, does homework, asks questions, studies for test.

Q#3, Time to choose: Who would you want to be, Student 100 with negative habits or Student 70 with positive habits?

Math is easy if you have the right habits!

3 You might be thinking

a bunch of thoughts: “Ah EH, I didn’t change my answer. I chose the 100% student and stuck with it. Why would I want to be a 70% student if I could be a 100% student?

Got it, and I've heard that answer many times before. But Q#2 & 3 are thought-provoking as they mention habits, and that's what I want you to think about: "Why are habits essential math? "Ah, EH, EH, can I interrupt you, I rather have negative habits and get ONE HUNDRED PERCENT than have positive habits and get a 70%."

Okay, I think I'm losing this debate with you. But it's my turn to tell you what I know and have seen and experienced thousands of times, as I think you may change your mind … and decide to choose that 70% student with the positive habits.

4 A comparison of two grade 9 math students in Grade 8

I’ll give you the backstory on each student in grade 8, and then their work with me in grade 9. I’ll refer to the 100% student, as Student 100 and the 70% as Student 70.

Student 100 in grade 8
Backstory: I started working with Student 100 when he got to grade 9. He had a photographic memory, which meant he would see math once and always remember it. In grade 8 math, he but took no notes, did no homework, and did not study for any test, but got 100% on every test. Biggest complaint was that he didn’t show steps, he just wrote the answer. In grade 8, he got 100% in math. Yup, 100%, and if you’re thinking, why did he need your help? Read on. And I should tell you, that he also got 100% in every math course from grades 1 to 7!

Summary: Student 100 remembered 100% of what he was taught, but did not learn the steps to remember, or how to learn. Aces math without having any positive habits.

He would see math once and always remember it - he had a photographic memory.

Student 70 in grade 8
Backstory: I started working with Student 70 partway through grade 7. She had low 50s and didn’t have many positive habits (weak fundamentals, not understanding the teacher, struggling with homework, giving up quickly), which led to low retention. We worked on improving her habits and foundation. In grade 7, she finished with low 60s.

In grade 8, we continued to strengthen learning strategies, habits, and foundation, which helped her understand better and have more success on her homework. She finished grade 8 with a 70%.

So, math student reader, based on the above, what are your predictions on how the two students did the next year, in grade 9? Go ahead use what you know to help you with what you don’t know.

5 Comparison of those two students in grade 9

Student 70 in grade 9
Backstory: Grade 8, 70%. Essential habits in place and a decent understanding of the fundamentals.

I continued working on learning, habits, and her foundation, which helped her remember more math. And I taught her learning strategies to help when she got stumped and all of that had her better prepared for tests. Finished grade 9 with high 70s.

Student 100 in grade 9
100% in Grade 8 math. I got a call from Student 100’s mother about three weeks after grade 9 started. His first test was returned, and he had failed it. Did you see that coming student reader? No? What? How? Why? But he was a 100% student last year; how could he …? Yeah, lot of questions.

At our first session, what was apparent was that he did not know how to learn. His ‘gift’ that had made math so simple for him, had stopped working.

He said his objective was to become the student he was in grade 8 (be able to remember math). When I asked if he was willing put in the work (step 2 of learning), he said no, I want to remember the math w/o doing any work. That was my starting point with Student 100.

What would you do if you had my job and were working with Student 100?

To student 100, doing no work and acing the math was his expectation. For you to feel what he was going through it would be like me telling you to go back 6 years and do that math. You’d find it easy, and like Student 100, you would be acing the math, dominating it, without doing any work. But then the next year I put you in a class three years older than you - and everything’s a struggle. Going from being at the very top (100%) to close bottom (failing) is a horrible feeling.

The challenge was how to teach a student who excelled by having no positive habits.

How do you teach a student how to learn when he aced math without learning it?

So, what did I do? Find out more about how Student 100 thinks.

I would ask him a question, if he knew it, he would answer it. If he didn’t know it he would say, I don’t remember.

I shifted to first asking a question I knew he knew the answer to, but then me asking questions to see how solid he was in the foundational math.

I asked him to Evaluate (1/2) x (1/3), and he knew the answer was 1/6.

But could not tell me why it was 1/6 (he only knew the memorized fraction rule), which meant that he didn’t understand.

And if he didn’t understand, he wouldn’t remember.

Didn’t know what the Symbol, ‘x’ meant, what the Word Evaluate meant, or how he could do (1/2) x (1/3) visually.

I had conversations like that for more math questions and always the same result, that is until I changed the grade 8 questions to look different:
Evaluate (1/3) x (2), he said 2/6.
How can you prove that (1/3) x (2) = 2/6 is right or wrong? “I don’t know.”
Why when you multiply any number by zero you get zero? “I don’t know.”
If you forget how to multiply two and three, what would you do? “I wouldn’t forget.”

First obstacle to overcome: Weak in the foundation/fundamentals. I started the same way I did with Student 70, focusing on habits and foundation. With Student 100 I first had to have him understand why his photographic memory gift had disappeared – partly to do with grade 9 math focusing more on understanding, having to explain his work (e.g. write steps), new math that required making connections, and Word Questions. Student 100 finished grade 9 with high 50s.

6 Final time asking the question, who would you choose, 100% or the 70%?

The scenario with Student 70 is one I’ve done thousands of times, and I know that once a student strengthens their learning strategies and habits, they get better. But I also know that a student that has negative habits will take longer to improve. So, with all that you’ve just read, who would you choose to be, Student 70 or Student 100?

When I initially ask students, almost all choose Student 100, not just for the 100% marks, but because he did something they all wish they could do in math – excel at math w/o doing any work (aka small efforts, huge results).

But by the end, most will have awakened to the fact that habits are essential and do make a difference and choose Student 70. All of this is your cue to get serious about creating positive habits!

And knowing all of this, what’s going through your mind right now?

7 Summary

Student 100 got 100s in grades 1 to 8 because he remembered 100% of the math. Student 70 did not have that gift; most students and people don’t, so that’s where habits and learning strategies help you to remember.

Marks tell a lot about where you are now. Habits tell you where you’ll be in the future.

I’ve worked with thousands of students, and I can tell you the ones who have positive habits improve quicker – whether it’s the grade 11 student that came to me with a 5%, yes a 5% or the grade 10 with a 27% who sat at the back of the class praying the teacher would not ask him a question or the 50s grade 10 student who realized he needed 90s in grade 12 to get into Aeronautical Engineering.  

Go here to start understanding how habits work.

Habits are the game changers.

Think deeply about this, 100% vs 70% students’ comparison quick step, eh!
EH

Who’s EH? That’s me. EH is for my name, Edison Hopkinson.
What’s ‘eh’? ‘eh’ is a part of Canadian culture - it’s how many of us people in the great white north, finish our sentences.
Habits make math easier, eh. You call that a Quick Step, eh?

P.S.
First set of habits I focused on with Student 70, and Student 100 were all about helping them to remember the math:

1.       Make learning the most important part of math a daily habit (i.e. the foundation)

2.       Strengthen that foundation to understand better.

3.       Reinforce the understanding by doing the homework – those reps help put it into your long-term memory (aka remember it)

4.      Understand how to learn.

5. Understand how to create habits.