"Wonderful Strategies for Teaching Math"

One issue in the national hullabaloo sparked by El Cerrito High alum in her Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother book is why American students do so poorly at math compared to those in Shanghai. The debate over Chua's book provided extra timeliness to Betty Buginas' Feb. 5 "School Matters" column, "," about math-teaching reforms advocated by Philip Gonsalves, coordinator of the Alameda County Collaborative for Learning and Instruction in Mathematics (ACCLAIM). The comment below was posted Feb. 5 by "C.T." in response:

I have been to several ACCLAIM workshops with Mr. Gonsalves at CSUH (now CSUEB) and really walked away with some wonderful strategies for teaching math. A key thing about their methods, is that they really point out the "why" in math. I highly recommend their website as his powerpoints and kids teaching kids video series are great to use in the classroom!

• Editor's note: The "Comment of the Week" doesn't necessarily reflect the view of El Cerrito Patch. It's chosen according to what we believe will be of general reader interest.