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From : ttp@xxx.xxx To : tomplonski@hotmail.com Subject : P.'s new email address Dear Mr. Plonski, We have changed our email address to ttpxxx@xxx.xxx. We hope you will update our address in your list. Heather has begun college this year at 16 instead of finishing High School. She did very well on her placement test. She passed the entry level math portion with such high scores that they recommended that she take another test to see if she qualifies for Freshman Algebra. She will take that test in the winter. That is not too bad for a 16 year old, huh. Especially compared to the number of students at COD who are high school graduates and can't get into Freshman Algebra. Tony said that when he worked there, only 9% of entering Freshman placed high enough on the placement test to qualify for Freshman Algebra. Thanks for everything you and Plonski math have done for our daughters. Teresa P. |
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A TUTOR'S DELIGHT
This program will provide a teacher a parent or
a fellow student the materials needed to become a
successful tutor in arithmetic, algebra, and geometry.
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This program is like a DOCTOR because it uses
diagnosis before prescribing practice exercises.
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Students learn at their own pace.
The PLONSKI MATH METHOD places the student
in control of his own progress.
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KARATE MATH
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The first 59 assignments are also sometimes
referred to as KARATE MATH. Karate means open
hand. Karate is practiced without the use of tools
or weapons. The first 59 assignments of the
PLONSKI MATH METHOD must be calculated in
the head without the use of pencil or paper. You
can use your fingers to help you count but you
may not use a calculator, pencil or paper. Hence
the nickname KARATE MATH.
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Successful use of the PLONSKI MATH METHOD
will strongly depend on the mindset of the student
and the mindset of the teacher. The teacher must
make a sincere and consistent effort to try to
understand the mindset of the student.
Our preconceptions often interfere with our
ability to examine situations with an open mind.
Our preconceptions often cause us to be blind to
the obvious. The teacher's sub-conscious
expectations and the student's sub-conscious
expectations can become unrecognized causes of
frustration. We all have blind spots in our vision.
We must remain aware of our tendency to have
blind spots and so make conscious effort to widen
our vision.
The student must give up a mindset that says,
"I can't do math." Instead the student must accept
a mindset that says, "Thousands of students have
used the Plonski Math Method successfully. I can
do it too!"
Trees and plants grow every day. Yet, even if
we would stand all day long and stare at a tree
without ever looking away, we cannot see
that tree grow. But if we take a picture of the tree
today and take another picture of the tree a month
from now we can compare the pictures and we
can then surely see ways the tree has grown.
So it is with learning math. You will not be able
to see your growth on a particular day but if you
compare the scores over a span of weeks and
months you will be able to clearly see growth in
speed and growth in understanding.
When we examine the scores of assignments
completed in the PLONSKI MATH METHOD we
will see the score but also see the date the
assignment was finished and in some cases the
number of seconds it took to complete the
assignment. By comparing dates and time scores
we can see the growth and also see the relative
growth in speed. We will also be able to decide
which tasks need more practice because they
need improvement in speed as well as accuracy.
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To date all the students who have completed all
the assignments in the PLONSKI MATH METHOD
have also reported achieving very high scores on
state-mandated math tests. Jason Johnson was
one of these students.
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Congratulations to Jason Johnson!
Jason was in the 11th grade but he graduated early The Plonski Math Method
Jason Johnson came to me as a student when he entered the eighth grade.
Diagnostic tests indicated he had weak areas in his Math Skills.
I started him immediately on the PLONSKI MATH METHOD.
This method helps the student to learn to become an aggressive,
independent learner. It focuses on building five thinking skills:
gather data, compare, analyze, evaluate, and organize.
For the next
four years Jason did not use any standard math textbook. Instead he
only used the materials provided by the PLONSKI MATH METHOD.
Jason was in the 11th grade of high school when he passed the
California High School Proficiency Exam on June 18, 2011.
Because he passed this test, the California State Board of Education
issued him a Certificate of High School Proficiency. This allowed
Jason to skip the 12th grade of high school and go directly to college.
Or Jason could choose to go to work full time with no need for a student work permit.
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A DIFFERENT WAY
TO LEARN MATH
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One day, when our grand-daughter Gabby was
only three years old, she overheard my wife tell
me we were going to have ice cream for supper.
Three-year-old Gabby became excited and said,
"Oh! are we going to have ice-cream? I hope we
have chocolate. I love chocolate!"
Now here was a three-year old child who
understood the meaning of the word "hope." How
did this happen? Did she learn the meaning from
a dictionary? Did she repeat the word "hope" fifty
times in order to learn it? Did someone explain
the meaning to her? How does one explain the
meaning of the word "hope" to a three-year-old
child? Did someone teach Gabby the meaning of
the word "hope?" I think not. The truth is Gabby
came to understand the meaning of the word
"hope" all by herself and without any help from
anyone.
Gabby learned the meaning of the word
"hope" in the same way all babies learn. Think of
it. A new-born baby lying in a crib has no idea at
all that there is such a thing as language. The
new-born baby has no idea at all that there are such
things as words or that words have meaning.
Gabby learned the meaning of the word "hope"
without knowing how to spell the word. Gabby
still had not learned that spelling exists.
Then how did Gabby learn the meaning of the
word "hope"? Gabby learned the meaning of the
word "hope" by abstracting the meaning through
random exposure to the word being used in
context.
All children learn their native tongues through
the same process. They are curious about their
surroundings. They are constantly focusing on the
world around them. They grab things, feel them,
taste them etc.. Driven by curiosity they
instinctively gather data, compare, analyze,
evaluate, and mentally organize data. This is the
learning system that is promoted in the PLONSKI
MATH METHOD.
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Don't just think of the PLONSKI MATH METHOD
as a way to TEACH math. But rather think of it as
a different way to LEARN math.
Instead of memorizing rules, facts, vocabulary,
and procedures; the student is encouraged to use
and develop his inductive and deductive
reasoning skills.
I firmly believe that spending time in rote
memorization of multiplication tables or addition
facts is counter-productive. We want the student
to be able to produce the answers quickly but not
because he has practiced blind rote skills but
because he has learned to think quickly.
So it is with teaching speed reading. How can
we expect a student to read 1000 words per
minute if the student can only think at 150 words
per minute? When teaching speed reading we
must focus on ways to teach speed thinking skills.
The student must learn to mentally process more
words per minute.
In fact a speed reader does not feel like he is
thinking fast. Actually he is thinking differently.
His mind is grasping the words differently from
the way he grasped the reading material as a
slow reader.
We can compare the eye movements of a
person reading 100 words per minute and the eye
movements of a person reading 1000 words per
minute. What we discover is: the faster reader is
reading ten times faster than the slow reader but
the faster reader's eyes are not moving ten times
faster. The faster reader is grasping more words
per eye movement!
Here is another example to think about. If we
want a marching band to march faster we can
increase the speed of the music or we can keep
the speed of the music the same but tell the band
members to take bigger steps. When we want
the band to march slower we tell the band members
to take smaller steps. In all these cases the feet
are not moving faster or slower. Only the size of
the stride has changed. The subjective feeling of
speed has not changed.
So it is with the PLONSKI MATH METHOD.
Throw away your preconceptions. Realize that the
student's mindset is holding back the student's
progress. Realize that the teacher's mindset and
preconceptions could also be unwittingly holding
back the student's progress.
The PLONSKI MATH METHOD places the student
in control of his own progress.
We see so many examples of self-motivated
student behavior. They learn to ride skate boards
even though at the beginning they fall many
times. They learn to play complicated computer
games with no formal instruction whatsoever.
These learners have accepted the mindset of
"training" and "persistent effort."
Consider body building and training with
progressive weight lifting. During each training
session the weight lifter does not feel stronger. On
the contrary during the session the trainee is
feeling progressively more tired and more unable
to lift the weight.
Body builders have the saying, "No pain: no
gain." If the body builder does not push himself to
the point of muscle fatigue there will be no
progress. Of course there must be common sense.
The body builder must not push himself to the
point of rupturing his muscles. But what he is
really looking for is a point of healthy exhaustion.
The body builder works in sets. He works up to a
point of mild exhaustion, takes a brief rest, and
then does it again. Many body builders work in
sets of three.
So it is with building the mental skills. So it is
with the PLONSKI MATH METHOD. The student
must push himself to a point of mental fatigue. At
that point the student should stand up, walk
around, put his mind onto other matters, then later
go back to the computer and work some more.
Many students are reluctant even to start.
These students need patient encouragement to sit
down and start. At the beginning it is not important
how long a student works during each session.
The important thing for these students is how
often they sit down and start. After a few days of
patiently trying because the mindset of friend or
parents is one of encouragement the student starts
to feel progress. Small successes lead to larger
successes.
So it is with the PLONSKI MATH METHOD. By
patiently doing the assignments as given and
practicing every day (perhaps several times a day
for short periods of time) the student will be able
to examine his scores to date and then he will
clearly realize that he is making progress.
Once the student realizes that progress is
clearly evident and he is in control of his own
progress, a transformation takes place in the
mindset of the student. I have seen it again and
again and again. At this point the student
becomes self-motivated and the learning curve
soars.
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Marrissa transferred to Tom Plonski Christian School from another
high school. At that time Marrissa was severely deficient in all academic
areas. In her previous high school she was failing all of her high school
classes. |
Tom Plonski has been a public school teacher
for more than 40 years. In addition to teaching his
regular students in school he has also been an
after-school tutor for more than 50 years.
Throughout these years Tom Plonski has
individually tutored more than 2000 students.
All the students Tom Plonski tutored had some
things in common. All these students were serious
students who had been studying hard and really
trying but they had reached a time in their lives
when they seemed unable to progress. These
students came from all age groups (including
adults who had finished their college work but
were unable to qualify for a teaching credential
because they could not pass their CBEST tests.)
Each of these students suffered from mental
barriers and stumbling blocks to their progress.
As a tutor it became Tom Plonski's responsibility
to search out these mental barriers and stumbling
blocks and to devise ways to break them. When a
mental barrier or stumbling block was discovered,
Tom Plonski would devise explanations and/or
exercises to overcome them. He discovered that all
students do not suffer from the same mental
barriers and stumbling blocks. What is a stumbling
block for one student might not even bother
another student at all.
It was through these efforts that the computerized
part of the PLONSKI MATH METHOD came into being.
The computerized part of the PLONSKI MATH METHOD
is a collection of ways to overcome the mental barriers
and stumbling blocks that Tom Plonski discovered in
his own real math students.
If all students do not suffer from the same mental
barriers and stumbling blocks then we need an
efficient way of discovering the barriers that pertain
to the individual student at hand. This program is
sometimes referred to as a "DOCTOR" because like
a doctor its purpose is to diagnose and prescribe.
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To date all the students who have completed all
the assignments in the PLONSKI MATH METHOD
have also reported achieving very high scores on
state-mandated math tests.
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Many, many questions contained in this
program are not found in any other source. Each
practice assignment was created to meet the
needs of a real student I was tutoring. The
practice assignments were created to remove
stumbling blocks in the mathematical skills of real
math students I actually tutored. To date I have
given individualized math tutoring to more than
2000 students. It is offered to you in the hopes that
you also may benefit from them.
Tom Plonski
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