The fastest way to learn the times table – multiplication tables. The easy way to teach and learn the multiplication times table.

Times Table Tricks®  – As Seen on TV ( the  1990 “pioneer” ) is a fun, interactive, Rhyme, Storyline-based Cartoon Picture Mnemonic method and effective system that teaches the times table easier than any other method available (see, High-Profile, Full-Letterhead Testimonial/Newspaper Article Library and  Manifesto for Change,“100% Guarantee”).  It uses the main modalities of learning: Sight, Sound, and Action.

• Fastest, Easiest Way to Learn and Teach the Multiplication / Times Tables

• Unprecedentedly  Complete, Conceptual Theoretical Foundation — A  TRUE  “Kid Friendly” “Encyclopedic” yet Very Short  Little  TEXT BOOK  in EVERY  Sense of the Word!      Perfect for K-3 !!
  PLEASE — Do  COMPARE  with ANY other method  ANYWHERE  —  ANYWHERE  online or in  ANY   U.S. Classroom !!

• Rhyme-, Storyline- and Numeracy-based Cartoon Picture Mnemonic Method of Rapidly Learning and Teaching Mastery of the Multiplication Table

• Written Materials  or  Interactive Multimedia (Mr.B’s On-Stage  direct “Call and Response” interaction with your child)

• Individuals, Classrooms or Large Auditoriums

• Boosts Confidence and Self-esteem by Using This Method to Rapidly Master the Multiplication / Times Tables

• Uses Powerful “Thematically Meaningful”  Memory Techniques

• Engagingly Stimulates the Imagination and Learning — Often with Kids Rapidly Teaching Other Kids

• Providing a “much needed boost” to the “Common Core Standards” — no need to make kids wait until 3rd. grade for them to then have to struggle for months trying to master the Times Table.  For 25 years, Kindergarteners and 1st. graders have been thrilled to get the job done in just a couple of hours with Times Table Tricks®.  For a quarter century, repeated valiant efforts to offer to freely show school district administrators of the 100 largest U.S. school districts how  to provide (see below) every American child the single greatest elementary grade school math pedagogical breakthrough in U.S. history have consistently fallen on persistently stubborn authoritative dead ears.  Our nation patiently awaits the inevitable parent groundswell investigation to finally emancipate America’s kids — after 25 belligerently shunned years — shunned  (investigate this America!) for absolutely no other reason whatsoever other than that they — the entire U.S. school district establishment — could not claim authorship to even a remotely comparable (never mind “greatest”) revolutionary contribution.  A contribution to America’s children from an “establishment outsider” — especially a contribution arguably the greatest breakthrough in U.S. math pedagogy in history — simply could not (and continues not to) be tolerated.
  Making kids wait until 3rd. grade to Master the Times Table  (the “Holy Grail” of Math) has NEVER  made sense!
  (Within the next few months a detailed list of specific cases compiled over the last several years will be published implicating over 100 of the largest U.S. school districts — detailed documentation for the nation’s examination of specific administrators and politicians who will be unequivocally shown to have chosen  to proactively shun  advocating for the greatest math pedagogical breakthrough in U.S. history for millions of American kids over the last quarter century.  And a great debate will erupt all across 29th “math-ranked” America — let not America’s children wait/suffer any longer!)

• Times Table Tricks® – the ONE HOUR Instruction Sensation  ( THE  original  1990  RHYME-, STORYLINE- and NUMERACY-based pioneering Cartoon Mnemonic “Invention” for Mastering  the Times Tables — see History )

• GET RESULTS!    GET  THEM  FAST!   (  Please see the entire  FULL-Letterhead Testimonial and Newspaper Article Library .  )

MANIFESTO  for  CHANGE

(For our Kids, our nation — the stakes are extremely high so the comments are perhaps a bit too candidly outspoken for some — please bear with me.)

An Invitation to the Nation for a Moment’s Contemplation —

In MATH,  the 27th-Ranked U.S. Math-Instruction Industry does  NOT  “educate”,  it ” trains “ — a HUGE difference.  Much more on this crucial distinction below as well as in the near future.    This has EVERYTHING  to do with the following —

NEWS RELEASE:  18 June 2013 —  A joint study by U.S. News and World Report and the National Council on Teacher Quality 

LET’S BEGIN —

When diplomatic overtures for education reform involving highly acclaimed methods are repeatedly ignored by the “education” establishment, other venues must be considered. This page (and those to follow in the near future) serves such purpose for the nation’s contemplation.

For the Children’s Sake —

All too often our nation’s schools require children to include “11s” and “12s” in their “Multiplication Table” memory skills.  Sadly

That children should include up to “12s” in their “tables” since there are 12 inches in a foot is no more compelling an argument than to extend such logic to require that children include up to “16s” in their “tables” simply because their are 16 ounces in a pound — or to include up to “36s” since their are 36 inches in a yard. Such silliness is obvious, not to mention that it is our national goal to join the rest of the post-stone-age world by “going metric”. Furthermore, in a child’s world, multiples of, say, 25 (as with “quarters”) are encountered far more frequently than multiples of 12 (as with “dozens”).  And then finally,  absolutely  NO ONE  EVER  uses “11s  or  12s”  when Multiplying multi-digit numbers — the overwhelmingly dominant application of the Times Table for Multiplication in our daily lives.  AND — absolutely  NO ONE  EVER,  EVER , EVER  uses “11s  or  12s”  when Dividing  —  EVER  — (multi-digit numbers or otherwise).   Just THINK  about that, America. Yet our nation’s “education” establishment is obsessed with this decades-old, pointless nonsense of demanding that our children regurgitate multiples of 11 and 12.  So would someone — ANYONE — “PULLLLEASE”  provide us all with the “definitive” argument in favor of this utterly and absolutely foolishly nonsensical obsession the U.S. “education” establishment (and its marketplace lemmings) has over mindlessly (and that bears repeating, America, “mindlessly” ) mandating inclusion of “11s  and  12s” in our “base ten”  Multiplication Table! 

Lest you judge me unduly cynical let me remind you that we are not talking about widgets here.  We’re talking about our Kids.  Show of hands, then:  How many are surprised that we have 27th-ranked math instruction (curriculum) for our children?  Or a little of that aforementioned “9 out of 10” study showing its hand here as well perhaps?  Our “base ten”  Multiplication Table really only requires 28 significant “facts” while extending the “base ten”  Multiplication Table to include “12s” (even ignoring all single digit multiples of 11) requires an increased memorization of 12 additional facts (2-12 “times 12”, in addition to 11 “times” 11). It follows, then, that requiring our children to pointlessly include “12s” in the “base ten”  “Multiplication Table” memory skills results in nearly a 50% increase in required memorization — completely pointless excess!  Brevity attracts children, prolongation repels children.  In far too many instances we witness diehard advocates of “all things establishment” dutifully “straining to be seen” toeing the party line to curry favor in the “establishment” market place, thereby falling obliviously into lockstep regurgitative conformity with this painfully archaic, age-old, absolutely pointlessly silly pedagogical artifice of including “11s” and “12s” in our “base-ten”  Multiplication Table.  We work in  “base ten”  for a reason.  Let’s use it responsibly  for the reason for which it was intended — to minimize  the required memorization for competent computation.   Let mathematics (here, “arithmetic” ) be the streamlined beauty it is naturally  without pointlessly complicating matters for our children.

We simply MUST demand that this (and other, see below) decades-long foolish sloppiness of U.S. mathematics pedagogy be addressed NOW !!   And NO, dear friends, “Youtube” is NOT the Manna from Heaven massive publicity would have us believe — no matter how many classrooms are “dumped” onto Youtube.  If our children are going to be stuck with hastily thrown-together “Training” videos (as opposed to genuinely “Educating” videos) then a typical handheld math textbook (as conceptually and grammatically impoverished as they  are)  is far more effective than rapid video format that must necessarily be watched over and over ad nausseum until finally inculcated. The same lack of attentiveness to etymology, grammar and seamlessly-derived  clarity of mathematic results in the worlds math libraries, has merely been reproduced into thousands of mini youtube “Training” — NOT “Educating” — math video clips.  With any luck, it will only be a matter of time now for “deliverance” in this regard — working together, whether in contributing truly “educational” (not simply robotized regurgitative “training”) content or marshaling political pressure for genuine  curricular reform, not just the latest incarnation of “standard goals” under yet another moniker — the world will not have long to wait for a final resolution — again, that is, with any LUCK!  Until such time, get used to your children being served a 27th-rate math curriculum  experience.

Points to Ponder —

Compared to other methods, the superior efficacy of mnemonic imagery for (1) rapid acquisition and (2) long-term recall has long been established through extensive research and numerous studies. See, for example, “Remembering the Forgotten Art of Memory”, T.E.Scruggs and M.A.Mastropieri, American Educator, Winter 1992, p.31.    With this in mind —

Imaging (Immediate, Engaging) -vs- Skip Counting (Slow, Laborious):
With Skip Counting not only does the child have to memorize families of multiples in order  but must also keep track  so as to know when to stop. This cumbersome approach is hopelessly archaic. Furthermore, it necessarily mandates the inclusion of Both “Turnarounds” and therefore,  Doubles  the amount of memorization required -vs- the present method ! Whether it be called Skip Counting or some other term, COUNTING by any other name is still COUNTING, NOT KNOWING !

The author attributes his unprecedentedly effective track record to his experiential perception that there is  No such thing as a “Learning Disability”   but rather there can  Only  be “Instructional Disabilities”.  ( Does the aforementioned “9 out of 10” study seem even remotely  relevant here?  Let us pause to ponder. )  His point is that children  love to learn — the onus of effective transfer of information is upon the teacher  (who ostensibly  possesses the information to be transferred), not  the student. Such common sense perspective has obviously served the author well. Testimonials from “Special Education” teachers hail the author’s method to be so effective that so-called “learning disabled” children in “Special Education” programs are rapidly “exited” back into mainstream classroom instruction months ahead of schedule!  With the author’s method, typically “at risk” children are virtually indistinguishable from their peers, with obvious psychological advantages that, in fact, may dwarf the academic victory ( Please see the FULL-Letterhead Testimonial and Newspaper Article Library ).

As one visionary Ph.D. in Special Education admonishes:
The mandate of the Special Education industry should be “to put itself out of business” . Validated by an unprecedented track record, all  of the author’s works are founded with this expectation as their centerpiece.

Most Intriguingly —

While in Colorado, the author was informed by both a School of “Education” University Professor of Elementary Mathematics (through whose classes our future teachers must pass) as well as a School District Director of Curriculum that if the author’s method had not yet received NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) approval these two “authoritative” sentry’s at the gates of opportunity for their community’s children were not interested in letting  the author show them his method no matter how powerful the testimonial letters from public elementary school teachers and principals — many from within their own district!  This preoccupation by the U.S. “education” establishment with “politically correct” process rather than unprecedentedly effective substance has proven to be a never-ending blight on our national trust of educators/administrators to pursue excellence in methodologies for our children and represents exceedingly poor stewardship of parent/voter tax dollars.  The track record of math “education” results garnered under our nation’s various agencies for math “education” leadership hardly warrants such an elitist attitude, given our nation’s internationally embarrassed posture not only in mathematics performance (25th ranking internationally–2012 report, 27th ranking internationally–2013 report) but also in the directly related technological acumen demanded for internationally competitive contributions. To explain such indifference some observers of our national education dilemma point out that for all practical purposes the U.S. “education” industry is an insulated monopoly whose products and services must be purchased (through taxation) by law, thereby seriously compromising any credible pressure for accountability of the “education” industry toward their expected pursuit of excellence for our children.  The aforementioned “9 out of 10” study’s implicit national call to action may as well start its statutory accountability “wholesale house-cleaning” in the examples referenced here in the same Colorado college town.  Either one, a perfect textbook case.

Poignantly —

Children get paid only  by results. “Educators” get paid regardless  of results. It’s time “educators” focus on methods  that work  — even if they happen to come from “outside” the industry.

Spending billions of dollars on machines (computers and calculators) for children has its place — as long as actually learning “skills independent of a machine” is not displaced .  A nation of keyboard wizards who, during a momentary power outage, are incapable of making change for a dollar is an anxiety all too familiar in numerous anecdotes all across the nation.  Recently the national headlines have heralded the decision of the superintendent of the Los Angeles School District (with a math ranking variously hovering at 5 out of 10 in national standings — this in a nation already, itself, 27th ranked worldwide) in his launching a program to spend $1 billion on giving every student an iPad, yet for over 23 yrs. that same school district has ignored (3 times) Mr.B’s offer to freely  demonstrate his highly acclaimed pioneering 1-Hr. Times Table strategy for kids as young as Kindergarten as well as all  “at risk” students.  We are a technology-crazed nation, bankrupt in basic computational skills instruction — now closing in on tossing “cursive” writing out of the window given our “keyboard culture”.  What’s next, allow “Spell-check” to render “spelling” instruction obsolete?

Computer Lab “math” classes in America’s elementary schools are far too often little more than computer-game “play time” sessions for kids (who learn essentially “no” math) and, therefore, represent decidedly “non-instruction”  time for classroom teachers who instead are serving essentially in the role of day-care proctor duty while the kids “play” pointless games at their computer stations — all under the guise of “math class”.  Mr.B knows.  After more than 2 decades, Mr.B continues to be invited into the schools frequently as guest instructor. Save the computer time for later years and teach these young kids how to use their natural birthright computers — with paper and pencil!  And watch America soar from 27th place internationally to 1st place, while the high school drop-out rate plummets.  Here again we are reminded of the “9 out of 10” study’s scathing indictment of the U.S. “education” establishment’s appalling dereliction of duty to channel otherwise truly phenomenal newly graduated pedagogical talent through meaningful, instructional forays into highly efficacious innovations in disseminating advanced  content to eager young minds — a visionary paradigm bearing real, tangible advances in the children’s math expertise.  Instead, all too often, Mr.B sees such tremendous instruction potential completely squandered on simply proctoring computer station play-time wastage masquerading as “math class”.  Indeed, in too many cases, such “computer lab” classes are more of a much awaited “break” for the teacher — with the little charges planted in front of so many plastic high-tech pacifiers — than any bona fide advance for child, parent and taxpayer.  (A list of more such institutionalized practices resulting in profound time and resource wastage will follow in the near future.)

Looking Ahead —

Now that your child/classroom has excitedly and rapidly mastered the Multiplication Table the logical progression is toward meaningfully exciting rapid mastery of Division in general and Fractions in particular. “Grammar” is the vehicle through which concepts are transferred. In characteristic fashion, Mr.B has demystified the arch nemesis of generations of frustrated children, parents and teachers alike by completely overhauling the very “grammar” of Division, thereby revealing the astonishing contradictions, ambiguities and, in some instances, frankly nonsensical “standard” oversights perpetuated in the classrooms of elementary schools right up through university schools of “education” churning out tomorrow’s teachers.

For example, three fundamental enterprises in elementary school “Division” mathematics are “Remainder Math”, Fractions and Decimals. A fundamental axiom (“self-evident truth”) of mathematics states that if A=B and C=B then A=C. With this in mind, using “Remainder Math” a child readily sees how two things which are NOT EQUAL ARE  EQUAL (conceptual nonsense), as shown: 9/2 and 13/3 (obviously not “equal”) both “equal” the same “ANSWER” — namely, 4R1. Furthermore, embracing the premise that math ought to be conceptually useful in our lives, what do you think a child would actually perceive when asking the following question regarding “4R1”:
“If I have 4 with 1 left over, how much do I actually have all together?
Some children will wonder about this! Addressed in the near future will be a laundry list of similar conceptual flaws pervasive throughout the 27th. rate U.S. math “educational” paradigm in our nation — whether throughout nationwide school classrooms and homeschool curriculum fare, online math “educational” product vendors hawking their wares as “different from the rest”, an avalanche of online math tutorial clips simply excerpting the same impoverished standard fare obtainable out of any typical textbook, astoundingly disorganized “alternative” math textbooks bewilderingly common among private schools — or finally, and not surprisingly, nationwide tutorial centers (likewise perpetuating these same “curricular” oversights which invariably are merely thinly-veiled spinoffs of what is arguably a U.S. teacher-college-“trained” long-standing pedagogically faulty paradigm — once again, see the aforementioned “9 out of 10” study).  All of these issues will be addressed — in detail — in the near future.  Stay tuned, and by all means, “weigh in” on any/all points raised!  Disagreement and discussion leading to a nationwide coalition for excellence for our kids can only be good  —  indeed, vital!  It is ALL about our kids!

Regarding Accountability to Taxpayers —

Of 23 major U.S. school districts contacted back in 1994 (“red-tape-hindered” efforts to obtain information for 2012 have repeatedly failed), only one was capable of stating how much of its general annual budget was allocated to Mathematics. The other districts stated (as corroborated by their published annual reports) that they made no effort to track expenses by academic subject. The 1994 year figures provided by the one district are as follows:

Total Elementary General Fund: $146,013,617 Mathematics: $19,620,000

Mathematics is thus reasoned to comprise approximately one-seventh of the typical school district total annual budget for elementary education. A consensus of elementary school teachers informally polled indicated that of the 4 basic operations (upon which all math rests), easily 70% (very low estimate) of math instruction is directly (Multiplication) or indirectly (Division) dependent upon mastery of the Multiplication Table. Thus, we see that the typical school district spends many millions of dollars annually  on “Multiplication Table”-dependent classroom instruction.  Once informed, the considerable interest for taxpayers becomes self-evident.

100 % GUARANTEE:

There are those who would agree that “Mastering the Multiplication Table” is the single most “ENABLING”, yet often “REPELLING”, math enterprise in the human experience. Given the dominant role that Mastery of the Multiplication Table plays in Elementary School Mathematics and the conviction that our nation’s children deserve nothing short of supreme excellence in math methodologies, Mr.B makes the following challenge and 100% GUARANTEE :

Pursuant to a cooperatively convened high-profile professionally conducted “pre-/post-test” national comparative analysis  for both [1] speed of mastery and [2] long-term retention, comparing the present method with any other Multiplication Table memory method in existence, 100% of the financial interests of this Copyright shall be transferred to the educational program of choice of the proprietor/sponsor of any prevailing method (entrepreneurial or traditional) provided said proprietor/sponsor enters into the same or equitably similar terms. Such a prominently high-profile professionally conducted nationwide comparative analysis  will go far to draw national attention to the greatest math methods available for our children.

The Questionable Value of Tutorial Centers and Classroom Instruction in the Millennial Era of ONLINE TUTORIALS —

With Mr.B’s method now available to the world online, and given that tutorial centers are by their nature, local, it begs the obvious contemplation and investigative examination of comparing modes of math tutorial resourcing.  With the internet teeming with online math tutorial videos the questionable relevance of nationwide brick-and-mortar math tutorial centers is cogent:  those claiming “we are different from all the rest” is disappointingly uncompelling when their curricular fare is actually examined. Mr.B sees absolutely no significant difference between the sample practices highlighted in such tutorial company website promotional samplings of their wares and techniques as compared with the standard fare and techniques mainstream throughout the nation’s “education” industry classroom practices from which the “creators” of such companies’ math curricula invariably arise. Math pedagogy in the U.S., as evident to many observers of both classroom math instruction as well as the textbooks from which such instruction is guided, is nearly entirely “training” of process rather than conceptually insightful seamless derivational  “education” of ALL  dispensed formulaic results. Whether typical brick-and-mortar “free” classroom education or “for-profit” brick-and-mortar tutorial center instruction (and for that matter, in certain instances, a veritable avalanche of seemingly hastily assembled online math videos), Mr.B identifies the same paralysis of vision impeding the redirecting of our nation’s focus from mere robotized “training” to truly concept-driven “seamless” derivational “educating”, since  only conceptually “seamless derivation” of  ALL  mathematics results assures  that  our children  will emerge as  true world-class masters  of the underlying mathematics conceptual expertise allowing for innovation on the very frontier boundaries of novel applications. There are many ways to  “bluff”  the textbook/classroom/online presentation of a given math result but only a complete, entirely “seamlessly  clear derivation” truly  manifests absolute mastery of the material.  With this obvious canon in mind, when young children are thoughtfully guided by step-by-step conceptually, seamlessly tight  derivations then nothing is impossible as long as the requisite antecedents have likewise been thoughtfully placed within the child’s grasp.  For a compelling example, please see Testimonial (and Newspaper Article) Library item #32 (as well as #17).  In the persistent absence of truly “seamlessly” derived math results throughout planet-wide math curricula (not just nationwide, but worldwide as well), Mr.B sees no essential difference between the nation’s current 27th-rated U.S. math curricula of public education and ANY “for-profit” curricular fare (invariably created by those trained by the same U.S. schools of “education” responsible for [1] “9 out of 10” failures in excellence cited in the joint study referenced above and, as a consequence, the perfectly predictable consequence of [2] the U.S. 27th-rate math pedagogical paradigm — whether public school, private school, online or homeschool resource). In this, Mr.B can only hope that others have had a different experience throughout their lives observing the never-ending “claims of improvement” by the prevailing math “education” establishment  —  profoundly disappointing year after profoundly disappointing year.

Nevertheless, whatever the resource sought (and selected) by America’s parents, Mr.B encourages parents to spread the word where advertised claims  actually match results  for their children.  Given the current doggedly entrenched practices/resources in the U.S., Mr.B remains dreadfully skeptical that the U.S. will ever emerge from the mired swamp of spectacular failure of effectively teaching our nation’s children mathematics at a level of excellence to warrant international admiration and competitive offerings in the future world-wide market place.  We owe it to our children — a promise kept by, together, lifting ourselves as a nation from 27th to 1st place — by judicious implementation of curricula not dictated by certified “paper” credentials (27th rate), but by “performance” credentials (1st rate) — hailed across all academic venues throughout society at large.

The Dream, the Conviction:  It is inevitable — Online resources will certainly inevitably render brick-and-mortar tutorial centers and public classroom education obsolete in their current form — replacing “classroom instruction” in schools and tutorial centers with neighborhood self-paced online computer learning centers allowing young children to rapidly accelerate through Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus, etc. at their own  excited rate at their computer stations, requiring only parent volunteers for proctoring mainstream online instruction — individual as well as group –exclusively through “online digital feeds” by true experts (instructors with “performance” credentials as opposed to the tired and decades-old inept 27th-rate  certified “paper” credentials).

WHEAT FROM THE CHAFF:

Put out to pasture those of the tenured “old guard” (and their “teachers before kids” union cronies) who for decades have chanted “I hate math, I hate science — and that’s just  the way it is!” — and, for the remaining “wizened, visionary elders” as well as the beaming, untainted, idealistic new teacher-college graduates rushing forth to grasp and exalt the mantle “For the Kids”,  let us as a nation rally to pay them,  gratefully, according to any top engineering-field pay scale.  BUT,  commensurate with this richly deserved “renaissancian” pay scale, require that this newly minted pedagogical vanguard of K12 math instructional academicians for the new millennium — as a mandatory  condition for re– certification — proudly demonstrate  exemplary proficiency in teaching  typical classrooms of young elementary grade school students “SEAMLESSLY  CLEAR”  currently  “college-level” Algebra through Calculus — equal to or greater than the rigor of Mr.B’s curriculum — and on his time scale:  none of this decades-old union-institutionalized dragging out of 1 month  of actual math instructional knowledge content over 9 months  of “instruction” generating 12 months  of paychecks.  Pay very  close attention to who howls over this one!  (See, for example, Testimonial and Newspaper Article items #17 and #32).  More later on the simplicity of rapidly teaching willing veteran teachers as well as recent teacher graduates in the implementing of such a paradigm — our idealistic new visionary cadre will eagerly aspire to any height we allow them, just as is true of the children they will teach!   (Remember, America, the “Must See” trilogy of urgent documentaries:  Waiting for Superman, The Lottery and the capstone of them all — The Cartel!)

ONLINE TUTORIALS (The New Face of Planetary Classrooms) — MATH TUTORIAL MEGA-SITES:

As with all online tutorials, though a boon to the planet, the tidal wave of online math tutorial video clips is not without some justifiable concern. Despite the sheer labor of creating hundreds (or thousands, or millions, pick your advertised number) of online math tutorial videos for K-12, Mr.B is not convinced that there is actually any true advance in the one thing historically notoriously missing in planet-wide math texts — and continuing now, persistently absent , also, with online resources as well — namely “seamlessly derived” clarity.

Indeed, with online math video tutorial clips, far too often Mr.B finds poor legibility of scrawled notes, shockingly (though certainly not intentionally) misspeaking leading to completely confusing statements out of register with what is being pointed out visually, video clips terminating abruptly and far too frequently conceptually extraneous, causally irrelevant material (for a given claimed instructional topic) randomly, haphazardly inserted and then belabored. A relatively recent development is now the issuing of “certificates of achievement” to grade school children by online math mega-sites. One grade school child recently gushed that she had received just such a “certificate in Algebra”.  Mr. B did his best to revel in her “success”, diverting her attention from her inability to simply subtract fractions — a deficit rapidly, cheerfully addressed on the spot.  Still, Mr. B was left with the haunting contemplation of the psychological fallout of children imbued with a sense of proficiency the world at large may find less than commensurate with the spotlit fanfare of site-issued “certificates”.  This is all new territory for us in an otherwise very exciting, dawning new era. So with gratitude to the considerable industry of vast libraries of educational tutorial videos — a marvelous trend rocketing into prominence since back in 2006 with the launch of youtube in 2005 — we gratefully acknowledge that the world’s children do indeed benefit greatly by quantity, but not at the expense of quality. Hastily thrown-together math tutorial videos are problematic for young children easily confused with even the slightest lack of clarity — visual or conceptual. Thus as regards the explosive growth of online math video site “product”, special care must be taken in clarity  — visually as well as conceptually — with these youngsters in mind. Pedagogical “white noise” is of minimal value, clouding the search for the world’s true gems that must increasingly be proactively sought midst the din of mediocrity under the blinding blaze of sensationalistic media publicity. On the whole, Mr.B is quite underwhelmed by the actual value of many such math tutorials, heavy publicity notwithstanding.

Sheer quantity for quantity’s sake is not what our planet’s kids actually need from online math tutorial video clips. And boastful websites drawing attention to themselves on this point are, to him, a bit “off-putting”. Indeed, for a website proprietor to consider Mr.B’s investigatory visit to some sites as a “lesson given” is sheer hubris.  It is certainly true that the better the value of a given website the more “visits” said website can expect. However, it is also obvious that the poorer the content and/or presentation the greater the number of repeated  “visits” will also be required  for a given single  quantum of knowledge. So “number of visits” (or “lessons given” as some proprietors prefer to self-adulate) is a questionable indicator. Far better would be reviews by true math professionals — ideally with “performance” credentials (not standard currently prized currency) rather than “paper” credentials. This distinction is definitive: The most highly (paper) “credentialed” national math curriculum leadership (heralded largely from within its own self-promoting, self-aggrandizing ranks) is directly responsible for our nation’s children’s performance in math plummeting to a 27th ranking internationally (last year’s rank was reported by many disparate sources as 25th). So much for certified “paper” credentials of U.S. math curriculum esteemed “gurus” “from the “top” universities in the nation.  (Once again we’re reminded of the testimony from the “9 out of 10” study, above.)

But in the final analysis, if parent, child and teacher do, indeed, believe a given resource — online or otherwise — is judged helpful by objective improvement in the child’s actual competence (and spirited enthusiasm ) then so be it. It doesn’t get any better than that — real advance for the child, no matter how achieved, is priceless.  Done!

****************

NEWS RELEASE:  28 May 2013 — On the Public Radio Talk Show program “Talk of Alaska” — With Alaska State Dept. of “Education” officials as guests, the hour was devoted to the announcement that the State of Alaska has just received a statewide waiver  from having to meet NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND.  The Adult “Education” Industry is off the hook.  But what about the Children ?  (Excuse me  —  the WHO ?)

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND:
The No Child Left behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 was signed into law on January 8, 2002. The Act represents an education reform plan that contains the most sweeping changes to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) since it was enacted in 1965.  NCLB changes the federal government’s role in K-12 education by focusing on school success as measured by student achievement.  The Act also contains four basic education reform principles:
•    (1) stronger accountability for results  ( that’s results for KIDS , not the results of union lobbying efforts at waivers from talent/performance accountability     — let Mr. B’s  methods  have a couple of hours with a classroom full of those alphabet-labeled kids the union machine whines about! )   (Please see the FULL-Letterhead Testimonial and Newspaper Article Library),
•    (2) increased flexibility and local control,
•    (3) expanded options for parents  ( Remember, America:  See “Waiting for Superman”, “The Lottery” and the capstone of them all, “The Cartel”),
•    (4) an emphasis on TEACHING METHODS THAT HAVE BEEN PROVEN  TO WORK    ——->   (Please see the FULL-Letterhead Testimonial and Newspaper Article Library).

With 27th-ranked efficacy (curriculum)  for teaching mathematics, the U.S. “education” industry is racing for the exits to escape accountability mandated by No Child Left Behind  while at the same time   pro-actively ignoring   TIMES TABLE TRICKS®’s   unassailably preeminent world lead for ALL children, providing Rapid and Permanent Mastery of the Times Table — the sole portal to all math  (beyond simple Addition and Subtraction).  America’s Taxes at Work:  Astoundingly, two-thirds of all states — including Alaska — have recently succeeded in DUCKING this obligation (to provide excellence to children by virtue of  NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND) — effectively successfully lobbying against  whatever it takes to place the CHILDREN’S interests ahead of the ADULT “education” establishment’s interests.  (If only the “Little Guys” could vote/lobby for their  interests !!)                                                            Please —  JOIN ME, AMERICA !!

YOUR  CHILD’S  CHANCES:

Among a whole host of other life advantages, your  child’s top performance in her/his  K-12 math career translates into her/his  (1) top choice for colleges and (2) top choice for college scholarships.  To what lengths would you be willing to go — early on in your child’s elementary grade school years — to ensure that  your  child got a “full ride” scholarship upon high school graduation?  A worthy investment of time to ponder — and then act .

In view of item (4) above, the challenge across the U.S. proclaims:   Let ANY  method ANYWHERE  step forward if any think it can beat TIMES TABLE TRICKS®’ incomparable power to rapidly empower ALL children with long-term mastery of the Times Table — the obligatory gateway to ALL  mathematics beyond simple addition and subtraction!   IF  so,  MR. B will be the FIRST  to support it !!     That  challenge is ON !!

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STAY TUNED — this is an ongoing MANIFESTO. Please feel free to “Sound Off” — we are  going to change the paradigm for ALL of our Millennial Kids , and we are going to do it, FIRST, with Rapid Mastery of the Multiplication Table by year’s end, 2014 — with YOUR HELP !!!

FOR THE KIDS !

PLEASE,  DO WHATEVER YOU CAN — ANY  WAY THAT YOU CAN !!