Different approach to solve math problem

[Anonymous]

School teaches Eureka math showing all steps, but math tutor teaches math for accuracy and speed for answers. My child sometime gets stuck trying to use the steps by steps way to show answer out of habit but he actually can just tell the answer right away if they are simple questions. Will that cause confusion?

We do math tutor for enrichment & for outside school math competition.

[Anonymous]

Is he getting confused in math class or confused for the tutors/math competitions?

It's good to have both skills. But if he's getting confused, maybe he should slow down the enrichment and competitions for now. IMO, school is more important.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't say it will cause confusion, but it could cause issues. Many teachers are very rigid in how they want math work done. If your kid isn't going to do it the way the teacher wants while at school, there will be trouble.

[Anonymous]

Some teachers will grade down if the questions aren't done in the way the teacher taught. If the kid is paying attention in class and taking notes and doing the homework, it shouldn't matter.

[Anonymous]

I’ve had a lot of luck teaching my kids to think of the step-by-step process not as something you need to do to get the answer, but as an elementary school version of proofs. Not “use this method to find the answer,” but “use this method to show why your answer is correct.”

[Anonymous]

It totally depends on the grade. In early elementary school my kids were marked down for not showing steps to ridiculously easy problems. They also were so annoyed at rounding problems like round 28+ 53 to the nearest 10. They couldn't understand why anyone would have to round that problem and couldn't just get the correct and accurate answer. Since there was no option to be in accelerated math based on math grades I didn't care. When they took online math tests where you didn't have to show work, they always scored super high.
Once they got to algebra, I told them they needed to start showing some steps because teachers often would give partial credit.

[Anonymous]

Fluency has nothing to do with speed, and things like minute drills have been shown to not be helpful. It’s much more important for a child to be flexible and have a deep understanding of the relationship between numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fluency has nothing to do with speed, and things like minute drills have been shown to not be helpful. It’s much more important for a child to be flexible and have a deep understanding of the relationship between numbers.

Shown by whom? You sound like Lucy Calkins and LA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fluency has nothing to do with speed, and things like minute drills have been shown to not be helpful. It’s much more important for a child to be flexible and have a deep understanding of the relationship between numbers.

Lol. So let me guess. You’ll be trying to get your kid extended time as an accommodation because they will still be skip counting or drawing pictures to solve simple math problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fluency has nothing to do with speed, and things like minute drills have been shown to not be helpful. It’s much more important for a child to be flexible and have a deep understanding of the relationship between numbers.

Shown by whom? You sound like Lucy Calkins and LA.

How about you do a simple Google search and answer your own question?

[Anonymous]

The way I explained it to my kid was that
(1) the teacher didn't actually need to know the answer to the problem. They need to know whether the kid understands the math. If you do it in your head and make a mistake, the teacher doesn't know whether you understand or whether you just made a careless mistake. They can't see where you went wrong.
(2) At some point, you won't be able to do the math in your head. The numbers will be too big or there will be too many steps. Best to get in the habit of showing your work.
(3) You can get partial credit if you show your work.

[Anonymous]

Oh, and I'd add, it's a lot easier to check your work if you wrote out the steps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fluency has nothing to do with speed, and things like minute drills have been shown to not be helpful. It’s much more important for a child to be flexible and have a deep understanding of the relationship between numbers.

Shown by whom? You sound like Lucy Calkins and LA.

How about you do a simple Google search and answer your own question?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burden_of_proof_(philosophy)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The way I explained it to my kid was that
(1) the teacher didn't actually need to know the answer to the problem. They need to know whether the kid understands the math. If you do it in your head and make a mistake, the teacher doesn't know whether you understand or whether you just made a careless mistake. They can't see where you went wrong.
(2) At some point, you won't be able to do the math in your head. The numbers will be too big or there will be too many steps. Best to get in the habit of showing your work.
(3) You can get partial credit if you show your work.

1) and 3) don't explain why correct answers lose points for not having shown work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The way I explained it to my kid was that
(1) the teacher didn't actually need to know the answer to the problem. They need to know whether the kid understands the math. If you do it in your head and make a mistake, the teacher doesn't know whether you understand or whether you just made a careless mistake. They can't see where you went wrong.
(2) At some point, you won't be able to do the math in your head. The numbers will be too big or there will be too many steps. Best to get in the habit of showing your work.
(3) You can get partial credit if you show your work.

1) and 3) don't explain why correct answers lose points for not having shown work.

Because the work is considered part of a correct answer. Do you understand what a proof is? Many times a correct answer is not one number, it is all of the steps written in the correct way leading logically to a single number. Do you also think English teachers should only assess spelling and ignore grammar and syntax?