How Your DC School is Teaching Math...

[Anonymous]

*This year, not this teach. Blast!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 4th grader was having trouble doing 2 digit multiplication. I tried to help him but he kept saying I was doing it wrong. Apparently it is done very differently now and I most likely only confused him further. Frustrating that I could not help him with his homework.

I have also struggled with this with my fourth grader.

When I don't know the method he's using, I check the answer using my method; if it's different, I have him go back and check his work, ideally explaining it to me in the process. Usually it's just a simple calculation mistake.

I also think asking your kid to explain the techniques he's learned is really helpful--it helps cement the concept in his mind, and it reveals where he might be uncertain. My son explained the area model to me, which I'd never seen before, and now I get it (and know he gets it, too).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 4th grader was having trouble doing 2 digit multiplication. I tried to help him but he kept saying I was doing it wrong. Apparently it is done very differently now and I most likely only confused him further. Frustrating that I could not help him with his homework.

I have also struggled with this with my fourth grader.

When I don't know the method he's using, I check the answer using my method; if it's different, I have him go back and check his work, ideally explaining it to me in the process. Usually it's just a simple calculation mistake.

I also think asking your kid to explain the techniques he's learned is really helpful--it helps cement the concept in his mind, and it reveals where he might be uncertain. My son explained the area model to me, which I'd never seen before, and now I get it (and know he gets it, too).

This x100

This is really the point of Common Core IMO. Getting students to think critically, and being able to explain how they got their answers, so concepts stick. Teaching someone else is one of the best ways to do that. And al the better if it helps a parent understand new techniques!!

[Anonymous]

I agree with PPs. Even when I do know how to do it, I ask them to teach it to me "so I can help them figure out the right answer" -- bur really they are doing it themselves.

[Anonymous]

1st grader- math worksheets come in english and spanish (were at MV) all common core labelled materials. What we see is a facility with number relationships and being able to explain pictorially subtraction and addition. Lots of word problems which I think encourage math and reading literacy. What I like about it is its less memorization and more applicable to daily situations. My kid sees math problems everywhere we go because the way the math is presented is in real life situations. Its kind of a joy to see.

[Anonymous]

My one question is.....if all these new methods of teaching math are so great, why do math test scores keep declining? Maybe memorizing times tables is the way to go.

[Anonymous]

I know, op. Im am asain american and nearly 40. I learned math the way it was taught in the 89s. Was never good at doing anything in my head. My mom tried to teach me the way shed leaned back in the old country, and its a lot similar to how my daughter is now learning it. I feel cheated that we were never taught/trained to solve problems this way. I was always a midling student in science and math.

That said, im a bit nervous about how they may be teaching English and writing now. Seems to be taking some of the deeper thinking abd creativity out of it, all diagraming sentences, outlining, topic sentences, beginning, middle, end. Blah. I havent actually seen this, just suspect this is what happens in older grades based on what Ive heard. Would have completely turned me off as a student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know, op. Im am asain american and nearly 40. I learned math the way it was taught in the 89s. Was never good at doing anything in my head. My mom tried to teach me the way shed leaned back in the old country, and its a lot similar to how my daughter is now learning it. I feel cheated that we were never taught/trained to solve problems this way. I was always a midling student in science and math.

That said, im a bit nervous about how they may be teaching English and writing now. Seems to be taking some of the deeper thinking abd creativity out of it, all diagraming sentences, outlining, topic sentences, beginning, middle, end. Blah. I havent actually seen this, just suspect this is what happens in older grades based on what Ive heard. Would have completely turned me off as a student.

OP here. Good points! I'd hope that schools will start to integrate subjects more to make it all "click" better. If creativity is the goal (which I hope it is) , a lot of how they teach in school will need to change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My one question is.....if all these new methods of teaching math are so great, why do math test scores keep declining? Maybe memorizing times tables is the way to go.

They do memorize math facts as well. Third grade is going through the fast fact multiplication tests right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My one question is.....if all these new methods of teaching math are so great, why do math test scores keep declining? Maybe memorizing times tables is the way to go.

They do memorize math facts as well. Third grade is going through the fast fact multiplication tests right now.

NP here...I also think you won't see any bump in scores until the kids who were in PK or K at the inception of Common Core get to 3rd grade. They know nothing else and won't be confused by the change in math technique like the older grades.

[Anonymous]

We won't be returning to DCPS next year. The math curriculum is worthless. Good bye and good luck.

[Anonymous]

Okay,well don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH and I were floored when our 2nd grader explained to us that in a problem like: 13+9 he'd change it to 19+3 to solve, by switching the ones. We asked if the teacher taught him, but he said that he thought of it. (Don't know if this is true.) We were completely stunned because we'd never thought of that because we were taught to memorize algorithms.

I'm in the arts, but wish I'd learned math this way. Someone posted a video on this site recently about how you can take a double digit multiplication problem and how to draw it into an area equation. Very cool to think about math in this way.

+1 As a strong visual learner, I wish I had learned math this way as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My one question is.....if all these new methods of teaching math are so great, why do math test scores keep declining? Maybe memorizing times tables is the way to go.

You have no clue, sorry. In DC anyway, schools that adopted these techniques before others, have picked up a lot earlier and faster than those who just got on board. In general, the scores are actually going up. So, at least what this neck of the woods is concerned, it's working, data and all.

[Anonymous]

Singapore Math works for my DC!