Math question my sixth grade daughter's teacher graded wrong

[Anonymous]

"You have 1.5 cups of glaze. It takes 1/3 cup to glaze a pot. How many glazed pots can you complete?"

My daughter answered 4, and I agree with her. It asks how many can you complete. If the question was "How many pots can you glaze?" I agree the answer would be 4.5, which is what the teacher was looking for. By using the word "complete," I think it's looking for the smallest integer that can be completed and not looking for partial pots.

[Anonymous]

I agree with your daughter, too.

[Anonymous]

I agree--it is definitely 4!

[Anonymous]

Oh my god, get a life.

[Anonymous]

The question asks how many glazed pots you can complete, not how many pots you can glaze completely. I think that it's possible to complete 4.5 glazed pots.

However, if I were your daughter, I would go to the teacher and explain my reasoning, and if I were the teacher, I would then give your daughter full credit.

[Anonymous]

You know as a teacher, I word questions imperfectly at times and if a lot of students miss them I either give them credit or drop the question. Sometimes the students bring something like this to my attention and I thank them and try to be fair. I make an effort to fix it for next time, and I'm thankful my student's parents don't nit pick.

Besides writing the tests and practice exercises, grading them, updating my website, going to meetings, calling parents, taking work home, dealing with poor behavior, mentoring kids and sponsoring my club, some things slip--cut the teacher a break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"You have 1.5 cups of glaze. It takes 1/3 cup to glaze a pot. How many glazed pots can you complete?"

My daughter answered 4, and I agree with her. It asks how many can you complete. If the question was "How many pots can you glaze?" I agree the answer would be 4.5, which is what the teacher was looking for. By using the word "complete," I think it's looking for the smallest integer that can be completed and not looking for partial pots.

Was the test about fractions?

[Anonymous]

Your daughter has probably done MANY practice problems like the one you shared and should know to go to the most exact answer. I understand where you are coming from, but she can complete 4.5 pots, not just 4. In my class today (compacted 5/6), one question asked if a child earns $5.50 per hour babysitting, how many hours would it take to earn $52.25. One of the children answered 10 hours with the same reasoning you gave above, so we discussed why that was not the most accurate response. Like it or not, this is what is now expected from the children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"You have 1.5 cups of glaze. It takes 1/3 cup to glaze a pot. How many glazed pots can you complete?"

My daughter answered 4, and I agree with her. It asks how many can you complete. If the question was "How many pots can you glaze?" I agree the answer would be 4.5, which is what the teacher was looking for. By using the word "complete," I think it's looking for the smallest integer that can be completed and not looking for partial pots.

If you were a smarter parent, you would have asked your daughter to DEFEND her (or your) response.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your daughter has probably done MANY practice problems like the one you shared and should know to go to the most exact answer. I understand where you are coming from, but she can complete 4.5 pots, not just 4. In my class today (compacted 5/6), one question asked if a child earns $5.50 per hour babysitting, how many hours would it take to earn $52.25. One of the children answered 10 hours with the same reasoning you gave above, so we discussed why that was not the most accurate response. Like it or not, this is what is now expected from the children.

Half a pot is by definition not a complete pot. I am teaching my children to be careful and exact in their use of language precisely to avoid such misunderstandings. Precision of language, please! At 6th grade I would definitely encourage DD to discuss her reasoning with the teacher to (1) try to recover the point and (2) determine whether the teacher intended to word the question in this way so that DD could tailor her understanding of the expectations in this teacher's class such that she would not miss future problems by over-analyzing the language of the question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"You have 1.5 cups of glaze. It takes 1/3 cup to glaze a pot. How many glazed pots can you complete?"

My daughter answered 4, and I agree with her. It asks how many can you complete. If the question was "How many pots can you glaze?" I agree the answer would be 4.5, which is what the teacher was looking for. By using the word "complete," I think it's looking for the smallest integer that can be completed and not looking for partial pots.

If you were a smarter parent, you would have asked your daughter to DEFEND her (or your) response.

Umm, I did and she did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your daughter has probably done MANY practice problems like the one you shared and should know to go to the most exact answer. I understand where you are coming from, but she can complete 4.5 pots, not just 4. In my class today (compacted 5/6), one question asked if a child earns $5.50 per hour babysitting, how many hours would it take to earn $52.25. One of the children answered 10 hours with the same reasoning you gave above, so we discussed why that was not the most accurate response. Like it or not, this is what is now expected from the children.

I'd agree except for the way the word "complete" was used in the problem. In your example, if the question was, "Larla is paid $5.50 for each completed hour of babysitting. How many hours would it take to earn $52.25?" I'd answer 10.

[Anonymous]

I didn't hesitate. 4.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Half a pot is by definition not a complete pot. I am teaching my children to be careful and exact in their use of language precisely to avoid such misunderstandings. Precision of language, please! At 6th grade I would definitely encourage DD to discuss her reasoning with the teacher to (1) try to recover the point and (2) determine whether the teacher intended to word the question in this way so that DD could tailor her understanding of the expectations in this teacher's class such that she would not miss future problems by over-analyzing the language of the question.

Yes, but it is possible to complete the glazing of half of a pot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your daughter has probably done MANY practice problems like the one you shared and should know to go to the most exact answer. I understand where you are coming from, but she can complete 4.5 pots, not just 4. In my class today (compacted 5/6), one question asked if a child earns $5.50 per hour babysitting, how many hours would it take to earn $52.25. One of the children answered 10 hours with the same reasoning you gave above, so we discussed why that was not the most accurate response. Like it or not, this is what is now expected from the children.

I'd agree except for the way the word "complete" was used in the problem. In your example, if the question was, "Larla is paid $5.50 for each completed hour of babysitting. How many hours would it take to earn $52.25?" I'd answer 10.

Answering 10 on the question given would have been incorrect, which is my point. The OP's child has done examples like this with similar wording. Although it might sound strange, parts of pots and parts of hours need to be considered in determining the most accurate answer. Half of a pot can be completed and should be included. Had the child never seen an example like this then I would understand, but as I have taught the common core 4th and 5th grade curriculums- and now 6th grade- I know that the child has been exposed to plenty of similar problems and should understand what is expected of her. I would also question whether OP's child showed the work and got the answer 4.5, but then wrote the answer as 4 complete pots. In that case, the teacher could see that she understood the problem, could solve the question correctly, and should have been marked correctly. If no work was shown, there is no way that the teacher can see that she knows how to correctly solve the problem.