How Your DC School is Teaching Math...

[Anonymous]

I just read this article about teaching parents to understand Common Core Math and was VERY confused by the examples given. Was anyone else stumped? Do you kids understand it? Are any DC schools giving parent workshops to explain it? Any free online resources that you've found helpful? I'm a former math whiz but don't get what I just read.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/common-core-math-schools-help-mystified-parents/

I have a preschooler so haven't hit any of this yet, just bracing for the next couple of years.

[Anonymous]

Our Arlington PTA is spending $6,000 on parenting academies to help stop the "they're teaching you wrong" pushback.

"Common Core" math is about teaching number sense, which most parents were not taught. Instead, we were taught to memorize algorithms, which is why it seems foreign to us, since we don't actually understand math -- we just know how to do calculations.

[Anonymous]

Agree with PP. Number sense is an important concept in coding, for example, which was obviously a less common skill when I was in elementary school in the 70s.

[Anonymous]

This is actually how I learned math at my progressive school back in the 80s! I feel pretty vindicated.

Never memorized a times table in my life.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Ok, so after looking up "how to" do some of the methods like Doubles, Count On the Bridge to 10... I get it. But yes, it seems a lot harder than the way I was taught but I understand that it makes sure the learner knows relationships between the numbers.

I would think teaching parents how to do math this way would be key in getting buy-in! Are DC schools doing this?

[Anonymous]

We had a meeting when CC was introduced a few years ago. I haven't heard any parents in my kids' classes complaining about math standards. When I looked at what and how they were teaching, it made sense to me. Probably the same for others.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Ok, so after looking up "how to" do some of the methods like Doubles, Count On the Bridge to 10... I get it. But yes, it seems a lot harder than the way I was taught but I understand that it makes sure the learner knows relationships between the numbers.

I would think teaching parents how to do math this way would be key in getting buy-in! Are DC schools doing this?

This, right here, is the single biggest flaw with the common core roll out. Couldn't agree more.

--PP who went to the weird progressive school above.

[Anonymous]

Our school has a meeting every year to explain how the math is taught. I actually think the method makes sense once it is explained. My beef is with the unnecessary jargon that is used (likely due to the text book manufacturers), which makes it hard for me to understand the worksheets and some of the problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our school has a meeting every year to explain how the math is taught. I actually think the method makes sense once it is explained. My beef is with the unnecessary jargon that is used (likely due to the text book manufacturers), which makes it hard for me to understand the worksheets and some of the problems.

Can I come!?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Ok, so after looking up "how to" do some of the methods like Doubles, Count On the Bridge to 10... I get it. But yes, it seems a lot harder than the way I was taught but I understand that it makes sure the learner knows relationships between the numbers.

I would think teaching parents how to do math this way would be key in getting buy-in! Are DC schools doing this?

Because, you know, teachers don't have enough to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just read this article about teaching parents to understand Common Core Math and was VERY confused by the examples given. Was anyone else stumped? Do you kids understand it? Are any DC schools giving parent workshops to explain it? Any free online resources that you've found helpful? I'm a former math whiz but don't get what I just read.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/common-core-math-schools-help-mystified-parents/

I have a preschooler so haven't hit any of this yet, just bracing for the next couple of years.

Yes. Some schools are giving workshops.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Workshops sounds like a great idea!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Ok, so after looking up "how to" do some of the methods like Doubles, Count On the Bridge to 10... I get it. But yes, it seems a lot harder than the way I was taught but I understand that it makes sure the learner knows relationships between the numbers.

I would think teaching parents how to do math this way would be key in getting buy-in! Are DC schools doing this?

Because, you know, teachers don't have enough to do.

True but cost-benefit analysis would tell me that spending an hour teaching parents how I am going to teach their kids math this teach is better than the 10+ hours I will spend answering their emails, going to conferences, etc. Plus parents are stakeholders in this too. They need to understand what is going on in the classroom.