Reply to Teacher marking things wrong in math if they don't show work

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It’s part of math and will be necessary as he advances so definitely best not to fight it but instead support him developing the skill. Whatever you don’t act like getting out of showing work is worthwhile goal or that he is somehow “good at math” because he can do it in his head. [b]Being good at math includes showing work. [/quote][/b]

Exactly. If the instructions say to show your work, that’s what you need to do. There are good reasons for it and kids don’t necessarily understand the underlying reasons now, but they will when they are older. And they will appreciate the teachers who insisted on following instructions. [/quote]

OP here - I am a teacher, and I don't think our stated mission anywhere is to teach kids to follow instructions.  I thought it was to teach them critical thinking, yada yada.  So following instructions when it means doing something unnecessary that just make the work harder really isn't worth teaching.  Like I said earlier - I was a teacher in fcps, and the only reason we insisted on them writing out the work was when we started the SOL high stakes testing and really needed them to get every answer right.  There was no educational theory at all behind that.[/quote]

If nothing else it’s important to be in the habit of showing work by the time he gets to 6th grade because teachers will give partial credit if the problem was done sensibly but there was a something like a rounding error or copying down 6 instead of 9. Also, the fact is even gifted math students didn’t do complicated algebra problems in their head and there are conventions around d how work is shown that even your young Einstein needs to follow. Sounds like you are not helping the situation at all with your attitude (and like you were fairly shortsighted as a teacher too.) [/quote]

This is part of math.  There are a TON of reasons why you need to show your work in math.  At some point, even the most gifted kids can't do it all in their head.  Better to establish the habit of showing your work early on.  Plus, the point isn't that your kid knows the answer, it's that they know how they got that answer, because the method is the same even as the problems get harder.  [/quote]

Adding another reason to the pile for always showing your work... if anyone has ever had to go back and reassess an algorithm written by a previous worker, it is infinitely easier if that previous worker showed their work!  Otherwise, you’re left wondering “well where did this pi come from?  Should that be there?” Which of course leads to a lot of reinventing the wheel, otherwise known as wasting time.[/quote]

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