Common Core Math

[Llano Estacado 1257]

The final answer isn’t the goal of the question.  The thought process is the goal.  It is why showing your work is important.

That’s where the engineer dads have issue. Elementary school arithmetic the final answers is right or wrong. If you understand the concepts then it’s frustrating to force kids to perform method C when they see method B as easier.

98x12 = 100x12-2x12 = 90x12 + 8x12 = 98x10 + 98x2 = 90x10 + 90x2 + 8x10 + 8x2 = 1176.

To dock a kid just because his brain thinks it’s easier to round to 100 and subtract 24 after he’s shown proof of concept is hard to justify.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

8 minutes ago, Llano Estacado said:

 

That’s where the engineer dads have issue. Elementary school arithmetic the final answers is right or wrong. If you understand the concepts then it’s frustrating to force kids to perform method C when they see method B as easier.

98x12 = 100x12-2x12 = 90x12 + 8x12 = 98x10 + 98x2 = 90x10 + 90x2 + 8x10 + 8x2 = 1176.

To dock a kid just because his brain thinks it’s easier to round to 100 and subtract 24 after he’s shown proof of concept is hard to justify.

 

Thank God I have a calculator.

[Guest]

18 hours ago, Incredulity said:

Working with my Daughter on long division. Makes the simple pretty complex.

Anyone think it helps? Or have positive anecdotes?  

Oldmanyellsattree.jpeg

we were making fun of this bullshit and how many steps it takes.  Son with a Computer Science degree says, "Oh yeah, that's how I do math all the time..."

I was just thinking of some of the math teachers I had throughout school and I'm pretty sure all of their heads would have exploded from this nonsense.

I've tried to work through it, to better understand the alleged logic and reasoning, but it always ends up in frustration with the extra steps.  I would have lost my mind in school...I BARELY showed my work with the much more efficient older methods.  I would have done a bunch of Fuck yous on all that drawn out bullshit.

Why do in 4 steps what you can do in 27?

[High Plains Drifter 11054]

It all went to shit when they stopped using the abacus.

[High Plains Drifter 11054]

Shit, calculators. I remember having to look up sin32* in a goddamn table.  I still remember that the sin45* = 1/(sqrt2), etc.

[Buffsoldier 1895]

1 hour ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Thank God I have a calculator.

[tbone_ 14211]

I had physics before calculus in high school.

[elfenix 34364]

24 minutes ago, tbone_ said:

I had physics before calculus in high school.

me too.  calculus was a senior option for people who'd gotten algebra in 8th grade.  i think we had 1 or 2 eleventh graders.  physics was a mix of juniors and seniors, and physics 2 (AP) was all seniors. 

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Kringelbert Fishtybuns said:

  The final answer isn’t the goal of the question.  The thought process is the goal.  It is why showing your work is important.  

 

says people who are working in a fucking classroom.

With all due respect, this is bullshit and not at all applicable in the real world.

Get the right answer by any means necessary, and if you can do it more efficiently than the next person, you are going to be more effective/ hireable.

Edited February 6, 2019 by slorch

[Kringelbert Fishtybuns 945]

1 hour ago, slorch said:

says people who are working in a fucking classroom.

With all due respect, this is bullshit and not at all applicable in the real world.

Get the right answer by any means necessary, and if you can do it more efficiently than the next person, you are going to be more effective/ hireable.

I’m not a teacher you troglodyte.  The goal of a kid learning in school is to learn how to go through the thought process and all the possible ways to solve a fucking problem - to learn how to think and reason.  That way when you are presented something in the workplace/life you can find the quickest solution or a solution at all.  School is the place to learn these things so you don’t shit the bed too badly at your first job.

You may only need to know how to calculate sales tax or make sure someone isn’t over 40 hours for the week, but some of us solve abstract problems from large data sets with a lot of unknowns that require critical thinking.  These necessitate skills and understanding of fundamental concepts greater than the rote memorization of flash cards.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Kringelbert Fishtybuns said:

I’m not a teacher you troglodyte.  The goal of a kid learning in school is to learn how to go through the thought process and all the possible ways to solve a fucking problem - to learn how to think and reason.  That way when you are presented something in the workplace/life you can find the quickest solution or a solution at all.  School is the place to learn these things so you don’t shit the bed too badly at your first job.

You may only need to know how to calculate sales tax or make sure someone isn’t over 40 hours for the week, but some of us solve abstract problems from large data sets with a lot of unknowns that require critical thinking.  These necessitate skills and understanding of fundamental concepts greater than the rote memorization of flash cards.

So that's why we have to unteach the bullshit thought processes from our college newbs, right?

Everything's on flashcards in the real world.  Stop getting caught up in what the book says and execute...

 

and i didn't say you were a teacher, but you damn sure subscribe to the "academia trump reality" line of thought.

 

We cool though.  It takes motherfuckers like you to handle the minutiae.

Edited February 7, 2019 by slorch

[Js1 85651]

3 hours ago, tbone_ said:

I had physics before calculus in high school.

Same. Physics junior year, calculus senior year 

[gmr548 16617]

23 hours ago, Your Mom said:

 I’ve definitely seen some newfangled techniques in my kids’ math work  but I don’t think it’s actually Common Core. I thought I  read somewhere a few years ago that Common Core is not taught in Texas public schools.  Am I wrong in that? 

Yes and no. Teaching Common Core is actually illegal in Texas. Because... Well, Texas. Duh. That said, while I haven't been in a classroom since 2015, the experienced math teachers I knew said that despite the blusterous rhetoric you see out of politicians, the standards have been trending toward CC. A quick google search shows a lot of articles claiming that math standards Texas put forward in 1026 are very similar to CC. Charter schools also have a bit more freedom to set their own.

 

I don't really have an opinion on CC math because I am not real well versed in it. What little I've seen does seem like it could be confusing at first, but it also seems to resemble how I do math in my head. We are a nation of morons who are terrible at math, even in a day to day sense. If CC helps change that then bring it on. 

[VolenteHawk 495]

22 hours ago, HoustonHorn said:

Funny because I'm an engineer and can do crazy math in my head but usually it's because I see it in a different way than how I was"taught"which was memorization. I just can't see how it's a bad thing to teach kids different ways to understand concepts instead of memorization.

This is me too. EE and can do pretty complicated math in my head. Common core is much more like the way I solve problems mentally than multiplication tables. When I see common core bitching on Facebook, it’s from people that were abject idiots in HS. I just assume their kid’s 7th grade homework has them frustrated and out of their depth.

 

[Knoxtnhorn 6073]

I'm a teacher, so I'll opine.

There are two different issues here - the practical and the political.

Practically, it is a math strategy that could help some children but confuse the hell out of others.  A good teacher knows to differentiate teaching so as many students as possible become successful/proficient.  If CC was instituted as one of multiple strategies to teach math (and/or ELA), there probably wouldn't have been much of a controversy.  The problem is that, in many cases, it was quickly adopted at the state levels and instituted as the only way to teach math/ELA.

What's interesting about the politics is that people from both sides of the aisle have raised hell both for and against it.  You had the Obama administration, Chamber of Commerce Associations, and Exxon/Mobil, for example, lauding it while liberal teacher unions and The Heritage Foundation joined forces against it.  Some of the initial objections came from the Feds tying funding to its acceptance at the state level.  Essentially, organizations/groups from both sides hated it and supported it.

I started teaching in TN in 2012.  At the time, we had spi's for each grade level to teach for the state's standardized test - TCAP.  Each district treated the teaching process differently, as they had autonomy.  All of the sudden, TN adopts CC and all hell breaks loose.  All the districts were basically told that CC would be fully implemented within 3 years and to get your shit in gear.  Long story short.  The computer versions of the CC tests crashed the first three years, districts were pissed because they spent quite a bit of money on both materials and training, teachers were pissed because they had to do all this new training, parents were pissed because, "WTF is going on".  It was a complete disaster.  At last check, the TN DoE was trying to figure out how to get out of something they had completely committed to w/o losing even more money and pissing off even more people.

I could add more, but I'm pretty sure I've crossed into tl;dr territory more than once.

 

 

 

 

[Kringelbert Fishtybuns 945]

16 minutes ago, slorch said:

So that's why we have to unteach the bullshit thought processes from our college newbs, right?

Everything's on flashcards in the real world.  Stop getting caught up in what the book says and execute...

 

and i didn't say you were a teacher, but you damn sure subscribe to the "academics trump reality" line of thought.

All new hires require some sort of training to tailor them to the specific role.  If you have to actively untrain your new hires, that is on the hiring manager.  

If everything you do is on flash cards, then maybe you don’t need to hire college grads.

The only line of thought I am advocating is for school to be the place to get a solid knowledge base and learn different ways to solve a problem.  Not develop robots for computations and chart reading.  There is a reason that works gets outsourced overseas.  Defining the problem, setting shit up, making correct assumptions is the hard part.  A simple computational error is a pretty minor/easy overall fix.  That kind of error would be caught by someone who had the fundamentals to check their answer using another method.

21 minutes ago, VolenteHawk said:

This is me too. EE and can do pretty complicated math in my head. Common core is much more like the way I solve problems mentally than multiplication tables. When I see common core bitching on Facebook, it’s from people that were abject idiots in HS. I just assume their kid’s 7th grade homework has them frustrated and out of their depth.

 

Same but switch to ChE and no Facebook account.

[elfenix 34364]

3 minutes ago, BurntEyes said:

So actual, you know physics, was taught after calculus at your HS as it should be.

I don't what the fuck you were taking prior, but it wasn't physics no matter what they fucking called it, if it didn't involve calculus.

at best it was taught concurrently.  i don't think any of it required any calculus. 

[HoustonHorn 1062]

Give it enough time for teachers to actually learn how to effectively teach it and then give it enough time to be implemented for kids to progress through the entire program and then measure. Are they better at math as a whole than they were before?

I'll put up money they are better with CC. Understanding is better than memorization. It's math.

I'm a teacher, so I'll opine.
There are two different issues here - the practical and the political.
Practically, it is a math strategy that could help some children but confuse the hell out of others.  A good teacher knows to differentiate teaching so as many students as possible become successful/proficient.  If CC was instituted as one of multiple strategies to teach math (and/or ELA), there probably wouldn't have been much of a controversy.  The problem is that, in many cases, it was quickly adopted at the state levels and instituted as the only way to teach math/ELA.
What's interesting about the politics is that people from both sides of the aisle have raised hell both for and against it.  You had the Obama administration, Chamber of Commerce Associations, and Exxon/Mobil, for example, lauding it while liberal teacher unions and The Heritage Foundation joined forces against it.  Some of the initial objections came from the Feds tying funding to its acceptance at the state level.  Essentially, organizations/groups from both sides hated it and supported it.
I started teaching in TN in 2012.  At the time, we had spi's for each grade level to teach for the state's standardized test - TCAP.  Each district treated the teaching process differently, as they had autonomy.  All of the sudden, TN adopts CC and all hell breaks loose.  All the districts were basically told that CC would be fully implemented within 3 years and to get your shit in gear.  Long story short.  The computer versions of the CC tests crashed the first three years, districts were pissed because they spent quite a bit of money on both materials and training, teachers were pissed because they had to do all this new training, parents were pissed because, "WTF is going on".  It was a complete disaster.  At last check, the TN DoE was trying to figure out how to get out of something they had completely committed to w/o losing even more money and pissing off even more people.
I could add more, but I'm pretty sure I've crossed into tl;dr territory more than once.
 
 
 
 

[FartingMonk 3608]

yeah man.  you're learning newtonian physics in high school.  you're out of your element donny

[Guest Lobo]

I blame the fact that we have two real numbers who are polysyllabic.  It actually fucks with the brain to have zero and seven sitting out there like assholes.  

[TwiceHorn 31646]

F=ma works as well as F-dv/dt at an introductory level.

[tbone_ 14211]

F=Bqv. We remembered this one as F equals barbqued vomit.

[Newdoc 3457]

Back in my day.... Eatin Cap N Crunch and learnin maths....

[hayden_horn 11365]

F = how can I get in her pants for most dudes. 

Look, we were all waiting on superman and super parent @slorch to opine on this topic. With all due respect, man, this modern age requires students to do more so they can be more. 

Finding an algorithm to solve your problem is different than adding receipts. And that is no slam. Our world today requires all of it.

Also, there's a reason I excelled in college physics and failed in calculus and geometry. Physics is simple for me. I dont know why. But physics before chemistry and calculus may be best. 

[Guest]

I talk about real world application and you take a shot at my parenting?  i describe how newly minted college folks have to be 'unlearned' on this thought process so they can actually function in some industry...and it's an affront to your sensibilities on parenting?

 

Fuck you.  You people cling to your hardships...LOlz.  Reality vs theory is an affront to your core beliefs.  The world is ending if we don't fuck up mafs...

and the American dream is dead.

Next, you're gonna tell me we're out of beer and can only watch soccer...

 

Edited February 7, 2019 by slorch

[Thatguy 8913]

  As a former res of California I will say that Texas doesn't teach CC. They teach a mix of normal math with CC concepts mixed in. That said, CC still forces you to work problems in a certain way, which defeats the purpose of what it's trying to do. This could've been solved a lot easier by allowing kids who arrive at the correct answers in a way that most consider to be wonky to simply.......be right. There are two schools of Angry Parents.

 

1) The school of parents who don't understand the concepts and thus can't help them with their homework.

2) Parents who think the concepts are confusing their child more than helping.

 

We came from Welby Way Charter Elementary and Gifted High Ability Magnet in CA, where they really really teach CC. We have to say we prefer the way Texas is doing it, as it seems to allow a little more wiggle room for arriving at the correct answer "your own way". We are headed into middle school next year, where these base CC concepts are supposed to shine. We will see.

[Guest]

the new mafs...they is a helpin.

https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/10/17/math-scores-slide-to-a-20-year-low.html

http://factsmaps.com/pisa-worldwide-ranking-average-score-of-math-science-reading/

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2017/04/07/what-international-test-scores-reveal-about-american-education/

 

Edited February 7, 2019 by slorch

[Thatguy 8913]

Maybe once Common Core parents are teaching Common Core kids we will see improvements.

[Kringelbert Fishtybuns 945]

1 hour ago, slorch said:

the new mafs...they is a helpin.

https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/10/17/math-scores-slide-to-a-20-year-low.html

http://factsmaps.com/pisa-worldwide-ranking-average-score-of-math-science-reading/

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2017/04/07/what-international-test-scores-reveal-about-american-education/

 

So most of the complaints I have heard are about the Singapore Math style curriculum of Common Core for K-6.  As I understand, these started being implemented in the US in the late 00-early 10s, with implementation increasing with time.  So the set of ACT scores probably doesn’t reflect that change (first link).  The second link is for 15 yo who would represent the guinea pigs kids of that change, with Singapore topping that list.  The third link says that while the 15 yos haven’t improved the fourth and eighth graders have been vs the kids from 1995.  So while it is too early to say that the new system is the cause for the improvement in the younger kids, I don’t think there is a reason to abandon it yet.

This really isn’t about wearing scarves and drinking Pinot Grigio while listening to Sigur Ros smelling you own farts while turning the future generations into Europhiles who hate America.  It’s about implementing a program that has resulted in the Singapore kids being top ranked in math for the past two decades.  Whether it will work with a significantly larger/diverse population remains to be seen, but there is reason to be optimistic.

[tbone_ 14211]

Damn slorch. You really need to chill out sometimes, turbo.

[Js1 85651]

1 hour ago, tbone_ said:

Damn slorch. You really need to chill out sometimes, turbo.

Ancient dinosaurs don't like change. Especially change that doesn't actually affect them.  They HATE that.

[HOOKEM4 5049]

I didn't read the slorch'd thread, but I will say that I do not understand what they are trying to get my kid to do on his homework. My kid is in the first grade and I look at these worksheets they want him to do and it might as well be chinese. I can tell you what 9+2 is, but I have no idea why you have 12 boxes he needs to fill in and no idea what goes in them.

I did find it humorous when the teacher told us he needs to work on his math. No lady, he needs to work on your math. His math is exceedingly good. Little fucker is 6 and I already have him understanding very basic algebra concepts. 

Edited February 7, 2019 by HOOKEM4

[Guest]

34 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Ancient dinosaurs don't like change. Especially change that doesn't actually affect them.  They HATE that.

48 is old as hell, yo.

I am certainly not anti- change.  Nobody can show me where the win is in this one though.

 

Show me some trends, statbois

[Knoxtnhorn 6073]

I really don't understand the condescension of parents by some on this thread.  If a parent is aware enough to struggle with or question a new teaching concept then, more than likely, the child of said parent will probably be successful whether they use CC or not.  

The increasingly smaller percentage of students that have involved parents will be fine regardless of how they add 2 + 2.  Does CC help the other 50-80%? That should be the question.  And it can be asked w/o trashing those that are concerned.  

[Gene Parmesan 4016]

17 minutes ago, HOOKEM4 said:

I didn't read the slorch'd thread, but I will say that I do not understand what they are trying to get my kid to do on his homework. My kid is in the first grade and I look at these worksheets they want him to do and it might as well be chinese. I can tell you what 9+2 is, but I have no idea why you have 12 boxes he needs to fill in and no idea what goes in them.

I did find it humorous when the teacher told us he needs to work on his math. No lady, he needs to work on your math. His math is exceedingly good. Little fucker is 6 and I already have him understanding very basic algebra concepts. 

If your 6 year old kid's homework looks like Chinese to you, maybe you should sit in on his kindergarten class and learn something.

[elfenix 34364]

2 minutes ago, slorch said:

48 is old as hell, yo.

I am certainly not anti- change.  Nobody can show me where the win is in this one though.

 

Show me some trends, statbois

*posts link*

*doesn't bother understanding it*

*doesn't bother reading the post summarizing understanding it*

[HOOKEM4 5049]

21 minutes ago, Gene Parmesan said:

If your 6 year old kid's homework looks like Chinese to you, maybe you should sit in on his kindergarten class and learn something.

[Js1 85651]

Is that you doing 6 year old math?

[Your Mom 4859]

Slorch,  can you give us an example of the math your new hires are unable to do because of their common core learning?   Can you tell us exactly what it is that you have to unteach them and exactly what it is you’re teaching them in place of that? 

[HOOKEM4 5049]

Pretty much.

Also, whatever they are doing is not common core I guess. Look if it helps make math easier for people I am all for it. Whatever it is they are trying to get him to do. He did all the problems in his head correctly and they were all marked wrong, not because of the result, but because of the path to the result. I remember this being a big deal in school. I was really bad at showing my work. That is all this is I assume. Get in line and march to the beat. That is essentially all school is anyways. 

[hayden_horn 11365]

6 hours ago, slorch said:

I talk about real world application and you take a shot at my parenting?  i describe how newly minted college folks have to be 'unlearned' on this thought process so they can actually function in some industry...and it's an affront to your sensibilities on parenting?

 

Fuck you.  You people cling to your hardships...LOlz.  Reality vs theory is an affront to your core beliefs.  The world is ending if we don't fuck up mafs...

and the American dream is dead.

Next, you're gonna tell me we're out of beer and can only watch soccer...

 

i did not take a shot at your parenting. we all know you are a perfect parent. you've told us dozens of times.

but yeah, i'm curious as to what you have to unlearn from newly minted college kids. we just hired a 24 year old, and i'm having some difficulty personally relating to him, but he seems reasonably bright and capable. 

as to the rest of your post, i have no idea what you are on about. we should always evaluate curriculum as the world changes around us. we are trying to get back on top in the world of stem, and that means instilling an intrinsic capability for kids to think around and through problems in unique ways. we are raising kids to be engineers instead of cashiers. in 30 years, we may not even need human cashiers. but we'll need someone to program and understand and repair the technology in the store where we (or our proxies) shop.

as we progress into an increasingly fragmented and complicated technological age, simply memorizing times tables is simply not going to get the job done.

[Incredulity 11684]

4 hours ago, Kringelbert Fishtybuns said:

So most of the complaints I have heard are about the Singapore Math style curriculum of Common Core for K-6.  As I understand, these started being implemented in the US in the late 00-early 10s, with implementation increasing with time.  So the set of ACT scores probably doesn’t reflect that change (first link).  The second link is for 15 yo who would represent the guinea pigs kids of that change, with Singapore topping that list.  The third link says that while the 15 yos haven’t improved the fourth and eighth graders have been vs the kids from 1995.  So while it is too early to say that the new system is the cause for the improvement in the younger kids, I don’t think there is a reason to abandon it yet.

This really isn’t about wearing scarves and drinking Pinot Grigio while listening to Sigur Ros smelling you own farts while turning the future generations into Europhiles who hate America.  It’s about implementing a program that has resulted in the Singapore kids being top ranked in math for the past two decades.  Whether it will work with a significantly larger/diverse population remains to be seen, but there is reason to be optimistic.

I would also comment that cultural expectations around education/equality of opportunity/discipline in Singapore are SIGNIFICANTLY different than in the United States.  So that would probably account for quite a bit of any achievement gap.

[jimmyjazz 46351]

54 minutes ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

I really don't understand the condescension of parents by some on this thread.  If a parent is aware enough to struggle with or question a new teaching concept then, more than likely, the child of said parent will probably be successful whether they use CC or not.  

I'll tell you what's infuriating: no textbooks.  I can't tell you the number of times I've had to fire up the google machine to help a kid with their homework -- it's easily in triple digits -- because the process being taught is not documented except in the classroom.  Guess what, I'm not in the classroom.  I know fuck all about your new "double diagonal" method of division, but if I had a textbook in front of me I could figure it out in a couple of minutes and help you teach my kids.

[TexasBeta 1267]

1 minute ago, jimmyjazz said:

I'll tell you what's infuriating: no textbooks.  I can't tell you the number of times I've had to fire up the google machine to help a kid with their homework -- it's easily in triple digits -- because the process being taught is not documented except in the classroom.  Guess what, I'm not in the classroom.  I know fuck all about your new "double diagonal" method of division, but if I had a textbook in front of me I could figure it out in a couple of minutes and help you teach my kids.

This right here!!! My kids are sick of me asking - Show me your notes from the book, have you read the book, etc. They study the material directly on the monitor.. I don't see how they can study that way but they do. 

[HOOKEM4 5049]

I think you are supposed to take off work and go take the classes with them. Per gene.

[hayden_horn 11365]

6 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I'll tell you what's infuriating: no textbooks.  I can't tell you the number of times I've had to fire up the google machine to help a kid with their homework -- it's easily in triple digits -- because the process being taught is not documented except in the classroom.  Guess what, I'm not in the classroom.  I know fuck all about your new "double diagonal" method of division, but if I had a textbook in front of me I could figure it out in a couple of minutes and help you teach my kids.

 

3 minutes ago, TexasBeta said:

This right here!!! My kids are sick of me asking - Show me your notes from the book, have you read the book, etc. They study the material directly on the monitor.. I don't see how they can study that way but they do. 

and yeah, i'll third to this. it's fucking infuriating. my 6th grader has math homework, and i'm trying to help, but i have to google everything, and hope i'm right. he takes terrible notes, and as a matter of fact, most of his notes are classmates helping him take notes, which the teacher encourages, much to my dismay. but he's terribly disorganized, and, as a sixth grader, can't seem to recall if he ate lunch, much less what happened in math class. 

but he made 11 tackles in flag football. and scored three times. and prevented 4 touchdowns. all very precise numbers. because he's a boy.

but i digress. if we aren't going to use textbooks, could you at least send a syllabus home? or something?

[TexasBeta 1267]

3 minutes ago, hayden_horn said:

 

and yeah, i'll third to this. it's fucking infuriating. my 6th grader has math homework, and i'm trying to help, but i have to google everything, and hope i'm right. he takes terrible notes, and as a matter of fact, most of his notes are classmates helping him take notes, which the teacher encourages, much to my dismay. but he's terribly disorganized, and, as a sixth grader, can't seem to recall if he ate lunch, much less what happened in math class. 

but he made 11 tackles in flag football. and scored three times. and prevented 4 touchdowns. all very precise numbers. because he's a boy.

but i digress. if we aren't going to use textbooks, could you at least send a syllabus home? or something?

Lol - you are not kidding.. The kids have a syllabus for each class. Of course it is online. The old tactile man in me has to have it on paper. My kids think I'm a caveman and destroyer of trees.

[jimmyjazz 46351]

Yeah, my daughter thought I was a caveman and destroyer of trees, too.  Now she's a junior taking physics and all that force balance and friction and moment of inertia stuff for me is like falling out of the trees I destroyed and I don't need notes or a textbook, and she's flabbergasted that "old man" can do this shit in his sleep.  Ha.  Score one for the old dude.  (She's also pretty damn adept at it, I must say.)

[Your Mom 4859]

If you are in Austin have you checked on TEAMS or BLEND?  My kids middle school teachers all publish their lessons on one of those two sites within the AISD site.  It's hidden away and a little difficult to navigate to but my stress level dropped when I finally found that.

[Huckleberry 33163]

On 2/5/2019 at 10:56 PM, hayden_horn said:

i would get to the right answer the wrong way. "how did you solve for 12*5?" my teacher might ask. "well, i did 10*5, which is fifty and added 10, which is 2*5. that got me to 60." wrong. i was supposed to do the whole 2*5 = 10, carry the one, and do the 5*1 + 1 thing. that seemed too many steps to me and was counter-intuitive.

anyways. just an example. i got more problems wrong for being right than i can remember.

This is how I always do it my teachers didn't suck like yours and I was never counted off if I could explain how I got the answer. It's also complete bullshit that they counted off for you considering you were actually doing it their way but the steps were in a slightly different order and apparently they were too dumb to realize it.