Thanks for your post.
First of all, I just want to say that it's very unfortunate that your niece's 3rd grade teacher failed to do her job properly. A child's education shouldn't suffer because of inappropriate behavior by a teacher. The school district definitely dropped the ball there.
My wife is an educator. She currently teaches third grade, so I was interested in what she had to say about this article. Since she recently graduated with a Bachelor's in Science in Elementary Education and had many courses dealing with teaching methods, we've had many conversations about this subject.
When you and I look at a math problem, we see it a certain way because of how we were taught to deal with the problem. This is usually a simple algorithm that we were taught to apply to numbers that works every time. Therefore we see this as the way it should be done because it's fast and efficient. However, it doesn't really tell us why we're doing it. (Think about borrowing in subtraction or writing a number above another number in double digit subtraction. You know it works, but have you ever considered why it works?)
Common Core is simply a different system by which children are taught to approach the same sets of problems, except with a focus on the "why." For what we consider "simple" math problems like multiplication tables and addition, the methods seem a bit silly. However, when viewed in the context of much harder problems, they begin to make more sense.
I'll refer you to this video. I encourage you to watch it with an open mind. There are a lot of people in the comments of this video who agree very strongly with you that the methods are silly, however, in my opinion he does a great job of explaining the concepts behind why it's taught the way it is. This helps more children be able to understand the "why" behind math, as well as develop mental math strategies for solving more difficult problems down the road. They can also better understand concepts like "place value" this way.
The best analogy I can come up with to explain the importance of understanding the "why" in math is calculus. For anyone who has ever taken calculus, you know that there are shortcut methods for solving problems (specifically when taking derivatives and performing differentiation). However, anyone who has ever learned calculus can tell you why you're able to take the shortcuts, because you first learn the "why" (i.e. limit definition of derivative, area under a curve). Similarly, Common Core is a foundational method of teaching that builds over time.
In your situation, I do agree with you that your niece learning math via the new Common Core standards is a roadblock in you being able to help her. That's where most of the complaints are. Parents and relatives who attempt to help children with their math simply cannot because it's a different system, so in this regard, perhaps the new standards do leave something to be desired. However, I would encourage you not to be quick to dismiss the methods of teaching simply because they are new and different. Many children are able to learn math more effectively this way when they can visualize the "why," so this actually may lead to higher graduation rates.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I just wanted to lay it out from a teacher's (husband's) perspective because I know how hard my wife works to make sure that all of her students understand math concepts so that they can succeed in future grades.
I sincerely hope that your niece is able to succeed. If you need any further direction for how to better help her, please let me know. I'm sure my wife can provide some digital resources that could help your situation!
@tippy vote
@originalworks
Thanks for taking the time to write all that. It's a great comment and I wish I could give you more than 10 cents for it. You make a very good point about it being a different way of teaching and the positive side of it. To be honest my complaint about things is more the local schools and not really common core math. Common core is here to stay and I can adjust to that. I'm getting my doctorate and hope to go back to teaching college so I'm sure I can teach myself common core rules. The shame is all those parents raised to do math differently who can't help the current generation with their homework because they can't understand the new rules.
What does bother me more are things like no textbooks. My niece really needs some kind of reference book to bring home so she can look things up. Money is tight and the local schools are always looking for ways to cut back on costs like no textbooks. The school doesn't give the kids things to bring home to their parents to keep parents informed as to what the kids are learning. I'm having to buy a math textbook because my niece doesn't have anything except her daily handouts and they don't have more than a few math examples. She's very lost and just having a textbook at home to look up definitions and a multiplication table with all the numbers would help her more than anything. She has all A's in everything else and is super smart. Just last year with the alcoholic teacher really got her lost in the one subject.
I appreciate you taking the time to read my comment. It's always good to keep a healthy discourse about these types of issues.
First of all, best wishes in graduate school. I'm in graduate school myself, so I know how challenging it can be. I'm also sure that you can conquer Common Core math, so good luck with that too. You're right. It's tough that parents aren't able to help their kids with homework, and I think that's the main source of the complaints with Common Core methods. Maybe I should produce a video series for an adult target audience about Common Core. Could be a hit... haha or maybe not.
Either way, I understand the textbook thing. Even now in graduate school, I'm glad I kept all of my textbooks from my undergraduate studies because I can reference them as I need them. Especially for things like calculus. Textbooks are another tough issue in schools. My wife tells me that the problem teachers have with textbooks is that by the time the school gets the funding approved to purchase a new set, there may be other better resources that have come out in the meantime, meaning the teachers are less likely to teach from the textbook.
However, there is an argument to be made about having reference materials available to students in tough situations like your niece. You might try asking the school librarian if something like that is available. Librarians are always extremely helpful human beings.
Best wishes moving forward. I hope she's able to recover in math. I credit my love of math as the reason I'm in graduate school now, so I wish her nothing but success moving forward.
Thanks again for your thoughtful response. I think conversations like these make me appreciate Steemit even more.
The @OriginalWorks bot has determined this post by @marxrab to be original material and upvoted it!
To call @OriginalWorks, simply reply to any post with @originalworks or !originalworks in your message!
To nominate this post for the daily RESTEEM contest, upvote this comment! The user with the most upvotes on their @OriginalWorks comment will win!
For more information, Click Here!