I'm sure this has already been discussed in this forum but a coworker and I were discussing common core math and how ridiculous it is......it's like let's something as simple as basic arithmetic and make it unnecessarily complicated....also when they get to college they are going to be in big trouble because they have been taught to do math in the wrong way.
common core math
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I have no clue about common core other than a family member being a high-school math teacher and he thinks common core math is terrible. What I do know is most people didn't even understand basic math before common core. My college statistics class showed just how much we were lacking on math skills. Most didn't even understand basic math, let alone statistics.
I was discussing this today with one of my managers, who also has a teaching degree. He told me that most teachers hate teaching but do it because they have to. All states except took federal grant money to implement this system. Georgia took one look at it and decided it was the stupidest thing they had ever and sent the grant money back
Common core is a political term that was coined to provide uniform standards for all school districts to follow. Unfortunately, it has become a catch all for evaluating school and teacher performance, and now controls how funding is allocated to individual schools. It is not what you are looking at when you look at the way students are solving math problems.
I'm almost twice your age. I was taught arithmetic in elementary school. My youngest son is your age. He was taught arithmetic in kindergarten. My 10 year old grandson has never been taught arithmetic. He does, however, solve math problems that didn't exist in high school math when his father or I were there. My suggestion is to take the time to learn the basics of math that is being taught today. You can become as proficient in math as my 10 year old grandson is in the fifth grade.
Sadly today, most of us have not kept up with basic education needed by our students, and our criticism of the teaching methods are handicapping our children's progress, and many elementary and high school teachers are twenty or more years behind when it comes to math and science.
I'm almost twice your age. I was taught arithmetic in elementary school. My youngest son is your age. He was taught arithmetic in kindergarten. My 10 year old grandson has never been taught arithmetic. He does, however, solve math problems that didn't exist in high school math when his father or I were there. My suggestion is to take the time to learn the basics of math that is being taught today. You can become as proficient in math as my 10 year old grandson is in the fifth grade.
Sadly today, most of us have not kept up with basic education needed by our students, and our criticism of the teaching methods are handicapping our children's progress, and many elementary and high school teachers are twenty or more years behind when it comes to math and science.
i'm a mathematician. i've also spent a lot of years working as an auditor, counting & summing odd numbers together quickly. both of my parents, and a lot of my friends are or were teachers.
billyd's right; what you're calling "common core" isn't what "common core" really is. the anti-hype in the media about changing some of the ways that teaching math is approached is confusing and overblowing this whole issue. i feel like a lot of that is politically motivated just to stir up more resentment with the current administration.
he's also right that there's a great number of teachers who aren't well prepared to teach math or science to begin with, and that having a fit and throwing your hands up in the air about it isn't helping your kids. complaining doesn't solve issues. understanding them and learning to work with them does. and it's not the "wrong way" to do math; in fact it's pretty helpful to look at addition and subtraction in the way that's popularly complained about and called "common core" for a couple of reasons - it's teaching kids to think a bit more abstractly, which in turn should make the transition to algebra and other higher subjects easier, and if you can wrap your head around the concept and get used to it, it makes estimation and some classes of other operations faster and easier to do.
when i add up something like 88 + 95 + 75, in my head i do 300 - (12 + 5 + 25) = 300 - 42 = 258. and i can do that faster in my head than i can carry the 1 and the 2 etc.
say you need to count the number of blocks in this picture:
the fastest way to do that?
it's a 4x4x4 cube. 4*4*4 = 64
4 blocks are missing. 64 - 4 = 60.
that's the concept here.
now really, how hard and confusing is that? how "wrong" is it?
billyd's right; what you're calling "common core" isn't what "common core" really is. the anti-hype in the media about changing some of the ways that teaching math is approached is confusing and overblowing this whole issue. i feel like a lot of that is politically motivated just to stir up more resentment with the current administration.
he's also right that there's a great number of teachers who aren't well prepared to teach math or science to begin with, and that having a fit and throwing your hands up in the air about it isn't helping your kids. complaining doesn't solve issues. understanding them and learning to work with them does. and it's not the "wrong way" to do math; in fact it's pretty helpful to look at addition and subtraction in the way that's popularly complained about and called "common core" for a couple of reasons - it's teaching kids to think a bit more abstractly, which in turn should make the transition to algebra and other higher subjects easier, and if you can wrap your head around the concept and get used to it, it makes estimation and some classes of other operations faster and easier to do.
when i add up something like 88 + 95 + 75, in my head i do 300 - (12 + 5 + 25) = 300 - 42 = 258. and i can do that faster in my head than i can carry the 1 and the 2 etc.
say you need to count the number of blocks in this picture:
it's a 4x4x4 cube. 4*4*4 = 64
4 blocks are missing. 64 - 4 = 60.
that's the concept here.
now really, how hard and confusing is that? how "wrong" is it?
i'm a mathematician. i've also spent a lot of years working as an auditor, counting & summing odd numbers together quickly. both of my parents, and a lot of my friends are or were teachers.
billyd's right; what you're calling "common core" isn't what "common core" really is. the anti-hype in the media about changing some of the ways that teaching math is approached is confusing and overblowing this whole issue. i feel like a lot of that is politically motivated just to stir up more resentment with the current administration.
he's also right that there's a great number of teachers who aren't well prepared to teach math or science to begin with, and that having a fit and throwing your hands up in the air about it isn't helping your kids. complaining doesn't solve issues. understanding them and learning to work with them does. and it's not the "wrong way" to do math; in fact it's pretty helpful to look at addition and subtraction in the way that's popularly complained about and called "common core" for a couple of reasons - it's teaching kids to think a bit more abstractly, which in turn should make the transition to algebra and other higher subjects easier, and if you can wrap your head around the concept and get used to it, it makes estimation and some classes of other operations faster and easier to do.
when i add up something like 88 + 95 + 75, in my head i do 300 - (12 + 5 + 25) = 300 - 42 = 258. and i can do that faster in my head than i can carry the 1 and the 2 etc.
say you need to count the number of blocks in this picture:
the fastest way to do that?
it's a 4x4x4 cube. 4*4*4 = 64
4 blocks are missing. 64 - 4 = 60.
that's the concept here.
now really, how hard and confusing is that? how "wrong" is it?
billyd's right; what you're calling "common core" isn't what "common core" really is. the anti-hype in the media about changing some of the ways that teaching math is approached is confusing and overblowing this whole issue. i feel like a lot of that is politically motivated just to stir up more resentment with the current administration.
he's also right that there's a great number of teachers who aren't well prepared to teach math or science to begin with, and that having a fit and throwing your hands up in the air about it isn't helping your kids. complaining doesn't solve issues. understanding them and learning to work with them does. and it's not the "wrong way" to do math; in fact it's pretty helpful to look at addition and subtraction in the way that's popularly complained about and called "common core" for a couple of reasons - it's teaching kids to think a bit more abstractly, which in turn should make the transition to algebra and other higher subjects easier, and if you can wrap your head around the concept and get used to it, it makes estimation and some classes of other operations faster and easier to do.
when i add up something like 88 + 95 + 75, in my head i do 300 - (12 + 5 + 25) = 300 - 42 = 258. and i can do that faster in my head than i can carry the 1 and the 2 etc.
say you need to count the number of blocks in this picture:
the fastest way to do that?
it's a 4x4x4 cube. 4*4*4 = 64
4 blocks are missing. 64 - 4 = 60.
that's the concept here.
now really, how hard and confusing is that? how "wrong" is it?
A little different adding: 80+90+70 =(240); 8+5+5 =(18 ); 240+18=258
I think a lot of this has to do with the WAY a person thinks, whether in abstracts or visuals. Just as the trend is to turn language from abstract to visual-picture-form so the math has gone from abstract to visual. Some find it easier, others tougher.
Until I first started working with my 10 year old grandson, I never understood how my grandfather, who had only a second grade education, always had the answer to any arithmetic problem, regardless of the complexity before I did. He never used a pencil and paper.
It also explained how my youngest son, now 45, was taught in kindergarten, everything I was taught in elementary school. He was taught by an art teacher. Since his other elementary school teachers and I had very little experience with the kindergarten methods, he had a terrible time in the rest of elementary school. Since my 10 year old grandson's teacher's understand the methodology, he is working problems in the fifth grade that I didn't see in high school.
As I stated earlier, we need bite the bullet and start learning with our children. Everyone be surprised at the problem solving tools that he/she will develop.
It also explained how my youngest son, now 45, was taught in kindergarten, everything I was taught in elementary school. He was taught by an art teacher. Since his other elementary school teachers and I had very little experience with the kindergarten methods, he had a terrible time in the rest of elementary school. Since my 10 year old grandson's teacher's understand the methodology, he is working problems in the fifth grade that I didn't see in high school.
As I stated earlier, we need bite the bullet and start learning with our children. Everyone be surprised at the problem solving tools that he/she will develop.
R
'common core' itself is not the problem...what is known as 'common core' is simply an attempt to have a nationwide set of content area standards for education...this is not a bad thing assuming the standards are realistic and appropriate...
the problem is that currently many of the standards are -not- realistic or appropriate...there has been a tendency towards standard sets that are 'a mile wide and an inch deep' and a lack of attention to correlations and need for prior knowledge across multiple content areas...
what needs to be done is not to abolish the principle of common core...but instead to overhaul the content area standards so that they make sense...
the problem is that currently many of the standards are -not- realistic or appropriate...there has been a tendency towards standard sets that are 'a mile wide and an inch deep' and a lack of attention to correlations and need for prior knowledge across multiple content areas...
what needs to be done is not to abolish the principle of common core...but instead to overhaul the content area standards so that they make sense...
