On today's installment of Tell Me How You Really Feel, we're talking Common Core. Specifically, Common Core Math. Now don't be afraid, FRN. I'm not really talking math today because the Common Core guidelines have a funny way of making math not really about math. Truly, I jest. But sometimes you look at how that information is being taught and it's no longer about solving the problem. It's about recognizing that the problem even calls for math. Think I"m nuts? Google Common Core Math examples and see what you find. And don't even get me started on matrix math and bar models. (I guess I should add at least this little tidbit: I think math should be understood and liked by more people, and because that is what the Common Core is attempting to do, I commend them. I just think that sometimes, you shouldn't fix what isn't broken.)
But what I want to tell you about are the worksheets the Common Core provides, one of which Aaron came home with this week. The title of the worksheet was Multiplication (Vertical). I looked at the sheet and tried to decide what was so vertical about it. I quickly realized that the creators of the fine piece of paper meant that this multiplication worksheet (3 digit X 2 digit) could be done by the traditional method--the process that we probably learned when we were kids. Wonderful! Aaron went about his homework, and I checked it when he was done.
Imagine my surprise when I made my way to the bottom of the paper and saw this:
Yes, that is a table the teacher can use to easily access the grade of the student. My problem? That sort of math--knowing that if you have twenty questions, for each one wrong you deduct five--is something that every child should eventually know. That every teacher should know already. Without a table at the bottom of the page!
If the Common Core expects for our students to learn and comprehend different ways of computation--from the traditional methods I grew up with to bar models and relating division to multiplication--than I think we can expect that the teachers who teach these students KNOW that a person who received a score of 18/20 gets a 90%. They should not have to consult a table at the bottom of the page.
We're all about teaching our children to think, so is it too much to ask to require our teachers to think as well? And that, my friends, is how I really feel.
But what I want to tell you about are the worksheets the Common Core provides, one of which Aaron came home with this week. The title of the worksheet was Multiplication (Vertical). I looked at the sheet and tried to decide what was so vertical about it. I quickly realized that the creators of the fine piece of paper meant that this multiplication worksheet (3 digit X 2 digit) could be done by the traditional method--the process that we probably learned when we were kids. Wonderful! Aaron went about his homework, and I checked it when he was done.
Imagine my surprise when I made my way to the bottom of the paper and saw this:
1-10
|
95
|
90
|
85
|
80
|
75
|
70
|
65
|
60
|
55
|
50
|
11-20
|
45
|
40
|
35
|
30
|
25
|
20
|
15
|
10
|
5
|
0
|
Yes, that is a table the teacher can use to easily access the grade of the student. My problem? That sort of math--knowing that if you have twenty questions, for each one wrong you deduct five--is something that every child should eventually know. That every teacher should know already. Without a table at the bottom of the page!
If the Common Core expects for our students to learn and comprehend different ways of computation--from the traditional methods I grew up with to bar models and relating division to multiplication--than I think we can expect that the teachers who teach these students KNOW that a person who received a score of 18/20 gets a 90%. They should not have to consult a table at the bottom of the page.
We're all about teaching our children to think, so is it too much to ask to require our teachers to think as well? And that, my friends, is how I really feel.
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