I've told this story before - my mom was helping my daughter with a common core math problem and was using a different method than they learned in school and my daughter was getting frustrated. My mom told her to take a step back and think about the question and my daughter replied, "we're not supposed to think we're just supposed to follow the steps".
Common Core doesn't require correct answers, as long as the student can explain how he or she got that answer. I truly hope that if I ever need brain surgery that my doctor was not educated in a CommonCore curriculula.
Common Core, at least from what I've seen of it, isn't really "new" ways to do math. They might push for different ways of learning, but everywhere I've been they're just a set of standards that students should be at by the end of a certain grade. No school I've been in has actually adopted what is known as "Common Core Math". Common Core's real purpose is to provide everyone with a set of standards so that kids across the country can be on similar levels. I'm not a fan of changing the way we do math just to change it, but I get that not everyone learns the same way.
Our service dept. was out hanging up the wreaths and garlands in town. It's 74* outside. I'm not complaining.
(Where I live, they don't decorate the downtown until Thanksgiving weekend.)
The unusually warm weather this year. It usually isn't until after Veteran's Day.Why so early? What do they think they are -- Disney??!!
Last post from me on common core. This is an example of the homework problems they have. There's a big swing of dumping it in Ohio in the next few years and going back to the old standard.
It's fine to teach kids other ways to solve problems, but this is a perfect example of just how wrong it is to make every student do it this way. Imagine how exasperating it is to the kids who could do that in their heads!!!
The ones where they need to explain why the kid in the problem thinks a particular way are the ones that make me nuts.
DH always comments that their answers should include a creative dance to explain their answers.
As long as the kid understands how to do it, I'm okay with it. It's not about me as the teacher, it's about the student. I think if schools fully understood what the CCSS were intended for, it would actually be beneficial. However, I think a lot of schools are using CC as an entirely new curriculum - which isn't what CC is at all. As long as the student understands it, then my job as a teacher is to give them their best opportunity to succeed.
You're correct to a degree, but the standardized tests, which are used to evaluate schools, teachers, as well as students, are scored by how the student arrives at their answer. It's very frustrating for kids, teachers, and parents on all levels.
That's not how the tests are here in Wisconsin. Ours are still scored by the correct answer - at least in every school I've been in, as well as all the discussions we've had in classes. Doesn't matter how the students got to the answers, as they are multiple choice. But standardized tests are another topic, which my opinion is pretty negative on, so I won't get into that.
Schools here used to use the NECAP tests, which were bad enough, but now the state uses the PARCC tests.
