Just Because You Don't Understand It, Doesn't Mean It's Wrong

Breaking numbers up into more manageable
 chunks and visualizing numbers as seen in the
number line can be beneficial to many
 types of learners

Inevitably, I've been thinking a lot about Common Core State Standards lately, especially those related to math. I have recently taken over math at my student teaching placement and my brain is constantly buzzing with thoughts about how to reach the students who just don't get it. Math is a tricky subject. Many students walk around with a fear of it and a resistance to learning it. Math has historically been a  subject where students either get it or they don't and that is a shame.


I think we can all agree that math is important. Math is the foundation for so many different subjects and life skills that students need to get it. Math is a fundamental part of science and society. Students need to have a concept of money value and elapsed time in order to be productive members of the community.

The recent shift to Common Core has left many parents baffled at how math is being taught. The loudest critics of Common Core believe that it is making math unnecessarily complicated, but what does the mean? Many parents today complain that they are unable to help their child with math homework because of the new methods used in teaching mathematics.

I want to address the claim that Common Core makes math "unnecessarily complicated." I think people have a tendency to write of things that are unfamiliar and that they don't understand as complicated.As a new method of education the Common Core method is undoubtedly unfamiliar to most parents. That however, does not make it more complicated. In fact, Common Core breaks down math into chunks to make it easier. Well it may be more steps because of this, it is not more difficult.

Historically, math, especially in younger years, has been a simple subject. Ideally, you plug in numbers into a standard algorithm and out comes your answers. No questions where asked, no thinking was challenged and math was simply robotic. The focus was on getting the correct answer, not what it meant or how you got there.

Check written using Base-Ten Symbols. Base-ten symbols give
students a concrete example of place value and why numbers are carried

Common Core math changes that perspective. No longer is math simply about reaching an answer but it is about how we got there. On any given problem students are required to show their work using not only one but two strategies. The program faces criticisms because of this. Many parents are left wondering why their student needs to know more than one method is the first one worked.Students draw numbers,jump around on number lines and chunk numbers into more manageable parts. Students get to choose they way that works best for them.

Common Core math is beneficial because it allows for a greater range of differentiation. Students learn in different ways and Common Core caters to that. Some students may be fine using a standard algorithm to solve an addition problem using the standard algorithm but others may struggle to do so. Students may now visualize numbers using base-ten pieces (a way of representing place value) or by seeing where it is on a number line. Every student learns in a unique way and schools are now starting to recognize that math needs to be taught in more than one way.


So maybe you don't get the boxes lines and dots that now represent numbers on your child's math homework, that is okay. But just because you don't understand it, doesn't mean it is wrong. Maybe take that time you spend criticizing the new models for math instruction and educate yourself. Educate yourself on what those symbols represent, Educate yourself on how your child learns best and how you can accommodate their learning style in your home. Know that just because you were taught something a certain way doesn't mean it is the correct way. Let your child learn in the way that works best for them and watch them thrive.

Well that didn't last long...

I mentioned in my first post that I am terrible at taking time to write about what is going on in my life. Well, I managed to hold true to that statement. Seeing as it has been almost a year since my last post I have more than a few updates to share.

I have made the transition into full-time student teaching and am loving it so far. I am currently working in a third grade classroom in Portland, OR. Starting out I was very apprehensive to take on more of a leadership role in the classroom. I found comfort in the side-lines, watching and observing was what I was used to. Mostly, I feared failure. I quickly found that even when my lessons didn't go as planned that didn't equate to failure. Failure is making mistakes without learning from them. Everyday I am learning from my students, far more than I can ever hope to teach them and it's amazing. I have fostered strong relationships with each of my students and am really dreading having to leave in April.

April looms closer and closer. It is crazy to think that it is already February. In addition to leaving my students, April means completing my degree and hunting for jobs. This brings me to my second life update: the job search. Trying to prepare everything for the application process, keep up on course work and be prepared for student teaching is a whirl wind. My first job interview is actually this evening with a local school district. I'm nervous but also excited to see what the process looks like and share my passion for this field.

I wish I could share all the wonderful and stressful things going on in my life right now but alas, it is tie to get back to lesson planning. I'll try and post updates more often than once a year!

Butter, Taxes and the Last Day of Winter SUN

Wednesdays are crazy for me and this week was no exception.

I start my Wednesdays on campus with math for elementary school teachers. I then run home grab something to throw in my bag for lunch, hop on my bike and ride the roughly six miles to the fifth grade classroom I help out in.

The fifth graders are currently doing a social studies unit on the American Revolution and my CT is doing it in the coolest way. I'm a bit of a history nerd myself and am geeking out about how this unit is being taught.The class has set up a mock Boston colony and each student has created a colonial representation of themselves. Each student has a house and occupation for their colonial-self ranging from mayor to minster.

Today was the first day I got to observe their open market. For about an hour each day, the class sets up a trade market where they buy and sell different goods. Students can bring in objects from home to sell for shillings. Today the town baker brought in bread and homemade butter (yum!). The owners of the local tavern brought in rootbeer and chips and has quite the business going.

At the end of the free market period the mayor announced two new policies to be enacted the next day.By order of King George, there was to be a new sugar act in place: colonists would have to pay one shilling for every good sold containing sugar or for any good containing sugar brought into the class (including during lunch and recess), The second policy enacted had to do with imports; goods could no longer be brought in from outside of the classroom and could now only be made using supplies in the classroom.

Needless to say, the majority of  the student colonists were ticked off, The new acts put a damper on many of their business plans. I love this unit because my kids are getting to experience what it was like for Americans prior to the Revolution. I think emotion is a hard think to capture in a history lesson but this starts to.

After the near revolt with my fifth graders I jumped back on my bike and went to the after school science program I help out in. I work mainly with one second grade boy who needs a little extra help in the classroom. He's a sweet heart but can be a bit of a handful, I spent the majority of the first part of the class pretty much chasing him around, trying to keep him out of the teacher's stuff, I ha a small victory by the end and got him in his seat using beans and balloons to represent the digestive tract.

Around 4:30 the program ended and I made my way home, exhausted. Yes, Wednesdays are crazy but honestly it's the most rewarding day of my week. It's an amazing opportunity to  get hands on experience in the field you want to go into.

Getting Started

I just wanted to takes a second and say thank you for visiting my page. I'm new to the blogging world and hope that you will bear with me for my first few attempts at posting. Generally, I am terrible at taking time to write about my life (consider this warning of prolonged absences) but as an educator it is always important to reflect on how things are going in your classroom. I want to use this blog as motivation to more regularly  check in with myself and verbalize where I am at in relation to goals for myself and for my students.
I am currently half-way through spring semester of my junior year of college (yikes!) and it's incredible to see how far I've come. College has been a crazy roller coaster so far but I wouldn't have had it any other way. This semester is by far my busiest but it has also been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I somehow talked myself into taking twenty-one credits this semester (not the best choice for maintaining sanity), have an on campus job and split my field experience between three different sites: a fifth grade classroom in Northeast Portland, an after school science program and at an after school program for students of low income families.
In what little free time I have (believe me, it isn't much), I love to get outside and explore. Rain or shine, my happy place is nature.