Common Core

[dtknowles]

It has everything to do w/ math skills. I knew the transaction total and how much the customer was paying me. Before I entered their payment into the register I knew what their change was. It's not like you have a split second to figure it out. You have to count what they gave you before you enter it into the register. Trying to defend them by saying the machine does it for them is weak IMO. There is no excuse for having poor basic math skills. Especially w/ a system based on tens. It can't get any easier.

The point has always been to make being a cashier simple enough that the cashier does not have to have good math skills. If you have good math skills you should be looking for a better job. Cashier's are paid for other skills or attributes like willing to work bad hours or attractiveness or friendliness or works well with the manager, does not steal from the till, can work the register .... math skills are usually limited to the ability to count money and items.

Tim

[garym1a2]

Funny, I do multiple how they teach now. 26x2 is 40 plus 12 = 52. I can do this in my head, no write down and carry the one.

This technique works quite well when the numbers get hard. 27 time 13 is 270 plus 60 plus 21 or 351.

It's funny that just yesterday my secretary came in (she has kids I don't) and asked me to perform a simple multiplication - such as 26x2. I multiplied 2x6, carried the 1, then 2x2plus the carried 1, and got 52. Easy, only 2 steps.
then she said I would have gotten a zero for that question, since 'core math' requires her kid to multiply 2x20, write that down, and then multiply 2x6, write that down, and then add those two together. Easily an added step, completely unneccesarry.
The thing that gets me is that if you come up with the correct answer, with a method that has been taught by these same schools for decades, you're wrong. One one hand they complain about parents not helping kids learn. And then they tell the parents everything you know about math is wrong, don't teach it to you kids. Stupid.

[CRA]

I'm a teacher. Lessons like these are beneficial to teach the kids to problem solve. Are some of the things unnecessary, yes. However I've been teaching for many years and the students that have been educated learning this style of math are much better at problem solving the my students who were only instructed the old way. I do teach the standard algorithms along with the cc ways too. I also urge people to not jump to conclusions about things you're not truly educated on like the ones who are trying to restrict our gun rights. Also I'm not a drunk or bar fly. Don't lump all teachers into the drug taking hippie left wing nuts.

[dragon813gt]

Funny, I do multiple how they teach now. 26x2 is 40 plus 12 = 52. I can do this in my head, no write down and carry the one.

Just shows that we're all different. You're working in tens doing it that way. Why wouldn't you work in fives. 25x2 plus 2. I don't get why you take it down that far. I have years before my son is in school. I have a feeling this common core garbage will be gone by then. If not I'm going to have work my butt off so I can send him to a private school.

[tomme boy]

Didn't they try this in the late 70's early 80's. And it failed then. My mother was saying something about this the other day about my brother was taught the "new math" and they gave up on it as everyone of the students were screwed up. She said it set back all of them 2 years on math skills to teach the "new math" out of them.

[Ickisrulz]

Funny, I do multiple how they teach now. 26x2 is 40 plus 12 = 52. I can do this in my head, no write down and carry the one.

This technique works quite well when the numbers get hard. 27 time 13 is 270 plus 60 plus 21 or 351.

I think everyone might have their own way of doing math in their heads that involve manipulations of some kind. I know I do. But when it comes to teaching math to kids, I don't teach it my "pet" way. You start kindergartners off with things they can count (like hash marks or fingers) and then it becomes memorized through repetition. Multiplication (and division) is strictly memorization and the larger problems are worked on paper. As the skills continue it can be done in their heads. But the Common Core method looks like putting the cart before the horse. This type of thing has been done before and went away. Common Core will pass.

[Springfield]

I have 2 kids in school, in 5th and 8th grade. Our schools started the Common Core math last year as a test and now have it permanently. My view of it is they seem to be teaching the kids more ways of doing things in their heads and seem to discourage using a paper and pencil. LOTS of time spent teaching how to average,round off and estimate , and yet they discourage using your fingers. Last year my son had a problem that asked to estimate how much 12 and 16 are, and when he put down 28, as he added it in his head, he was marked wrong as the correct answer was 30. I told the teacher, if your going to have an averaging question, as least make it difficult enough so that "averaging" is applicable. And I had to explain to him why you would EVER average, and not just use a paper and pencil to figure it out. Best answer I could come up with is, you are a cattleman looking out over your herd and need to quickly count the cattle. So just visually break up the herd in bunches of 50, and then add those in your head. THEN he understood. Not sure why the book doesn't explain why, it isn't rocket science if I can do it.

[starmac]

Glad my kids are grown, and kids are seriously considering home schooling.

How would flash cards work with this new fangled math. Shouldn't kids learn basic math, one doesn't have to be a math whiz, or even good at it to learn basic math.
It sounds to me that they are putting every kid in the same class of what used to be the special needs kids, or special ed I think is what it was called.

[drinks]

We now know who wrote "Common Core", insane, murdering muslims.
It is now being reported that IS has banned , math, social studies and playing, all children can do is study the koran.
How to regress to the stone age in 1 easy lesson.

[Rick45Colt]

My main problem with educating my children has been bullying. To be fair we have been through the whole gambit from multiple parochial schools to public school and then back to another parochial school.

The latest parochial literally provided the a great loving environment with zero tolerance of bullying. I can not say enough good things about the school and my parish. They also excel in the education that have provided.

When my youngest was struggling they saw the problem and put a plan in place. So far we have not been invaded by Commie Core. We do however have a large emphasis on technology. Every student from the 4th grade up are issued iPads but we still teach cursive writing.

[1911cherry]

Your description of the situation is not clear to me. You daughter got a zero for not doing one problems correctly? How many problems were on this paper, just that one? Was this a multiplication exercise or some other kind of task, clearly 5 times 3 is fifteen if it is a multiplication exercise but if it was some other kind of task like understanding how multiplication is an extension of addition and the problem asked that 5 times 3 be expressed using addition then the right answer would have been 3+3+3+3+3 the number 15 is irrelevant. If the question was "what is another way to write 5 times 3" then 15 should have been an acceptable answer. The question might have been geared toward Math Theory not a test of Multiplication skills.

I don't see how you could teach math from a college text book. I would expect that a college level text would start with algebra and not go over remedial math. When I started college there was an entrance exam and if you could not pass the algebra test you took remedial algebra for no credit before you could start your Calculus classes.

Tim

The tests usually only have one to three questions, the final answer does not matter, only the method used to achieve a result. So its easy to see my problem with this curriculum, the final answer does matter.

As far as the math I teach in my house it starts with Fundamentals of Math and ends with Algebra 2 written by Elayn Martin-Gay published by Pearson Custom Publishing. All these courses require you to do your homework online as required by govt starting three years ago, my elementary age children's homework gets done online as well, as required by govt.

My oldest daughter was in fourth grade and completed the Fundamental Math course, it was almost identical to her math course that year, it was a college class and I did earn credit for it.

[MaryB]

I just looked at it and said $3.45 change... no counting needed...

Correct answer is 6 2/3, I would probably make 8 batches so I could sample some as they come from the oven. Warm cookies are even better than warm doughnuts....



I learned how to make change that way when I was sixteen, and still have no problems making change from a cash box.

Computerized cash registers have really helped to dumb down the populace. Don't even get me started on the coin dispensing machines like Subway uses..

Robert

[MaryB]

Common cr*p hides the books, copywrites material, refuses to let parents see what is being taught. If that doesn't ring alarm bells then you are a democrat! Conservatives need to pull their kids out of public school and teach the truth, common cr*p is going to destroy an entire generation if we do not cut it off now.

The Wife and I met the fourth grade Teacher this week to get a progress on our Daughter. We were given the heads up that they were starting the division/multiplication. The Teacher showed us how they teach division now, and the Wife and tried to understand, but could not. The Teacher said she was forbidden to teach the way the Wife and I were taught. To top it off, they don't send the kids home with a work book to explain this stuff. How can many parents be expected to help their kids at home? Fortunately, the Teacher said we could teach our daughter the traditional way, and she would support that.

While at work... we can not hire Engineers to save our lives. Engineers are in demand, and we can't pay them enough to attract them. So, we have more and more vacancies every month! If you get a technical education, you will easily outshine your peers who have been "short changed".

[starmac]

In my mind there is only one answer to 5 x 3, anyway you want to go about it.

[MaryB]

I was taught the "new math" but the math teacher taught the old ways alongside it because she hated it. Said it was not needed at that age level. And she was right, by high school I was taking college calculus and doing abstract math. I was better prepared emotionally and developmentally to understand the stuff like imaginary numbers etc. Kids need to learn the foundations before being taught the abstract. My friends grandkids have come to me crying because the math doesn't make sense. I explain it the old way and a light goes on and then they get it. Then I do it the new way and show them how unnecessary all the extra steps are. Yes their teacher hates me!

Didn't they try this in the late 70's early 80's. And it failed then. My mother was saying something about this the other day about my brother was taught the "new math" and they gave up on it as everyone of the students were screwed up. She said it set back all of them 2 years on math skills to teach the "new math" out of them.

[NY_Treeguy]

It has everything to do w/ math skills. I knew the transaction total and how much the customer was paying me. Before I entered their payment into the register I knew what their change was. It's not like you have a split second to figure it out. You have to count what they gave you before you enter it into the register. Trying to defend them by saying the machine does it for them is weak IMO. There is no excuse for having poor basic math skills. Especially w/ a system based on tens. It can't get any easier.

The Wife and I met the fourth grade Teacher this week to get a progress on our Daughter. We were given the heads up that they were starting the division/multiplication. The Teacher showed us how they teach division now, and the Wife and tried to understand, but could not. The Teacher said she was forbidden to teach the way the Wife and I were taught. To top it off, they don't send the kids home with a work book to explain this stuff. How can many parents be expected to help their kids at home? Fortunately, the Teacher said we could teach our daughter the traditional way, and she would support that.

Nope...textbooks stay at school, no workbooks just photocopies, and notebooks stay at school because they are needed to study for the state assessments and they could get lost at home. The school gives us a list of websites that we can go to for help.

I wish we could home school.

[chsparkman]

Your description of the situation is not clear to me. You daughter got a zero for not doing one problems correctly? How many problems were on this paper, just that one? Was this a multiplication exercise or some other kind of task, clearly 5 times 3 is fifteen if it is a multiplication exercise but if it was some other kind of task like understanding how multiplication is an extension of addition and the problem asked that 5 times 3 be expressed using addition then the right answer would have been 3+3+3+3+3 the number 15 is irrelevant. If the question was "what is another way to write 5 times 3" then 15 should have been an acceptable answer. The question might have been geared toward Math Theory not a test of Multiplication skills.

I don't see how you could teach math from a college text book. I would expect that a college level text would start with algebra and not go over remedial math. When I started college there was an entrance exam and if you could not pass the algebra test you took remedial algebra for no credit before you could start your Calculus classes.

Tim

I think you're onto something here Tim.

[chsparkman]

I'm a teacher. Lessons like these are beneficial to teach the kids to problem solve. Are some of the things unnecessary, yes. However I've been teaching for many years and the students that have been educated learning this style of math are much better at problem solving the my students who were only instructed the old way. I do teach the standard algorithms along with the cc ways too. I also urge people to not jump to conclusions about things you're not truly educated on like the ones who are trying to restrict our gun rights. Also I'm not a drunk or bar fly. Don't lump all teachers into the drug taking hippie left wing nuts.

Thank you. Right there with you.

[cbrick]

Just today at Wal-Mart, I bought 3 cases of dog food. That's all it took to have the checkout line backed up an extra 10 minutes, 12 cans in a case plus I had 3 coupons for $1.00 off each 8 cans. A young lady in her late teens or early 20's and it completely ruined her whole day. When she couldn't come up with 36 cans of dog food and wouldn't believe me that there was 36 she counted them one at a time but then the coupons, $1 off each 8 cans and she was nearly in tears. She finally gave up and had the manager come over who simply scanned the bar code on the coupons.

A few years ago at Kentucky Chicken my order came to $16.15. I gave the young fellow a 20, a 1 and a dime and a nickel. He says you gave me too much money, I said to just ring it up that way & he did. He looks up at me, back down at the register & back at me. Slowly he reaches in the register and pulls out a $5 bill and says . . . how did you do that, you don't have a calculator? I said, boy you need to go back to school. He pumps out is chest and announces that he just graduated.

Yep, education in America. Were in trouble big time. For 200 years the two biggest guarantee's of our continued liberty was a free press and education. Today the two biggest threats to our liberty is a free press and our education system.

Rick

[Springfield]

I am a stay at home dad but am not qualified to teach my kids everything they need t know. But I do help them with all their homework and when it starts getting too complicated with all the extra charts and graphs and useless stuff I show them how to get the right answer the way I was taught. Hopefully they will survive Common Core and still know how to figure things to get the right answer.