Summer? WOW I have to catch up on so many events
but that will have to wait. I need to get this story out as soon as
possible so sit tight and read this story. I think you need to know how sad and
disappointed I am…
A few months ago a reporter from the New York Times
interviewed me over the phone to talk about parents, the Common Core, and math.
EXCITED-yes! I was but I kept calm and talked from my heart about what I have
learned over the past three years.
I gave her stories about kids'
misconceptions I would not have found if they merely completed worksheets.
For example, I asked one day “Cameron wants to share his cookie with
Logan. Who gets the bigger piece?” The kid responses: "Cameron does
because it is his cookie." "Logan does because Cameron will
give him the whole cookie. When my mom tells me to share I have to give
it to my brother." and another, "Wait if they are sharing they
have to have the same size piece." This was 2 years ago and I have
taught fractions in some shape or form for 17 years. I had students complete hundreds
of worksheets but had no idea this might be a misconception shared by children.
This is just one of many times I learned from talking to my students to
think about math and become mathematicians and not just calculators.
Being a Mathematician, that means something in my
classroom. It means being a problem solver, discovering a strategy to
make numbers easier to work with, and seeing the relevance of math in our
everyday world. Math time is joyful in our classroom. Yes, we
struggle with why?, word problems/situational stories, and bigger numbers but
we are working on really understanding math concepts and not just procedures for
a better foundation. What about the parents?
My parents have questioned Common Core and how we are implementing it in
the classroom. How could they not when all they read are stories bashing
the Common Core and how parents can't do the kid's homework? My thought-Parents
shouldn't be doing the kid's homework. I conference with parents and show them
samples of their child's thinking. I explain pitfalls and provide
strategies so they see the relevance and most important I ask them to talk
with their child. Talk about
money-earning it, spending it, estimate how large or how long it would take to
do something, about how 10 is such a powerful number and building on that helps
add and subtract double digit numbers in the 1st grade and yes they
regroup with understanding and not borrowing.
Borrowing means you are giving something back and that is not the case
in double digit subtraction. I had
parents upon parents willing to talk to Ms. Rich but they were never
called. Parents have told me:
- Wow finally a way I do math and now my kid can do math a different way
than a book.
- I wish my 2 older children would have learned math this way because they
have no idea why they do the steps they do and rely on a calculator.
- I am so excited to learn right along with my child because I see math
differently.
Not everyone has a Common Core bashing story but you rarely hear about
the success. Common Core is here and we
are learning, teaching, collaborating, and creating as a community. We need to hear success stories so I beg you
read this story:
After, know our story and send this reporter a comment in support of
Common Core. By the way after 30 minutes
of praises and stories I did invite her to visit and she said she would talk to
her editor. We never heard from her
again. Maybe she would rethink that visit to Cypress Creek Elementary in Port
Orange, Florida. Sad…
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