I can’t help but think the teacher is less concerned with making sure kids understand math, and more concerned with making sure students get a passing grade on a standardized math test… which is not only used to judge the student’s progress but the teacher’s as well.
The Common Core system, in practice, is far more concerned with standardizing metrics for judging teachers than it is concerned with actually teaching children. Children are not taught “Math”, but “A very specific way of doing math”. “3+3+3+3+3” is “A” correct way of solving the problem, but “5+5+5” is “THE” correct answer which the state’s standardized test will want. If the teacher doesn’t modify the student’s approach to problem solving now now, a multiple choice test in the future may have “A) 5+5+5” vs “B) 3+3+3+3+3”; if the student gets the wrong answer than both of their test scores go down. This approach works exceptionally well at getting under-performing students to pass state requirements, but it risks alienating the higher-performing students in the process.
Being docked points is not the real problem here. The fact that someone who doesn’t understand math is teaching math is the problem. I’d be protesting to the principal.
My girlfriend has been trying to do a number of online math courses (through her college), and all of them do this constantly; it’s infuriating. And it’s not even stuff where you can pretend there’s some purpose to demanding it in a certain format, it’s just totally arbitrary decisions about at what point you stop simplifying or expanding an algebraic term.
Learning that teachers can be stupid, petty, childish and dishonest is generally a more important life skill than anything aforesaid teachers will ever intentionally teach, but it’s generally a good idea to limit the number to one or two in the first twelve grades, and to concentrate them in late elementary or junior high school.
I’m guessing that’s in the context of those online homework systems? I don’t use them, but I have had officemates who do. They are constantly fielding complaints of just that nature.
As a grown up I think it isn’t that she didn’t recognize metaphor. But if she was completely unwilling to talk about suicide, that is probably the wrong poem to have kids memorize…
Erm… can we really blame her for not wanting to launch into an impromptu discussion of suicide with a room full of 8-year-olds?
Could it be it was less about not understanding metaphor and more about trying to protect (for some, maybe misguided, maybe not) definition of “protect?”
Seems more likely than a functional adult not understanding metaphor.
In second grade we were learning about planets, and I got marked down for saying all planets except for one were basically on the same orbital plane. Except for Pluto, which has an eccentric orbit.
The teacher went on to castigate me in front of the class because, “obviously all planetary orbits are random”.
Don’t teach kids wrong things, they’ll make fun of you in their thirties.
Crazy libertarians think the gov. shouldn’t do any schooling.
But Public Education was one of the ideas supported by the Founding Fathers. And even if it wasn’t education of the masses (even half ass education) is paramount to the growth and prosperity of the nation. I can’t think of any place that has no public education that isn’t a third world shit hole. If we did convert to a totally private schooling scheme, many middle classes would be priced right out of an education - as what is happening now with College.
I am for smaller government, but acknowledge that public education is a good thing. Also CC is a state lead initiative - not a federal one. The feds had nothing to do with it other than grant money. Like I said, nearly all criticism I have seen with CC is by people who have no idea WTF it even is.
not disagreeing with what you say, but when I read 5 times 3, it says to me 5 and 5 and 5. 3 x 5 on the other hand I would interpret as what the teacher said.
My daughter is going through this right now in 3rd grade and along with this they’ve already introduced the commutative property of multiplication and addition. So to say 5+5+5 is wrong while 3+3+3+3+3 is right is, imho, to contradict their own teaching.
I disagree- in a room full of 8 year olds, saying it might be true will lead to a student asking what suicide is. And then you’re stuck.
I’m not trying to defend her actions- there are better ways to have handled that scenario- but I can understand why she reacted the way she did.
As you should have.
In her place, I’d like to think I’d have asked you to tell me more- later. Privately. And that way I could explain that you were offering a reasonable reading, but that I was worried it might upset some of the other students.
Of course, I’ve been know to plow headlong into difficult and complicated subjects with students that others wouldn’t touch with a 10ft stick. So maybe I’m not the best choice here.
