The calm before the storm…
Let me set the scene… It was around 2010 (I began teaching in 2008 in Detroit). I was teaching 3rd grade and students had to take the MEAP test every October. All we had to worry about was making sure students were being taught GLCE’s (Grade Level Content Expectations). GLCEs were simple statements where we could say a student got it or they didn’t. Here’s an example… “Add and subtract fluently two numbers through 999 with regrouping and through 9,999 without regrouping.” Now granted it was about 44 GLCE’s in 3rd grade Math alone but what the students were asked to do was simple.
At this time, we were starting to hear the buzz of this “new math” that was coming to us. The word on the street was “There’s some new math in town and it’s hard, it doesn’t make ANY sense.” Slowly but surely, the new math appeared. GLCE’s disappeared, curriculum changed, teachers were scratching their heads because this was NOT how they were taught. Now the fore mentioned GLCE was translated into the new math language and sounded more like, “Fluently add and subtract within 1000 using strategies and algorithms based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction.” Strategies? Algorithms? Properties? Why can’t they just borrow and carry? What do you mean within 1,000?” I could go on and on about “unpacking” this standard to tell you statements within these statements but that’s another blog post… Here I introduce to you…Common Core Math.
Why did they switch to Common Core?
So let’s refer to this “new math” by its government name from here on out. Common Core (CC) was introduced because the education system realized that the grade level expectations were different from state to state. Some were very simple and some were more complex resulting in discrepancies across the country of mathematical understanding. The hope was to at least get the US children on the same page in Math and better prepare them for the workforce as adults. Kentucky was the first state to adopt Common Core. As of 2022, 46 states have adopted CC in their school systems. (Texas, Alaska, Nebraska and Virginia never did.) 5 states have repealed CC (Florida, Oklahoma, Arizona, Indiana, South Carolina). Minnesota partially adopted. However 11 are currently trying to repeal (Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Maryland.)
My feelings about CC
Here’s the thing, whenever you are used to doing something a certain way, and then you change, there’s always going to be a learning curve. Take this for example: I’m used to working on Mac computers and have been for years (I used to work as a Mac Specialist before I became a teacher) but if I have to work on a PC, I’m going to stare at it for a while to figure out how to do the things I need to do. I’m not going to get it right away. It’s going to take time, but eventually I’ll get it.
I might get some side eye but the truth is I LIKE COMMON CORE MATH! Before you click off, here’s why… CC really focuses on the why and the how versus this is the right answer and that’s it. It allows people to think the way they feel comfortable. I remember when I received a low grade in Math one year (Elementary School) because I didn’t do it the way the teacher wanted me to do it. She didn’t understand my thinking so it was wrong to her even though we had the same answer. That scarred me for a while. Common core allows real life application and strategies versus tricks which we don’t know the reason why it works we just were told that it works.. When a person has number sense (conceptual understanding), it makes Math easier to learn. The foundation is laid in elementary school and it builds as learning continues through the years.
Now What?
Now where I feel people go wrong is when they are teaching the strategies. Each curriculum goes about teaching the standards differently. My philosophy is we are not teaching curriculum, we are teaching the standards. Some people really get caught up in it has to be done this way. I always relate strategies as a tool in a tool box. You learn how to use them and pick the right tool at the right time. I’m not going to choose a hammer to screw in a screw. Learn the strategies and pick what is best for you. Some people were not trained on how to teach common core standards. Remember I said most of us weren’t taught this way so it’s like asking me to teach someone how to use a PC when I’m trying to learn it myself.
This website will help you to understand these strategies to prepare your tools in your toolbox. Am I trying to persuade you to love CC? No…but I do want you to understand it…and maybe, just MAYBE you will grow to LIKE it (Love is a strong word)
-Liz
