[Common Core Controversy] Why is this Common Core math problem so hard?

If you have to teach subtraction to your students? How are you going to teach?
Simple mechanics? Or foundational concepts? Read the following column and think about the Common Core Standards, Curriculum, and your actual lesson plan to teach your students.

https://hechingerreport.org/common-core-math-problem-hard-supporters-common-core-respond-problematic-math-quiz-went-viral/

Why is this Common Core math problem so hard?

by SARAH GARLAND                                                                                           March 26, 2014

A frustrated father posted a subtraction problem from his second-grade son’s math quiz on Facebook this week with a note to the teacher calling it ridiculous. Conservative pundits, including Glenn Beck, seized on it as evidence that the new standards are nonsensical and “stupid,” adding more fuel to the backlash against the Common Core as it rolls out in schools across the country.

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The problem asks how Jack, a fictional student, miscalculated when he used a number line to find the answer to the subtraction problem 427 – 316. Students are then asked to write a letter to Jack explaining what he did right and what he did wrong.

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So why is the problem so difficult? The Hechinger Report asked a couple of the lead writers of the Common Core math standards, Jason Zimba and William McCallum.

Their response? Don’t blame Common Core. Blame a poorly written curriculum.

“That question would not be in a textbook if I wrote it,” Zimba said.

McCallum, math department chair at the University of Arizona, had some of the same concerns about the problem as the conservative critics.

“It’s a complete reversal of the truth to call this a Common Core problem,” he said. What Common Core actually requires, McCallum argues, is fluency in the simple skills of adding and subtracting that critics are calling for. “Complaining that this is a Common Core method, when the Common Core doesn’t require this method, but does require the method he wants, it’s just a lie,” he added.

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So far, there has been little quality control. Some of the new curricula labeled Common Core include high quality materials that match well with the standards, but many don’t, supporters of the standards say.

“Like it or not, the standards allow a lot of freedom. People think the Common Core is a curriculum, and it’s not. The curriculum authors are going to interpret the standards in different ways,” Zimba said.

“There will be a lot of variety, and it doesn’t make sense to me to pick one thing and say that’s the Common Core,” he added. “Particularly something that doesn’t get at the mathematics that’s being emphasized in the Common Core.

FSU COE Technology Showcase (9/18, 2:00 to 3:00pm)

Please visit COE Technology Showcase before you come to class next week from 2 to 3pm.
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PLN

I have been building my PLN through face to face meetings until now. I met people at schools, companies, or conferences. Based on these personal connections, I started being connected online to some of them. However, now with Web 2.0 technologies, we can build a connection online first then meet face to face later. But, can I do that? How can I do that? Where can I start? I found there were many online forums where educators, educational technologists, and instructional designers were interacting with each other. We can also find many educational technology related posts on Twitter using some hashtags such as #edtech. I have been only lurking some online forums or hashtagged posts but have not contributed to those online communities yet. My plan is…First, find more useful online communities and hashtags, Second, try to contribute to those communities whenever I can, and lastly, find some key players in the communities and try to connect with them through their Twitter accounts or blogs. :-)