Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion HELP! crazy math I never heard of?

The boy was given a math sheet today

the lovely teacher who we have realized was not on board with the grade skip, decided she wasn't going to explain this to boy... she wants him to fail so she can say..."Told you so"

it's call counting up, and it is adding to subtract?

you add the numbers in the problem together and some how this leads to an answer

appearently it is a second grade concept

please please help

Here's another description, related to making change:

http://ooblick.com/text/CountingUp.html

Nice explanation St. Pauli. It it's that I can tell you I find it to be an okay strategy. Labelled math illiterate by my school, I was never asked to do mental math....

This is how I taught myself how to give change when I had a job in high school, wasn't aware it was an actual teachable concept!

For some thinkers I think it's a great strategy for mental math, so maybe teacher isn't just a jerk(although she could be a jerk who is teaching a neat mental math strategy!)
This is a way I could quickly visualize subtraction in my head.

It actually came in handy when I was a bartender in college. I could take drink orders from six different people, take the money all at once and get them all their drinks and correct change. I earned a lot of tips with that particular parlor trick.

she is a jerk, imho, because she wouldn't explain it to him and just told him (and him alone) to do it the regular way......

thanks st paulie girl... i explained it to him... he sort of got it

but he does all his math in his head and comes up with the answer.... so maybe that is why she told him to do it his own way..... as quickly as most people (my dh... who didn't totally get it) could use this technic, the boy could do the problem traditionally in his head.

I worry aout the day they ask him to "show his work"

You are welcome. Hopefully that is what the teacher is talking about! (Although i have to say, it would be a lot easier for me to do this type of counting up if i had an actual drawer of money in front of me. Seems kind of weird to do it on paper...)

Well, thanks to google, anyway, for having a good selection under the search "counting up."


Cool! very impressive, neato. My bar tricks are limited to cherry stems...

LOL!

We've been in the situation where the teacher will give something way above level and then not explain it. It's the whole slippery slope thing.

It could be a combination of trying to prove you wrong and also not knowing how to handle the situation. This is the crux of the problem with education of HG kids in public school.

You and I will never know for sure. The only think I can say is hang in there. I've come to the conclusion that my kids will never be drop off/pick up kids. There are problems as well as advantages! It won't be hands off, so buckle up and prepare for the ride.

Try to develop good communication with the teacher and just do what you can when you can. Lastly, your child will come home with stuff that just fires you up! Learn to know when it upsets you and when it upsets your child. Choose your battles wisely.

I agree that this situation was not handled well by the teacher. I would also spend some time discussing with your DH privately whether or not there is validity to the teacher trying to make an example out of your child. If you find that both of you agree on that (cooler heads prevail, so try to look at the issue non-emotionally, if possible!) you may want to consider other options............

we have been having this discussion already.... it's sad, we are going to try to make it through this year but we are starting to look for different options in the district.

Good luck with your search. Sorry your son is in such a bad situation with the teacher.