Week 3: Unconventional Algorithms

These videos and articles illustrate what I think the common core is all about.  The methods that the students used in the videos were not traditional algorithms for solving the various problems they were given.  From my limited experience with the CCSS, the methods in which these students are conceptually dissecting problems are not present in the adopted curriculum.  However, after spending a few minutes with these videos their thinking is quite clear to me on how they have derived their understanding from their own conceptual development.  I was especially interested in the student who was dividing one-third by one whole.  He was able to solve the problem because of his knowledge of equivalent fraction and his mastery of multiplication facts. It was no accident he was able to mentally compute problems that my fifth grade students have difficulty solving on paper.  It is obvious to me that these students had strong foundations on which they can build their own algorithms and understanding upon.  It is my hope that as students get grounded in the conceptual pieces of mathematics at a young age, their computational skills will flourish under a unique perspective that previous students may not have developed. 

My second take away from this reading and video is that I need to be vigilant in examining the methods by which my students use to problem solve.  When I have break-out groups, ensure that I am talking to my students about methods that are unclear to me.  I was reflecting on the fact that it is very possible that I have had many students devise brilliant strategies to solve problems that I may have dismissed in the past.