Background: We are currently working on our addition and subtraction skills. Obviously, with the common core standards taking over, we are not doing this as it has typically been done in the past and we are attacking problems in a very different way ~ focusing on the HOW and not the WHAT.
Yesterday students were given 2 story problems to do on their own after we did some whole class examples. While looking them over I learned quickly, we need to a do A LOT of practice! We went over them in class and for the most part I could see the thinking process in those who shared; but, Joey's was not clear to me. Well, it wasn't clear until we went over it in class and then I realized he wasn't confused, I was!
Joey attacked his word problem in a way I had never seen done before but made so much sense ~ I think it also helped the rest of the class understand the concept better! I had originally highlighted the "Show your work" portion of his instructions but then had to write him a note on his paper saying he was just too smart and even "out-thought" his teacher.
Of course, humble Joey just looked at me and told me that he just did as I had taught him! Go figure, I taught the kid to do something and then didn't understand it myself. He actually made a connection from our place value unit to our operations unit and I am very proud of him and his thinking skills!
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