Parents often want to be partners with schools and support their child's education. However, these same parents might suffer from their own math anxiety and they are uncertain about how to help their child - especially since so much of the ways in which students are solving problems seem "new". When responding to parents about "new" math, I explain that it isn't that the math is new but rather that we have learned more about how to better teach math.
One particularly confusing aspect to many adults is why students would work left to right when solving a computation problem when many of us were taught in school that you should start in the right column and then work your way left. Research has shown that, when given the opportunity, a majority of students invent strategies or algorithms by working left to right. Encouraging students' invention of strategies and having them talk about their thinking provides an essential foundation as they move into expanded algorithms and traditional algorithms - allowing students to see the place value that becomes "hidden" by the traditional algorithms.
To help parents understand some of the ways that their students might be solving problems, I created a guide for parents. Parents can refer to the guide as they help their students with math at home - and hopefully remove some of the anxiety parents face about the "new" math.
http://bit.ly/13x5LYD
I hope that in discussions with parents, you can be encouraging, help parents to be less anxious about mathematics, and forge strong partnerships to support our future mathematicians!
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