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Why the Incredibles 2 Trailer Was Groan-Worthy for Teachers

The Incredibles 2 trailer that has been making the rounds has sparked discussions about a seemingly new villain: math homework.

“Math is math is MATH!” a frustrated Mr. Incredible yells when his son explains that his teacher said to use a different approach than what Mr. Incredible is familiar with.

Many parents found the clip highly relatable and hilariously on point:

Many of them were quick to call out Common Core:

But for all the teachers who are working hard to have kids learn and master math skills, it was a groan-worthy joke.

First-grade teacher @Mr_Harris_Math lamented:

Meanwhile, Professor, K-12 STEM Education at University of Central Florida @sarahbbush, expressed disappointment:


Former high school math teacher, @ddmeyer took it to the next level:


Experts agree that getting kids to understand numbers, not just memorize equations, is key to making sure they succeed at math as they move on to higher levels of math in their K-12 careers and beyond.

Fear not: teachers are still using traditional approaches familiar to all of us in their math lessons but they’re also incorporating other methods to solving the same problem (such a visual approaches or using addition when talking about multiplication) so that kids can learn to approach problem-solving in more than one way. This helps to build students’ confidence.

As an Ohio high school math teacher explains in this excellent Salon.com piece:

“The goal of math classes should be to foster a deep-level understanding of the mechanisms that we teach, and that’s where compelling students to learn a variety of techniques for subtraction, for example, can allow students to approach a concept from a variety of different directions, using a variety of different tools, and tying it to other concepts they learn. This is, in a nutshell, what teaching mathematical understandings at a deep level should be doing. And this variety of approaches to build deep level understandings is exactly what the Common Core seeks to do.”

Math may look different from the way parents learned it, but teachers have a larger strategy – and telling a child that “that’s not the quickest way to get the answer,” or “that’s not the way I know,” can undermine the long-term goals of the teacher who assigned that approach for a specific reason.

The best advice we have for parents is to be reach out to your child’s teachers to check in and find out why that approach is being used. You might be surprised what you learn!

Haven’t had a chance to talk to your child’s teacher yet? Here are some fun, informative reads on this topic:

And here are some great content-support resources for parents looking to help their kids with homework:

 

Ashley Inman is the Director of Digital Media at the Collaborative for Student Success.

 

About the Collaborative for Student Success

At our core, we believe leaders at all levels have a role to play in ensuring success for K-12 students. From ensuring schools and teachers are equipped with the best materials to spotlighting the innovative and bold ways federal recovery dollars are being used to drive needed changes, the Collaborative for Student Success aims to inform and amplify policies making a difference for students and families.

To recover from the most disruptive event in the history of American public schools, states and districts are leveraging unprecedented resources to make sure classrooms are safe for learning, providing students and teachers with the high-quality instructional materials they deserve, and are rethinking how best to measure learning so supports are targeted where they’re needed most. 

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