Teacher marked correct work as incorrect

[MillionToOneChances]

This has been happening a lot lately, but today feels worse as the school's maths coordinator was taking the lesson. My DC had written that 36 was the square root of 1296. Maths coordinator marked it incorrect and said the correct answer was 936.

AIBU to be really frustrated? These incidents are really knocking his faith in school. I know he's a kid and the teacher is just a human being, but my DC does have form for being unfeasibly good at multiplication so a little faith wouldn't have gone amiss if it wasn't an easy sum for the teacher.

[MillionToOneChances]

Princess and leeloo yes, this is a fundamental error in chunking, which is such a basic skill for them to teach. To make it when correcting a child who is known to do this stuff recreationally, and when another very able child had a very similar answer (sounds like couple of digits transposed), worries me greatly.

parietal great idea but doesn't enthuse him as much as I'd hoped. A friend practised running code club this summer, using my kids as guinea pigs for several full days. They loved it, but have unfortunately reverted to their standard 'screen time equals Minecraft' stance. Not that we really limit screen time apart from tv!

clara what a depressing prospect! I've already talked to the secondary school at an open day about what they can do, and they have a 6th form mentoring system. Fingers crossed.

Just to reiterate, I've asked for this thread to be pulled because I'm such a loose-lipped idiot. I'm so grateful for everyone's help though - particularly the maths teachers who've given me little nuggets of challenge to brighten his day.

[MillionToOneChances]

teacher I too have my terminology all wrong, but at least I can do it

He's in the top set - intake of 60 - but they're not doing much open ended at all (with the exception of yesterday) and certainly not level 6. When I went in this time last year and said that - in response to them telling me he was only slightly more able than the rest is given him a 3-5 SAT and he'd levelled at 5a with only a few marks dropped through carelessness or not having encountered the material, they promised he and another very able child would be given lots of open ended investigations. They weren't.

[Stealthpolarbear]

This is dreadful! I do find it odd tho that so many people have realised the actual question was "what is 36 squared". To me the question from the way the op phrased it is "what is the square root of 1296?". This is a thread about being precise and accurate!
(On that note apologies for any typos!)

[MillionToOneChances]

I'm sorry, I was unclear as I was trying to replicate how it had come up in class. They were finding ways to get to the number 36. My son said square root of 1296. Teacher corrected him incorrectly.

[Stealthpolarbear]

Not a complaint about the op :) just find it odd that on a thread full of mathematicians everyone 'just got it'!

[bigTillyMint]

As a teacher, I think you need to go in and flag-up your concerns that your DS needs some specialist teaching. If the teachers are making such fundamental mistakes, then he is definitely going to lose faith in them. Are there others working at the same level as him? Is there any way the school can link up with the local secondary?

[MillionToOneChances]

They do that for one session a week Tilly, with lots of other primary schools. I don't think anything else flows back, though.

My concern - as well as for my DS's happiness - is what a PP said - my son is at least not getting confused as he is secure in his understanding of these concepts. Others, including other very able mathematicians, will be being confused as this will be the first time they encounter them. 'To the power 10', for example, has a very specific meaning but was used for a whole lesson to mean 'by a factor of 10'. Sigh.

[MillionToOneChances]

I've asked for an appointment.

[Stealthpolarbear]

Im horrified by the power ten example, plus the school that said squaring something is the same as doubling it.

[MillionToOneChances]

They didn't quite say that. They said if you double the length of the side of a cube, you double the area.

[MillionToOneChances]

Which is still wrong, obviously!

[Stealthpolarbear]

No it wasn't you, it was marcipex "The teacher insisted squaring a number was the same as doubling it."
How bad is that!

[MillionToOneChances]

I was talking about Marciplex's post.

[Stealthpolarbear]

Oh sorry ignore me

[CalamityKate1]

I don't understand the attitudes of some on here. If you're a teacher in a particular subject you're supposed to be so good at it that you don't make mistakes, surely?

I'm still smarting over an English teacher who corrected my "grisly" to "grizzly" in a horror story I wrote.

Thirty years ago....

[sashh]

MillionToOneChances

How close is your son's school to the nearest secondary? One of my neighbours children was taken out of primary to do maths in the near by secondary school.

It wouldn't work everywhere but can.

[BrucieTheShark]

Have a look at some of the tests they're introducing in Wales:
focusing more on reasoning in maths
Have linked the Y6 sample materials but it goes from Y2 to Y9. Some useful stuff there I think for parents to work with kids at home.
It would be nice if England did similar imo.

[MillionToOneChances]

Thanks Brucie, that's really useful.

Sash, all the maths bodies advise against accelerating children. Better to deepen and enrich their knowledge. Plus would just be storing up more trouble for secondary.

[MillionToOneChances]

Calamity, it's a primary so they're all generalists. They should certainly be differentiating, but don't need more than a rusty C at GCSE. I assumed the maths coordinator had more, but not sure now.

[Jux]

A few years ago, I was doing some maths courses with the OU. One of them had an 11 yo doing it too. Something like that may help keep him occupied!

[SezaMcGregor]

936 isn't even a square number...

I'd ask the teacher to show their working out

[MillionToOneChances]

Thanks Jux. I did MU123 last year to try to keep ahead of him - I'm planning to look at it with him next year.

[Integration14]

Amor eterno homework marked incorrectly by an English coordinator

[Integration14]

Is another

[MillionToOneChances]

So frustrating :(