To not make DD correct her school work

[MayhapMayhem]

DS has dyscalculia and we have been spending the past few weeks trying to convince him that 43 = 34 etc

Teacher has returned some of DD's school work (Year below DS) and told her to do corrections. It's maths, her favourite subject and on the first page she has been marked 2/9. I haven't told her yet as she's going to be upset.

What has been marked wrong
47=28
34=12 (this has been corrected to 43=28)
63=18
16=6
45=20
27=14
36=18

In each case the teacher wanted the sum written the "other" way round I.e. 74, 61 etc.

On the next page
6+6=6*2=12 is marked as wrong.

AIBU to not make her "correct" it or should I tell her to write = b*a at the end of each sum?

Yes, poshme that's how we've been explaining it to the DC.

And in words you can say it both ways too.

I've looked ahead in her exercise book. They don't learn that 3x5=5x3 for another 13 pages 🙄

Initially I thought teacher must be loopy
then had to look up BIDMAS
maybe that's why I never got equations (but did qualify as an accountant)

If teacher is going to be that pedantic, she should explain why it's "wrong" for this exercise

PS when did it change to BIDMAS? It was always BODMAS when I was at school. Feel old!

In that last exercise the teacher (?) has written 4x3 = 28, which is wrong whichever way around it goes!

I agree they need to understand repeated addition, but it doesn't follow that it has to be a particular order.

4x3 could just as easily mean Take '4', three times. We often use x3 to show that we do something three times, for example. There's nothing in the order that says it has to mean four lots of 3 things. It can, of course, but I'd argue that both are fine. What's important is that she understands how both situations involve multiplication, and that both are the same answer.

Secondary maths teacher - don’t do the corrections. It may be that the teacher has a particular reason for wanting the calculations a certain way around (more likely blindly following a scheme) but as you say, the order isn’t technically important and having someone who doesn’t think the ‘corrections’ are needed trying to explain a suspected reasoning will just end up in a mess of confusion.

All this primary maths stuff drives me mad. I also did maths at university and I’m an accountant so am more numerate than the average person, and the teacher marking her answers as incorrect is just wrong.

Addition and multiplication are commutative - it’s a mathematics principle and bollocking on about 2 lots of 6 vs 6 lots of 2 is just a waste of time.

And 4 x 3 is NEVER 28

Looking at the picture of the book, they are talking about throwing dice, so the teacher does have a point.
You can't be really say that throwing 4 dice and getting all threes, is the same thing as throwing 3 dice and getting all 4s.
However your DD has understood that it is just an exercise to practice times tables and also that 3×4 is the same answer as 4×3

Maybe you could get some dice to play with...

"If teacher is going to be that pedantic, she should explain why it's "wrong" for this exercise"

I agree, but also if a point of the exercise is also understand the "difference" between 3x4 & 4x3 then the teacher isn't being pedantic.

But if the work has come back mostly marked as wrong then that's not motivating is it.

Far better to just ask for it to be done again in the way it should be.

You can't be really say that throwing 4 dice and getting all threes, is the same thing as throwing 3 dice and getting all 4s.

Yes but you can say:
I threw 4 three times
I threw three 4's

"I threw 4 three times
I threw three 4's"

And both of those are 3 lots of 4.

I personally wouldn't correct it, just move on. Maths is cumulative and they revisit concepts again and again. There is no point demoralising her over something really pedantic like that.

@PinkMic thank you, thought I was going mad as was completely confused 😂

Is it possible to talk explain how the teacher wanted it doing & check that she understands that?

I wouldn't correct it. Her method was correct and She got the answers right. I can see where the teacher is coming from , but she's what? Y2? Y3? Showing her it's all wrong when it's right and more importantly an answer marked completely wrong will put her off and confuse her.

Do some practical activities with lego or counters or just have her draw them out so she understands the concept, then move on.

I have dyscalcula it's important you correct her work but explain where she went wrong

Isn't the point though that the method wasn't correct?

Get a set of numicon for you son to see the difference

I think the teachers correct -

In the pic OP posted it was correct.

3+3+3+3

Translates to

3 * 4

The way the teacher did it, even if we ignore the wrong answer 4 * 3 is 4 + 4 +4.

X lots of y

Is y * x

Perhaps the teacher doesn't realise that 3 x 4 is the same as 4 x 3?

This has the risk of setting your child up for a couple of years of believing the order matters for multiplication. Before some other teacher has the task of sorting out the mess!

Surely bidmas/bodmas is irrelevant here?

I think that the teacher is correct.

We used to think of it as "lots of"

So 4x3 as there are 4 lots of 3.

Bundles of twigs I think that's what our examples were!

Nope 4 lots of 3 is 3 x 4

You put the number first(3) then times it by how many lots there are (4).

But if you have 3+3+3+3 & you are counting to know how many times to multiply, then the 4 would come first?

It depends on exactly what the instructions were, but on the face of it YANBU. A polite email to the teacher explaining that you think your child would be confused by correct sums marked as wrong might be appropriate.

I’ve seen secondary maths teachers on twitter fuming about an example marked wrong in primary because the kid drew the array the ‘wrong’ way around. Really can’t see the point!

She’s going to go from insistence on the ‘right’ order here to being told in secondary that she should freely switch the order to make mental calculation easier.