Multiplication is Marbles

We had the Parent Teacher Conferences last week. Many teachers don’t like PTCs because it’s a long day, but they’re fun for me. I like to see where the students come from (literally, since I’m usually meeting with their Moms). The parents are always nice and thankful, and I usually feel like I have an ally when I meet with them. Like me, most parents are old-fashioned. They don’t understand all these newfangled theories about enquiry, discovery and reflection. Many of them are successful engineers, doctors, or business people who have counted a lot of cash, and they figure, “the way I learned mathematics was good enough for me, so why isn’t it good enough for my child?”

They also think we need more emphasis on basic skills and I agree. For example, one student asked me, “I understand 6x = 18, but how did you get x = 3?”

“It’s called division,” I answered, “you learned it in elementary school.”

“I don’t think we learned that,” she said, but her best friend came to my rescue:

“Yes, we did! Don’t you remember, in Ms. Dearborn’s class?”

“Ohhhhh,” she remembered, “you mean the marbles?”

“No!” chided her friend, “division is beads, multiplication is marbles!”