Anyways, let's get back to it. I was perusing Twitter on Thursday night and Friday morning, and I was reading the chat that Melynee Naegele and Sara VanDerWerf were leading on how elementary math is used in the high school classroom. As I was reading the chat, I came across something called the 7 method.
I inquired about the 7 method for division, and Melynee answered my question promptly by sending me this.
I looked at it and had to take a couple of minutes to analyze the problem. For a few seconds, I thought it was exactly the type of thing that people would complain about on Facebook as "common core math." Then I realized that even though this method may take up more paper, there is so much rich math happening. Plus, I feel that the 7 method reinforces multiplication, subtraction, and addition. It also made division even more fun! When the 7 method clicked, did it click! I decided to make up some problems to test the method. Here's a bit of my work. Let me know if you have any questions (or if you can't read my handwriting)!
Even though I teach sophomores and juniors, I find that many of my students, even my honors students, still struggle with some of the basics of mathematics. Heaven forbid when it comes to long division. This breaks my heart, and I wish that there was a magic solution. Unfortunately, there is not, but reading the elementary math chat last week, I feel more inspired to infuse more of the basics into my instruction, because I feel that they are important.
Heck, I might even teach this method to my students! I would definitely use this method if I were an elementary or middle school teacher.
