What and how would you tell the teacher she is wrong?
By chrysz
@chrysz (1602)
Philippines
June 26, 2008 9:41am CST
I am having with my child's math teacher because I've already made notes in her book that her answer is wrong but she insisted that she is right and she wrote the supposed correct answer.
The questions are: How many tens are in 760? My answer is 76 based on the books example that in 56000, there are 5600 tens, 560 hundreds, 56 thousands and 5 ten thousand. Her answer is 60.
I would have have been convinced that my interpretation of the question is wrong if her answer is 6 since, for grade 1, you teach that in 760, there are 7 hundreds, 6 tens and 0 ones. But 60? Isn't 60 tens make 600?
So she insisted: How many hundreds are in 6400? she said its 400 but I said its 64. There are 6 questions in all with the same question pattern.
How many thousands are there in 57300? I taught my daughter that there's 57 but her teacher said there's 7000.
So, now, my dilemma is how am I gonna point her mistake? should it be upfront? I wanna talk to her first before I'll make it known to her superior.
1 person likes this
4 responses
@ebutterfly782 (36)
• United States
30 Jun 08
I can see both answers. I am a math teacher for 8th grade though. I wouldn't cause any big deal about it. Ask about the standardized tests and how they are questioned on there. I'm sure that is the main concern of the teacher. That may be where the confusion lies too. That would be the starting point, IMO.
1 person likes this
@chrysz (1602)
• Philippines
30 Jun 08
"The questions are: How many tens are in 760? My answer is 76 based on the books example that in 56000, there are 5600 tens, 560 hundreds, 56 thousands and 5 ten thousand. Her answer is 60."
There's an example in the book in which I patterned my answer. There were questions that says "what is the the value of the digit ---?" and another one is "how many tens (hundreds, thousands, etc) are in ____?". Arent's they different question?
Math questions have only one definite answer regardless of what method, process or theorem you apply so I cannot agree with the teacher.
@fiona08 (454)
• United States
26 Jun 08
If I were you, and did not want to cause hostility, I would just make an appointment to talk with her. Then I would say something like, " I was wondering if you could explain to me why this is the answer, because to me it looks like this is the answer." Then if you can tell from her explanation that she is still wrong entirely, show her why you feel you are right, and say something just like you said here, like you are asking, not accusing, "But wouldn't 60 tens be 600?" I think she probably does mean to ask , " What is the value of the 6 in 760?" and "What is the value of the 4 in 6400?" I am a third grade teacher, and that is the way it is worded in our text books. That is likely the concept from the curriculum she is trying to teach. The answers she gives are correct when the question is as I have written it here.
1 person likes this
@chrysz (1602)
• Philippines
26 Jun 08
I agree with you, perhaps she misunderstood the question. I am also a teacher and I am thinking of what should the question be to have the 60 as answer.
I will be having the appointment today or ask her to schedule an appointment anytime today in her convenience.
@StrawberryKisses (2833)
• Canada
26 Jun 08
I understand what you are saying but from what I learned in school she is right because the tens spot is the 6 and then you add the 0 to it. That is how I was taught in school. You do not multiply the number by 10 it is just the SPOT it is in. the 0 is in the ones spot and the 6 is in the tens spot and the 7 is in the hundreds spot. when you are using a whole number you add and s after the spots name and when using a decimal you will see it like this
56.094 the 5 is in the tens spot the 6 is in the ones spot the 9 is in the tenth spot and the 4 is in the hundredth spot. It is actually the SPOT the question is asking for. I know it can be confusing but thats how they do it. You may be able to find more info online about it as well.
Hugs and good luck
1 person likes this
@chrysz (1602)
• Philippines
26 Jun 08
From what I learned, she is wrong. if she had answered it 6 tens or simply sin in "how many tens are there in 760?" I would have accepted it since in 760, there are 7 hundreds, 6 tens and 0 ones. In expanded form, you write it (7 x 100) + (6 x 10) + (0 x 1) = 760. 60 tens is already 600. If the question would have been, what is the value of 6 in 760, then the answer is 60. Value of a digit is different from "how many are tens (or thousands, etc).
Using money, if you have 100 dollars and you wanna change it to 10 dollar bills, how many 10 dollar bills will you get? So in 760, how many ten dollar bills will you get? if you will treat 760 as one whole number and have the whole number changed to 10s, then you'll get 76 pieces of 10-dollar bills but if you will want to treat each digit or place value or each number or each spot differently, then you'll get 7 100-dollar bill and 6 10-dollar bill right?
@secretbear (19448)
• Philippines
16 Aug 08
hi chrysz! 
so what happened with this problem of yours? have you solved it already? what did you do? i would have consulted another math teacher if i was experiencing that kind of problem. an argument with two people can sometimes be solved with an intervention of another person who is expert on the subject of argument. in your case is math. i hope you have already solved this problem.
so what happened with this problem of yours? have you solved it already? what did you do? i would have consulted another math teacher if i was experiencing that kind of problem. an argument with two people can sometimes be solved with an intervention of another person who is expert on the subject of argument. in your case is math. i hope you have already solved this problem. @chrysz (1602)
• Philippines
16 Aug 08
The teacher was wrong as what the principal told me but still, for them she has a point but bottom line is, her answer is wrong. This should have not reached the principal but the principal saw me in the school premises and my daughter's adviser told the principal that I was setting a meeting with the math teacher so the admin insisted that I tell the problem.
To make the story short,I heard from other parents that the teachers were instructed that they must tell teach things that they are not sure about.
Thanks for your input. In our case, the principal served as the third person but I understand that they must protect their personnel too because its really very hard to find teachers nowadays.
