Worksheet came back with a cross on 46 + 38. He'd written 40 + 30 = 70, 6 + 8 = 14, 70 + 14 = 84. Right answer, wrong method apparently. Teacher wrote "use column method". Now he's convinced his way is cheating. I want to back the teacher, but I also don't want him to stop thinking like this. How have others handled it?
Both are valid. At class 2 the teacher is probably checking the column method specifically, because that is what was taught that week, not whether he can add. I'd ask what the sheet was testing before deciding anything.
Instruction on the sheet just said 'add'. So whatever it was testing, it didn't tell him. Diary note it is.
Did the worksheet instruction say to use the column method? If it did, the cross is fair, if annoying. If it didn't, a polite note in the diary asking whether other methods are accepted seems reasonable.
What would worry me is him deciding his own way of thinking is 'wrong'. I teach older kids, and children who can split numbers like that are the ones who cope later. I'd tell him at home that his way is a real method and the column way is the one the class is practising this week. Both can be true.
That's roughly what I told him at bedtime. He asked if he could do it his way at home and the column way at school, which seems like a fair deal.
We wrote a note once for something similar. Teacher replied 'he can use it from next term'. Fine by us.
Keep going
More from the parents who were here.