show your work

November 28, 2008 2 comments Article a day in the life

in my dream last night i was in an algebra class and i got a test result back. i’ve always been good at math and my answers were 100%. but i got marked down because i didn’t show my work. whut the heck?

i knew the answer. i didn’t have to write it all out to figure out the answer. i just knew it. i did it fast and easy – i did what came naturally to me. and i was being penalized for not doing it the long way!

surely there has been some kind of research on people who don’t need to write all the work down in order to arrive at an answer. in fact, showing my work always messed me up. i would get everything muddled in my head if i had to do it that way. so.. what does that way about me?

that is rhetorical. i’m pretty sure i don’t really want to know the answer. ha ha.

btw – in my dream my regular teacher was out and my senior pastor was our substitute and he said he hates substituting in math classes because there really is no way to lecture on that stuff (another anti-show your work geek??) and so he gave us a ‘free day’. and our tech intern sat right behind me in class.

2 comments

  • Laurie

    I had a kid in biology who was training for the olympics. He told me he didn’t have time to do my bio homwork. I told him that as long as he kept a B or better on tests and quizes, he was excused from the homework. Afterall the puropose of the homework was to help them learn the material. If he could get there without it, good deal. He did well and it took pressure off of him. I say, Don’t show your work! (Even in your dreams!)

  • BMac

    No, no, no! You MUST show your work! Yes, I am that teacher that everyone hates, the one that demands you show how you arrived at your answer. Why? Is it because I’m just mean? Well, that’s part of it. But the real reason is CONSISTENCY. If you get the wrong answer I can’t help you if I don’t know where you went wrong. If you get the right answer, how do I know you could do it again given a similar problem? Did you get lucky? Did you cheat? Did you have a moment of clarity that may never return? I teach a subject that DEMANDS a logical progression of reasoning. Yeah, many times you can get the answer right, but “doing it the long way” will give you practice in doing it the RIGHT WAY when you encounter a more difficult problem. I’m mean because I care. 🙂

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