Parents return to elementary school to learn math
Most of the students at Sallie Humble Elementary Monday night came directly to class from their full-time jobs, squeezed themselves into elementary school desks and took out their speckled notebooks, desperate to learn.
These students were parents willing to do anything, even go back to elementary school, to learn how to help their children with their homework.
The Parent Academy, created by Sallie Humble Elementary, provides an opportunity for parents to learn the techniques that accompany Eureka Math, commonly used by school districts to achieve the more rigorous Common Core State Standards.
Parents at Sallie Humble Elementary attend a Parent Academy. The program is designed to help parents understand the Common Core math. MARGARET CROFT/THE NEWS-STAR
The higher standards will be tested on the upcoming standardized PARCC test at the end of the year.
"The curriculum is designed to build layers on top of layers to help students achieve a deeper conceptual understanding," curriculum coordinator Lissa Dumas said. "It's not the way we were taught. But, if parents will hang in there, it will get easier."
Dumas described the new deeper understanding using a light bulb as an example.
"When we learned it, we just learned how to turn a light on," she said. "But now, in math we are going to know how to turn the light on, how it got there, how it was able to turn on and all the inner workings of the light. That is a deeper understanding. It's a benefit in the long run, but a challenge in the beginning."
The looks on the parents' faces in Suzie Wilson's classroom ranged from blank stares to desperation, frustration and utter confusion as she moved slowly and patiently through area model multiplication, partial products and expanded forms.
"My eyebrows are in my hairline," Heidi Hilton said. "My mind is just blown."
Hilton was impressed that her son, who had accompanied her to the class, solved a complicated math problem in his head, but struggled with the idea that on the PARCC test he might be asked to explain his work using a specific model.
Hilton appeared concerned, and she was not alone.
"I was having a hard time getting the answers the way they wanted us to get them," Lynn Curtis said. "I could get the answer, just not the way they wanted us to do it."
But Dumas explains there is a method to what many parents see as madness in solving math problems the Eureka way.
"If you were to take a peek at one lesson, it makes no sense," she said. "But if you look at it as a progression you can see how it builds on a prior skill. The problem is that we don't have the foundation."
Teachers volunteer their time for the Parent Academy to help put parents at ease.
In Wilson's classroom, parents were free to ask questions while she went step by step through the Eureka Math way of multiplying and parents took careful notes.
Monday was the third night this year the school was open for parents.
Dumas said they plan to do as many more nights as needed to help parents feel more comfortable that they will be able to help their children.
Engage New York, the creator of Eureka Math, also provides videos on its website, engageny.org, to serve help parents and students.
"They don't have it for every single lesson, but they have it for those the kids and parents are having problems with," Dumas said.
When class ended most everyone got up to leave while some stayed behind to ask a few more questions.
"Thank you so much for doing this," one parent said as she walked through the door.
Follow Barbara Leader on Twitter @barbaraleader1.