Every year I hear complaints about Common Core Math.

Certain Common Core questions will ask students to “explain their reasoning.” Students feel at a lost to explain their reasoning when the answer appears so straightforward in their minds. Moreover, the textbook is word problem intensive, which isn’t necessarily an ineffective way; it’s just that students already Rather than logically break problems down step-by-step, Common Core focuses on a word problem approach to highlight its key takeaways. While there are merits to this method, students feel as though it’s hard to ask questions when they are stumped. Lastly, Common Core utilizes tiles to explain equations. While the use of tiles is helpful for some visual learners, some students have difficulty grasping algebraic equations using the tile method.

So what can students do?

First, I should mention that Common Core Math does a fantastic job of understanding the “why” behind the math concepts. The problem is that it’s not always presented in a way that’s always accessible to students.

If students are have some difficulty absorbing the concepts, a supplemental text is always helpful. The problem with the Common Core textbooks is that it’s doesn’t explain the mechanics behind the math; it’s most conceptual.

The local school district used to have colorful textbooks that would lay out problem in a step by step format. However, when Common Core was instilled several years ago, new textbooks were introduced and the old one was scrapped away.

By taking the best of both worlds, students can have a much easier time knowing the mechanics, but also understand the essential “why” behind math, shaping students into more critical thinkers of math.