Today we speak with Tom Marker, a 14 year veteran sixth grade teacher from Ohio! Tom reached out to us to tackle the big struggle of trying to convince his students to avoid rushing to standard algorithms and instead value strategies that can be more meaningful outside the classroom. This is another Math Mentoring Moment episode where we talk with a member of the Math Moment Maker Community who is working through struggles and together we brainstorm possible next steps and strategies to overcome them. You’ll Learn: The right balance is between conceptual and procedural strategies. How can we manage differing student strategies;How to avoid rushing to the algorithm without devaluing this approach from a student; and,How calculators can hinder your quest to avoid the rush to the algorithm. Resources: Make Math Moments TasksWooly Worms Race [Fractions 6 Day Problem Based Unit]Snack Time [Fractions 5 Day Problem Based Unit]Adding It Up [Book]Hour Glass Multiples [Lesson on MrOrr-IsAGeek.com]The Concept Holding Your Students Back [An Online PD Course]Catch the replay of our webinar: 5 Reasons Students Struggle with Word Problems & What We Can Do To Fix It. What we learned: What prevents students from applying their prior knowledge and understanding when solving word problems;How we can transform our current curriculum resources into engaging experiences;