Straight Columns From Mary Ransdell, a teacher education instructor at The University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky: "Students who have trouble keeping the columns straight when computing long division problems or those problems involving multiple place values can use this tip. Have the students turn their lined notebook paper sideways so that the red line and the holes are on the top. Instantly they have columned paper. The students write one digit per column. The hundreds, tens and ones columns stay where they belong and computation is easier."