What did I learn?
Today we discussed many different topics about making math assessable to all students. Included in that discussion was the topic of letting students see the teacher struggle, so they may understand that math is something that can be hard for everyone and that not everyone can understand or answer a problem correctly the first time and that persistence will help them. For me, I understand the concept and see the importance of it, but the perfectionist side of me will have difficulty. In preparing for the lesson, I like to have all of the problems worked out, so that I do not waste valuable class time fixing an error (this was especially true in my middle school dyad placement, since time was so limited). To address problems that caused students to struggle, I would ask students about problems that they struggled with and would work those out.
We also talked about exposing students to language and used the example of moving a 2D object to a 3D object and continually being asked “why?” in order to prove our reasoning. This class example worked and we came to the correct solution that was supported, but would that be possible with students that do not have prior knowledge of the correct terminology?
Another thing that we talked about was the need for students to have exposure to concepts in order to move them along the Van Hiele levels, but in order for students to fully have the exposure, the teacher must also have that knowledge to help them get there properly. This idea is one that believe is true, especially because understanding can help teachers become enthused about the subject they are teaching, ultimately leading to the success of the students.
What do I still have questions about?
When completing activities in math classes, such as the mira, GapMinder, and box folding activities, and if an outsider walks into the class (be it the principal, parent volunteer, or other), would they see that as being productive towards the goal in math? If these people don’t see the value in the activities, especially the principal, could that have negative repercussions for new teachers? Or, will it be the explanation or resulting test scores that can support the teacher in these practices?
To show students that anyone can struggle with math, as mentioned above, would it be beneficial to intentionally struggle with math and include that in your lesson plan? Or, should the struggles come organically?
What are the implications for classroom practice?
In the classroom, exposure to math tools is important, but also using everyday items or ideas in order to learn about math is also beneficial. I found this while trying to show my 3rd graders the need to divide and having the remainder shown as a decimal (instead of a fraction or R#). The book only used money as an example, so I wanted to supplement this by using other things. Besides modeling problems that would need a decimal as the remainder (ex. finding how many miles per gallon, weight), I brought in food containers and had the students work together to find out how many ounces or grams there were per serving. In order to do so, the students had to find the ounces or grams and the number of total servings. The students seemed to enjoy this activity and could see real world application to the concept that was being taught. In the future, I plan on using these ideas, so students can find real world applications while also working hands on.
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