Reflection 1
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Here I am back on my blog to talk more about math. To be
honest, I never thought even blogging about math requires thinking about the
main idea, just like thinking what is the concept behind a certain math formula.
Well, after much thinking and reflection I think I am ready to share my
thoughts.
I find my math classes very interesting, because I get to be
two personalities at once: Student and Teacher. It is now not just about
solving the problem, finishing it and handing it in for marks. Math is now about
solving the problem to make it easier for our students. Math is now about
finding different ways to solve a particular problem. Math is now about
thinking from the student’s perspective and connecting it with the teacher’s
resources. So how do I fit in as a teacher?
Can I solve the grades 4-8 EQAO problems with no difficulty?
Yes I can, but can I solve it in a way that my student’s can understand it? Do
I specifically understand how I solved the problem? Can I explain to myself why
I solved the problem that particular way?
Math is all about ideas now. Whether I passed all my math
classes in my previous school years including university level classes does not
matter so much anymore. Math is not just about doing it now, but it is about
why am I doing it the way I do it. I want my students to understand the idea
behind it. I want my students to understand how they got to the results. I do
not want it to be a ‘plug n’ chug’ class for them.
Now for students to be able to understand the idea of math,
they have to have space for trials. Trials allow you to solve a particular
problem few times by making mistakes. Yes! Making mistakes is key here. If
someone out there does not agree with me, at least Jo Boaler agrees with me. In
an article Gary Antonick mentions that Jo Boaler said the following to him:
“Good
teachers have said this for a long time — mistakes help us. We can
learn from mistakes. But this is a much more powerful message: that we can
learn only from making mistakes. We need kids making
mistakes. If kids are not making mistakes — if they’re not
struggling — we’re limiting their brain growth....” (Jo Boaler:
Mathematical Mindsets, by Gary Antonick)
I
think students will make mistakes if they feel safe enough to do so. They will
feel safe enough to make mistakes if they do not fear something. I ask myself
sometimes what could students fear the most in a classroom setting? I think it
is punishment, getting put down, being looked down upon or being made of fun.
It is easy to be made fun of in a math classroom. I think it is up to the
teacher to eliminate all of that and make it fun for everyone. If they solve a
problem wrong they should not get penalized for it, let them play around with
it, discover, think, and be messy! It will get them somewhere.
References
Antonick, Gary. Jo Boaler: Mathematical Mindsets. The New York Times. http://wordplay.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/04/18/boaler-math-mindset/?_r=0. April 18, 2016.
Samia,
ReplyDeleteWhen creating and solving problems, try and brainstorm as many ways as you can think of in terms of how students will solve it; what misconceptions do you think they will have?
By solving the question beforehand and anticipating misconceptions, it will allow the consolidation portion of the lesson to be much more effective.
We want to provide challenging questions to our students because we want them to struggle; it is through this struggle that they learn, which in turns allows for increased connections between neurons.
I would highly recommend going over Jo Boaler's norms at the start of the year and focus on building a safe and positive (mathematics) classroom.
Shelly :)