Jigsaw Puzzles

Reflection 4

            

            A friend of mine today inspired me to start my blog for this week. I was on a call with her and she mentioned how she hates math. I then took the opportunity to ask her for reasons. Simply, she mentioned to me that math should be creative and interesting.  She said you have to make it interesting to get her going on math. That triggered a thought inside of me, and I started to think that really why most people dislike math is just that they don’t find it interesting.

            Now of course when you are a teacher you don’t feel right when someone says that they don’t find a particular subject interesting. It adds some guilt to the plate. However, it also then makes me feel more motivated and responsible toward future generations. Previous mistakes should not be repeated again. If in the traditional classrooms math was not interesting, it should be now. If it is still not creative enough, then really there is no change; we want that change happening though. 

            I certainly don’t want to be that teacher who makes students miserable in a math classroom. Who am I to take away from them the numerous career opportunities that can come with math? Why would I want to create an obstacle for students in learning lifelong skills that could be used in various fields?  When my students grow to become adults, I want them to say I enjoyed math. For that to happen, there has to be space for creativity.

New Puzzles Daily. National Geographic. (2016). Retrieved online from http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/games-puzzles 

            I remember once teaching a grade 8-math class where I set up a separate station for jigsaw puzzle games. Every month there would be a new scene and a new set of puzzle pieces. The idea was  to observe all the different strategies that students can use when completing the puzzle game. Students got to work together and discuss ideas. They shared ideas and made mistakes. They also went back, learned, and corrected their mistakes to come to a final solution. These are all skills that you use/need when working on math problems!

When my students got exposed to that station for the first time, they were all very surprised. They all asked me questions/comments such as:

-What is this?

-Why are we playing?

-Do we really get to play? But then what about math?

-Are you serious?

-“Look! We have a game in the classroom, ssshhh we want to play later listen to the teacher.”

Comments such as the ones above really opened my eyes. Students were stripped away from fun and enjoyment in math classes. They had a thirst for something different. Their minds got sparked only because of a jigsaw puzzle game station. I was actually able to see excitement in the students’ eyes. That’s the energy that I want to see in every student’s attitude.

            Okay here are my final comments:

-       Jigsaw puzzle game is just a small idea that got students excited

-       There can be numerous other ideas to instill creativity in students

-       Math can be useful and fun at the same time

-       Know your students and try new things

-        Explain to them why they are doing math

-       Explain to the students about strategies, skills, and how they can connect it to the real world


  PS: I suggest this website if you want some fun jigsaw puzzle games that you could play with your students on your device. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/games/photo-puzzle-jigsaw/#home
        You could make it a cross-curricular with science by playing some of these games.