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These have been my guiding questions with our placemat work:
Tell me more… about when you feel strong in math class
Explain….how you feel when you write a math test
Describe…a situation where/when you enjoyed math
These are the three insights I have taken away from this experience after speaking with students and teachers:
- Writing a test does not always communicate student thinking
- Students have been told that they are “not good” at math and believe it
- Students enjoy choice and feel they can communicate their thinking differently for different units and big ideas/concepts
Natalie, I love the GIF you used. I actually logged on for another reason but the GIF made me click on your blog post.
I love that you’re asking BIG questions that have “messy” answers because, in the end, your students are going to better off having their teacher knowing their concerns and actively working to help them show what they are truly capable of, and, most importantly, enjoy their math class so they gain confidence and start to believe in their abilities.
Last year I started doing “Math is Fun Fridays” with my classes. Here’s the link (https://goo.gl/AesTCx) for some of the different activities and puzzles I’ve used.
Let’s try to connect at the next F2F. I love talking about this stuff!
Awesome start to your Cohort journey, well done!
Thanks, Michael!
I love the idea of “Math is Fun Fridays”! Thank you for sharing. I am going to start this in my class.
This is such a great start to your journey, @nvera! How did your students respond when you started asking them these questions?
They responded in a positive manner, but it was sad to hear some of their self esteem issues based on comments made by parents or past teachers about their ability with Math!
I hate it when students come to my Math class with the preconceived notion that they suck at Math! AND don’t get me started on when a parent says their child just isn’t good at Math!!!
Math anxiety is such a difficult hurdle to help students manage.
@nvera you are definitely going to want to check out the work of @snewell and her blog https://cohort21.com/suzannenewell/2017/04/20/what-techniques-worked-to-change-students-attitudes-about-math/She worked and continues to work on mathematical mindset and source some really interesting research. If this ends up being your action plan she can be a great resource to connect with.
See you Saturday!
Justin
Great insights, Natalie. I really like how you asked open ended questions that got to the root of their experiences. I really look forward to seeing how you take these insights forward.
Les
@nvera, I taught math for many years and truly enjoyed it. A couple of years ago, I was given the opportunity to make changes to my course. Though I did still incorporate tests, I started looking more holistically at the Problem-Based method of teaching math. We visited several schools and saw it in action. The students took more agency in discussing and breaking down how solutions are constructed. This was a collaborative effort. Some of the teachers at our school now use a skills-based style of assessment. They meet one on one with the teacher and demonstrate learning at which point the teacher offers feedback. They are given multiple opportunities to demonstrate these skills as defined by the curriculum. It is more empowering for the students. Ultimately the tests are a piece of all of this.
‘Students have been told that they are “not good” at math and believe it’ is a common math issue. An online course that I took online really helped me tackle this problem in my class. Dr. Jo Boaler’s course, ‘How to Learn Math for Teachers/Parents’ (http://scpd.stanford.edu/ppc/how-learn-math-teachers) is an excellent start – worth checking this out. So much of math is confidence and mindset!
@mmoore is a great resource. Love the ‘math is fun Fridays’ idea mentioned above. I look forward to chatting more on Saturday!
Tim