Sara, looking at the board, I am feeling the same way. Those feelings start at such a young age. as a Kidnergarten teacher, I actually have the opportunity (and time!) to let children discover mathematics. Through the Common Core Standards, I hope to deepen their basic understanding of math instead of giving them a shallow foundation of a lot of topics. Once they get to you, hopefully they will see the interconnectedness of topics instead of 50 million algorithms.
Love the cartoon! I have one in my room of a guidance counselor who says to the young boy "well Johnny, you only got half the questions right. Have you ever thought of being a meteorologist?"
Sara, Math is such a difficult subject because I've found either you get it, or you don't. So often our students set up barriers because they are scared of failure. They would rather not try than try and fail. Just like this student. I think we as teachers need to set up environments where students know it is ok to fail, as long as you continue working until you get it right. Also, as math teachers, we need to be math coaches- making sure the students practice the right way. If the student continually practices doing a problem wrong, they'll never get it right.
Many of our students feel this way. What can we as teachers do to help change this issue?
Sara, looking at the board, I am feeling the same way. Those feelings start at such a young age. as a Kidnergarten teacher, I actually have the opportunity (and time!) to let children discover mathematics. Through the Common Core Standards, I hope to deepen their basic understanding of math instead of giving them a shallow foundation of a lot of topics. Once they get to you, hopefully they will see the interconnectedness of topics instead of 50 million algorithms.
ReplyDeleteLove the cartoon! I have one in my room of a guidance counselor who says to the young boy "well Johnny, you only got half the questions right. Have you ever thought of being a meteorologist?"
ReplyDeleteSara,
ReplyDeleteMath is such a difficult subject because I've found either you get it, or you don't. So often our students set up barriers because they are scared of failure. They would rather not try than try and fail. Just like this student. I think we as teachers need to set up environments where students know it is ok to fail, as long as you continue working until you get it right. Also, as math teachers, we need to be math coaches- making sure the students practice the right way. If the student continually practices doing a problem wrong, they'll never get it right.