One of my graduate school professors would end almost every class discussion with one simple question, “so what?” At first, I found it a bit disturbing that he would spend an entire meeting teaching something, only to ask at the end if it was even important enough to study. Over time, this question has come to frame much of what I do in my own career, especially as I try to answer that question as it relates to how and what I teach.
In our time together, we have focused a lot on teaching through problem solving and providing students opportunities to engage with and understand the mathematics. So now, I ask you: So what? What is the purpose? Is this even important enough to study? Consider this video as you ponder the question: https://youtu.be/kibaFBgaPx4 Considering the video, how would you answer, “so what?” Why is problem solving so important to study? Several years ago, I was doing a number sense presentation to a group of my online students. I had the class chorally tell me how to add two numbers, such as 19 + 37. The class, together in one voice, told me to set up the problem in the standard algorithm formation (19 on top, 37 on bottom). Next, they stated that nine plus seven is sixteen. Put down the six carry the one. One plus one plus three is five. Put down the five. The answer is 56. Then I shared with them how students with number sense would see this (I used the same standard formation): nine plus seven is sixteen. Sixteen is 10 + 6. Put the six in the ones column and carry the ten to the tens. Ten plus ten plus thirty is fifty. Fifty plus six is 56. After the presentation, one student came up to me and shared how she never saw the 16 as a single number. It never occurred to her that the “put down the six carry the one,” actually represented a number, rather it was just a step she had to do in order to figure out the answer. A very basic concept in mathematics finally made sense to her as a college student. This was an exciting aha moment for her! So again, I ask, so what? How does your teaching help to answer that question for your own students? How can it frame what you do every day? Here’s to all the “so what” questions in hopes that asking it of ourselves continues our growth as educators!
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I’ve always liked the month of January. That’s probably because my birthday is in the middle of the month. Some years, I get lucky and have the day off thanks to the holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On other years, I end up teaching on my birthday.
This year, my birthday landed on the first day of the semester for two of my classes. I’m always excited to begin a new class, learn about my students, and help them understand mathematics better. I try to be careful and introduce concepts in a way that makes sense to them, and I resist the urge to introduce an algorithm before it makes sense to the students. For an illustration of what may happen when algorithms are introduced too early, I encourage you to watch the six-minute video of Rachel (http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/CRMSE/sdsu-pdc/nickerson/imap/files/clips/Rachel.mov) as she explains how to change a mixed number into an improper fraction. Her comments from 1:10 to 2:00 remind me that my students need to be the ones making sense of the mathematics, not me. Finally, I would like to share the work of Dr. Crystal Kalinec-Craig at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She wrote an influential piece in Democracy & Education about the Rights of the Learner to promote equity in mathematics education (https://democracyeducationjournal.org/home/vol25/iss2/5/) . Briefly, they are as follows:
Thank you for all that you do for your students. I appreciate your efforts. Sincerely, Dusty Jones Sam Houston State University [email protected] Twitter: @jonesmathed Happy New Year! Tony Robbins tells a story about a UPS worker who never made more than $14,000 a year and yet became a millionaire—he was disciplined and saved money to invest on a consistent basis. Robbins argues that having effective daily habits builds rewards over time. If I knew how to make you a millionaire, I wouldn’t be here, but let’s apply this concept of discipline to become successful math teachers.
You have learned a lot about how math can be taught from our workshops. You have the ideas, now it is imperative to apply these ideas on a consistent basis. What is something that you would like to implement? Would you like to include a BURST activity once a week or for a few minutes every day? Would you like to spend more time engaging those students who think that they are not successful in math? Go ahead and set a goal. It is effective to have a long-term goal and a short-term related goal to help you achieve that longer goal. I am sharing a personal goal and professional goal on our Twitter page. Post your goal/s at https://twitter.com/AIMM4ETX More on goal setting by Tony Robbins: https://www.success.com/tony-robbins-goals/ We look forward to seeing you at SFA on February 22 and 23. Jim Ewing, Ph.D. |
AuthorsJohn Lamb, Ph.D. Archives |
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