Week 3 Teaching Math for all our Learners

Back at it again and this week we are taking the time to focus on all of our learners. Yes that means more differentiated instruction. This was a big topic first year and continues to be stressed this year. Basically it comes down knowing your learner, planning appropriately for those learners and being willing and able to adapt your teaching styles for your students.

This class we focused on the different types of learners you may have in your classroom. The three learners we looked at were kinesthetic, auditory and visual. I myself am the farthest from an auditory learner, as I cannot stand listening to anyone, especially if they are barking instructions at me. I am probably something in between a kinesthetic and visual learner. I like to think I can notice and see things others cannot, always analyzing what I see in my head. I also focus on moving around and being athletic; I cannot sit still, which probably also makes me a kinesthetic learner.

We also attempted to create our own mini activity in class with some of the resources in our library. Catherine and I choose to do a simple trick with some dice.

Using three dice have a friend or student roll the dice and then stack them one on top of the other. Do not look, you don't want them to think you are cheating. Tell your friend or students you will find the sum of the five faces you cannot see.

The 5 numbers you cannot see are :
the bottom of the top dice
the top of the second dice
the bottom of the second dice
the top of the last dice
the bottom of the last dice

In your head subtract the very top face of the three dice from 21 to find the answer. Why is this the answer? Well the opposite faces of each die totals seven (1+6, 2+5, 3+4), and since you are subtracting the top number from the total of 6 faces, you subtract from 21. 

Finally the online portion discussed how we can learn from making mistakes and more importantly, how our learners can succeed from them. I believe in the idea of backwards design and I think making mistakes and backwards design go hand in hand. From the forum decided to choose to try seemingly wild ideas.In this forum we discussed strategies for teaching success from mistakes and decided that I think some learners will benefit from trying something new or something absurd. I know I personally would much rather be given some time to work at a problem, not knowing how to do it, and trying to figure it out myself than to be told how to do something and do it repeatedly for homework. That way if I don't figure it out, I will learn from my failures. 

Week 2 , a Growth Mindset.

Unfortunately, I had to miss the in class portion of this weeks math classes. I was able to participate in a webinar this week as well as complete the online module.

This weeks online module focused on what your mindset might be when it came to mathematics. Breaking down the two types of mind sets we have growth versus fixed. A fixed mindset related to mathematics is that you do not believe that a person can develop or grow in the field of mathematics, that you either get it or you don't. A growth mindset focuses on an individuals ability to grow, that with practice any learner can develop new skills and progress in mathematics. When it comes down to it, instructors really need to have a growth mindset as well encourage their learners too as well. Having your learners and students understand that with practice, effort and confidence they can be as successful as the next individual will increase positive results as well as self esteem.

Often, when I was in elementary school, I could tell the teachers did not have a growth mindset. I feel as if once they had an impression of a student that was it. As an example I am going to use my friend Billy. Billy struggled with his multiplication and division but he was alright when it came to addition and subtraction. He did not score well on the test. Mrs. Smith's impression was that he was struggling to do his multiplication and division. When she tried helping him with her way of instruction and assigning extra homework, he was still struggling. Mrs. Smith simply "wrote off" Billy and multiplication and division, she thought he was a lost cause. Poor Billy never succeeded in Mrs. Smith's class. This example shows a fixed mindset, the instructor is just assuming the student will not be able to improve even though she tried helping. It is important to have a growth mindset and use different teaching strategies. Students will fail, as an instructor it is your job to get them back on their feet and be positive so that they can be successful from their mistakes.

This leads me to this weeks webinar on differentiated instruction. The group focused on interactive math games that engage the learner. First, I just want to say the group did a great job. I really enjoyed how interactive they made the webinar. They also linked interactive games that can be used in the classroom, helping make math more enjoyable. Throughout the year and a bit as a teacher candidate, we have always been reminded about how important it is differentiate instruction.

First Week of Math Class Second Year

Well we are back for another year (our final year) and ready to take on the new challenges and strategies of teaching math to junior and intermediate levels. Our first class was more of an introduction class however I really enjoyed the introduction activity.

Our instructor used a simple card trick that involved slight of hand and simple mathematics which resulted in the final product yielding the four queens on four separate piles. After observing, we were able to go our own separate ways to learn how to do the trick and to figure out the mathematics behind it. This exercise was an excellent way to get us to collaborate our own ideas and come to out won conclusions.

For the online session of our class we focused on the stereotypes associated with mathematics and why people tend to dislike math. Well, often people dislike math because they just do not get it. This can be for a number of reasons, the most common reason being a poor instructor. Mathematics takes practice and often repetition to understand certain formulas and concepts, and an instructor who is not willing to put in the time and effort to teach often hurts the learner. At this point the learner will give up. Sometimes you hear students and people in general saying you will not need math when it comes to the "real world," so why put in the effort to learn. Yet there are many basic strategies and concepts that will help you in the "real world." I am sure many of my colleagues can agree with me and say they have heard one of the previous statements about poor instructors and not needing math in the "real world". As for the stereotypes, there is no such thing as a "math person." Everyone has the opportunity to be successful in math. All it takes is confidence and the will to learn and continue to learn and believe in yourself. Now this may seem like a simple fix but I know there is some discipline to this. It is a lot like learning a new language. With practice and dedication simple math can be made to be as easy as holding a conversation in English and even advanced math may become easier to understand and comprehend. 

Simply keep up the hard work and math will come to you!