Mathematical Teaching Philosophy
My teaching experiences in middle and high school classrooms have shaped my beliefs about mathematics teaching. First of all I strongly believe that all students have the ability to succeed in math class. Just as importantly I believe that students need to understand how to learn from their mistakes. Lastly, math class needs to be connected to real-life.
Working with a large variety of students every day has helped reinforce by belief that all students have the ability to succeed in math class. Too many students come into math with an attitude of dislike, or believing that they cannot do math. These types of attitudes reinforce students’ thoughts of not being able to succeed. This year I have worked with English Language Learner students, students with special needs, and unmotivated students. Many of these students started out the year with a negative attitude toward math, thinking they would not be able to succeed. Some of these attitudes have changed throughout the course of the year from working with students, praising their efforts, and showing them that they are capable of learning math. I have spent one-on-one time with an ELL student, and with the extra help he has started trying in math because he is beginning to understand the content better with a little extra explanation. His idea of success might not be an A in the class, but passing the class, or at least getting a better grade than last year. Another way I can tell he is successful is his smile when he finally understands a concept, making sure to praise all the effort he puts forth, really helps to encourage him and show him with a little extra help he can be successful along with any other student.
Students need to understand how to learn from their mistakes. In math class I check students’ homework for completion, discuss the answers to the homework, and allow students to ask any questions on problems they solved incorrectly and were still unsure about after discussing the answers. Going over the answers as a class and allowing students to ask questions gives students the opportunity to see what they did incorrectly on their homework and learn from their mistakes. I also try to help student learn from their behavioral mistakes. If a student gets into trouble for being disruptive in class, I talk with the student at the end of class or the next day to see if the student is aware of his or her mistake and talk with the student about what he or she can do to avoid that problem again. After all, everyone makes mistakes and it is important to be understanding and help students understand that learning from mistakes is a part of life.
Lastly, students need to be able to connect math to everyday life. I have found that students are engaged much more when we relate math to something they can relate with in life. For example when studying similarity in a unit from the Connected Mathematics curriculum, students were expected to make characters called, Wumps. These Wump characters that resemble cats, but are designed to help students learn the mathematical concepts of scale factor and similarity. I was able to relate Wumps to students as video game characters, and briefly discuss how video games characters are created. This for example really helped students relate to math, and see a purpose as to why we learn this math since so many students are so invested in playing video games. Also, I have been able to relate adding and subtracting to scoreboards used in sports, as well as putting the addition and subtraction problems in terms of dollar amounts. Students automatically understand the question when rephrases in terms of money, and through explaining it this way, students are able to see adding and subtracting numbers in their own life. In addition, when learning about percents, I was able to relate it to sale discounts, tax, and paying tips at restaurants, all of which apply to students’ lives. I was even able to create a lesson where students used these ideas to go shopping and out to eat for a 7th grade prom.
Connecting math content to areas in life that interest students or area that are practical applications helps to engage and motivate students to learn math. By doing so, students can answer the proverbial question “Why are we learning this?” Learning from mistakes will allow students to grow mathematically as well as in other aspects of life such as behaviorally. It is important that all students know they can succeed.
Working with a large variety of students every day has helped reinforce by belief that all students have the ability to succeed in math class. Too many students come into math with an attitude of dislike, or believing that they cannot do math. These types of attitudes reinforce students’ thoughts of not being able to succeed. This year I have worked with English Language Learner students, students with special needs, and unmotivated students. Many of these students started out the year with a negative attitude toward math, thinking they would not be able to succeed. Some of these attitudes have changed throughout the course of the year from working with students, praising their efforts, and showing them that they are capable of learning math. I have spent one-on-one time with an ELL student, and with the extra help he has started trying in math because he is beginning to understand the content better with a little extra explanation. His idea of success might not be an A in the class, but passing the class, or at least getting a better grade than last year. Another way I can tell he is successful is his smile when he finally understands a concept, making sure to praise all the effort he puts forth, really helps to encourage him and show him with a little extra help he can be successful along with any other student.
Students need to understand how to learn from their mistakes. In math class I check students’ homework for completion, discuss the answers to the homework, and allow students to ask any questions on problems they solved incorrectly and were still unsure about after discussing the answers. Going over the answers as a class and allowing students to ask questions gives students the opportunity to see what they did incorrectly on their homework and learn from their mistakes. I also try to help student learn from their behavioral mistakes. If a student gets into trouble for being disruptive in class, I talk with the student at the end of class or the next day to see if the student is aware of his or her mistake and talk with the student about what he or she can do to avoid that problem again. After all, everyone makes mistakes and it is important to be understanding and help students understand that learning from mistakes is a part of life.
Lastly, students need to be able to connect math to everyday life. I have found that students are engaged much more when we relate math to something they can relate with in life. For example when studying similarity in a unit from the Connected Mathematics curriculum, students were expected to make characters called, Wumps. These Wump characters that resemble cats, but are designed to help students learn the mathematical concepts of scale factor and similarity. I was able to relate Wumps to students as video game characters, and briefly discuss how video games characters are created. This for example really helped students relate to math, and see a purpose as to why we learn this math since so many students are so invested in playing video games. Also, I have been able to relate adding and subtracting to scoreboards used in sports, as well as putting the addition and subtraction problems in terms of dollar amounts. Students automatically understand the question when rephrases in terms of money, and through explaining it this way, students are able to see adding and subtracting numbers in their own life. In addition, when learning about percents, I was able to relate it to sale discounts, tax, and paying tips at restaurants, all of which apply to students’ lives. I was even able to create a lesson where students used these ideas to go shopping and out to eat for a 7th grade prom.
Connecting math content to areas in life that interest students or area that are practical applications helps to engage and motivate students to learn math. By doing so, students can answer the proverbial question “Why are we learning this?” Learning from mistakes will allow students to grow mathematically as well as in other aspects of life such as behaviorally. It is important that all students know they can succeed.