W3+3K = 6

Dear fellow m4th fr13nd5,

We have reached our final week together. This blog post will mark my last math learning post in teacher's college!

I have learned so much along this math journey and I have a lot of final thoughts to share with you. So please, enjoy!


via GIPHY

Assessment and Evaluation

In my math class this past week, we looked at our final topic of the term: assessment and evaluation. One of the main things that I have struggled with so far in regards to assessment would be overassessing. I tend to try and look for too much when assessing both formatively or summatively. For example, if I would be taking anecdotal notes, I would try to observe way more than possible. One thing I keep learning about this is to narrow down what I am looking for in each assessment. Trust me, it is easy to get overwhelmed and when you are trying to do too much, you might end up being the least productive!

In addition, I learned that check-lists and class lists make for quick and effective assessment tools. Having the students' names and a few categories (such as the learning goals for the particular lesson) that could be checked off, help teachers narrow down their 'look-fors' and help them record that data quickly (by literally putting a check-mark in✔). I plan to use check-lists often because I believe it will keep me organized and will help me stay on track!

Another important idea that we discussed together in class also comes in the form of a check-list. It is a check-list for teachers to use when planning for authentic assessment and giving descriptive and meaningful feedback to students. Without both the of the prior, students' learning experiences will not be at their highest potential, and teachers will not have gathered the best evidence for assessing! Furthermore, Growing Success: Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting in Ontario Schools (2010) states that, "[...] assessment, evaluation, and reporting practices and procedures must be fair, transparent, and equitable for all students" (page 2). To make sure that each student in my class receives the most equitable assessment, I plan to use this tool and check in with my own assessment practices during my next placement (which by the way, is coming up soon!).
 Here is the handy check-list below. ⬇

Criteria for Planning Feedback during a Teaching-Learning Cycle. (2018). Image. Retrieved from: Week 6 Assessment Slides by Rebecca Bunz

My Math Learning Reflection 

One of my favourite parts of this math journey was learning about the strategies and ways to differentiate to all learners in a math classroom, including English Language Learners (ELLs). I found that I often came across this issue during my last placement, and I did not always know how to approach it in the best way. In my opinion, ELLs are at a huge disadvantage in the math classroom. I had a lot of questions about the way ELLs are assessed because I noticed students would understand the math, but would not understand the question that is being asked of them. This resulted in them receiving lower grades because they could not show their knowledge of math due to their language barrier. Thankfully, we covered a lot of tips and strategies to incorporate in a classroom with ELLs. According to an EduGains document titled, 'Tips for English Language Learners in Mathematics' (2005), some tips I will personally find helpful and will focus on include:

• using images and video to support text
• using an extensive variety of manipulatives and technology
• having bilingual dictionaries accessible at all times 
• providing students with organizers that help them sort the information required 

There are many more strategies to use in that EduGains document and I will be checking back to it as much as possible. Understanding these tips was probably one of the most important and helpful things for me during my six weeks of math learning!

My Current View on Math Education

Going into teacher's college, I held a very traditional view of mathematics. I was not even aware of the current ways that math teachers were teaching in junior/intermediate classrooms. I never knew that math became so student-centred and less teacher directed. I also did not expect the use of technology to be so beneficial in the math classroom.

I now know that students need to work through rich problems that relate to their everyday lives in order to increase their learning engagement. They need less time with the teacher talking and more time problem-solving and collaborating as they work through complex and layered math problems. 'Math talks' is a new term for me that will also stick with me when teaching in my own classroom. Having students bounce ideas off of each other AND learn from each other is one of the most effective ways to promote mathematical brain growth! One way to incorporate rich tasks and math talks is through inquiry-based learning. My colleague Ayda goes into detail about this topic in her blog here, take a look!
Never forget: THE GROWTH MINDSET (please refer to week 2's blog post!) 🙋

I think Jo Boaler describes this phenomenon (i.e., getting stuck and thinking in a traditional way about math) even better in this video below, and apparently, I am not the only one who went through it!

A great learning growth for me occurred once I completed my lesson's for our unit plan assignment; I was able to plan and take what I learned throughout this six-week course into consideration. I aimed to incorporate student-centred activities and opportunities for math talks into the math lessons. I also had a better understanding of how to differentiate tasks (e.g., having parallel tasks, open ended questions and student choice, etc.) and how to create rich math problems that used all aspects of the achievement chart: knowledge & understanding, thinking, communication and application! 

I plan to keep applying this knowledge I've built into my practice!

Final Thoughts

It has been an enlightening and busy time for me over the past six weeks. I had a lot of questions answered, and my way of approaching math in the modern day classroom has absolutely changed for the better. Moreover, I do hope that technology and math apps created will keep up with our modern day learners. Ideally, I would love it if there were an app made for each grade level and strand of the math curriculum, so students could practice math at home and on their spare time anywhere and at anytime, as long as they have access to a device! I also plan to keep up with my own professional development and keep learning about ways to make math class the most fun, equitable, safe, exciting and rewarding place for my students!

Thank you friends for spending your time with me so far, and keep checking my blog for any future posts!

I will leave you with a quirky math joke below, in preparation for Halloween in a few days!

👻Are monsters good at math? No, unless you Count Dracula. 👻

Take care math scholars and have a safe and Happy H4110w33n!

Love,

Teddy

WE3K F1V3

H3110 m4th 10v3r5!

Thanks for checking back in with my math blog. As promised, this week's blog will definitely be worth your while. We covered a lot of ground in math class this week and I have a lot to share! I wanted to start by asking you the question:

What are some things that students in Grades 4-10 need to know and/or use to help with their learning and lives, in their 21st-Century math classes?

Well, the answer to that is not so simple. Modern day learners, as you might already know, are exposed to a lot more than when you and I were in a math class, years ago. Now, students' lives and learning are digitalized and they have instant and unlimited access to the internet. Additionally, students are entering a diverse and challenging global economy. That's why I believe that these kids should be taking advantage of the digital tools created to help them in the math class. I also believe that our students need to be regularly exposed to concepts in financial literacy, to help them prosper in the future. Thus, scholars, today I will be talking about exactly these two things: digital math resources and financial literacy.

Math Apps, Online Math Games & Video Games


via GIPHY

When I was in school, the only digital resource we had in the math class was the scientific calculator. Now, there are so many digital tools and resources that help students practice, solidify, understand and challenge their math knowledge and skills. I had the wonderful opportunity to witness and use some of these resources during my first placement. The school I was teaching in really focused on the integration of technology and use of digital resources. During my time there, I was able to attend many professional development meetings that brought various apps and games into the spotlight, with the aim for teachers and staff to use them in their classrooms. I think that having these regular professional community meetings played an important role because teachers felt supported and more aware through this integration process. Especially if some teachers were not the most comfortable about using and teaching with technology.

Some examples of the technology and apps (that could all be used in a math class) I had seen in placement were: Kahoot, Prodigy, iPads, iPad apps for the differentiation to autistic spectrum learners and students with intellectual disabilities, FlipGrid, Google Read and Write, ChromeBooks, Google Classroom, personal laptops for fine motor skill development, DoInk (green screen app), online graphic organizer apps, Google Slides & Powerpoint, Dash-N-Dot robots and Scratch (coding app). I might have missed a few, but I really did have a lot of exposure to these digital resources none-the-less! Knowing about and seeing these digital apps in use will surely help me when having to plan my instruction for my next lessons.

This week in class, we learned more about what makes a good math app and game. Below, I will talk about some of the things to consider when looking for good math games and apps. This, along with my placement experience, will help me clarify the use of digital tools in my math class even more!

The Bunz Model of Technology Integration and Evaluation

The Bunz Model. (2017). Image. Retrieved from: How to Integrate and Evaluate Educational Technology by Rebecca Bunz

Lucky for me, my current math instructor has specialized in the evaluation and integration of digital tools in the classroom, catered to our modern day learners. This week, she talked about her research and gave us insightful recommendations in order to help us pick and choose the best and most appropriate math apps and games for our students!

Above is an important model my instructor created and shared that is designed to help educators with evaluating and integrating digital tools, titled the 'Bunz Model of Technology Integration and Evaluation'. She further mentioned the importance of each step in the model. For example, it is important to first develop proactive and collaborative professional learning communities, where all professionals are on the same page and ready to search out some digital resources (like having frequent staff meetings). Second, teachers should think about the pedagogy behind the tools they choose, for example, ensuring the tool can be used to differentiate. Next, the math app or game should reflect the purpose of instruction, for example, targeted to independent learning. Then, the math app should be functional and ready to be used. Now, after all of these ideas have been sorted out, the teacher or professional community should search to find a math app and evaluate it, based on the prior criteria identified. Finally, if the found app hits all the check-marks, it should be planned into the math class and then used by the students. My colleague Emily went into detail in her blog and described the app that she chose in class after following this process. Check that out here.
In addition, my instructor created a self-check quiz that will help me and other educators tackling this issue. The link to this helpful quiz is here!

Financial Literacy

I want to also reflect on the webinar that my colleague and I hosted this week. We discussed financial literacy, which is a topic not a lot of teachers nor students are very familiar with. Financial literacy is a dense subject. My colleague and I believe that no child from Grades 4-10 is too young to work on this topic! The main goals of our webinar were to highlight key concepts that should be taught in schools, such as personal financing and the financial system and economy as a whole. We then talked about ways in which teachers could integrate financial literacy: through gamification and finding cross-curricular links. Please watch the video below to see 4th graders share their investing strategies in the stock market!

Gamification

Lastly, to tie things together, I wanted to mention how gamification (digital tool integration) could help with integrating financial literacy. Since we wanted teacher candidates to know that they can use gamification to support financial literacy concepts, we wanted to share some of the games and apps that we found along the way! We didn't have the Bunz Model of Technology Integration and Evaluation when we were looking, so the next time we do search, it will be much more effective! Nonetheless, we happened to stumble across a great website that identified some of these games and apps for students. They include, 'Financial Football & Soccer', online 'Monopoly' and 'The Stock Market Game'. Here is a link to website with much more apps and games to choose from!

Conclusion to My Post

Before we end things off, I would like to mention an interesting point another colleague of mine stated. He said that in his opinion, GOOD math apps are actually pretty hard to find, especially for the older intermediate grades. I really hope that as the digital age expands, better apps, games and video games will be created to help students and teachers with math in the classroom!

Thank you for reading this week, I hope to see you s00n for my sixth and final post!

Best Wishes,

Teddy

WEEK IV

Hello everyone and welcome to my week 4 math post!

During the past few weeks in my math class at teacher's college, we have been learning many ways to enrich our instruction as teachers, so that we may benefit all of the students in our classrooms. Today, I will be highlighting some more of my learning experiences and how I plan to integrate them into my teaching! I hope you enjoy! 😀

Out With the Old, In With the New (and RICH!)

It strikes me every time how different our students' learning experiences are today, compared to when I was a student myself. The way we teach math has evolved into so much more than just worksheets, teacher lectures, copying notes and independent work. Now, educators aim to teach math in a way that is...

• relevant, 
• current, 
• challenging, 
• collaborative, 
• engaging, 
• has depth, 
• fosters deeper thinking, and is
• student oriented.

I will elaborate on how having these components in a math class creates rich tasks shortly! But I know that when I was a student, I did not always have these types of rich math scenarios. Oftentimes, we would end a unit with a unit test, and that was that. Now, teachers strive to develop these rich opportunities for students, and they also try to finish math units with rich culminating tasks, as opposed to tests. There is a time and place for everything, however, and I believe students will also benefit from taking a test, or two. When I teach in my next classroom, my goal will be to shift away from the: teacher lecture → independent worksheet → test strategy, no matter how tempting! Because hey, it is what I was brought up with! Having students talk to each other about math and work together on rich problems really improves their overall learning and understanding.

Below, I am going to talk about some other strategies and ideas for enriching student learning in the class. I will also share some of my experiences with these strategies!

Talking About Math and Making Connections

Art and Math. (2018). Image. Retrieved from: http://discovermagazine.com/mathart

When students talk about their math work, they are able to communicate different approaches to the problems they face. Again, when students just work independently, they may not have opportunities to understand the many pathways that could be taken, or the many questions that could be asked about the math problem.

Reflecting on my experience with math talks, I recall several times where this was put into practice. One experience I remember was having students volunteer to share their work to the class and display it under a document camera, for example. The class then began a math discussion and students could see and hear the different types of reasoning used in the math problem. This is great for differentiating too because it lets all learners actively participate as they compare and contrast their reasoning with their peers! ANOTHER type of math talk that was done during my last placement was having students take up their exit tickets in their groups. The way that I would have done this a long time ago as a student in math class would have been a) the teacher would have taken it up in front of the class, b) the answers would have been posted on the board and we would have checked by ourselves or c) we would just ask the teacher any questions we had during class time or recess. Thus, having students work through their exit tickets together is another type of math talk, where students analyze the problems and discuss their reasonings behind it!

Rich Math Performance Tasks

According to Steve Hewson's article titled, "What is a Mathematically Rich Task?" (2011), he states that rich tasks allow for, "[a] resulting learning process is far more interesting, engaging and powerful; it is also far more likely to lead to a lasting assimilation of the material for use in both further mathematical study and the wider context of applications". In his blog, my colleague Tyler also believes that rich tasks allow for collaboration and discussion and that, "[...] in a math class, or any class in general, collaboration and discussion really drive learning and are linked to inquiry". The short video above also goes into further detail about rich tasks. Take a look!

Here is an example question:

Word Problem. (2018). Image. Retrieved from: https://nrich.maths.org/895

As I described before, this question would be an example of a rich task. Teachers could even bring these manipulatives (marbles) to school as well, to make it even richer. There are many ways students can approach this! NRICH has a great collection of rich tasks to use in the classroom and I will definitely refer back to them when in my next placement. Another resource I found that will be great to refer back to is from YouCubed! Check them out!

A final reflection for today would be about one thing I vividly remember during placement. We were summing up the math unit I was teaching and I decided to end it by doing a story problem. Students were engaged and loved the real life applications, along with the time they had for collaborating in order to solve this rich task that was presented as a fun story!

Closing Thoughts

So far I have been learning even more about differentiating, making math meaningful, the importance of making connections, having rich tasks and allowing for discussions and collaborations about the big ideas in math.

Please come back next week, I have a feeling it will be worth it to do so!

Love,

Teddy

W33K 3

It is WEEK 3 friends! And that means that we are at exactly 50% of reading my blogs for my math learning at teacher's college! Bittersweet.

via GIPHY (Yes, Simon Gibson. We feel the same way about it being Week 3.)

Question: What is another way to express 50%? 

(Have a few, or many minutes to think.
DID YOU KNOW: Time does not determine how good you are at math!)

Answer: We can express 50% several ways. One way is by fractions: 50/100, and when we find the lowest common denominator, 1/2. We can also call 50% as one-half. Or, we can write it as a decimal: 0.5. We can show this idea visually too, as seen in the image below, with a circle! ↡

Fraction Circle. (2018). Image. Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/a/kcusd.org/5th-grade-fraction-projects/group-2.

Fellow math scholars, there are maaaaany ways to show this concept. You could have shown half of a banana. Or maybe 50% of a pumpkin pie you ate, or half of a pumpkin spiced beverage you drank! There is NO right answer, because, well, they are ALL right and they are ALL connected.

Now, let's get into an interesting topic and break some more crazy math stereotypes. 

Speed Does Not Determine A Student's Ability To Learn, And Mistakes Are Okay!

There are different speeds at which people learn new things, especially math! Do not feel that if you are a slower learner, you have slower or smaller intellectual capacities. In fact, speed does not determine a student's ability to learn and is only a factor of how they absorb, make sense of and process information. Making mistakes in math is also totally okay and sometimes even necessary. Science shows that when mistakes are made, the brain works hard and that hard work creates new brain connections. This actually make the brain grow! So even if you make a mistake, keep trying, your brain will grow as a result! GROWTH MINDSET!

In this video, a really famous person who was a slower math thinker is revealed, can you guess who?

Differentiated Instruction

This new and important information definitely has implications for teachers that are preparing for diverse learners in their math classrooms, since students' math speeds can vary significantly. Capacity Building Series: Differentiating Mathematics Instruction (2008) states that allowing for the right amount of time, or extra time, during math work should be a part of a teacher's differentiated instruction. 

Because differentiation can be challenging, here are some teaching strategies I have discovered that might be helpful in a math classroom.

Differentiating With Open Ended And Parallel Tasks In The Math Classroom

We talked about math centres last time using the Math Daily 3 approach. Today, we will discuss open-ended questions and parallel tasks. 

What are Open Ended Questions?

Open ended questions are questions that allow students to make a choice about the numbers, ideas and strategies they will use to answer a problem. The question is set up in a way where the students will reach the same "big idea" and curriculum component, although each student will get to make a choice and thus, will have a slightly different answer. Consider this example for Grade 5 Patterning and Algebra below:

Q: "Create and draw a pattern that has two steps (i.e., multiply by 2 and add 3). Then, show 2 different ways to represent your pattern (i.e., numerical, in a table, etc.)". 

The teacher is asking for the same "big idea", but is allowing the student to create their own version of the question. This is good for differentiating because students do not feel trapped by a fixed question and can use the numbers and strategies that are at their level of knowledge and skill. This also gives them a feeling of autonomy.

What are Parallel Tasks?

Parallel tasks are similar to open ended questions and are two or more questions provided by the teacher that meet the same big idea, however, are catered to the different math knowledge levels of the students. Teachers create and then look at the question they have posed to students. Teachers then anticipate where some students might struggle. In the parallel task(s), the question(s) are modified to erase those areas of difficulty in order to meet the needs of different learners and allow them to succeed at the question the teacher would like them to solve.

This week, we created a parallel question/task to this question given to us by our instructor: 

Q: "90 students in a school have gone to at least two other provinces.  If this represented 24% of the students in the school, how many students are in the school?"(Bunz, Rebecca, 2018).

We anticipated a few challenges that students may face within this question.

1. The wording (too wordy, let's reduce the words, or make them even more challenging) &
2. The numbers used (let's use smaller (or larger numbers for high ability students)).

The parallel task we created was to differentiate to the lower ability students, or to English Language Learner (ELL) students, and it was:

Q: "100 students go to the same school. If this represented 50% of the population, how many students, in total, go to the school?"

So essentially, students are working with proportions and percentages, which hits the big idea that the teachers needs to cover in the curriculum! BUT, we used friendlier numbers, that had an obvious relationship with each other (i.e., 50 and 100, as opposed to 90 and 24) and also used less words. (Note: depending on the math abilities with ELLs, the numbers might not have to be changed, just the wording). Teachers could make the components of the question easier, or more challenging to differentiate to all learners in the classroom. Parallel tasks are questions that are usually not open ended, although they could definitely be modified to be a mix of the two types!

To further highlight this differentiation process, here is a link from The Learning Exchange to a great video that explains these two concepts again, provides examples and shows students using these methods in an actual Ontario elementary classroom!

I hope that this week helped you to continue understanding some negative math stereotypes. I also hope that you have some new ideas about differentiating instruction in the math classroom! 

That will be all for this week scholars!

Much love,

Teddy 

W33K 2

W3lc0me b4ck 2 w33k 2 fr13nd5!

This week, I will be highlighting the growth mindset, and I will also be talking about a strategy to differentiate math in the classroom. Keep reading below! ⇩

                                                                             (can you spot the math probability language?)

Firstly, I would like to make a guess and state that chances are, you, the reader, have been most likely impatiently waiting for my blog this week, because you really wanted to know about this game-changing mindset I briefly mentioned last week (and maybe in my previous math blog)...

AM I RIGHT?

Well friends, your odds are great because I am 100% certainly going to discuss it with you (again), as promised. Behold, The Growth Mindset! 

The Growth Mindset and Math 

Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset (2018). Image. Retrieved from https://believeperform.com/product/growth-mindset-vs-fixed-mindset/

You NEED to be reminded of the growth mindset. It is very important. Period.

Let's start with the opposite of the growth mindset: the fixed mindset. With this latter mindset, students learning math believe that they have inherited fixed math abilities. That means they believe that no matter how often or hard they try, they will simply never succeed at math. They also believe that people are either born to be good at math or are destined to fail it. Those that believe they are destined to fail have a hard time with math, because they disengage and begin hating the subject entirely. They then spread this idea to others and the cycle continues. Sounds gloomy and somber to me. I believe this mindset needs to be erased from our students' minds!

Now, the growth mindset, the game-changer. This is the mindset that allows positive thoughts to move through our brains. Scientific studies have proved that everybody's brains can learn and grow when doing math. It is a matter of hard work and dedication that determines a person's ability to do math. The harder your work and the more you practice, the better you will get at whatever you are practicing, especially math! The growth mindset means that you believe your abilities can grow if you do not give up trying. That is, staying positive, believing in your self and working hard for your goal WILL pay off in the end!

This has serious implications for educators and specifically for math teachers. Math teachers need to help their students succeed by pushing them and telling them that they are capable, as long as they are willing to work through challenging math concepts and problems. Teachers need to model this behaviour as well to fully promote its effects. An example of this would be to be careful when naming students as being 'smart'. We learned that students who are praised for being 'smart' develop a fixed mindset and easily give up when challenged. Not only that, but this also makes other students feel inferior and they might also develop a fixed mindset as a result.

Below is a truly inspirational video that I would like to regularly play for my students in order to remind them about having a growth mindset and never giving up!

Differentiating Math in the Classroom: Math Café Daily 3

This is a subject that can be written about for days. It is something that I, and many teachers, find challenging to do. In their article titled "Using Math Stations for Commonsense Inclusiveness" (2012), Janet B. Andreasen and Jessica H. Hunt describe differentiation as, "[...] a process through which teachers enhance learning by matching student characteristics to practice and assessment" (p. 240), and discuss that differentiation "[...] is one way to make the success of all students in mathematics a reality" (p. 238).

There are so many diverse learners (i.e., visual, musical, kinaesthetic, etc.) in any given classroom. Teachers have the job of recognizing these differences and creating instructional strategies that allow all learners to be successful in the classroom. A strategy that will help teachers differentiate their instruction in a math classroom is called the Math Café Daily 3.

The Math Daily 3 approach provides centres with different activities for groups of students to do. Usually they are:

Math by Myself - In this centre, students work on independent activities that strengthen their core understanding of the math unit they are working on.

Math with Someone- Here, students work with a partner with a focus on collaboration in identifying math thinking skills and organizing math problems, for example.

Math Writing- Students work through communicating their thinking and understanding of math problems.

...and sometimes a 4th centre: Math with Teacher- Here, students that need extra guidance work with the teacher to check-in with their understanding.

Sample of Math Daily 3 Rules (2018). Image. Retrieved from https://turnerteaching.wordpress.com/math-lessons/

Math Daily 3 centres might have different levelled activities at each centre, for students with different abilities to work through. Students will be assigned groups and will rotate through the centres until they have completed them all. This method allows them to work through their various math processes and skills and try different types of math work and problems. It is a great way to differentiate math in a classroom! Above is a sample of some Math Daily 3 rules before students get started in their centres. Take a look!

Concluding Thoughts

This was a very content heavy post, but it was necessary! We touched on the growth mindset and differentiation in math classrooms. Two scorching hot topics in education. I hope this post has inspired you to never give up!

Please keep checking for my next post, it is coming soon!

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Teddy 😁

W33K 0N3

Hello fellow math friends!

Welcome back to Teddy's math journey blog!

Quite the Math Journey So Far!

Math (2018). Image. Retrieved from http://www.loving2learn.com/topics/math.aspx

I would like to welcome you to the second part of my math blog. If you have been following my journey with math education since last year, you would already know that I am a current teacher candidate studying how to become the best math educator I could possibly be! I would love to teach in the junior/intermediate strand, and to be quite honest, I would not even mind teaching a high school math course one day! With that being said, the Grades 1-8 and Grades 9-10 Ontario Math Curriculum, however, actually differ from each other. In the elementary grades, students learn 5 strands of math. These strands are Number Sense and Numeration, Measurement, Geometry and Spatial Sense, Patterning and Algebra & Data Management and Probability. Each elementary grade builds on prior knowledge while introducing new concepts to each math strand. In Grades 9-10, math gets divided into the academic and applied pathways. Students in academic math begin visiting topics that might be expected for university prep and Calculus, for example, topics like analytic geometry. Applied students learn math skills that will be transferred to either colleges or the work place. In addition to these strands, there are also several mathematical processes that students are expected to follow in their math learning and these are valid across all grades, from 1-12. The Ontario Curriculum explains that these processes are important and they are as follows:

"The mathematical processes that support effective learning in mathematics are [...]:
• problem solving
• reasoning and proving
• reflecting
• selecting tools and computational strategies
• connecting
• representing
• communicating
The mathematical processes can be seen as the processes through which students acquire and apply mathematical knowledge and skills (p.11)".

I believe that these skills can help students succeed in other areas of their lives as well as in math. Mastering these skills helps them to learn how to work both logically and creatively!

So friends, now that I am in my second and final year of teacher's college, I have so much to tell you about the wonderful discoveries that I have made about math education so far. Some of these great discoveries have positively changed the way that I think about math and I truly can't wait to help my future students ALSO think about maths in this positive light! First, we will discuss how some math stereotypes have helped shaped our perceptions of the subject.

Rewriting the Math Stereotypes


via GIPHY

Well then, let's get straight to it! I have had my first set of math classes last week and I already have a lot to share and reflect on. Last week, we worked on understanding some serious misconceptions about math. What stood out the most to me was a video that showed how negatively math is portrayed in popular culture. This can be very detrimental to our current students because they rely heavily on media and the internet. Math is predominantly portrayed as a "nerd subject" and most people are quick to comment that "they suck at it" and "hate it". The video titled "Hollywood Hates Math" highlights moments in some memorable movies and television shows. Do you recognize any of these scenes?

I also had to recall that moment where Lindsay Lohan had to risk social rejection when she joined a competitive math club because she was great at math in the movie Mean Girls! And that movie is from more than a decade ago! Ultimately, these scenes help to perpetuate a societal narrative in which math is a hard, boring, uncool, lame and meaningless subject.

THIS IS NOT THE CASE!

Math can be learned by anybody and can be really meaningful. We need to start looking at math in a positive light instead, to help our students develop a better mindset towards math. A mindset where they know they can succeed and will work hard and never give up to do so! Next week, I will get into that topic and we will discuss the power of the growth mindset. I believe this mindset needs to be discovered by every single person on this planet and THIS exact mindset is what I hope to embed into my students' brains one day. Toon into my next post to find out how I plan to do this! 😀


S33 y0u n3xt w33k!


Teddy