Week 7 - Using Tasks

In class this week we talked about how tasks can also demonstrate student learning. An example is the "nana's chocolate milk" video by Dan Meyer. This video uses ratios to solve everyday problems. It shows what he was supposed to do as opposed to what he did do and it asks the viewer to solve how to fix it before continuing on.

Videos like this are great tools for the classroom because the students tend not to realize that they are doing math, compared to a worksheet, and they tend to be more open to solving the problem because of this. Having real life context is essential to learning because it connects the students to what they are learning. This is especially important in a math class where students come in with the opinion that what they are learning will not relate to their regular lives, which leads to the question "why are they learning it?".

However when it comes to context in learning, you can try too hard to make the lesson relative.  Making up an unrealistic situation in order to add context to the lesson is not going to help anyone; it will only make the concept more difficult to relate to. Context has to feel natural in order for it to work they way you want it to.

When I teach a math class I would want to do some research on how other educators were able to add context into their lesson plans and, if the context is realistic, I will incorporate it into my own lesson plans. There are many situations that would add context to math concepts, they just need to be found.

Week 6 - Technology in the Classroom

This week we talked about having technology in today's classrooms and how it can benefit but also hinder education. However, it would only hinder education if the lesson plan didn't evolve with the technology. We aren't teaching the same way that we learned when we were in school because we are able to delve deeper into the understanding of the math concepts through the use of technology. We can ask more open ended questions that cannot be solved directly with the technology but with the technology the students can try out their ideas to see if their answer is correct. This way the technology is not doing the work for the student; the student still needs to know the basic knowledge surrounding the concept in order to solve the problem. Plus, there are multiple answers to open ended questions, so if there are a few students flying through the problems you could ask them to find an additional solution to each problem. We can turn any technology hindrance into beneficial technology by asking the right questions.

Even if the students don't know the correct terminology yet, they can still use technology to start to learn about a math concept. In class this week we used Desmos teacher and Desmos student to play a version of the game guess who. Instead of defining characteristics of the different characters, we had to define different characteristics to determine which parabola the other person has chosen.

We were partnered up randomly through Desmos student and played a game where we each took turns guessing the other person's parabola. This is a fun interaction for a class because they get to use technology, and they increase their knowledge of parabolas. If the students don't yet know the proper terminology of zeros/roots, vertex and so on they can still play this game; they will just need to find different ways to get their point across to the other person. This game also got us to connect with people in the classroom that we wouldn't normally connect with. The first round I was partnered up with two people that I had never talked to before and I found it interesting to connect with them through the game. This game could help the class to connect with each other, even if they wouldn't normally talk to each other inside or outside the classroom.

Technology is a beneficial addition to the classroom and |I believe that it should be used whenever it can because it helps to connect the class, not only to each other but to the learning as well, it helps us to delve deeper into mathematical understanding, and it gives students a visual aid that they can interact with. As long as the teacher knows how to use the technology and they have built their lesson plan around the technology, using it to the best of its capabilities, technology should always benefit the students' learning.

Week 5 - Math for All

Ever since I have decided to become a math teacher and started telling people that is what I am in school for I have received two different responses. I've either been told that I must be smart to be able to get a math degree or I have been told that that person never was a math person. Both of these responses hold math at a high standard that you have to be smart in order to understand math and that it is only for certain people who have the right genetics to be a math person. No matter how I have tried to explain it to these people that anyone can learn math, they don't believe it because they have grown up believing that math is only for some people, not for all of us. During this week's lesson it was particularly refreshing to hear that math can be for whoever wants to learn it, because our brains are constantly working and creating new synapses and connections and that all it takes is working at it to get the 'math brain'. It hurts me when I hear students say that they just aren't good at math because that means that they have given up on ever being good at it when all it is is that they are not good at it yet. Math is a process of learning, making mistakes and finding new ways to understand what you thought you already understood. We watched a video of Jo Boaler speaking about this exact thing; anyone can learn math and in extension anything that they want to, as long as they work at it. Now the key question is: how do we get students to not give up and be motivated enough to want to continue learning math?

Jo Boaler came up with a list of positive norms to help support math learning in the classroom, listed below:

These positive sentences can help to give a safe learning environment to our students so that they will be more open and willing to explore what they are learning. When I was in high school I was terrified of making a mistake or asking a question that all the other students might already have the answer for in front of the classroom. I was worried that I wouldn't appear smart anymore and because of it, I had probably lessened my learning. Appearance counts in high school; each student is worried about what the other students will think of them. If we are able to make social appearances separate from learning by making the classroom a safe place for the students where they won't feel judged by their peers, we can help them expand their learning by communicating, asking questions, and making sense of the math concepts. I believe these positive norms can help us to transform the math class into a true learning environment for all of our students.