A Shift In Mathematics...

I came into this math course only knowing what was taught in a primary or elementary math class 25 years ago.

I had heard many things about the new methods if mathematics in schools now, without knowing about the actual methods. Parents say that teachers are making it too hard. I also heard if many teacher complaining of the new methods. One thing that I found very informative this year was that these methods that are even taught in schools now are just another way for kids to think about things. For some reason, I was told (along with many people on our class) that three was only one way for students to do math. This is completely wrong. (Thank goodness). We, as teachers are given these methods to assist us in helping students understand mathematics. For each student, their way of understanding a concept can be completely different. We should get to know or students and find methods that work best for them.

Once I was told this I was completely relieved. It was so nice to see that there is not just one way to find out the answer to a problem, because that was the was it was when I was a child. As a child who did not struggle much with math, I did not think that other people would struggle. As I grew up and began to work with many people and become aware of the people around me I realized that not everyone learns the same way. I am very happy to hear that our province is acknowledging this and are changing the curriculum so that teachers and fellow students come to appreciate the different learning styles of children.

Sometimes I feel that teachers get comfortable in the ways they teach and how they teach things.  I do hope that as new ways of teaching are being experimented with and implemented into the mathematics curriculum, we are given great opportunities to attend workshops and development sessions to stay up on the new trends of teaching. 

Curriculum Resources

On Tuesday, we were given an opportunity to look through resources that are available to teacher and students in the primary and elementary grade levels in the Newfoundland and Labrador schools.  When I think about my primary and elementary years, the only resources I can remember using to learn were the workbooks that we would buy every year for mathematics.  

I knew that over the years this has changed and there is now many more resources available to both students and teachers.  I was very impressed with the amount of resources provided for teacher in the primary and elementary grades.  However, I did find it strange that after being out observing students and teachers for ten days over the last few months, I have yet to see many of these resources being used in the classroom.  I know I have only spent a few days in the classroom, but during those days I tried to take time each day to look around the classrooms for various resources that the teachers use for different subject areas.  Knowing that all of these resources are available and are not put to use as they should concerns me.  Are teachers so stuck in the old way of teaching and think these resources are not necessary?  Maybe they aren't encouraged enough by the school board and administration to use the resources to benefit the learning experience of the children.  Either way, I was very surprised to see the lack of use of these marvelous books that are provided.    
I thought that the story books that are made available to the primary students were really neat.  I was especially impressed with the big books that are accessible to for kindergarten.  Each of the stories were bright and colorful and would be very appealing to a five year old.  The various books that we looked at are a great way for children to practice and understand concepts that are brought forward in mathematics in a way that targets different learning types.  

I found it very interesting that the picture books seemed to disappear as we looked the elementary grades.  It is just as important to provide students with various ways to understand a concept at the grade five level as it is the grade one level.  

As future educators, we should make ourselves aware of these great resources and be sure to use the various resources provided by the department of education.  Although they are not provided to us as much for older grades, we should take the time to find our own resources that can be used within the classroom to help children of various learning types succeed in mathematics. 

YouCubed

YouCubed is an excellent resource for parents and teachers to use with students in the primary, elementary and high school levels.  it is a not for profit organization that is headed by a professor of Stanford University.  

This is such a neat resource for kids.  Children love technology and they seem to be more engaged in learning when they have the ability to use computers, smart boards, iPads etc.  I think by using media based resources is a great change from the traditional way of teaching.  Although I find it a challenge to try and use technology instead of using a book, pen and paper, I know that it is the way the world is going so I should be moving right along with it.  

I really enjoyed reading the introduction on the elephant in the room.  The five myths of mathematics are very true. When I went to school in primary and elementary these were not myths, they were “truth”.  looking at these now makes me think about many people in my classes who struggled in math and were not given any support and lacked confidence because they ‘were not smart”.  

Math has changed so much in the last few years.  People that have children in school now are not familiar with the new approaches and way that math is being taught in school.  having  a resource like this for parents to familiarize themselves with certain things that their children are doing in school is such a great tool.  As a teacher I would definitely make parents, students and colleagues aware of this amazing website.  I look forward to exploring it further in the future.

Click here to visit YouCubed

What is mathematics anyway??

When I thought about what mathematics is, the first thing that comes to mind is numbers; adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing.  I also think of problem solving, geometry, and measuring. However, to give an actual definition of mathematics is quite a challenge.  

In our book, mathematics is simply described as “the science of patterns and order”-meaning all mathematics is is simply learning the basic skills and interrelationships between those skills, then building on them.  

According to Van de Walle, doing mathematics is solving problems by generating strategies, applying them and discovering whether they make sense.  To begin this in a classroom, Van de Walle goes on to say that a teacher must pose worthwhile tasks , then create a risk taking environment where students share and defend their ideas. A student can use many was to come up with a mathematical answer.  As long as the process is valid to get the proper answer, this is considered mathematics.

To “think mathematically” means to use mathematical skills and ideas to justify certain things or solve problems.  My son is five and he loves hockey.  When he isn't in school he lives for the sport.  Each morning when he wakes up, he comes into my room and grabs my iPhone to check the NHL scores.  This morning he said “Leafs beat the avalanche 5-2, they got three more goals than the avalanche”.  This was thinking mathematically.  Although he didn't realize it, he was using his numbers and more and less to explain to me the hockey news.  He then went on to tell me that the leafs had now “won six games in a row because yesterday they won five games in a row but they won last night so now it’s six, right Mom?”. We use mathematical thinking so much from the time we play with blocks putting the proper shapes in the holes to fit into a bucket.  We may not realize that this is what’s going on, but it’s such a gigantic part of our society. I think it is natural for people to think mathematically even though they do not know they are doing so. However, as teachers, we have to engage children and make them want to learn more about mathematics so that they can extend their mathematical thinking to solve many problems not only in school and work, but in society as they go through life.

Do Schools Kill Creativity?

This YouTube video by Sir Ken Robinson is a speech he gives at a Ted conference about how we should be creating an education system that nurtures creativity.  He states that creativity, in his opinion, is just as important as literacy and the education system today is destroying people’s capacity to be creative.  I do believe, from what we are learning in our education classes that this is slowing being changed.  We learn more of a holistic approach to teaching rather than explicitly teaching most subjects.  There are some parts of every subject that I believe have to be explicitly taught but creativity is a very important part of a child’s learning and development.    

My favourite statement that Sir Ken makes is that our education systems are a that children are not frightened of being wrong, they will take a chance, he continues by saying that one will never be creative unless that are prepared to be wrong.  He continues to talk about how our education systems are now focused on being right and that making a mistake is wrong.  

When I attended primary/elementary school in the early nineties, all of our mathematics assessments were marked right or wrong; there was no such thing as 0.5 of a mark, or getting marks for showing how you got to your answer ( we were never encouraged to show the steps on how we came up with a certain answer).  As I spend time watching the students during my observation days it seems that the teachers are doing the exact opposite, they are more focused on the students showing the steps they take to get the answer to a math problem, rather than getting the correct answer.  I, as well as many people in the education field know that there is more than one way of finding the correct answer to a problem, and by taking the time to show the steps they take to show how they are getting an answer, whether that answer be right or wrong, is a step in the right direction.  By showing their “work” , It is much easier for a teacher to pick up on where a child is struggling and also for a child to see, once the teacher corrects the work, where he or she is having trouble.  
I’m not sure how I feel about there not being a “right” answer.  There is usually a right answer, however the way that the person gets to that answer, or learns the process(es) to get to the right answer can be completely different for many students.  We, as educators should be very aware of this and get to know our students so that we can use different methods to make the students enjoy what they are being taught and use those strategies to promote learning for all types of students.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY#t=1096

When I sit back and reflect about primary and elementary school I have little to no memory about my experiences and the things that I do remember lack detail.  My lack of memory may have to do with the fact that I had mostly good experiences in primary and elementary school;  I did not struggle in school, I had a lot of friends and was well behaved.  Another reason may be because I started school 25 years ago.

I can remember putting the dates on the calendar every day in Kindergarten.   I remember seeing numbers posted on the walls and number charts, they were made by the teacher. I can remember seeing and memorizing multiplication tables and having “speed tests”, which were a competition between everyone in the class to see who could complete a list of multiplication or division questions the fastest.  I also remember having geometric figures in class and learning the names of each shape.  I can remember using pizzas to learn fractions.

I cannot remember something in particular that I loved about math.  I also can’t remember something I hated about math.  There’s not one thing that I liked more than another.  As I said earlier, I was good at math in primary and elementary school.  My parents always told me how well I did in math.  I know, personally that I didn't struggle because the teacher never came over to help, I never had to ask questions or get help and I did extremely well during class assessments.  I always completed my work ahead of most people in the class and moved on to other work  I remember in grade three completing the math book and being given the grade four math book to work on while the others finished the grade three book.  , When it comes to best and worst memories there is nothing specific that comes to mind.  I remember loving math, because I was good at it, but I cannot remember something I didn't like about it.   

From what I remember about the teacher during math class she would teach a concept, show an example or two and then I would do the work assigned.  She would normally sit at her desk and if a student needed help then they would go to her desk to get the extra assistance  I can’t remember any of my teachers being enthusiastic about math, however, I cannot remember them being enthusiastic about any subject area.  They were also not unenthusiastic, they were mostly neutral about everything, so it seemed to me.    

The only assessment I can remember in primary and elementary school was worksheets and testing, always marked in a red pen.  The tests usually included typical add/subtract/multiply/divide question, word problems, questions about fractions,graphing and geometry.  You were either right or wrong, there was no in between when it came to most of the questions on a test.  

Math in high school was more of a challenge for me.  When i was in grade nine they were just putting the AP courses into the high schools.  They (the school) decided that it would be a great idea for about ten of us to skip grade nine math and go right into grade ten advanced math.  The plan would be for us to then do grade eleven math in grade ten, grade twelve math in grade eleven and AP math in grade twelve.  That was a HORRIBLE decision.  Skipping a full year of math instruction was not a good idea.  We were not prepared to do grade ten advanced math.  We all ended up doing horrible in grade twelve advanced math and many of us repeated it in grade twelve to receive a better mark.  That experience ruined my love of math.  I do like math now, but not like I did in primary or elementary school.   

I did take math courses in university, 1090 and 1000, I didn't do that well on 1000 because at the time I thought socializing was more important than studying.

I use math a lot in my daily life, from grocery shopping, banking, measuring furniture to fit in rooms, calculating how long it might take to drive my son to a hockey tournament.  I was a chef for eight years, three of those an executive chef of a golf course.  I used math every day for food costing, labor costs, ordering from suppliers, recipe conversions...I could go on and on. I actually don’t think there’s a whole lot you don’t use math for,  I do enjoy math now, and I am looking forward to seeing the way the math program is taught in the primary and elementary grades today.

Welcome to my math blog! The purpose of this math blog is to share ideas, thoughts and resources that may come from class or outside of class during the winter 2014 semester.