Math Blog #6: Coincidence? I Think Not!

So, on my last blog post I wrote about my fear of not being able to explain difficult concepts to students and then in class the next day we talked about ways students can misunderstand statements, processes, or the "why" behind a math problem, and the resources we as educators can use to combat these problems! Coincidence? It is a simple truth that one of the greatest dangers of teaching math is the temptation to only explain a concept the way you have understood it and not thinking about other ways to approach problems that might benefit students with particular learning styles. Teachers may feel constrained by time, worrying that working too long on one concept will not leave enough time for another, and have to strive to find a balance between how they would like to teach and how their curriculum expectations will allow them to teach. I believe that in this increasingly digital world there will be a greater need for the kind of problem solving skills you learn in math and that the attitude that math is boring and useless is shifting each year towards a more positive practical one. But this shift will only continue if teachers and teachers to be are dedicated to creating that change.

Smith, Dustin. (30th August 2012). Math Quote. [Online Image].
Retrieved from propensityforcuriousity.com.

I came across a blog last week written by Brie Finegold, co-organizer of Women Advancing Arizona Mathematics, that had some interesting things to say on this topic. It was called My Top Ten Issues in Mathematics Education and while I didn't agree with everything on the list and some aspects referred more to the American education system, there are two parts that I think are worth mentioning.

The first is that "Discovering and uncovering content should take precedence over covering and recovering content." (Finegold, 2014). While many educators make the case that students benefit most from building a conceptual understanding of the math, I agree with Ms. Finegold that talking and talking while students are trying to wrap their heads around a concept is not very helpful. She gives a link to a list of suggestions for becoming invisible for teachers who find it difficult not to phrase and rephrase things to fill the silence. 

The second is that "Mathematics Educators deserve opportunities to further their own content knowledge for teaching." (Finegold, 2014). I think this also applies to teachers in general, but math teachers are rarely given the opportunities to try new, well researched, teaching methods that they believe may make a needed improvement to the education system. Often times a person will teach as they were taught "regardless of whether it was truly effective" (Finegold, 2014). 

I think another issue that should be on that list is the use of phrases like "obviously" or "this concept is simple" or "how can you still not understand that?" that are obviously very damaging to a students confidence and perpetuates the negative attitude in mathematics. 

Lastly, I would like to say that all three of the presentations this week were prime examples of the kind of creative examples a teacher can use to help explain a concept. All of the presentations were clearly very well researched and each activity brought a unique insight on Rates, Ratios and Proportions.