Personal Learning Path 10

 For this week’s blog post I wanted to do something a little different. Instead of sharing a game or online resource to use when teaching, I wanted to share something that emphasizes the importance of teaching math and how kids can learn to love math. This resource is a Ted talk by Dan Finkel, entitled, “5 ways to share math with kids” 

https://youtu.be/ytVneQUA5-c

In his talk, Finkel explains that he understands that math can be “the best of times and the worst of times” and that while some students love the thrill of discovers, others feel overwhelmed and discouraged. He goes on to outline five principles to teaching math, which are:

1. Start with a question

2. Have time to struggle

3. You are not the answer key

4. Say yes to students ideas

5. Play. 

Without giving too much away (you should watch the video!), the speaker wants teacher to allow student time to question, struggle, and argue about ideas so that they see math not as a right or wrong question, but as a way to think and reason. 

The example he gives of this in a class room is a student that has the idea that 2 + 2 = 12

Most teachers would tell the student no. Instead think about working through the implications of this idea. 

This idea would be incorrect when thinking of it normally, such as on a number line. 

But what if we were to think of it not as a number line, but as a number circle?

In this case 8 actually could be equal to 0. While this may not be the case in all of your students ideas, the important thing is that we as teachers do not dismiss their thoughts. We want to empower students to think outside of the box, as this is how the greatest mathematic breakthroughs have been discovered. 

There is no specific standard that this applies to, as the principles could be applied in any math class, however it could be seen in a standard such as: 

CCSS.MATH.PRACTICE.MP1 Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

Reflection

I thought that this talk was very inspiring and I wish that more of my teachers had organized classes like this. Many students feel anxiety in because of the idea that answers are only right and wrong. This kind of thinking discourages students from exploring concepts and having discussions. Students should be able to work though problems on their own and find their own ways of coming up with solutions so they can build perseverance. When students simply go through the steps of solving an equation without questioning the why or how, they are disassociated with the actual problems and concepts.