When it comes to math teachers, “Most will have found
ways to make sense and understand the mathematics they were presented, and
expect that anyone who is good at math should be able to succeed as they did,
under as similar system. Anyone who does not do well under such a regime may be
written off as not meant to do math in the first place.”
Personally, I found ways
to make sense of and understand math, but I did not do it alone. I got a lot of
help from a variety of sources. Also, it did not happen overnight. It took many
years. Therefore, I would not expect a student to understand math without also
being given a lot of time and help along the way. No one should be written off
as not meant to do math. Anyone can learn math. Most people just don’t see a
sufficient reason to justify the difficulty so they never bother to.
This also brings up a
common assumption that we must be careful not to make. People often assume that
another person will react to a situation as they themselves would react, which
is not necessarily true because everyone is different. Especially as math
teachers, we must be aware that we are quite unique in terms of our lust for theoretical
knowledge and appreciation for difficult, conceptual and abstract problems. Therefore, we as math teachers must not expect a student to react to a problem or situation in the same way that we would.
On the subject of
progressivist reform, it is noted that, “As society in the United States and
Canada changed rapidly … pressure increased for a more meaningful mathematics
curriculum to prepare students for productive roles…” As the mathematical needs
of society changed, mathematics curriculum needed to change as well. Now, a
century later, society is changing rapidly again because of technology. This
requires another reexamining of mathematics curriculum as calculations, producing
graphs and other mathematical procedures can now be done by computers faster
and better than by hand.
“New Math supporters
aimed to educate future elite scientists and mathematicians…” So many people
have been turned off of math because they think it doesn’t apply to them because
they don’t plan to be a rocket scientist. However, math is helpful in every
industry. From my own experiences working in kitchens, on construction sites
and landscaping, math has always been helpful and sometimes absolutely
necessary. Math is in every industry, not just rocket science, so everyone can benefit from math.
For your point "we as math teachers must not expect a student to react to a problem or situation in the same way that we would." I totally agree and keep it in my mind always. For your last point, you just point out the importance of Math. That's true. I think if we could connect our curriculum to real world, students could understand more why they need to learn Math.
ReplyDeleteThanks Cheryl,
ReplyDeleteI think that keeping in mind personal differences and how people react differently to the same situation is a key aspect of empathy and is so important for teachers as a part of getting to know our students so we can teach each individual in a way that suits them best.
Connecting math to the real world can be challenging but is extremely helpful for motivating, inspiring and building a will to learn in our students.
Yes, I also think it is not easy to build the connection between Math and real world. We will accumulate experiences on this.
ReplyDelete