Watch the video Math Class Needs a Makeover and read the excerpt from Principles to Actions. Pay close attention to the 8 Math Teaching Practices on page 10 and the chart on page 11 that outlines Productive and Unproductive Beliefs about Teaching and Learning Mathematics.
Consider
Respond and Interact
After watching and reading, please post your response to one {or more} of the prompts above. Read our colleagues' reflections. Feel free to respond to someone by sharing a comment, insight or interesting possibility.
- What is resonating with you from this video and reading?
- What caused you to pause and think?
- What math experiences from your own classroom came to mind as you were watching and reading?
After watching and reading, please post your response to one {or more} of the prompts above. Read our colleagues' reflections. Feel free to respond to someone by sharing a comment, insight or interesting possibility.
I found the 5 symptoms from the video pretty disheartening because I see all of them with my students. The lack of perseverance and retention being at the forefront. I am excited about the mathematical teaching practices, I just don't know where to begin. By the time some of my students qualify for resource room services they have struggled for years. How do I get my students excited about math, willing to take a risk, and to keep trying even when things seem difficult. I look forward to the rest of this course and I will hopefully become a better math teacher by the end.
ReplyDeleteI am right there with you Terran. Many kids have struggled so long that they build up a wall and it is hard to break down. In small groups the kids still get frustrated because one might understand quicker than the others. The one student that see this tries to shut down more because they are aware. They don't want to answer any questions.
DeleteI also see the same things with my students. I am hopeful that I will get some great strategies to help with this. I want to try to make story problems more interesting like he did with the water tank.
DeleteI have noticed that many students tend to forget previous concepts once they have moved on to a new math idea - for example, I have many 3rd graders working on learning multiplication that can no longer subtract with ungrouping; or I have 5th graders working on fraction concepts that can no longer multiply multi-digit numbers. So I look forward to more ideas to use to foster retention of the concepts. I was recently introduced to "numberless word problems" and plan to try using this resource in MAP as a different approach to story problems. It seems similar to the technique that the math teacher in the video was showing, removing all the excess words and asking a simple question.
ReplyDeleteTracy, I would like to know more about numberless word problems.
DeleteI loved doing numberless word problems when I taught kindergarten! So much amazing thinking that can be talked about. I would love to hear how it goes with your students!
DeleteWe have noticed the same issues in our Resource Room (TES). Over and over again, we have moved on to learning something new, like fractions, and discover most of the students have forgotten how to do long division or multi-digit multiplication, which are two skills needed to complete fraction problems. They have also become too dependent on math aids, such as multiplication charts. I like the "help them less" approach and the idea of presenting these problems to them as real-world scenarios. I think that will resonate with a lot of students. However, I worry about some of our students that are on the spectrum being able to solve problems this way. Definitely willing to try anything at this point, though!
DeleteI really liked the video when he said, use real world examples. Filling up the water jug would make good conversation pieces. I do see kids giving up way to early to solve math problems. Usually they want all the numbers right there in front of them. I have implemented the 3 read strategy for my word problems in Resource Room. My 1st grader really likes that when it comes to solving word problems. It helps make sense of the problem before doing any math.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the TED Video of using real world problems in Math. In my resource room setting many are struggling with the basic fundamental of solving math. I also use many math board games and splashlearn.com website for them to practicing more.If they practice more they feel comfortable and confident to solve the problems. I also agree with cutting off the unwanted information in the story problems .When seeing a lot of information in the word problem the students have lack of patience to understand the problem so, I take it into steps by sorting it down .sometime I also label the word problem visually for better understanding.
ReplyDeleteSo many words in some problems! In my resource room, some of my students struggle with reading. Cutting out the unwanted information and finding a different way to present the problem sounds useful to me.
DeleteOne thing that resonated with me is "the math serves the conversation; the conversation doesn't serve the math." I was reminded of an Annie Fetter video that I watched years ago about creating genuine curiosity among our learners. It was in this video where I was first introduced to, "What do you notice?" and "What do you wonder?" These two simple questions have been game changers for me in launching a lesson.
ReplyDeleteThese are great reminders and quotes to revisit. Thank you
DeleteWhat's resonating with me from part 1 is how using real world visuals or in this case multimedia visuals has helped to engage students. I get excited when we learn about strategies that engage the quite students, the students who don't participate for many reasons, mostly the lack of understanding. I hope to have the time and creative ability to use this strategy more often in my future groups. I try to use mental visuals with my students, but it's not really the same as seeing something tangible. This video has inspired me to think more outside of the box with my visuals. I am also looking forward to more group discussions about my students thinking when we discuss individual math lessons. For my younger groups, I often take a equation such as 12-3= and turn it into a visual word problem so my students can under the meaning and think a little deeper about what they are seeing in the equation.
ReplyDeleteI found myself nodding during the Dan Meyers video, especially with the ideas around impatient problem solvers and the scaffolding that perpetuates that impatience. I was nodding not only because I agree with what he was saying but also because I am guilty of over scaffolding for students to the point that I was really taking much of the math reasoning away in an effort to help them be successful. I know more now and will do better. I especially liked the last 2 ideas Dan Meyers talked about, ‘Let students’ and ‘Be less helpful’. These correlate to the productive beliefs around the teacher role and student role in mathematics.
ReplyDelete'Be less helpful' is really resonating with me. My student's perseverance seems to be nonexistent, and I want them to be successful, so I simplify the problem. However, I can see how this leads to the lack of retention and ability to apply concepts outside of our math class. This is something I look forward to changing as I move forward in this learning process.
ReplyDeleteHi Angie. I had the same response to the video, as I tend to "reteach" until I feel my students "get it". What typically happens though is that they "get it" until they "forget it". Umph! We know there's a better way, yet it's sometimes easier to fall into what we know & how we've always done things. Shifting the onus of learning to the students takes some courage and can feel risky, but I know when I've done this with fidelity, it does pay off. I'm looking forward to challenging myself and stepping outside my comfort zone.
DeleteSomething that resonated with me is "teaching to decode the textbook". We have no alternative for students still building their reading skills struggling with word problems in math with no alternatives. My students look for any indication of a number in the word problem and then use whichever formula they feel like.
ReplyDeleteDuring the TED talk I liked how the speaker turned a complicated math problem into something simple and real life to raised student's intuition. He made the boring and complex math question something interesting and meaningful to students. I liked how it elicited student interest by simply reframing how it was presented.
ReplyDeleteKimberly F (TSD)The Dan Meyer video caused me to pause and reflect many times. “Be less helpful” - this quote was a gentle reminder to devote my time & energy to creating opportunities for students to make sense of their own learning and practice perseverance as opposed to spoon feeding the curriculum to them & expecting them to simply memorize the material. While I know students are more successful when they’re able to have productive struggle and participate in building the problem through collaborative conversation, I also acknowledge it’s challenging to consistently meet the needs of our diverse learners. I’m committed to reflecting on my own instructional practices and growing as an educator. This week, I’m going to try to “be less helpful” by providing rich problems for my students, using intentional questioning, and giving them plenty of think time.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that resonated with me from the article was the mathematical teaching practice of supporting productive struggle. I feel that I'm often too quick to step in and help students when they're struggling with a problem, and this does them a disservice in mastering the concepts. The video also made me think about how I could integrate some real-life situations into our 3rd grade math lessons.
ReplyDeleteThere were many things from the video and reading that resonated for me, both as a learner and as a teacher of math. Teaching students to be "patient problem solvers" was one of the things that stuck out to me the most. When it came to my own math learning, that was not a skill I learned and it showed any time the procedure or algorithm did not work the first time. When I was teaching kindergarten, it came up every year as we started with spending a good portion of time understanding the problem and not solving it. For many students this was frustrating, but it allowed them to build that patience. Now there are some many other ways, such as those mentioned in the video, that could help to build this skill even more. I am looking forward to continuing to learn through this course and in our journey to implement Illustrative Math and change our practices!
ReplyDeleteMany aspects of the video and reading resonated with me. One main thing that stuck was when Dan Meyer talked about leveling the mathematical playing field for our students. In my current math practice, the same five hands shoot up every time I pose a question. The majority of my students have low confidence in math and are not very eager to share their ideas. The Productive Beliefs in the article regarding math seem to promote more of a healthy relationship between students and critical thinking/problem solving. I really stopped to pause and think about the variety of ways I could be changing my practice for the better to foster growth of the mathematical practices. It's time to grow and move on from the usual teacher model, students memorize strategies, and regurgitate it all back. I'm excited to learn more!
ReplyDeleteOne thing that resonated with me was the productive belief that an effective teacher supports productive struggle. I've been very focused on reducing student anxiety, so they don't give up. This is a great reminder that it's okay for them to struggle, persevere, and that it will definitely help their confidence.
ReplyDeleteWhat I experience from my math classes is this.
ReplyDelete2. Lack of perseverance: I teach SPED math for 1-5th. Most of the time after I teach a new concept, they are able to do it with me, but lack confidence to do it on their own.
3. Lack of retention: They sometime lack retention. What I started to do is at the end of each lesson and the next day review what we just learned. When I ask the next day, then I know what I need to review again with them.
I like in the video how he takes apart the word problem from the text book. By him taking a picture and filling the water tank, I like how it is now a real item, not a drawing. Also, how he showed different ways to fill the tank. It makes the students think and figure it out. I like the students to build the problem. I can’t wait to take apart my next word problems for my students.