Math Year 2- Post One

Welcome everyone!

This week has done a good job of refreshing my memory about mathematics, in particular, the challenges that come along with trying to teach mathematics. It was pointed out to me that even if I were in possession of the best lesson plans and unit plans in the world, that would not suffice because the situation in many classroom is very complex. For example, there are many students that believe that, not only are they not good at mathematics, but are actually incapable of becoming good at mathematics because of their parents- they believe that they haven’t inherited the ‘math gene’. To add another degree of complexity, there are still other students who may have gotten other the idea of having a ‘math gene’ yet, have not developed a growth mindset. This means that although the do not ascribe their performance to their innate biology, they still have difficulty being optimistic about seeing themselves improve their skills in the subject. This lack of growth mindset can arguably be attributed to a number of reasons. For example, some say that the media might play a role in the matter because there are a lot of Hollywood films and t.v. shows that have characters making references to how hard math is for them and how much they dislike it.  This in turn can make the students feel quite comfortable with giving up on the subject whenever they encounter any difficulty because they will be able to relate to their favorite characters in their favorite movies and t.v. shows who have done the same thing. Another reason some say students lack a growth mindset is because students have difficulty seeing the practicality of what they are learning, for example, a student might have difficulty calculating the area of a pyramid while studying a geometry unit, and rather than persevere and try harder when the situations becomes challenging, they might simply ask themselves ‘what it the point of me learning this anyway? How is this going to benefit me?’. If even mathematics teachers cannot give a decent response to these sorts of questions it might further validate the students in their mindset because they might take it to mean that there is no rebuttal for their point, and therefore they are correct in their statements about math.

This has given me a lot to think about, and I hope that as this year goes along I will be able to learn how to turn these negative situations into positive ones and help all my students to see the practicality, beauty and enjoyment that can come alone with an engagement of the subject of mathematics!