Tag: teaching math

  • How to Answer ‘When am I going to use this?’

    How to Answer ‘When am I going to use this?’

    If you’ve ever taught or tutored math you’ve encountered the question, “When am I ever going to use this?” Maybe even hundreds of times.

    And no doubt you’ve tried the answers that you’ve heard your math teachers give:

    • You’ll need it in a future job.
    • You’ll want to balance your check book someday.
    • Blah, blah, blah.

    I was on the Teachers.net chatboard last night and there’s a discussion in the math teachers section about how to answer this question.

    I was horrified to read that some teachers actually respond with, “How about as homework, you find the answer to that question.”

    Egad!

    We all know it’s a discrationary tactic. We know that there are lots of good uses of math. And we’ve experienced our answers shot down with, “I’m not planning on doing a math job for a living, so I won’t need it,” or “I’ll hire a CPA to do my checkbook.”

    There’s only one right answer to this question.

    “You’ll never use the math I teach you. Ever.”

    I offer $10 to anyone who can come back to me in 10 years and tell me that graphing functions (or whatever we are learning that day) has actually had an applicable use in their life.

    Of course they’re horrified at this answer. They give me looks like, “What? Are you an alien here to invade our classroom. Did you eat the real Bon?” No teacher has ever been that honest.

    Graphing functions is virtually useless as a real tool. As is most of what we teach.

    I used to get phone numbers from men at bars with my amazing use of the quadratic formula, but that’s only something you can tell college students. And they don’t buy it anyway.

    Teaching math is teaching brain exercises.

    The reason we teach and learn graphing functions (or other math) is to exercise a part of the brain that we rarely get to use. A part that will get used sometime later in a weird way.

    We’re building new paths in the brain. We’re carving a way to alternative problem solving that might one day be useful in solving interpersonal, business, automotive, or other type of problems we have.

    I tell them that math class is a game. A fun time to escape once a day. This is a play time to stretch their brains and do something completely different.

    And I certainly don’t pile pissiness upon pissiness with the attitude of “If you’re going to challenge me, small menial student, then I’m going to give you extra homework.” That really motivates students… to hate math.

    How about you? How do you answer the question? Are you supporting future math happiness? Share your thoughts in the comments.

  • The Real Place Kids Learn Math

    The Real Place Kids Learn Math

    Where did you learn math?

    I’ll bet the first answer you have is, “in school.”

    In my recent research of different types of math teaching, including dancing, literature and gaming, it’s occurred to me that I didn’t learn math in school. I learned arithmetic, I learned algorithms, but math?

    I learned math at home.

    My dad is an engineer, and by nature not a teacher. But we did puzzles. Cryptograms from GAMES magazine, computer-based role-playing games and TV-based video games. He wasn’t one for shoot-em-up or beat-em-up games (although swords were essential). Everything we did had logical thinking.

    My mother was an English major. She encouraged memorization of both prepositions and multiplication facts. And she played word games with me.

    Puns have a special kind of logic to them. As she was punning around with me, I was learning a unique set of skills.

    Of both of them, I was allowed to ask questions. Any questions. And I did. And they answered them.

    Everyone learns math at home.

    As a parent, your daily actions impact your child mathematically. It’s not your skills with pencil and paper that help you teach math, but who you are.

    You connect with your children and understand them because of your similarities to them. Remember how you learned math. Not how you learned arithmetic and algorithms, but math. The art of math.

    That’s your key to helping your kid learn math.

    How did you learn math? Can you use this to help your children? Teachers – how can you help parents tap into this side? Share your thoughts in the comments.

  • How to Step Things Up in Math Teaching

    How to Step Things Up in Math Teaching

    I found an EdReach article through The Republic of Math‘s site and was so relieved. I’ve been hearing so much about the Khan Academy. Every time I look at it, I can’t help but think, “Same stuff, different medium.”

    Math teaching is about connecting math with people in a way that works for them. If the Khan Academy helps a kid get it, then great. But if that’s the case, then it’s likely that they’ll get it regardless of the medium.

    It’s time to step it up.

    I’ve been hearing about experience selling for a while. You don’t sell a product, you sell an experience. I’m not typing on a Mac right now because it’s a better computer than a PC. I’m typing on a Mac right now because if I have a problem, the cute purple-haired kid at the Apple store 3.2 miles from here will help me fix it.

    The same holds with math. We need the experience. Kids need the experience. It no longer works to sell “you’ll need this in life.” You have to sell the emotion behind it. The “what’s in it for me?”

    And that’s easy – if we just step it up a bit.

    This ain’t your daddy’s math class.

    Nope – not anymore. Once kids are old enough to get it, they need to be allowed to get it. Until then, we can sell them the algorithms and the memorization. But once they hit that threshold (which is different for every kid), they have to be allowed to do it their way.

    Which means no more rules. Math teaching is now about facilitation of learning. No more, “You must do it this way.” We’re losing them with forcing them to rationalize the denominator, simplify the fractions and write polynomials in descending order “because they’re supposed to.”

    They should rationalize the denominator because it compares better when put next to another number. They should simplify fractions because it’s easier to wrap your brain around 1/4 instead of 13/52 (unless you play ). And polynomials add easier when you write them in some designated order.

    They have to know why.

    Just like grown-ups.

  • You Get Only One Chance When Teaching Math

    Actually, you get only one chance when teaching anything.

    I was in an internal adult training class for corporate websites. In the middle of a discussion one student said, “How about if we each take something about Sharepoint that interests us, research it and report back to the group?”

    Great idea, right?

    The instructor put her face in her hands, breathed deeply, ran her fingers back through her hair and said, “Well, I want to make sure you get the things you need, so hold off on that.”

    CRUSH.

    End of learning.

    Game over.

    What are your thoughts on this? Share them in the comments below.

  • Teaching Math without Rules: Addition of Positive and Negative Numbers

    Teaching Math without Rules: Addition of Positive and Negative Numbers

    I’ve discovered many ways of teaching math through the years and the most interesting one was the addition of numbers with opposite signs. I learned this from a teacher who said that he never understood the rules – so he made up his own method.

    He “breaks” the bigger number into two pieces so it can be cancelled. Here it is:

    What do you think? Can you teach it this way? Share your thoughts in the comments.

  • 7 Real “How to Succeed in Math” Tips

    7 Real “How to Succeed in Math” Tips

    I bought a handful of math texts at Half Price Books this weekend. I opened up a Basic Mathematics text and the first thing that caught my eye was the intro titled “To the Student: Success in Mathematics.”

    “Really?” thought I. As I read it, I grew more and more agitated.

    Have these folks spent any time inside a math classroom? Did they pay attention to the students? If so, they should know that the likelihood of a student to do what they suggested is downright ridiculous. So why do we tell students to do it? Why can’t we give them tips that they can and will do? Like these:

    1. If you feel comfortable asking questions in class, do it. If not, write your questions down to ask later. You don’t have to ask the instructor, especially if he or she is intimidating. Find a tutor or go to the school’s math lab instead. You don’t have to work with someone you’re uncomfortable with.
    2. Read the stuff inside the gray boxes. We know it’s likely you’ll not read the text, but the things inside the gray boxes are really helpful.
    3. Before you start on your homework assignment, do something physical or something you can do well. Run a mile, do a load of laundry or play tennis for a half hour. This will remind you of the things you are good at and get your endorphins flowing. It will help you be confident during your homework time.
    4. Absorb the lectures, don’t copy them. If you can do it, try to just watch. See how the teacher thinks through a problem. You will gain more from this than from frantically trying to copy everything.
    5. If you do take lecture notes, don’t dwell on notes that you can’t figure out. Many times you mis-copy or mis-write things the teacher wrote or said. If it doesn’t make sense, move on.
    6. Tear out the back of this book (the part with all the answers) and burn it. It is important that you build your confidence. Checking your work with the magical back of the book just gives you a crutch. And don’t use a calculator to “check your work.” That’s just another crutch.
    7. Do the first two problems in every section and subsection. If you can do those, do the last two. If you can do those too, continue to the next subsection. Math isn’t a spectator sport, but it isn’t an elliptical machine either. Do all the problems if you need the practice. And if you have it down, move on.

    Give it a shot. Let the students know that what they want to do is okay to do. Let’s quit giving them the B.S. that’s been passed down to us over the last few decades. It’s time to go Math Book 2.0.

    Whatcha think? What’d I miss? Let me know in the comments.