A dear friend and colleague sent me this great Ted talk today. I have seen this guy's blog before and he has some great stuff, but this talk spoke to me even more today.
Math curriculum does need a makeover. I have been feeling this more and more each year of my teaching, but I have been especially aware of my own doubts of what we are teaching in the past few years. I question what I am told to teach, how I am teaching it, and why I am teaching it. I learned through this curriculum and still managed to find the fun in math, but perhaps I'm one of the few; perhaps we could get more engaged and excited about math and problem solving if we show them the light.
I LOVE his opening statements about selling a product to a room full of students who do not want it. I love my product. I love math. I love solving problems. But wow, it's hard to sell it to my students when it seems so irrelevant and useless at times. I do find that they are conditioned to be bored in math class. They show up wanting to just get this whole thing over with. "Fill my bucket and I will spill it out on some test and I'll be on my way," they say. I am done filling buckets. I don't want the contents of your bucket back. You keep them dear student of mine.
I have been straying from the traditional teaching methods for a while now. Now, I am far from non-traditional because I feel there are still some things that are holding me back, but I try, I really do, to help students see and truly understand the concepts we are asked to teach them. I have been working to tear apart the curriculum I have been given to group like concepts, to allow students to look for an identify patterns, instead of me just 'telling' them. I search for problems and activities that will help students understand and engage, but sometimes it takes some convincing to get the students to dive in. They need to be unconditioned to getting their bucket filled and find it in themselves to seek out and discover. My job is to set up opportunities for them to engage and seek.
I agree 100% with the speaker in that what the law says we have to teach is not adequate, but at this point, that is still the law/tested. So, I try my best to weave in my own style and love of math to help the students hopefully see and be pulled into the awesome world of mathematics.
It's great to be a math teacher right now. He's correct in that. We have such a great opportunity to change and shape mathematics education into something more than a textbook full of formulas and computations to be completed.
This year I was given the opportunity to teach a college algebra class. But this isn't just an ordinary college algebra class, it's a mathematical modeling class where my students are given problems that they create their own solutions to through their own research and mathematical understanding. It has really challenged my students. Some students love creating models and some are still struggling with it; however, I feel that all of my students in the class have become better at problem solving and seeking out information when something is missing. The problems have been rich with possibility for learning and it has been beautiful to see the growth in the students.
One step at a time. I have continued each year to implement something new, something to draw students in, something to better help students understand, something to better challenge students. I want to be a part of this change.
You go, Chris! Your students love your passion for math, your love of the "non-traditional" and you, in general! Nothing about teaching is easy, but sometimes we professionals need to "break the rules," so to speak, and teach in a way that we know is right, for a variety of reasons! Kids will go along with you because they trust and respect you. You are working against a conditioned behavior of "fill my bucket," so we cannot expect them to change over night. Just think of the possibilities, though, when they are all willing to think for themselves by taking their own initiative. WOW!
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