Now I Get It!!

Hi Readers,

I was working in for a Gr 3 class earlier this year and part of the day required a maths lesson, which was fine by me as I just love teaching maths!

One boy in particular seemed to be having a very hard time trying to do his work and was very frustrated and starting to get angry.

The lesson was on subtraction, where renaming and trading was required.

As I sat with this boy and tried to see where his frustration was coming from, I asked him to show me what he had to do and to explain it as he went.

This immediately pinpointed his problem, as he said "We have to do it this way, but I just can't ever understand how to do it" 

When asked if they were shown other ways, or encouraged to explore other ways, I got a very firm "NO"!

I could see that the language he was being told to use and the format was rather clunky and confusing, not just to him, but also to me, so I said "Let's try it another way".

The eyes bulged back at me, so I reassured him it would be okay.

With just a slight tweak in the language being used, and drawing a simple arrow to show what he had to do next, we did a few examples together, then I left him to try a few on his own.

After about 3 minutes I suddenly heard this excited squeal from across the room..."I get it now!!!!"

That just made my day, and reinforced a number of things.

* There is more than one way to complete maths problems

* We need to encourage children to explore multiple ways of completing tasks.

* If children are told to keep doing something in a manner that they do not understand, they 

   will not understand it at all.

* If children are showing that they are having difficulty, talking with them gives them the 

   opportunity to explain their thinking, rather than us looking only at the final product.

It was great to see the transformation with this boy during this lesson, and hopefully he will have approached the next lesson, and maths in general with a much more positive mindset.

So Readers, 

Until my next post,

Cheers!!

I Love Maths Now!!

Hi Readers,

Once again, I have neglected this Blog, BUT... there is a reason!

I have started a second blog as part of my own business that I am trying to build.

You can see it at www.maths connection.com.au

So, from now on, I'll try to put the same posts on each blog, but keep in mind that they will probably have a bit of a maths flavour to them.

So, here goes!

I have just completed a stint working in a Gr 6 class where I was taking a number of maths lessons ( as if I need encouragement to do this!!)

The lessons to me didn't seem to be all that spectacular, but I must admit I did put in a lot of preparation for them, as I do with all my lessons.

The focus was on number patterns, which I introduced by getting the children to explore and create patterns with shapes and colours first. We eventually got up to creating and solving patterns with numbers, with increasing complexity, imagination and creativity.

It was highly interactive, with lots of movement, noise, mess and collaboration.

Fast forward a few days and I was approached by a parent at a sports day that these children were participating in. This father introduced himself and said that his son was in the class I had been teaching. He said that his son was never a high achiever in maths, and tended to struggle at times, but always had a go.

His son came home from school last week to say to his parents "I just love maths now", and when quizzed, he said it was due to the lessons we had been doing.

His dad asked him what exactly I was doing that changed him so much, and his reply was "It's just the way he does it".

What that was to his son is still a bit unclear to me, but obviously, something in my approach resonated with his son.

A few days later, his mum appeared in the classroom after school to see me ("Oh my goodness, What have I done now?" I was thinking)

To my relief, she was saying the same things as her husband, and wanted to know what I was doing to change their son's perception of maths and himself as a learner in such a short time?

I couldn't say much other than explain my approach to teaching and that I always believe in the capacity of everyone to learn, and in creating hooks for learning to engage the children as much as possible.

But, above everything else, my attitude and approach comes from a great few lines from a brilliant book by Dave Burgess,  

Burgess, D. (2012). Teach Like a Pirate. San Diego, CA: Dave Burgess Consulting

"Today I am thoroughly convinced that any teacher who is willing to put in the time, care and effort can transform their classroom and their life as an educator. Much of your success as an educator has to do with your attitude towards teaching and kids. The rest of your success is based on your willingness to relentlessly search for what engages students in the classroom and then having the guts to do it" (p.84)

Attitude clearly has a lot to do with everything!

Until my next post...

Cheers!