Facilitating FUN in Math

As I round out my Wednesday, I can’t help but stop in awe of all that I have accomplished in my Education 250 class over the past week. It has been particularly draining as my workouts and homework have increased and my sleep has steadily decreased. However, this class keeps me on my toes as my professors start the day’s lesson. Even though I do the TeachScape modules, I never enter the room fully knowing what will be covered that day. What I do know is that I will exit with numerous “teaching moments” and “getting real for a moment” concepts to ponder. Regardless of how energy deprived I feel when I enter, I always leave encouraged and full of life.

This past week has been especially full of food for thought as we took rabbit trails throughout our discussions. Today, we explored NCTCS 4 which is the standard for how teachers are to facilitate learning in their classrooms. While it started humbly with how we are to integrate technology (4d), it quickly escalated to the TPACK Model and how technology should be used as a scaffold and not as the sole source of content. As we made connections between content, technology and pedagogy, I couldn’t help but think back to school days where my class would be taken to the computer lab for hours on end to have the screen teach us. I can even reflect on instances in college in which my professor only showed us how to do the problems on the computer and did not teach any separate lesson.

In my pursuit of math education, I find the task of meeting 4d even more taxing because I am called to do more than what I have been exposed. Unlike history and English, most math problems do not require the same depth of research. When there is background for mathematical concepts, it isn’t a flashy story like one would find when researching the Civil War or the gold rush. Mathematical research is much more cut and dry. I can personally attest to the fact that they do not strike excitement. The only resources that do seem to strike excitement are those that solve math problems for you, supplying both the work and the answer. As I enter my career, I want to make it more than just a tool for cheating. How will I use technology as a scaffold instead of an unplanned nap time or effortless plugging in of equations?

              Along with this, how will I make my assignments and assessments meaningful and thorough without my students feeling like they’ve been drilled to exhaustion? When I discuss math with others, a commonality I have found is that they feel like the homework from their classes is too extensive. While I understand that math teachers must evaluate their students’ abilities to work concepts at a range of difficulties, I also have experienced assignments that have kept me stressing into the wee hours of the morning. A big part of understanding mathematical concepts is through repetitive practice. How can I avoid these late night breakdowns among my students while still giving them sufficient practice?

              In my high school calculus classes, a way my teacher dodged the bullet of high stress take home assignments was her method of grading them. Rarely were we assessed by the answers we got for every single problem. Instead, we were graded on our ability to present our work for a random problem from the assignment the next morning. If there were questions from classmates, we were to explain how and why we used the method we chose. If our answer was incorrect, we would work the problem as a class with the presenter writing on the board as the class thought through the steps aloud. In my opinion, this was an extremely effective means of learning the material. We weren’t expected to fully understand every single answer the first time, but we were expected to work through our struggle spots together. We would notice common mistakes together and see how to overcome them. In the future, I definitely plan to implement parts of this in my classroom. While I can’t completely eliminate individual assessment, this method both decreases pressure to avoid embarrassment but also promotes critical thinking, teamwork and a deeper understanding of how the problems work.