When I read this article I stopped many times and make connections between text and my own experiences and the knowledge I learned recently.
The four presumptions about people's attitudes toward the Mathematics remind me of the responsibilities I will take as a Math teacher. Mathematics is hard sometimes. However, I will feel sad if some people feel mathematics is cold, distant and inhuman. They must had some unpleasant experiences with mathematics. I think their math teachers should be responsible for most part of this. I remember Maya Angelou said that “people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." As a Math teacher, my priority goal is to provide my students with a safe learning environment. Trust is my recipe. I believe they will all be successful in the future in different area, even if they might be not good at Math. The most important thing is to help them enjoy the math learning. No one will say " I'm just not an art person, physics person, history person, or language person", but why just "not a Math person"? Once they are labeled as " not a Math person", there is a huge gap between them and Mathematics forever. And this group of " not a Math person" will be lager and larger, since staying in a group can make them feel safe. But we could not forbid them to say so, we need to let them feel they are not "not a Math person" by showing them other sides of the Mathematics. Math is in the art, Math is in the history, and Math is even in the music. We are Math person, since Math is not just abstract concepts.
When I read "the New Math movement", I stopped for " Many counties, particularly less-developed nations concerned that they might be left behind the developed world in matters of education, …the jet-setting curriculum developers showed little regard for local conditions, cultures, or educational traditions, ….this was wholly inappropriate." (p.399) Reflecting on this, I think when we introduce students to any new concepts and problem solving methods or skills, we need to consider students' ability levels, learning experiences, background knowledges, cultural differences, etc. to determine our teaching contents, methods and strategies.
I really like the quote that you included in your article. “Maya Angelou said that “people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."” This quote is so relevant to teaching because as teachers, we teach who we are more than we teach content and it so important that we present ourselves and our material to students in a way that makes them feel validated, worthy, and capable.
ReplyDeleteI also really liked, “Trust is my recipe.” It is so important to establish trust with students. They need to know that they can open up, take risks and be vulnerable without fearing any consequences from an incorrect answer. I always encourage this with my students by telling them that there are no stupid questions and remind them that math is not easy so they shouldn’t feel bad if they don’t understand everything right away. It takes time for everyone to learn math.
Thank you for your comments. Yes, you are right, math is not easy we need to allow them spending more time to digest those concepts.
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