Math

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Comment by Terese (Terry) Herrera on October 2, 2009 at 2:27pm

So what ideas can we share on making math class more engaging? I've been mulling this over and came up with a few half-ideas.
It's almost impossible to have brilliant, non-routine classes every day, but maybe once a week? Teaching Mathematics in the Middle School [and other NCTM magazines for elementary and high school] have at least one full-blown lesson in each publication. There are archives, too. We could take a topic we have to teach next month and use one of these in-depth lessons. It's most difficult to try something new like this, but if we call it an "experiment" in our heads, we don't have to feel we need to have success every time. Also, getting together with other teachers who have to teach the same topic and all of us working on the new lesson together would give us a "safe" zone.
Another half-idea: Making use of technology as others have already suggested. http://illuminations.nctm.org/ has great teaching ideas, often involving real data and real exploration via the computer. Also, the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives [http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vLibrary.html] and the Shodor site [http://shodor.org/interactivate/activities/] have online activities---some really good.
Last half-idea: competitions. For middle school, there's the Math Olympiads for Elementary and Middle Schools http://www.moems.org/ and MathCounts https://mathcounts.org/Page.aspx?pid=1537. I know, these are for the already enthusiastic students, but they deserve some "fun" too! And games, occasionally, in class.

End of half-thoughts!

Comment by Judy Spicer on October 1, 2009 at 10:55am

I agree that lack student engagement is a huge issue in mathematics. The classroom environment can play a role in the amount of student engagement. It is important to establish a classroom environment that is appropriate and supportive in ways that include making the connection between student effort and achievement. Small group and whole class activities and discussions, teacher questions to engage students in higher-order thinking, appropriate use of technology, and opportunities for students understans the usefulness and function of math in the real world. We can take comfort in the fact that student disengagement is not limited to math class. See School Smarts: the Four C’s of Academic Success

Comment by Nina on September 30, 2009 at 9:30pm

I have been pondering math education a lot lately. I believe our biggest issue (especially at middle school and high school levels) is student engagement. Some math classes are SOOOOO boring!! And if I, who love math, think so, what must many of our students think?

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