It was just a few months ago that a friend posted a link on Facebook to a talk on TED by Sir Ken Robinson about how schools kill creativity. At the time it was contributing to the decision I was struggling to make about whether my daughter was ready for middle school, or whether I should home school her. She applied for - and was admitted to - the arts magnet program for her school. That quelled some of my concerns, and we decided that the middle school would work for our family at this time.
Since then, I have started the process of renewing my teaching license. My goal is to be licensed to teach and actively job searching for the 2011-12 school year. I have registered for my first online course through PBS TeacherLine, and it begins in June. Now I view that video and the one I link to below as a teaching professional, rather than as a parent. I want to understand the way that people think the school system is failing children and strive to overcome that in my own classroom.
Yesterday, my friend Erica posted a link to this video on TED about how "Math Class Needs a Makeover."
I will admit my first reactions to this talk were as a parent of a 10 year old who struggles with math. When Mr. Meyer describes students that look for the formula or think they don't have the math comprehension to participate in a discussion of a math problem, I immediately think of my daughter. She is not what Meyer calls a "patient problem solver." That's why I love his idea of taking the details out of a textbook problem and make it into a life problem. He examines a word problem for a high school math class where they are to calculate how long it will take to fill an octagonal beverage dispenser with water. The textbook provides a 2 dimensional diagram with measurements and numbers and symbols. Even I look at it and think, "Jeez, I have no idea." Then Meyer removes elements of the word problem. He removes the question and multiple choice answers. He removes the dimensions noted on the diagram. He changes the line drawing to a photograph of a beverage dispenser like the one described. He makes it a video of said beverage dispenser being filled by a hose.
He took a problem that high schoolers, and even I as an adult, think that they have no expertise to answer and he turned it into a real life situation that everyone has experience with. Even my 10 year old would look at this new version of the problem and have an idea about it. Everyone has experience with filling a container with liquid. Whether or not they can then get the correct answer, Meyer is recommending that we at least get students to join the discussion and feel like they have a contribution to make by first, making it relevant to their experiences, and second, not feeding them the details to plug into a formula, but to enlist their help in developing the problem.
A couple of weeks ago I was subbing in an elementary school. I was a subbing for a paraprofessional who assists in the classroom. The teacher was also absent that day, and the other substitute was introducing a lesson on capacity to third graders. The textbook included clip art of items to represent a cup, pint, quart, and gallon. That was very abstract though, and I saw some students struggle on the classwork comparing these capacities.
The next day I was in for the same paraprofessional, and the regular classroom teacher was back in the classroom. They moved on to metric capacity and were talking about milliliters, liters, and the like. The classroom teacher walked around the room with a dropper and water and placed a milliliter of water in her hand at each group of student desks to allow them to see what a milliliter looked like. I noticed a difference in student comprehension that day as they completed the classwork. Just that small amount of concrete experience with the capacity increased their understanding and ability to compare capacities.
Math in classrooms of early learners (PK-1) is most often full of manipulatives and hands on math experiences for concrete understanding of math concepts. As children progress, math becomes more and more abstract in the classroom. It becomes more worksheets and line art, and strays further and further from real experiences. Mr. Meyer reminds us to keep math within the realm of real life experiences, to engage the students in developing the problem, and get everyone involved in the conversation to build confident math students who can perform patient problem solving.
