My Philosophy of Education for Teaching Middle School Mathematics
Throughout the nation hundreds of thousands of students walk out of their mathematics classrooms confused and overwhelmed. Mathematics has become something that students fear, rather than enjoy and comprehend. Many appear to view it as another language all together, or in other words that the inconsistency throughout the content makes it difficult to follow. Many students become bored or un-attentive within mathematics class as well. It is with this is mind that one must create a learning experience that creates, activates and engages students within truly purposeful learning in the mathematics classroom.
A common problem within a mathematics classroom is the inconsistency found throughout mathematics. How is one to know what to do when or why is x equal to 3 one minute and then x is equal to 10 the next? I believe that in order for students to overcome these hurtles and find success and self-confidence within class, they must learn the “why?” behind the elements of the content. For instance, when teaching students how to solve equations, such as x + 2 = 5, students should understand and know why me must use the opposite operation of subtraction in order to solve this. If they know that it is due to the fact that we need to separate the 2 from the x in order to get x by itself, then they could ultimately solve a problem like this with any of the four operations. In other words, they now not only know the “why”, but that can now begin to form generalizations of their own.
Middle school students are going through many changes throughout their middle school years. Due to all of the changes and their high rates of energy, research has shown that middle schoolers are unable to sit for long periods of time without movement. This is highly supported by The Alliance for a Healthier Generation, as they depict the critical need for students to have one to two minute breaks within single class periods. The difficult part for educators is finding ways in which they can incorporate this movement within their every day plans.
Many educators provide students with example problems to complete in class within the few days prior to an exam. Students are typically told to work together or independently within their seats on the given problems. In this sense they are never moving and students typically lose their focus and motivation as the period goes on. So, in order to prevent this to the best of one’s ability, the teacher can instead give students 5 minutes to work on 1-2 questions within partners. Then, have the students move out of their partners to discuss the problem(s) as a class. This would again be repeated for another small set of questions until all given questions are completed. One could even have students move around to various “mathematical stations” throughout the classroom, in which various problems are located at tables for student to solve. I believe that this truly helps to keep students engaged and motivated, as they will have adequate movement throughout the period. There are many changes one can make to fit these needs into lessons for students; it is just a matter of re-examining how one can organize or present the content in an even more effective way for his/her middle school students.
A common problem within a mathematics classroom is the inconsistency found throughout mathematics. How is one to know what to do when or why is x equal to 3 one minute and then x is equal to 10 the next? I believe that in order for students to overcome these hurtles and find success and self-confidence within class, they must learn the “why?” behind the elements of the content. For instance, when teaching students how to solve equations, such as x + 2 = 5, students should understand and know why me must use the opposite operation of subtraction in order to solve this. If they know that it is due to the fact that we need to separate the 2 from the x in order to get x by itself, then they could ultimately solve a problem like this with any of the four operations. In other words, they now not only know the “why”, but that can now begin to form generalizations of their own.
Middle school students are going through many changes throughout their middle school years. Due to all of the changes and their high rates of energy, research has shown that middle schoolers are unable to sit for long periods of time without movement. This is highly supported by The Alliance for a Healthier Generation, as they depict the critical need for students to have one to two minute breaks within single class periods. The difficult part for educators is finding ways in which they can incorporate this movement within their every day plans.
Many educators provide students with example problems to complete in class within the few days prior to an exam. Students are typically told to work together or independently within their seats on the given problems. In this sense they are never moving and students typically lose their focus and motivation as the period goes on. So, in order to prevent this to the best of one’s ability, the teacher can instead give students 5 minutes to work on 1-2 questions within partners. Then, have the students move out of their partners to discuss the problem(s) as a class. This would again be repeated for another small set of questions until all given questions are completed. One could even have students move around to various “mathematical stations” throughout the classroom, in which various problems are located at tables for student to solve. I believe that this truly helps to keep students engaged and motivated, as they will have adequate movement throughout the period. There are many changes one can make to fit these needs into lessons for students; it is just a matter of re-examining how one can organize or present the content in an even more effective way for his/her middle school students.