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| ©LonerWolfe 2016. True Colours. Retrieved from http://lonerwolf.com/true-colors-personality-test/ |
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| ©LonerWolfe 2016. True Colours. Retrieved from http://lonerwolf.com/true-colors-personality-test/ |
One of the first things we did in class this week was discuss a personality test called true colours. I had done this test this past summer at my job. I went back and did the test online once more to see if my results were the same and they were very similar. I was perfectly split between gold and green with a good amount of blue mixed in. Gold suggests I am committed, responsible, sensible and efficient while green says that I am powerful, rational, intellectual and objective. These all sound like attributes that would make a good math brain. Now I know that I needed to develop my brain to be better at math through practice. Personality tests don’t tell us the full story on someone but I do think it is a good place to start. I think it helps yourself and others understand reasons for why you are the way you are. The True Colours test also tells you what your roles are in a community and I think it really shows that everyone plays an important role in a group setting by bringing different strengths to the table. This is something I would like to do with my students.
We also watched a video in class which I think really brings to light some of the challenges in math.
How Old Is The Shepherd is a video which shows a teacher giving students a math problem and asking them to find the answer. The trick here is that the math problem does not have the information that the students need to find the answer. Some students are able to establish that the necessary information is not provided therefore they cannot solve for the answer. Those students are demonstrating that they understand both the question and that they’re math strategies cannot be applied in this instance. Only a few students came to this conclusion while other students used math to find any number without considering what they were trying to solve for. Some students said the shepherd was 120 years old. If you critically thought about what the question was asking you would know that 120 is not a very realistic answer. It was clear that students felt the need to do a math equation regardless of what was being asked and what information was being provided. There was a lack of critical thinking skills and beyond that a true lack of understanding.
This video shows students doing math for the sake of doing math and not really considering what they are being asked to do. As an educator, this tells me I would need to work hard to ensure that my students are taking what we’re learning and applying it in real life. If students see the value in something they can adopt it beyond math class. The video was a perfect example of how students are using math to think more deeply. They are simply trying to put numbers together whether they make sense or not. This is yet another moment when I realize that my job as an educator is going to be very important and the way I approach certain subjects, such as math, will determine how successful my students can be!
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