Slow & Steady Can Win The Race: Math Post Week 3

©Arbor Investment Planner. 2016. Slow and Steady.

This week we started with an in class game called “I have... who has”. Each student is given a card with a number and then a math problem for another unknown person in the class. Every round students are having to read their card out while other students are doing the math problem to see if the answer matches the number they have on their card. This game got every student involved and could be a fun way to start a class. Something that I thought about during and after the game was, “would this work for all students?”. Personally, I felt very anxious during the game because I was scared to make a mistake in front of my classmates and look stupid. I would rather not be put on the spot with a math question because it makes me uncomfortable. I think that other students could feel the same way and so finding a way to alter the game so that students were not put on the spot could be a good idea.

This connects with the theme of making mistakes in math. How do we get students comfortable with making mistakes and getting them to understand it is part of brain growth? I am learning all about it in my class and yet I still struggle to overcome the fear and want to avoid being embarrassed. The video below explains the science behind how struggling creates brain growth and so making mistakes is critical to getting better. This could be a good video to show students so that they can understand the value of mistakes in math!

Another really important thing I learned this week is that speed is unrelated to being good at math. Doing something slowly doesn’t mean you’re not doing something well or right. In math, I always associated the kids who were finishing problems faster as the ones who were the smartest. However, in the video about Math & Speed it is explained that some of the best math mathematicians in the world have an extremely slow process in completely math problems because they are focused on deeper thinking. This is a relief because I am very slow at completely math problems which contributed to my belief that I was bad at math. When I watched the video I started thinking about other subjects and how I wouldn’t reward a student in Language who could write an essay the fastest. I would want to promote deeper thinking and ensure that a good process was followed. I need to make sure to do the same thing in math so that all students have an opportunity to demonstrate that they can complete a problem!

This takes me back to the game we did at the start of class. I don’t complete math problems quickly and that game relies on students thinking of the answer in their head and continuing the next round. For me, it doesn’t set me up for success because I need more time so although I see some value in the game at the start of class I’m not sure it would be one that I use in my classroom based on what I learned this week. It’s good to learn about different options in class and get to experience them as a student would. Those opportunities give me the chance to decide what I think would work best in my classroom and that will only make me a better teacher!