Latest / New Teacher Talk / Ep 111: Four Strategies to Transform How Your Students Experience Mathematics

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Ep 111: Four Strategies to Transform How Your Students Experience Mathematics · New Teacher Talk

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  Welcome to another episode of New Teacher Talk,
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  the podcast designed for new and aspiring educators.
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  Whether you're in a rural, suburban, or urban setting,
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  we're here to provide insights, advice,
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  and support to help you thrive in your teaching journey.
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  My name is Sara Curran,
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  and I'm currently a K-5 instructional coach, but I spent a majority of my career as a fourth grade teacher. Today I'm going to discuss four strategies for successfully engaging students in math class.
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  I will also share several websites, manipulatives,
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  and activities that can be used to engage your math
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  learners.
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  The first strategy is to devote time to building a
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  community of learners in math.
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  It is imperative for the teacher to form a relationship
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  with their students and for students to get to know each
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  other.
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  This process will motivate students,
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  make them feel more comfortable taking risks in the
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  classroom, promote culturally responsive teaching,
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  and encourage students to work collaboratively in a more
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  positive manner.
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  The time given to getting-to-know-you tasks is definitely
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  worth it and usually saves you class time in the long run.
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  Really try to allow time at the beginning of the year or
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  the semester for these activities.
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  I like to do a Me-by-the-Numbers activity in which the
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  students select several numbers that represent them.
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  For example,
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  a student may choose 15 if their birthday is October 15th
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  or three, if they have three siblings.
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  For older students,
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  you can have students write equations that when solved
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  reveal a number about them.
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  They could say that their soccer number is 25 times 2 minus
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  12.
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  Following the first week,
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  there are other ways to sustain this practice.
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  For attendance,
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  you could have your students answer a This-or-That
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  question,
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  like would you rather go to an amusement park or a beach?
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  At the end of the week,
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  you could have students share a success of the week,
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  which would not need to be math related.
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  Or, you could have them share their peak, their high point,
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  and or their pitch, their low point of the week.
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  You could have students indicate their mood each day.
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  I've used mood pockets in which they put a popsicle stick
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  in a pocket of their mood.
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  The pockets display,
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  I'm wonderful and have something to share, I'm great,
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  I'm okay, I'm having a rough day,
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  or I'm having a rough day and would like a check-in.
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  This helps me to gauge how students are feeling as they
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  enter my room and identify who may need additional support.
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  It also meets the needs for students who may desire a
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  little more attention,
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  allowing them to share an excitement with you.
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  For students who switch classrooms throughout the day,
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  you can have a sign with these levels and the students can
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  write their names on the back of a post-it note so others
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  can't see it and stick the note in the appropriate category
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  for their mood on the poster.
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  You could also place memes or pictures on a projected slide
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  and students could select their mood for the day using
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  numbers.
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  For secondary classrooms,
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  I know a teacher that does Mathematician Mondays,
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  in which she shares about a mathematician from around the
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  world each week.
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  She ensures that she shares diverse mathematicians,
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  so students can see themselves mirrored in the
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  mathematicians.
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  Using a variety of grouping methods encourages classroom
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  community as well,
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  so different students are working together throughout the
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  year.
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  I use picture cards for forming groups of three,
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  or card decks to group in twos, threes, or four.
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  While working together,
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  they get to know each other better and hopefully establish
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  a camaraderie.
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  My next strategy for successfully engaging students in math
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  class is to always develop a conceptual understanding of
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  new math concepts first before moving on to standard
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  algorithms or more abstract thinking.
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  If we want our students to be able to continue to advance
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  in mathematical content,
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  they must develop a full understanding of the math first.
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  Using manipulatives, demonstrations, pictures,
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  acting out word problems,
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  and providing real-life examples can help to accomplish
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  this goal.
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  Manipulatives are my favorite way to build conceptual
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  understanding when they're feasible.
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  Be sure to give students time to explore with the
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  manipulatives the first time they are used,
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  or they may not listen while they explore.
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  Ask questions like, what do you notice,
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  and what do you wonder to engage their thinking and
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  interaction with the new tool?
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  For primary students, base 10 blocks, two-color counters,
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  play money, mini clocks,
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  and connecting cubes are extremely helpful for building
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  basic number sense and for introducing fractions.
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  For intermediate students,
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  fraction tiles or fraction circles,
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  base 10 blocks for modeling whole numbers and decimals,
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  and circles with counters for basic multiplication and
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  division are helpful.
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  For secondary classrooms, algebra tiles,
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  base 10 blocks for decimals, creating arrays for exponents,
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  using post-its for the Pythagorean theorem,
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  and balances for algebra can be powerful tools.
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  At any level,
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  the most fun strategy for developing conceptual
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  understanding is supporting word problems with pictures,
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  acting out the situation described,
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  or creating demonstrations.
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  If the word problems can be tailored to include people in
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  your school and activities the students enjoy,
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  that can really motivate them to engage with the lesson.
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  Similarly,
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  the more real-life examples that can be used that relate to
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  your students' lives the better.
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  Once they have a full understanding with manipulatives and
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  interacting with word problems,
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  then you can more productively move to an abstract or
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  formulaic approach that the students are more likely to
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  understand and apply appropriately.
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  The third strategy for successfully engaging students in
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  math class is to get the students involved as much as
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  possible.
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  The more engaged the students are,
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  the more learning that usually occurs,
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  and it is more likely that students will retain the
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  information.
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  Lectures and modeling can be necessary in math class,
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  but look for ways to get the students interacting with the
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  learning whenever possible.
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  Sometimes,
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  simply working in partners or small groups enhances
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  engagement.
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  Having students show their thinking through the use of
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  individual marker boards,
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  repeating definitions or directions allowed,
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  using hand motions for vocabulary or displaying a thumbs up
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  or thumbs down increases the likelihood of each student
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  actively participating in the lesson.
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  I've even had students use fly swatters to smack the
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  correct answers or vocabulary on a mat that's on their
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  desks or sometimes on the wall.
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  Interactive websites like Boom Cards and Desmos record each
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  student's responses and produce real-time information to
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  support your instruction.
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  Infusing math games to review is enjoyable for students and
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  generally includes a lot of practice in a short time.
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  File folder games, card games, printed games,
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  and Kahoot online games get all students involved in the
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  review.
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  For best results with engagement,
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  it is important to differentiate your instruction to meet
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  students' needs.
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  If students are bored or frustrated,
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  they are more likely to disengage.
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  Pretests, formative assessments,
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  and exit slips can provide the information needed to
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  achieve this goal.
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  Providing level tasks, student choice,
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  and/or within classroom grouping can make a huge difference
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  in student buy-in, motivation, and participation.
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  The last strategy for engaging students in math class is by
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  utilizing tasks and questioning that promote productive
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  struggle.
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  Productive struggle is providing challenging tasks that
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  require problem solving, perseverance,
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  and often include multiple steps, answers,
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  or paths to determine an answer.
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  Productive struggle encourages students to think critically
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  and then learn and grow from their mistakes.
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  Students are also exposed to multiple ways to solve the
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  problem from collaborating with peers or sharing their
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  solution strategies with their peers.
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  Building thinking classrooms has become a popular way to
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  promote productive struggle through collaboration and multi
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  -step tasks.
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  Using number talks or problem strings are another effective
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  way to promote productive struggle while sharing multiple
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  pathways for solving problems.
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  The most difficult part of teaching with productive
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  struggle is finding appropriate tasks to challenge your
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  students.
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  Some of my favorite websites for locating tasks to promote
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  productive struggle are numberless word problems,
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  which one doesn't belong, open middle, yummy math,
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  mashup math, Steve Wieborny's site, would you rather math,
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  three act tasks, fraction talks, between two numbers,
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  visual patterns, and Desmos.
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  Hopefully you can pause and rewind to write any unfamiliar
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  ones down.
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  Most of these websites span all grade levels and some are
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  even organized by standard.
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  I hope you find a few of these websites helpful for your
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  teaching context.
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  This concludes our deep dive into four strategies for
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  successfully engaging students in math class by building a
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  community of learners,
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  developing students' conceptual understanding first,
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  promoting engagement for all students,
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  and incorporating productive struggle tasks.
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  I hope you were able to get a couple of specific new ideas
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  to try out in your class this week or before the end of the
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  year.
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  Best of luck.
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  Have a wonderful school year.
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  Thank you for listening to today's New Teacher Talk episode. Be
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  sure to follow us on our socials,
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  look for the Tuesday Teacher Resource,
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  and check out our Thursday Thought on our Instagram page at New Teacher Talk. We're here to support you in your practice no matter where you live.