Reflection: Why changing has been unsuccessful

I haven't really posted since my school year started. That is because life has been crazy with the school year starting (and for some weird reason new teachers to JSD have some 40 hours of things to get done but no extra time to do them) and with starting a Master's Program through University of Saint Mary. I finally feel like I can stop going at 100 mph. I can go only 75 now.

Anyway... time for a quick reflection.

I wanted to become a completely new teacher at the start of the year. I was determined. I felt like I could do it!... but then school actually started. I instantly had to get into survival mode. I struggled to just get the next day ready. I had emails to answer, evaluations to complete, professional portfolios to complete, and mounds and mounds of homework and tests to grade and put in. I had absolutely no time for anything I wanted to do. Instead I only had time for the things I needed to do to stay afloat.

This has led me to contemplate: why can't I shake out of the traditional way of doing things? Why is it so stinkin hard? Well, before I can do that I need to have some sort of foundation. I need a place to start. CURSE BEING A NEW TEACHER!!! I love teaching, but being new is such a hindrance. I don't know how students will react to anything. I don't know how I'd normally teach anything because it's my first time teaching it. I'm hoping that as the year goes on I can catch up and make something happen, but no guarantees right now.

On another note, during the little bits of time I find in the bathroom or on the train to work, I've been reading John Hattie's Visible Learning for Teachers. He and Dylan Wiliam should be friends. His book says many things that Embedded Formative Assessment says: Make success criteria very clear, find out what students know, and teach accordingly (so far). Hattie's book has a lot about teachers working together to accomplish goals. Overall, it's been a good read.

Exploring MTBoS - What makes my classroom MINE?

I'm excited to be participating in the Exploring the MathTwitterBlogosphere activity! There's nothing like having a huge online community of people crazy enough to want to teach math collaborating together.

So one thing that I think is a defining characteristic for my classroom is that I refuse to have students just practice a skill on their own via a worksheet or book assignment. I always have turn that practice into an in-class game. I love games! My students seem to like it as well... unless we've played the game too many times recently (my current use of my collection of general practice games hasn't been thorough enough). If you ever have a game that let's students practice algorithmic skills, let me know about it. It will probably end up in the game collection.

A game that turned out to be fun :)

I did this game this week in all of my classes - honors and regular. I don't have a name for it yet, so if you've got an idea for it, let me know. Maybe someone else made it up before me, but feel like I discovered it on my own. Here's what happened:

0. I split the class into teams. I prefer groups 4 or smaller. Four is even a little big. The goal of the game is to get the most points.

1. I cut some scratch paper up into 1/8th sheets and pre-made a bunch of inequalities that students need practice solving. I had enough for about 1.5 per group.

2. I handed out a paper with an inequality on it to each group. Each team's job is to solve the inequality on a SEPARATE piece of paper and then bring their solution with the card to me.

3. I then sat at a desk with my handy-dandy 10-sided die of fate and a colored pen. When a representative of the team showed up with a solution  I would quickly look over it and offer changes they need to make it right. They then had to go fix their mistakes (even little ones.) A line quickly formed. Even simple mistakes puts you at the end of the line.

4. If a solution was presented to me that was correct, I would say so and roll the Die of Fate. Whatever number showed up would be how many points I'd write on their paper and initial. I would then give them a new paper with a new problem and they would solve that one. This continued until I decided it should stop (about 5 min before the bell to take care of business.) Winners got a prize - candy.

Comments: I absolutely love the random amount of points awarded. Difficult problems can end up being worth 1 points while easy ones can be worth 9. I think it helped my "un-engageables" become involved because even though they didn't answer as many questions, they could still win the game due to the random factor. I also gave them easier questions to start and worked them towards the harder ones. I also like how this game is very general: I can put whatever problems I want on the cards. Take that! classic worksheets. Why do a worksheet when you can play a game?

Concerns: It is difficult to monitor the class while you're looking over solutions. One team member could be doing all of the work.

Two weeks in and I'm already back to habit

I'm now two weeks into the school year and I'm noticing a lot of similarities to past experiences:

1. Having a top-down approach to pacing is bad for me trying to be better. Our district has dictated the scope and sequence for the year's standards to be met. With my math department we (they) drew up a calendar for when we're teaching what. This has been horrible for what I want to do: not be a traditional math teacher. I want students to discover things on their own. Our first two weeks was all about solving equations and non-compound inequalities. I wanted my students to decide on "rules" for solving equations by having them create equations and challenge each other to solve them (the one day we spent on it was actually a lot of fun and they came up with some great stuff!) But we couldn't fully develop the ideas and test them out because we needed to "cover" other things like solving inequalities. The result is my students have an incomplete understanding of solving equations and I had to do some crappy lessons using direct instruction methods which my students were immediately turned off by. I feel like my good plans can't fit in the top-down system... can't we focus on learning rather than teaching?

2. I'm some students' favorite teacher because I let them sit by their friends, and some students hate me because I'm not a traditionalist and don't just tell them exactly what to do. I had a few students tell me I was their favorite on the second or third day and this past Friday I signed at least two forms transferring students out of my classes.

3. We had a quiz that I know my students weren't ready for. Another interesting tradition that schools have: we give tests because that's when they're scheduled. Some people say it is so you can stay on schedule. I say we should just schedule better. Personally I'm a fan of giving students a quiz they're not ready for. It helps them see what they do and don't know - we just need to make sure they have an opportunity to redo it later.

4. There are a lot of things I want to do, but I don't have the time to do them all so I only get to do half of them halfway and so nothing works out close to what I planned and now my students don't know as much as they should. Wow, that was a long sentence, but it get's to the point. I need to choose my battles better. Maybe this isn't the year I have a complete problem-based approach to teaching. Maybe this is the year that we do a cool task once or twice a week while we focus on Assessment for Learning techniques everyday.

I think this is what I'll try: Focus on one cool task a week and Assessment for Learning. I am really new (2nd yr teacher) and I've got oodles of extra stuff to do: Go to district classes two nights a week, finish moving in, get all of my Master's Program homework done, and spend time with my wife. This is sounding like a good plan to me. And I don't have to be a traditional teacher during the rest of the week either. I can turn typical guided/individual practice into games which I love playing :) I think I'll actually use that Game Library that I've been building.

Pre-School Jitters

I'm starting my second year on Monday... and I'm scared out of my mind. I'm sure things will be great and I'll have students I'll instantly connect with, but I'm not sure of how many. Luckily I'm new at the school, so students haven't heard anything about me.

I'm also worried about how my ideas will pan out. Will my laid-back-ness make them completely unruly? I don't want to be a dictator, but will they be crazy without it? I don't know, but I'm going to stand by my philosophy that if you connect with the students, then good classroom management will inevitably follow because students will be willing to do what you ask. We'll see how it goes...

I'm also worried about trying out an Assessment For Learning classroom. (Read the book by the same name if you don't know what that looks like.) It is definitely non-traditional (yay!) but will it work with 30-36 students in each period totaling up to almost 200?

Well, most of these fears will either be realized or dispelled next week.... :s

Another book done: Assessment for Learning. And what I'm going to do about it.

So I finished another book on using formative assessment to change your classroom procedures. It is called Assessment for Learning by Paul Black and a bunch of other people. If follows a similar vein to Embedded Formative Assessment. It reads a lot like a research paper. They got a group of teachers together and had them come up with assessment strategies to use in their classrooms and they tried them out. The study covered the course of two years.

I didn't find this book as engaging as Embedded Formative Assessment, but it was definitely more real. This involved real teachers using strategies they collaborated on with real students. The authors were also real about the implications of their study: the teachers had success, but there is no "one size fits all" strategies that they can prescribe to all teachers. Everyone has different students and each teacher has a different style. So the strategies that one would use is different from the ones another teacher would use.

Reading this book brings me to my final conclusion before starting school next week: I need to pick a few (2-ish) strategies to try out and implement right away. I need to make changes slowly which is completely against my typical tendency to just go crazy with ideas.

My strategies to try first:

• No hands up. Pick students/groups at random.
• Provide feedback that is useful, meaning students will be able to make improvements on their work based on what I wrote.

Even this will probably be too much at the start. We'll see. I just need to remember not to give myself too much to do.

So what do you think? Do you ever want to try out a bunch of ideas all at once? What are your suggestions on not going nuts with all of the "shiny new toys"?

Article about someone else changing from a traditionalist

Read this article called "Never Say Anything A Kid Can Say." It is a lot about questioning techniques, but I wanted to focus on his shift from traditionalist to non-traditionalist point of view.

My favorite quote form this article is My definition of a good teacher has since changed from "one who explains things so well that students understand" to "one who gets students to explain things so well that they can be understood." I thought that was fantastic. We teachers aren't the best when we're talking, we're the best when we can get students to talk.

Book Review: Embedded Formative Assessment by Dylan Wiliam

I just finished reading Dylan Wiliam's Embedded Formative Assessment. I highly highly highly highly recommend it for all teachers - and no I'm not getting paid to say that (even though it would be awesome to get paid to say what I think about stuff.) First off, I don't know if you know this, but Dylan Wiliam is one of the world's leading experts on formative assessment and why it raises student achievement. This guys has done his research... and it's a lot. Most claims in his book are followed by a citation. The book has an impressive 17 pages of references - most of which come from peer reviewed research journals. He also did some of the research himself.

Soooooooooo many teachers have formative assessment all wrong, which is why I didn't understand it until I read Dr. Wiliam's book. There is no such thing as an assessment that is itself formative. Instead, you use an assessment formatively. Whether an assessment is formative depends on how you use it. Wiliam gives many examples of how to do such a thing.

I also like his framework for how to focus learning in the classroom. The 5 key strategies he suggests are:

1. Clarify, share, and understand learning intentions and criteria for success.
2. Engineer effective classroom activities that elicit evidence of learning.
3. Provide feedback that moves learning forward.
4. Activate learners as instructional resources for one another.
5. Activate learners as the owners of their own learning.

I'm finding it difficult to describe how awesome this work is. The research he cites explains a lot of the problems that are hindering student achievement in schools today. They also provide practical ways to solve those problems. Most of those strategies aren't even difficult, they are just uncomfortable for us to do because we have been doing things wrong for so long.

This is starting another project for me. I'm going to collect practical strategies to do the above 5 strategies. I've actually already started. Here is a link.

Once again, I highly recommend it. It is a great book for non-traditionalists and traditionalists.

Teaching Philosophy. CMI Framework = Awesome. Why all sides are better than one.

First off, check out this CMI Article. I think this is absolutely brilliant. It puts all the important philosophies to learning mathematics together. A major problem with most teaching frameworks is that there is always too much emphasis on something. Traditionalists emphasize algorithmic skills. Purists emphasize definitions and concepts. Application-ers emphasize models. 

After reading this article, I realized that we need to emphasize all of these things. Too much of any one of them isn't good. I think the Common Core gives us the right standards, we just need to teach them evenly.

So if I'm going to teach everything fairly evenly, what will be my approach? I still favor taking an application-er approach, but perhaps the other focii can be incorporated as to not lack the other things that students should learn.

Your thoughts? How can we emphasize everything? Is there a curriculum that does so?

Resource: The Start Of A Games Library

Hello y'alls. I've started a Games Library on a Google doc. You can look at it here. You can have it if you want. You can steal all of those wonderful ideas that I stole from other people. I just ask that you don't forget to give credit to the people I took them from. I also ask that you comment on things. Try them out. How did they go? Did they fail miserably or work out? What would you change? I've made it so you can comment, so comment away :)

What makes good games?

What makes a good game to use in class? This is half rhetorical (as is becoming typical). I have a few ideas, but I'd love to hear what you think.

Here are some guidelines I like to use:
1. The game needs to involve everyone most of the time.

2. If the game is for practice, the time spent practicing math skills during the game needs to be roughly equal to or more than the time spent doing the game mechanics.

3. The game needs to be fun.

4. Competition helps, so the game needs an element of it. (Caution: competition can turn into a monster!)

5. The simpler the game, the better. The cheaper the better (since it is disguised as "fun" some schools aren't willing to pay for supplies.)

6. Ideally every person can contribute to the success of the team throughout the game. People who struggle won't ruin it for the rest.


What do you think? What makes a good game to use in class for practice, review, or learning?

Games in Class?

Yeah that's right! It's time to stop being boring and bring games back into class. For some weird reason traditional teachers stop letting kids play when they get out of elementary school. Then they proceed to suck the life out of them via "learning."

I want to bring them back!

Games make life so much better. I love games and so I want to use them in class. They really do have all sorts of uses.

Purposes for games in my Math classes are:
1. To break the ice, allow students to become strong team members, and learn life's important lessons. Students have no idea how to interact with each other. If you don't believe me, look at teenage couples. So... awkward... Games can help students learn to work together and stop being jerks.

2. To have FUN! Fun isn't a bad thing. Sometimes students are feeling groggy or down or bored even before class really gets going. Use a game to wake them up! Use a game to get students into a happier mood or to celebrate successes.

3. To practice and review. Part of hating the traditional math class to me is hating worksheets. If I ever want to crush children's delight in math, I'd give them worksheets. Why can't we turn practice into a game? Take the problems from a boring worksheet, put them into a game, and now students can practice while enjoying themselves. I don't know why teacher insist on only using games for review. Why can't we use them to practice before review time?

4. To learn Math. Some games are perfect tools for learning mathematics. Look at poker: a game of probabilities all over the place. We don't necessarily need to teach gambling games (someone somewhere will probably throw a fit over it) but we can use other games to teach mathematics. Then math becomes the tool students use to become better at something they want to be good at. Sweet!

Note: Game-Based Learning
There is a movement going on to have game-based learning in schools. I like the idea, but I'm not sure how it will pan out. I've seen some mighty bad "educational" games made. If software developers can make games that are cool that teach students real skills, then I'm all for it. If a game can engage a student so he/she is intrinsically motivated to learn more, then let's do it!

What other purposes can you see for using games in class? Are any of these purpose not okay with you? Do you think Game-Based Learning will succeed?

TED talk: Change Isn't Hard, It's Uncomfortable

Just finished watching this (thanks MindShift). I recommend it. It is good to hear that there are schools pushing to break the industrialized way we have been teaching. My favorite point that he brings up is that change isn't hard, it's uncomfortable. We can do it! My favorite way to deal with uncomfortable things is just to dive in and surround yourself in it and then deal with things as they come up.

What did/didn't you like about what Grant said? How can we "Teach into the unknown?"

Book Review: Accessible Mathematics - 10 Instructional Shifts That Raise Student Achievement by Steven Leinwand

Things I like: I read this book quite quickly. It took about a week with reading only 20 minutes a day. In addition to being short, it has some fantastic ideas that are backed up by oodles of research. All of the "shifts" he writes about are things that a good math teacher should do:
1. Incorporate cumulative review each day.
2. Learn from reading programs: ask questions about inference, focus on process rather than the answer, etc.
3. Use multiple representations
4. Have language rich classrooms
5. Take all opportunities to develop number sense.
6. Build from charts, graphs, and tables
7. Increase the natural use of measurement throughout the curriculum
8. Minimize what is no longer important
9. Embed mathematics in realistic problems and real-world contexts
10. Make "Why?" "How do you know?" "Can you explain?" classroom mantras.

All fantastic things. If all math teachers did these things, I probably wouldn't have created this blog and there probably wouldn't be this huge education reform (with regards to math at least).

The book also has some neat articles in the appendix. The one on what we can learn from Singapore Math was quite interesting.

Dislikes: Not much really, mostly a perspective thing. This is not really a "Break Tradition" book. I got the feeling that it would take a traditional teacher, and turn him/her into a traditional teacher that uses research based methods. Good, but not my cup of tea - it's peach (yum!)

I recommend this book to all traditional math teachers or teachers that are unfamiliar with the research regarding these ideas. Good ideas to keep in mind as I break tradition.

Anyone else read this? Your thoughts about it? What other "shifts" would you recommend Math teachers do?

Stuff I'll Be Posting On This Blog

Now that I've put oodles of things on this blog, I feel like I can actually post stuff I've wanted to get going. With the base laid out, I can put down posts that will relate to my mission: to overcome the traditional math teacher. Some categories that will show up are as follows:

Book/Article/Literature/Blog/Media Review - Whenever I read/hear/watch something that has effected my teaching, I'll post it and share my experience. I'd love to hear from others on their thoughts.

Break Tradition Idea - As gems come along, I'll post them. The education world is soooooooooo incredibly full of ideas, I'll probably only post stuff that seems good to me.

Classroom Experience - Ideas are great, but if nothing is tried out in the classroom then they essentially fell on deaf ears. I'll try things out and share how it went. You should share your experiences too!

Resource - If I find something I think is awesome, I'll post a link to it. These will be similar to the Review category, except they will have resources for teachers.

Game - As I find games to try out in the classroom, they'll go up!

Other - For other stuff duh! (Most likely comics and memes).

Is there anything else you'd like to see me post and write about?

Teaching Philosophy: Status as of June 26, 2013

If there is only one thing I've noticed with writing out my story, it is that my teaching philosophy is very wishy-washy. The whole traditionalist to purist to applicator happened in just 4 years. All sorts of things are probably going to change. I probably won't change that I like to teach applied mathematics. I like it too much. It's like getting a taste of peach rings each time I see students using math to analyze something and come up with a conclusion they can justify. I'll put down a few statements I currently believe to help keep track of where I am and where I've gone. I want your thoughts on any of them. I welcome multiple opinions.

1. Students learn math best when it is "real". I put real in quotations for a reason. I've found that it doesn't matter how realistic the situation is that you've presented. You could be designing an actual school or determining the cost of an actual mortgage payment. If the students don't see the task as real to them, then they will not be engaged and want to learn about it. That being said, the task doesn't have to be real-world at all. Finding out how long it will take to mine down to bedrock in minecraft is far more engaging than finding out how long it took to mine the London tunnel. Don't worry if your task does involve something real but doesn't relate to students. You can get over that hurdle by getting the students invested in the task like Dan Meyer does in his 3-Act Math. (Genius work on getting students interested in real world situations btw.)

2. Students need to use knowledge in order for it to stay in their wee little heads. Even when you're using real tasks all the time, if students haven't used the Pythagorean theorem in three months, chances are only one student will think to use it in situations where we'd obviously use it. The problem with math education is that there are hundreds of little tools (tricks) we can use, students often don't remember them all or try to use them when they shouldn't. I agree with Steven Leinwand in his Accessible Mathematics when he wrote that we need to incorporate cumulative review into every lesson. I'm going to try doing it for the start-up activity this next year unless a better idea comes up. Students also need practice, but not 20 "problems" for homework every day. I like using less "problems" that require deep thought on part of the students.

3. Students acquire a deep understanding of math by analyzing situations, coming up with conclusions, and debating those conclusions with others. There is something magical about when students argue mathematics with one another. Maybe I'm just a sick, demented man, but I love those arguments. It shows that students are thinking critically. It shows that students are thinking about the mathematics. It shows that sometimes (most of the time) in life, there isn't a clear cut best answer. Students should be doing this often. They need to analyze, come up with conclusions, and defend their conclusions. It brings up so many misconceptions that get corrected. 

4. Students learn math best when they use multiple representations. I know there is a butt-load (that's a real measurement) of research on this. I agree with it. Students should be using graphs, algebra, tables, words, etc. to come up with their conclusions. It allows students to become fluent in many ways of communicating.

5. Teachers need to connect with students. I like smiling, getting students to laugh, and being their friend too much for this to not be a part of my philosophy. If students like the teacher, they are willing to work at things they normally wouldn't. It is a lifesaver in the classroom when you have a less than exciting lesson planed, but you need the students just to do what they're told. You can fall back on your report with the students and get to the work. I realize that every teacher is different and some personalities don't jive, but teachers need to connect with at least some of their students.

Please, share your thoughts. What would you add? What would you take away? What do you think should change?

Story Time: From Purist To Applicator

[...Continued from previous post - I figure I should break it up into chapters for reading convenience]

As I was finishing up my student teaching I got the opportunity to go to a Teacher Fair to try and get hired. I stopped by all the school district tables that interested me. I did like 3 different screening interviews there. I had a break while the fair was winding down and so I meandered to see tables. I came across one that had a guy talking about using a dart gun and Rube Gholburg projects in his math classes. I got instantly interested. We started talking, and it turned into a really good conversation about how math should be taught: with hands-on, real-world tasks. We clicked and the interview went smoothly. I was hired on for the next year within a couple weeks. The man turned out to be Noah Williams. He is a truly brilliant man. I honestly think he will be a man to look out for in the future. He became my coach as to what to use to teach math in the middle school. I was converted to an applicator of math. Everything we do in math has purpose in the "real" world. Math is the Master Tool that we can use in any discipline to analyze and make decisions.

I started the school year with almost no resources. There were some books, but they were typical math textbooks and had almost no application to the stuff they taught. So I had to come up with my own activities and documents for what turned out to be 4 different grades of students: 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th graders. It was perhaps the most difficult thing I could have possibly done for my first year of teaching, but I wanted to start fresh with nobody telling me what to do to teach except the Common Core State Standards. I used them as a guideline for what to teach and I gathered ideas wherever I could find them.

I searched and searched and searched for hands-on activities to teach students math. I bought over $100 worth of books that claimed to have projects and hands-on activities. Some did and some didn't. It was a gamble really. I wouldn't say any one of them was particularly bad, they just weren't what I was looking for. I'll do a quick review of the ones I liked in another post. (This one is dedicated to story time:))

I spent time searching the internet for resources. Holy freaking cow! There are soooooooooooooooooo many websites, and soooooooo (notice the fewer o's) many of them are complete piles of ****. (I guess that statement depends on what you're looking for. If you're looking for non-traditional material, then it is). Truth is, I wasn't looking in the right places. I didn't know what to look for. I wasn't part of online communities. And honestly, there aren't that many AMAZING sites out there that appeal to me. I feel like everyone has their own ideology on what makes a kick-butt curriculum or lesson, and none of them match up to what I think is awesome. It's because I get bored with things that are "Mathy" like graphs and numbers. Other people think those are interesting and that is cool. We're different people. I haven't been really connected to others with twitter and blogs, but I'm working on getting out there. I'm hoping to find more people like me.

Anyways, I'll post favorites and my thoughts.

Have you struggled finding resources that fit what you want? How do you find them?

Story Time: From Traditionalist to Purist

Now that I've said my peace about traditional math classes, I'll continue my story.

[BTW: When a blog post has "Story Time" in the title, you are safe to assume that it include some narrative about my life as a Math teacher. If you're looking for just resources that I'll be posting, just look for "Resource" in the title.]

With my first 2 1/2 years of college I thought I'd be the most ballin' Math teacher. I was going to explain things so well students couldn't possibly misunderstand. I was going to make my grading system so easy that students couldn't possibly fail and everyone can get an A. Homework would be short and to the point. Class time would be perfectly structured so students could have some free time to talk.

 I even had an epiphany one night that school could be restructured so students wouldn't have semester/year long courses, but would go to one or two week long courses that taught a little bit of information. Students would attend what they needed to and get checked off by the teacher of the course. Kind of similar to how Boy Scout merit badges work. Students would pass of their full classes (i.e. Algebra 1, English 9) after they had been checked off the list of required mini courses. Then students can go at their own pace and finish as early as they wanted. Brilliant!

As you can see, I was already had anti-tradition thoughts, but I was deeply entrenched in the tradition. I just wanted to change a few things. I wanted students to just do their algorithmic skills just long enough to beat an evaluation and then they could promptly forget about it. No critical thinking or problem solving involved.

I didn't realize how engulfed I was in tradition until I started taking actual Math Education courses and Math courses that required proofs and analytic skills. This was a huge mind opener: Math isn't just computing stuff!?! I don't have to do things a certain way? There is actual logic involved? (These classes helped me find my love for logic and logic puzzles. Man, logic puzzles are as delicious as beacon wrapped sausage!) I learned what Pure Mathematics was.

Then I had a professor, Jim Cangelosi, who was hilarious and ragged on traditional math classes all the time. He had his own method of seeing Math education and how to go about it. Jim gave us tasks to do that required us to develop our own knowledge, to talk with others, and discuss math. This was my first introduction to something that was non-traditional... and it BLEW MY FREAKIN' MIND! I was like: Whoa! and then: Whoa!, and lastly: Whoa! Like the turtle from Finding Nemo.

After a few days of those lessons, I realized that my whole life was a lie... I started questioning whether my parents were really my parents. I wondered if life was really a dream in some Fish's mind on a far away island and Link might wake him at any time now. I started thinking that if I were to wake up, then my children would come back to life.

J/K. I know my parents are really mine.

Anyways, it was from those classes that I realized that my entire math education was a complete joke. Schools don't teach real mathematics. They teach a strange demented form of math where logic and reasoning aren't needed, let alone wanted. I decided that in my classroom we'd be learning math the way it should be: logically with axioms, undefined terms, and proofs. It was going to be awesome. Students would have such an understanding of Mathematics in its purest form as to surpass all previous generations!

[To Be Continued...]

How about you? When did you change from being a traditionalist to anything else? Were you never a traditionalist? Did you have that "Holy Cow, I've been messed up my whole life!" moment?

What's Good About Traditional Math Classes?

Okay, I'll admit that the traditional math class isn't 100% messed up. It is more like 99% or 98%. It has some things going good for it:
1. Students should practice the algorithmic skills involved with Math.
2. Um... order is important I guess.

I wrote #2 because I felt bad that I could only come up with one thing. Since I could only come up with one real thing that traditional math classes have going for them, let's say that they are 99% messed up. Honestly, I'm having a hard time coming up with more things I like about traditional math classes. Maybe it is because I am so blindly intent about not doing what they do. It isn't that everything they do is BAD per se, but that there are so many BETTER things that teachers can do.

What do you think? If you were revamping a math class, what would you keep from tradition?

Now, the enemy: "Traditional Math Class"

The whole idea of this blog is to take a journey through breaking the traditions of math education. I should lay down what a traditional math class looks like. Then we can know what the enemy is. Once the enemy is known it can be attacked.

The Enemy: Traditional Math Class

Summary: Traditional Math Classes have been running rampant for more than a century. They have destroyed children's hopes and dreams to do anything that requires mathematical thought by presenting math as a series of tedious algorithmic skills and deprives it of all meaning. Despite their devastating effects, they are present in almost every school. Due to the "tradition", most new math teachers start one right away and follow in the footsteps of their predecessors. Little can be done to stop them other than to phase them out slowly by converting those who are willing to change and teaching prospective teachers a better way.

Attributes: Traditional Math Classes are teacher centered. All desks face the board. The teacher lectures, expecting students to shut up and listen, and the students take "notes" (typically of the form of just writing down whatever the heck the teacher writes down.) The teacher explains a concept void of any meaning, does some practice "problems," and then the students do some practice "problems." The students have homework doing more "problems." During the next class session, students correct their homework and turn it in. Only the final answer matters. The process does not unless the students are in elementary or getting help from the teacher. If that is the case, they better do it the same way as the teacher. The cycle continues every day. Teacher lectures, students take notes and do the "problems." The answer to the question "when will we ever use this?" falls typically into the categories A) Because you'll be tested on it B) So you can learn more math (like calculus) or C) Because I said so.

Reason for Termination: Students avoid math like the plague. They shy away from anything that might require advanced thought because it is too much like math. Students fail to enter into STEM fields of study. Students avoid problem solving.

Defenses: Tradition. Perhaps the most sturdy of fortresses, the only way to destroy it is to run. Run as far away as you can. If you forget a tradition, it will die. Unfortunately, too many people know of the Traditional Math Class. Each prospective teacher has had some 16+ years of experience with it, and think that it is the only way to teach students Math. We must persevere in convincing teachers to teach Math a different way. If we can get teachers to forget the tradition, we may survive its relentless assault.


Really, this isn't everything, but I wanted to get a picture up of the enemy. Further details will be added in other posts.

Story Time: A Bit (lot) Of Background

(I don't know why, but I feel the need to give background to let people know where I'm coming from. No one is going to read my background. Why should they care? Well, I wrote it anyways!)

Our experiences make us who we are. Mine made me into a math teacher. No, I didn't have an inspiring teacher that made me want to be a teacher. Even though I had some good teachers, none of them left any desire to teach. In all honesty, my Math teachers were rather horrible at inspiring me to do anything with math. Thank goodness math was a cool thing in my family. The particular inspiration to become a teacher came when I realized I never wanted to grow up.

I decided that I wanted to become a teacher the summer before I started college at Utah State University. I got to thinking a bit (which teenage boys do seldom, but I was having a lucky day). I had always entertained the idea of being a teacher, and during that summer I realized it has exactly what I want:

1. I don't have to work in foods or customer support (often). I worked fast food and ride operator at a local amusement park. This taught me a wonderful lesson: people suck way bad. Particularly adults. I don't know what happens between teenage years and adulthood, but people become real dicks. 

"WHAT!?! You put in a complaint that I didn't GENTLY put your bag of food on the counter!?! It's freaking Arby's! I was running around like crazy getting everyone else's food together!" "You can't ride the swings without close-toed shoes. I don't care that you waited in the line for 20 minutes. It's not my fault you didn't read that gargantuan sign at the entrance to the ride. Stop shouting sir, it won't change anything... FINE! I'll call my supervisor so HE can tell you the exact same thing."

Yeah, adults suck. Teachers get to spend almost all of their time with adolescents? Sweet! If they give me a ridiculous time I can at least get a counselor to do something about it.

2. I don't have to work outside. Man, this one summer I worked for a general contractor doing random jobs. These included the following:

Docking and shooting up some 50 50 lbs pigs with drugs. After injecting them, I had to carry them around the corner an place them over a 4 foot high fence. Ever picked up a 50 lbs bag of salt? Now imagine it doesn't want to be lifted and starts throwing its weight around. Stupid pigs. They don't know what's good for them. (Actually running away would be good for them. My boss already had all the meat from those pigs sold before they reached full size.)

Picking up every single rock in an acre plot of land.

Moving rocks from one location to another.

Drive re-bar into concrete.

Destroy fences while being careful the cows don't eat the old barbwire (why cows eat barbwire is beyond me).

All of these were outside in the summer in the sun that burned my bald head (yes, even at 19 I was quite bald.) I decided that I better get an education to avoid skin cancer of the head.

3. I don't have to change my schedule. I love having my summers to do what I please. Perhaps the most important part about having a school schedule is that I will be out of school when my future kids will. I want to be there with them playing in mud, going to the park, eating snow cones, and terrorizing Mom. (I can't wait for when my wife gets annoyed yells at me to go play outside. :)) Honestly, this is perhaps the most important cool thing about being a teacher.

4. I get to teach. I absolutely helping other people understand stuff. Maybe it is because I like being smarter than everyone else. Maybe it is because I like seeing the light bulb come on. Maybe it is because I like hearing the sound of my own voice, but whatever the reason I like teaching.

Teaching looked like the best possible thing I could do with my life and so I chose it and went to school for that.

I Guess I've Got To Start Somewhere

Sup Y'alls. This is Matt Jones, but the name you call me isn't that important. My students call me Matt, Mr. Matt, Mr. Math Teacher, Hey you!, etc. You can call me Dufus if you really want, but I don't recommend anything that would greatly offend others. They might grab their pitchforks, torches, and come kick your digital butt. Minor offenses are okay though.

Anyways... I'm starting this blog to share my experiences with readers about breaking traditions that teachers have had for many years now - specifically Math teachers. I also want to share resources and ideas I've collected to kick traditional math classes in the face with metal spiked cleats. Many of these resources and ideas won't be my own, but I'll try to give credit where it's due.

All great journeys have to have a beginning. I'll post that next.