ABQ Math Blog: Bundled Courses: The Art of Math

ABQ Math Blog: Bundled Courses: The Art of Math: This year, the coolest combination of subjects fell into my lap. I had a short term LTO in this bundle course called the Art of Math. Yes,...



Great article, I also really agree with what you have shown.  Art can play a huge role in learning math.  This also comes at a great time seeing that art is being brought into the STEM courses for its applicability and researched benefits.  It only makes sense as it provides a visual learning style and therefore will help visual learners and give non-visual learners another way to think of the concepts.  Lastly, it is shown to create deeper understanding of math (TSF ,2018).



I wonder if incorporating math with phys. ed, would provide great benefits?



References

Teacher Support Force.  (2018).  Teaching Math With Art.  Retrieved from http://www.teacher-support-force.com/teaching-math-with-art.html

Bundled Courses: The Art of Math

This year, the coolest combination of subjects fell into my lap. I had a short term LTO in this bundle course called the Art of Math.

Yes, I couldn't believe it either -- two of my favourite subjects in one perfectly bundled course!

If you were thinking, how does that work? Let me introduce you to my amazing colleagues:

@briscoeclass & @mrsvankesteren on Twitter.

These ladies have been incredible innovators changing the way math and art are delivered. I encourage you to watch this video as they discuss their journey to bundling these two distinct concepts into a whole-brain focused course filled with engagement and understanding.

My experience in this classroom is what sparked my interest in getting my Math Qualifications for grades 9 and 10. In this class the students worked on math concepts with the math expert and art concepts with the art expert... but then would apply them into projects designed to highlight both concepts at once.

During my short time in this classroom, the students were looking at parallel lines and traversals, and how certain rules would help you discover the measurements of other angles... They would then connect these concepts to solve for interior angles within an image:

This is just one small example of how the two subjects could be blended together. The course was based on experiential learning and application of math and art principles.

If you watched the video you know there was a positive effect on student learning. Students were so engaged and learned so effortlessly they felt as if they had not actually had to learn it... they just knew it.

What other blended subjects do you think could work well together in a course bundle?

Oral Exams in the Math Classroom

During my last semester of teachers college, I had a professor mention that he always tries to incorporate an oral section into his written tests in the math classroom. He would bring students up one by one, and have them complete one section of the test verbally. At first I thought this idea was crazy, but the more I thought about it I realized that a lot of students would actually really benefit from this in the math classroom. I cannot remember a time in any of my high school or university math classes where we had to orally present our findings or understandings. However, I was not complaining because I tend to do better when I write my answers down rather than vocalizing them. Nonetheless, this is not the case for all learners and some students would do much better explaining their answer and thought process out loud rather than writing it down. This puts these types of learners at a huge disadvantage in the math classroom and may even discourage them from continuing to take Mathematics in the future since other classes such as English or French may better appeal to their learning style. Throughout my tutoring experiences I have seen this first hand. When I first started tutoring one of my clients, I was not quite sure what to do because at the end of the tutoring session she seemed very prepared for the test, however she never ended up doing as well as I thought she could do. During the session I would quiz her on the content and ask her to verbally describe the steps she would take and she would be able to communicate this perfectly. However, she would then tell me that she was not quite sure how to put this down into words on the test. Maybe there are other students out there that would benefit from taking an oral rather than written test? How will we know if we don’t try! Plus, you’ll be helping your students develop their communication skills, which will be setting them up for success in their post-secondary lives.

What do you think, would you incorporate an oral exam into the math classroom? What are some pros and cons of using an assessment such as this?

What is so hard about word problems??

Have any of you ever thought about why some students struggle so much with word problems? Although I have not had any experiences teaching in the math classroom, every time I started tutoring a new student one of the first thing they said was "I can't do word problems". They can know the math inside and out, but the second they see math in the form of a word problem or real-life application, they suddenly don't know what to do. Have you ever thought about why this might be the case? 

As I was thinking about this on my way home one day I realized that maybe part of this is because we as teachers assume that students already know how to solve problems, even though this might not always be the case! From that moment on, I decided that once I become a math teacher, one of the first lessons that I will incorporate into my math classroom is taking the time to teach students how to approach word problems and how to develop their problem solving skills.  Developing good problem solving skills in our students will benefit them in all aspects of their lives, not only mathematics. By giving students an outline of the steps they can take to solve a problem, as well as giving them time to practice this process, you are truly setting them up for success in their future. Unfortunately, some teachers may assume that students already have a good understanding of this process (even if they do not) and may not teach students this important life skill. For example, when I first started tutoring a client in grade 9 math one of the first things she told me was that she was extremely uncomfortable with word problems. Anytime a word problem came up, she would be very overwhelmed because she could not figure out how to approach the problem. The first time this happened I was not really sure what I could do to explain the problem to her. I quickly realized that this problem had nothing to do with her mathematical ability, but instead with how she tried to approach the problem. Therefore, I had to take the time to walk her through each step of the problem solving process. The first step was what she really struggled with so we spent a lot of time practicing how to analyze word problems to decide what information is important, and what information is not important. Then I would have her write out this important information, draw a picture if possible, and write out any mathematical formulas she thought she might need. At first she needed a lot of assistance throughout this process, however as time went on she needed less and less help. Over time, she became much more comfortable with word problems and can now apply these problem-solving steps without even being told. All she needed was someone to take the time to explain to her how to approach a problem. 

What do you think? Is this something that you think you might incorporate into your classroom?

So I am Nervous About Teaching Math, Please Help!

So if you know math these days, you almost certainly know Khan Academy (https://www.khanacademy.org/).



I am sure the usual reason people end up there is because you are a student and you have a math test tomorrow.

"How do you know!?" you may ask, "Your not a scientist!" you say.

"You're right." I say while crossing my arms, a smile growing on my face.



Well that situation was me in high school/university though I was more of an early bird when it came to studying for my test.  So although my test was not "tomorrow", I still needed a new way of learning a math concept that my teacher was not providing me.  His was of explaining it while showing it through the video and my option to replay it many times was a life saver.  It helped me do well on many tests.

More recently, for my intermediate math ABQ I was tasked with doing a bunch of practice sessions for 15 different lessons where I had to solve 5 questions in a row with no mistakes, for each lesson!  So, I have been finishing up teachers college and away from my math books for a little and man have I forgotten a lot of things that students go through in math, it was such a throwback seeing all of these questions I used to do.  Some of them I forgot how to solve and I was worried I wouldn't be able to get a perfect score on these questions.

Enter Khan.  After each mistake a video suggestion would pop up asking if I wanted to watch it to help solve the question.  So I did and the videos were always spot on.  They reminded and taught my exactly what I needed to know.  They made math fun.

I think this is such a great resource for teachers, learners, parents or anyone interested in math!

What're your experiences with Khan Academy?

Thank Khan,

Maksym Cord

Teaching Math should shift toward new methods

Teaching Math should shift toward new methods!

    We've been all taught math through classical ways. First, the rule will be provided to you and then questions bearing in mind that practice makes perfect. It is necessary to have a deep understanding on how to use those rules and formulas in real life and how to make use of them. Here are two ways in order to improve the math taught at the present time.

Math of the present time!

  One way is by having specialty teachers assigned to teach the subject.Teaching Math for younger students from a homeroom teacher (with no Math background) could have a negative impact about how interesting or boring the subject can be. A specialty teacher can relate a lot to real life example while teaching Mathematics. That makes the lesson more interesting and appealing to the students. Moreover, a specialty teacher have multiple ways to explain the concepts when the students find the book confusing or the way taught is difficult to understand. A specialty teacher can manipulate any formula and makes it easier to grasp. In addition, a math specialty teacher can always relate to old concepts being used so that way students can have deeper understanding.

   Another way is to get students engaged into application of mathematics. For instance, the use of iPad/Tablets and more technological tools that can enhance to a great deal student’s learning. It is important to have knowledge about the basic rules but sometimes it gets overwhelming that students' focus will be more toward scoring higher in the exams and therefore their creativity is killed. For instance, provide all the rules and formulas to students and make them synthesize a solution instead of memorizing. Doing so can enhance students learning by engineering creative ways to get to the solutions. Having done with the task, then provide an application where the solution synthesized can be used. Therefore students will never forget about the concept and math would be fun to understand.

Math of the near future?

   Finally the big question to ask is when such a shift take place? And if it happened, would it be beneficial to the students?

Why Math is a universal language?

   Each one of us was born in a certain place at a certain time. None of us has a chance to decide his/her race, gender, nationality and native language. As we grow older, we start to assemble the puzzle in order to arrive to a theory that specify the meaning of our existence. We go to school and we start first by learning the alphabets, then words and sentences until we're able to make paragraphs and essays and later on write articles and books. It is a gradual improvement on how communication became easier through learning a language. Eventually, everything starts to make sense. 

Similarly, Mathematics is based on common sense. At a younger age someone would be able to count and to differentiate what is more or less. Also, kids learn from how much they possess and how much more they have than others etc... students at school learn numbers from tiles and therefore they start to put the puzzle altogether as they grow older. We use math in our daily life despite your occupation ( teacher, doctor, engineer, carpenter, lawyer etc...) . When it comes to sciences, it won't make sense without the use of mathematics. For instance, in physics math is needed to perform all the calculations needed algebraically. In chemistry, math is needed to do all stoichiometric problems as well as the graphs associated with physical chemistry. In  Biology , math is essential for finding probabilities and distributions of datas. In economics, math is essential for graphs and for the different calculations associated and the list goes on. Therefore, in order to communicate science someone needs to speak the universal language which is mathematics. 

Mathematics is always associated with solving problems. Yes, it is widely used to solve problems given by a teacher if you are a student. At the end, regardless of your occupation you will arrive to a solution. First, you have communicated the problem and then you have used your acquired knowledge about the subject to engineer a solution. Scientists from all over the world gather at the CERN ( European council for Nuclear Research) in Switzerland and in NASA in order to understand the universe better and make a difference in our life. Those scientists rely on mathematics as their universal language in order to communicate better their ideas. In addition, since mathematics is a universal language and it helps narrow down the differences between cultures, why not using it to "solve problems" between countries? 

So I am Nervous About Teaching Math, Please Help!

So here I am.

I am in an intermediate math course aiming to teaching high school level math.  As mentioned in my last post I am going to my senior level math after this.  I am very nervous.

"Why?!" you may ask.  Well, I haven't taught high school level students.

See, I did my teachers college degree in primary/junior.  This means that all my teaching experience was in those ages.  I did do an alternative practicum (practicum with no teaching) at a high school but I did not get any teaching experience.

So here is the issue: I am nervous about teaching high school students and I am nervous about not finding enough resources to teach math!




Firstly, I feel like teaching younger students is easier in the way that they are young that I don't get nervous speaking in front of them.  High school students on the other hand are older and I am worried that they can more maturely judge my lessons (like an associate teacher)...I mean I have heard that they don't and I am overthinking this but, is that the case?

Secondly, I have done all my teaching in primary/junior levels as mentioned before.

So I think I will just have to teach in front of high school students to get over that but, with the resource thing I have a plan!!!!

I created a Google Docs link:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LS07NLGjWD8gDHDK_fppd-4Bth0lbeUFSZnGHo42PEQ/edit?usp=sharing

Please help my journey and add some good resources/websites you have!  Feel free to watch it aswell to get some new ideas for you.

Thanks,

Maksym Cord

Why I want to teach math

I have been an educator for four years now and have been lucky enough to have packed in a tonne of experience in that amount of time. I recently switched panels from Elementary to Secondary; my teaching record consists of 4 different elementary schools and 2 highschools. For all you mathies out there, that is 6 different schools.

In my Elementary days, I was lucky enough to teach in a grade 7 homeroom consistently. I have always loved math, (Aside: my teachables are Art and French), to me it was like another language that the whole world understood. I loved the logic of it and the straightforwardness, right or wrong, you followed the steps, or you didn't. 

However, now, as an educator I see that Math isn't just black and white. It is still a language to be learned and used, but it is not simply about getting the right answer. Math is much more about the thinking the reasoning, the rationale behind each move. Often, I feel like solving a math problem is like tackling a puzzle (And who doesn't love a good Sudoku).

Anyway, I had never intended on teaching math, being inclined towards the arts as I went off to university. Recently, I found myself falling back in love with it when I had to teach my grade 7s. It became my favourite subject to teach and I would pour my creativity into coming up with ways to get my students involved. 

Moving to secondary, I have now been out of the math room for nearly a year (save for when I get the chance to supply in a math room!). I had an eye opening experience when I had the opportunity to do a short LTO in an Art of Math Classroom (post on that to come later); it was a whole new way to look at things.

I believe that the future of education will move towards blending subjects and focusing on how the big ideas in various curricula overlap and I cannot wait to be a part of it!

Why I Want to Teach Math

Hi there,

Growing up, I didn't love math and I didn't dislike it.  It was just "meh".  I did decently well, probably averaging a B-.  Going through school, when you graduate and moved from elementary to middle and middle to high, the teachers always said "oh teachers won't care if you don't understand, you'll just fail" or something of the sort.  This motivated me to start putting work into my school.

In grade 9 and 10 I did around a 75% and then at the end of grade 10 I got the "scare you" tactic again about the senior level math courses.  Now I was worried, so I decided the next year to take math seriously which, meant doing my homework.

At the same time, I got a new teacher named Mr. H, he was a funny, nice and relaxed teacher and made the idea of math much less serious in my mind.  He always gave us homework and time to do it at the end of the class.  It was this homework time and my time doing homework after school that bumped my average to the highest in the class at 95%.  I then started slacking on my homework and dropped all the way to a 75% again.

So what's the point of this?  Well, I am glad you asked cause it was during this time where I realized that if I practiced something I knew I could do well in it.  I also realized that math was fun and it was basically like solving puzzles.

This stuck with me and in teachers college, became my favourite thing to teach to my primary and junior students.  I realized that I want to teach intermediate and senior grades for the maturity level and the math done in those grades.

So here I am.  I am doing my intermediate math and upon completion will do my senior math next semester.



What was your journey to teach math?

Maksym Cord