Your comment about following directions very critically is important. I did an activity with sine curves and cutting a 45 degree angle for a pipe out of a flat piece of paper. Students that followed all of the directions got it, those that didn't, well...didn't.
Exposure and recognition is key as well.
I actually require my math students to take notes. As a reward, they get to use their notes or any of their assignments on tests.
Reading comprehension is often difficult in word problems. Teaching them to "decode" word problems is awesome. Underlining is the strategy that I most often use, but brackets are going to be something I try this coming week!
I just got done tutoring a student in trig and a huge part of that class was recognition like you said. Half the battle is figuring out which formula to use or which way to go to solve the problem the right way.
I used to struggle with word problems a lot when I was younger, but it was all about focus for me. The students who don't do well with them don't seem to take the time to break them down or think critically when trying to solve them. That is going to be difficult to teach when a lot of kids don't really care too much about math or even school in general.
What I always found intriguing about being allowed to use my notes on tests was that I did not end up using my notes as much as I had thought I would--indeed, the incentive (you can use these on a test!) proved to encourage me to actually write extensively enough that I ended up memorizing what I had written, in the end. So it works two ways--learning good note-taking skills and being able to pass a test. And for some students, just the thought that they have the notes for reference during the test is enough to calm them down and allow them to think more clearly throughout.
I had never thought to ask a student to underline or bracket a portion of "word" text that they do not understand in a word problem, and I am glad you gave me this idea. I have been trying to help a Japanese student in his advanced math class once a week; he knows the content just fine (he can do the math in his own language) but he has a hard time knowing what to do because of the wording of the question. I am, well...pretty rusty in my Algebra, but now I think it will help me to help him if I just have him outline what he does not understand, rather than trying to figure it out on my own.
I think it's great that you talk about what we find "obvious". It's always a mistake to assume any student doesn't need direction or clarification. Giving an assignment without directions is risky. Even in elementary school, my daughter comes home with assignments without directions on top, so sometimes I need to help her understand exactly what the assignment is asking for. She learns a lot throughout the day, so if she gets home and it isn't clear what the teacher is looking for, she gets frustrated and shuts down. Great point.
Yes...there is so much "math" vocabulary that we ask our students to "read", yet we don't help them "read" the vocab. Or, for example, we simply tell them the definition of the terms and expect that to be good enough to help them to "understand" the concepts. If math teachers can understand how to help math children "read" the vocab and symbols of math, then it could support the students so much. If you go back to the reading is handout as well as the google doc you all created with the reading processes, that list can be translated into class activities that will support the process of making sense of math vocab and symbols.
Your comment about following directions very critically is important. I did an activity with sine curves and cutting a 45 degree angle for a pipe out of a flat piece of paper. Students that followed all of the directions got it, those that didn't, well...didn't.
ReplyDeleteExposure and recognition is key as well.
I actually require my math students to take notes. As a reward, they get to use their notes or any of their assignments on tests.
Reading comprehension is often difficult in word problems. Teaching them to "decode" word problems is awesome. Underlining is the strategy that I most often use, but brackets are going to be something I try this coming week!
I just got done tutoring a student in trig and a huge part of that class was recognition like you said. Half the battle is figuring out which formula to use or which way to go to solve the problem the right way.
ReplyDeleteI used to struggle with word problems a lot when I was younger, but it was all about focus for me. The students who don't do well with them don't seem to take the time to break them down or think critically when trying to solve them. That is going to be difficult to teach when a lot of kids don't really care too much about math or even school in general.
What I always found intriguing about being allowed to use my notes on tests was that I did not end up using my notes as much as I had thought I would--indeed, the incentive (you can use these on a test!) proved to encourage me to actually write extensively enough that I ended up memorizing what I had written, in the end. So it works two ways--learning good note-taking skills and being able to pass a test. And for some students, just the thought that they have the notes for reference during the test is enough to calm them down and allow them to think more clearly throughout.
ReplyDeleteI had never thought to ask a student to underline or bracket a portion of "word" text that they do not understand in a word problem, and I am glad you gave me this idea. I have been trying to help a Japanese student in his advanced math class once a week; he knows the content just fine (he can do the math in his own language) but he has a hard time knowing what to do because of the wording of the question. I am, well...pretty rusty in my Algebra, but now I think it will help me to help him if I just have him outline what he does not understand, rather than trying to figure it out on my own.
I think it's great that you talk about what we find "obvious". It's always a mistake to assume any student doesn't need direction or clarification. Giving an assignment without directions is risky. Even in elementary school, my daughter comes home with assignments without directions on top, so sometimes I need to help her understand exactly what the assignment is asking for. She learns a lot throughout the day, so if she gets home and it isn't clear what the teacher is looking for, she gets frustrated and shuts down. Great point.
ReplyDeleteYes...there is so much "math" vocabulary that we ask our students to "read", yet we don't help them "read" the vocab. Or, for example, we simply tell them the definition of the terms and expect that to be good enough to help them to "understand" the concepts. If math teachers can understand how to help math children "read" the vocab and symbols of math, then it could support the students so much. If you go back to the reading is handout as well as the google doc you all created with the reading processes, that list can be translated into class activities that will support the process of making sense of math vocab and symbols.
ReplyDelete