The Problem With Math

The problem with math?

There are so many I don't know if I can count them.  (Is that a problem right there?)

With so many old and new (and good and not-so-good) ideas floating around, it becomes confusing about what and how we should be teaching math.  We tend to rely on the structure from text books, which, unfortunately, causes us to sometimes become a bit too relaxed with planning and maybe (definitely) sucks the life right out of what can be a fun and interactive subject.  It tends to close up our communication and even when we often THINK we're being open and clear, we're often shutting down (new ways of) thinking.  This is what happened to me - I wasn't right, so I was told so, so I shut down.

I've been using the Marion Small approach to math, called Problem Based Math, for two years (and one month) now, and can assure you that it makes perfect sense!  I don't teach using one strand (Geometry, or Measurement, or Patterning, etc...) at a time, but often tie in 2 or 3 (sometimes all 5!) into a lesson.  There are no units.  There are no major "TESTS" - just check ins and assessments so that I can see how well a child can solve a problem, how their fundamental skills are, and what I can do better as a facilitator.  I choose a focus per week so that I know they are learning (we focused on using tables the past three weeks - can they ever rock a table now, even though we worked on patterning, measuring, adding, multiplying, geometry and data management).  We build on prior knowledge and work on one question a day.  We present the ideas and work, even when it's wrong, and feel good about it.

Students measure the perimeter of a floor tile, and then multiply it by the number of their choice,
to find out how many times it needs to be multiplied to reach 300cm.

It's about a culture of thinking, not a culture of what I've taught or what they've "learned" (memorized? learned for now?).  It's about showing and speaking thinking instead of keeping it bottled up inside.  It's about making it real, making it meaningful and making it count.

There are no new ideas here.  They're borrowed from the actual curriculum documents we're meant to teach by (seriously, most of the work is already done, and those documents didn't cost me a cent), from the research conducted by experts (Marion Small and the ever-extremist Van DeWalle - whose ideas I've boiled down to fit the timing of the school day); the ideas are built on what the kids know and how they work; from games and activities in the real world.  The way I teach math involves little teaching - but what is instructed is necessary and meaningful.  

From a kid who hated math, to an adult who teaches it, I've learned a lot more in the past three years than I ever did with a text book or a lecturer (as a teacher and as a kid).  I'll be using this blog to post lesson ideas and experiences - how I've come to teach math this way, and what you might want to think about to change your own practice.  I hope you'll stick with me so that you can see that the "problem" with math should be the math problem, and nothing else.