Sunday, February 1, 2015
Making Sense of the Problem. . . . The Wrong Answer is Part of the Process
The video "Against Getting the Answer" by Dr. Phil Daro is
truly disappointing as a teacher. I have seen similar videos, which deliver the
same message concerning the way us Americans teach math. I have to admit that I
am guilty of teaching math “the American way” by teaching students how to get
the answer verse teaching my students the reasoning and logic behind the
process. “The American way” of teaching math is not something I aim to do all
the time however, it tends to be something I feel most teachers do naturally
because it is in fact the way we learned how to solve math problems. It is
important to note as Dr. Phil mentioned, that getting the wrong answer is part
of the process. When a student gets a wrong answer, I feel that us as teachers
take it personal. Perhaps some may feel that they have failed and are doing
something wrong. But in fact Dr. Phil says it is ok because it can be used as a
way to address any misconceptions and better assure mastery of a skill set. As a new teacher on the field, I am learning
new ways to teach students skill sets not only useful in math. I am slowly learning
how to integrate reasoning and logic in to various subject matter, to better
prepare my students as independent life learners. However, it is not an easy
process when all we know as learners is one particular method and we have
teacher manuals which tend to support “the American way” of teaching to the
test.
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Denise, I completely agree with you! I was disappointed but not surprised, because this wasn't the first time I've seen/read about how Americans teach math. While I was in 3rd grade last year, students were so concerned with the memorization of their multiplication facts and how fast they could complete a timed test, they didn't stop to think about the logic behind a fact that would help them understand. I distinctly remember learning multiplication to memorize it, not to understand it. When I became the teacher, I vowed to not do the same. It is important for students to connect to the math instead of just becoming robotic about it. This year in first grade, I always try to find fun, interesting ways to connect math to the students. At age 6 or 7, math has not yet become a hated subject. These are important years to make sure that students enjoy and understand math!
ReplyDeleteDenise, I also agree with what you said. It is crazy to think that the "American Way" of teaching has been to teach to the test. Like you said, as teachers, we need to not take it personal when out students don't understand, we need to take it as a learning opportunity and figure out how we can fix their misconceptions. Math has so many methods, and I hope that I can continue to learn the "best" method to help my students achieve their goals.
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