We started out the school year on this Blog talking about how to help students develop strategies that would enable them to become better problem solvers. In the September entry you will recall that I shared a slideshow I had created to teach students a process that assisted them in communicating their thinking in written form as they worked their way through problem solving tasks. At this time of year, we circle back to this previous theme as many students are being asked to put effort into final work sample tasks showcasing what they’ve learned how to do in math. To assist students in creating their best work samples, we reviewed the ROS2E problem solving process as mentioned above. I updated the ROSE PS Review presentation to assist students in practice scoring (using a draft revision soon to be posted to this site of the Oregon Mathematics Problem Solving Scoring Guide) for some fraction tasks, since that is an appropriate concept for grades 4 and 5 and those are the students I am working with on this project.
We have also spent time talking about developing habits of mind that will serve them well as they move on to their next grade level. I have included what I call “Motivational Training” as well. I share with students some of the statistics regarding why it is important for them to take as much math as they can. At the same time we talk about exercising habits of mind to make for strong students. Such qualities as patience, responsibility, creativity, positive thinking and perseverance are emphasized.
In previous entries I have shared with you the Elephant Lamp story contained in the “MathDifficulties” TOMT article and the Finders Keepers story I tell students from my childhood to encourage the qualities of honesty, respecting the property of others, asking for help when math doesn’t make sense and working hard to learn math facts. For this entry, I’d like to share with you one more story. This one highlights the quality of perseverance. The story is called Can Do.
As I mentioned above, I also share with students some of the statistics that show why it is so important to take as much math as they can. I pull these statistics from a speech I delivered variations of during the year I was named Oregon’s Teacher of the Year. As you can see from the speech, developing strong mathematical problem solving skills bodes well for students’ future performance in math classes in high school and beyond, which in turn correlates to the likelihood of a better job with more capacity to earn a decent wage. I’d love to hear about anything you do in your class to motivate students to work hard at math. The June and August issues of the Teacher to Teacher newsletter will focus around two very good books, Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers and Daniel Coyle’s The Talent Code. Both issues will look more deeply at the idea that effort not talent is responsible for students being successful in math.
I am a retired teacher and substitute about 4 or 5 times a month. Needless to say, I’ve been busy in May! For motivation when I substitute, I use a lot of personal stories that involve math. Students seem to enjoy the fact that you are willing to share a part of your personal life with them. I recently traveled to Italy and then to Greece on a cruise ship. I brought my camera and showed pictures on the TV set in the classroom. So I made up stories as we saw the slides. For example, I showed a dinner plate with a typical Italian meal and then a picture of the dining room on the ship. The math problem went like this: There are 2400 passengers on the ship. There are 8 people at a table and 100 tables in the dining room. What questions would you like to ask about this story? Soon students were making up their own math stories about my slides. Of course I have to admit that I’m subbing at the school I retired from, so there’s lots of motivation on my part and I know many of the students! Nevertheless, this time of year requires lots of creativity!