Math Mistakes

I want my students to know that a mistake in math class is not the end of the world and that you can recover from them. Not only can you recover from them, you can learn from them!

To show them I mean what I say, I keep track of the math mistakes I make in class. When I add instead of multiply or I completely botch a problem--we make it a learning opportunity.

Sometimes the students notice before I do and say "Mrs. Stowe made a math mistake" other times I notice and ask them to find what I did wrong. 

It hasn't helped everyone, but I do have students willing to say what they are thinking even if it might be wrong. And students are willing to come up to the board, even if they might be wrong. We can all learn from each other when we make mistakes--even the teacher. 

Some days are better than others. I made it several weeks without putting many tally marks on the board. But the closer it gets to Christmas, the more I have to add to the board! 

Dan Meyer-Math Class Needs A Makeover

I hope every math teacher has seen this video.

He starts by saying we sell a product that students don't want but are forced to buy. I love math--always have even if I wasn't always good at it. I wish my students could see how awesome it was. But am I doing a good enough job actually want them to buy into the product.

Reflecting on the Week--Thoughts on Solving Equations

I hope I am not alone in saying that we all have weeks where we don't feel we are effective teachers. This past week was one of those for me.

I started the week with a good idea that didn't quite work that way I wanted it to. Then I felt like I had to cram 3 days of instruction into 5 days--because another day this week we had a benchmark testing day. I had also promised my students we would be doing guided math/center time everyday. So I felt rushed to stay on schedule.

We were learning how to solve one-step equations. We had modeled how to solve one-step equations before Thanksgiving break using algebra tiles. The plan was to learn the steps for isolating the variable and solving for it by performing the inverse operation.

When I was in school--this was when I started not getting As in math. I was able to following steps and do exactly what I was told to do. But when problems were slightly different from what I was shown in class--I was not able to solve it. I didn't understand the reason behind what I was doing, so I couldn't figure out how to solve more difficult problems. It wasn't until I had College Algebra teacher explain things and when I was studying for the GRE that I read the reason behind the "tricks" I had learned.

I don't want my students to be in the same position I was in. Telling students to solve a one step equation just by performing the inverse operations does not work in every situation. When my students saw -4+x=12 they immediately said they needed to subtract 4 from each side. Well, that doesn't work here.

While using inverse operations will work in most situations with solving equations--it doesn't solve for 100% of problems.

Instead, my students need to have a good understanding of integer operations and commutative property to solve the above problem. If my students understood that -4+x was the same as x+-4 and then could change that last expression to x-4, then they could use the inverse operation and just add 4 to each side.

So this is where I am. If my students truly understood everything I taught them this year, they could apply that information to new situations. So I am on the hunt for ways to help my students apply the information they are learning.