Month: July 2014

So…Have You Always Taught Math This Way?

I’ve been asked this question several times over the past 15 years or so.  Most recently at a workshop I facilitated for middle school teachers.  The short answer is no.  My teaching has evolved.  I strive to improve my practice every day.  Below, is my response to the group of middle school teachers.

When I first started teaching, I used what I learned in college about teaching mathematics – you know . . . using manipulatives, group work, classroom discussions.  All of those things that I still use today.  But, when things didn’t go the way I anticipated, I seemed to always fall back on the way I learned which was primarily stand and deliver.

At the end of my first year, I spent some time in my room, at my desk and wrote down all of the changes I wanted to make and how I planned to make them.  This was probably the best idea I ever had!  Throughout the summer I reread that list and, when necessary, created things that would help me reach my goals.  I didn’t reach them all, but the next year was much more successful.  Couple that with the summer PL that I took and the way I was teaching math was really beginning to change.

One of the first changes I made was to incorporate children’s literature into my lessons.  One of the PL’s I took that summer was a Marilyn Burns workshop where we  learned that there are a tremendous number of books with mathematical connections.  We learned how use the books to introduce mathematical concepts and problem solving, how to ask better questions, and one of my big “take-aways” was to listen more!

Over the years, I’ve continued to look at literature as a place to begin lessons.  And all was going well, but I still wasn’t getting the the amount of  buy-in from my students that I wanted.  I was excited about the math, but they weren’t.  Then, one morning, I was riding to work with my wife, Kim.  We were listening to a morning radio show in Atlanta on 99x called the Morning X with Barnes, Leslie, and Jimmy.  On that morning, November 10, 1999, Jimmy was laughing about a news story that he couldn’t wait to share.  As he was reading, I was scrambling to write it all down!  The story went like this:

Earlier this morning a man held up a GA-400 toll booth.  His stolen getaway car broke down and he is now on the run with a 58 lb. bag of quarters.

When I got to school, I turned on my computer, printed the story out on a transparency with a picture of some quarters and put it on the overhead.  Here’s a sample of what happened:

GA400_Screenshot

Several students as they entered the classroom:  Mr. W., what’s that on the overhead?

Me:  I heard that on the radio this morning and wanted to know what you all thought and if you had any questions.

Multiple student responses:  “Oh, ok.”   “That guy is stupid.”   “What kinds of questions do you want?

Me:  Whatever questions come to mind.  You can write your thoughts and questions in your journal.

What I got from these 5th grade students at the beginning of class amazed me.  They were totally engaged in the problem.  The problem context had them so curious, they wouldn’t let go.

Some of their questions:

  • How many quarters is that?
  • How much money is that?
  • How tall would a stack of 58 lbs of quarters be?
  • How far could you run with a 58 lb bag of quarters?
  • How big is the bag of 58 lbs of quarters?
  • How long would a trail of 58 lbs of quarters be if they were laid end to end?

This one context from a morning radio show kept my students focused on the mathematical concepts of weight, length, decimal computation, and time for over a week.  More questions came up as new ones were answered.  They had developed not only a curiosity, but an intellectual need to know.

This is what I had been searching for.  A context that engaged my students in mathematics so deeply, that they wanted to figure out the answers to their own questions.

It wasn’t easy to find stories like this back then.  But now, they’re everywhere.  Just Google bizarre news stories. Since then I’ve learned, along with a whole host of others (check out some of the people I follow), that I can create these contexts using all sorts of media to get the same results (3-Act Tasks).

Below is a copy of the original context I used with my students.  The image has changed over the years, but it is essentially the same document.  And it works just as well today as it did 15 years ago!  I just wish I had a recording of the news story!  If you decide to use this, please share your experience.  I’d love to hear about it!

GA400 toll problem

 

What Math Teachers Can Learn from Magicians

Yeah, you read that right! I know many of you are now probably thinking about at least one, or likely, a combination of these questions:

  1. What could math teachers possibly have to learn from magicians?
    1. How could there be a connection between these two very different careers?
  2. How would Mike know?

Beginning with the last question probably makes the most sense.  At an early age I developed a fascination with magic, sleight of hand to be specific. Any magician I saw perform – either on TV or live – filled me with wonder. Certainly, some of that wonder was directed toward how the trick or illusion worked, but even beyond that I wondered how I could learn to create this wonder in others. Since I was about 10, I have studied magic and about 7 years later I began performing magic shows at schools, for church groups, and even for a few holiday parties. Once I began my career as a teacher, my role as a magician changed and I focused most of my energy on teaching.  I’ve lived the life of a magician and a teacher and over the last few years, and I’ve begun to notice the similarities between the two.

A magician’s goal is to entertain his or her audience while bringing about a sense of wonder. The means for accomplishing this goal involves the use of any combination of a number of tools including misdirection, psychology, sleight of hand, and story telling. If a magician does his or her job well, the feeling of being tricked doesn’t really enter into a spectator’s mind.  The big idea here is the creation of wonder.

wonder-bwf-quote

That’s the first thing teachers can learn!  It doesn’t take a sleight of hand artist to build a sense of wonder in students.  It takes some creativity and some work and dedication to the idea that all students deserve the chance to wonder and be curious.  All students need that sense of wonder that builds inside them and creates an intellectual need to know and learn.  

This is a great time to be a teacher of mathematics.  Evoking this wonder in students in math classes is extremely accessible because of technology and the online math community know as MTBoS. There are hundreds of math teachers out there at all grade levels and in all areas who have realized the power of making students wonder.  We’ve all been creating 3-Act Tasks and sharing ideas on blogs and webpages, twitter, and youtube or vimeo.  All for free.  They’re there for everyone to use – because we’ve all learned, through using these tasks, that it helps us build student curiosity, engages them in the mathematics and in their own learning, and it helps us build independent, creative mathematical thinkers. Here is more about why you should use 3-Act Tasks.

This brings me to the second thing we can learn from magicians: we can’t do this alone! If we work together, we all benefit!  Most people probably think that magicians are private wizards who lock themselves in a room to practice and never share their secrets.  That’s a bunch of crap! Magicians realized a long time ago that if they work together, they can work more efficiently and become more productive.  Sometimes magicians work on a trick for a while, get stuck and then bring it to some friends they have in the magic community. These other magicians share their ideas, they brainstorm, and try possible solutions.  Then they test the best solution on an audience.  This can be very scary!  Think about it.  This is a trick they’ve never tried – they’ve practiced (A LOT), and maybe even performed in front of small audiences. They must be nervous!  But they go out on stage or wherever their venue is and perform it.  They have to!  It’s how they pay their bills.  Often, some of their friends who helped them are there to provide feedback.  After several performances, and feedback, the script has been adjusted and the magic has been perfected, and it becomes a part of the magician’s repertoire.

Now think about how many math teachers still work. . . alone, in their room, not sharing their ideas.  Magicians realized this was not very productive a long time ago.  Other professions did the same.  It’s time math teachers realize this too!

Take a look at the MTBoS, and see what you think.  Look at some of the sites below and see if you find something you like.  Try some ideas/lessons with your students.  It’ll be a bit scary in the beginning, but soon it’ll become part of your repertoire!  We’re all here to learn from one another because “All of us are smarter than one of us!” ~ Turtle Toms 

What I’ve learned through this whole process is that I get the same feeling of success when I create the sense of wonder in students as I did as a magician creating wonder in an audience. . . but it’s even better with students!