My ImagineIt project is moving along at a glacier pace. The good news is that I feel I am making progress in changing the students’ perceptions of math. Though some may still not like mathematics, they can appreciate math and use it as a tool.
Right now I am in the middle of a geometry unit in my classes. I let the students engage in “Math Talks” weekly pertaining to that days planned lesson. The students are enjoying the talks because they get to appoint a discussion leader and I just tell them when to start and when to stop. Also, there are no right or wrong answers during the discussions. I plan on continuing the math talks because, the students are using a lot of real world examples to prove their points. Finally, the next step for me is to meet with my colleagues and come up with a cross curriculum project aimed at showing the students the necessity and portability of math.
IMAGINEIT FINAL REPORT
My book of choice is Stuck in the Shallow End by Jane Margolis. To be perfectly honest, I initially choose this book because of its title. I felt the title mirrored the mindsets of my students, their peers, and their families about math. I felt that mathematics is under appreciated and thought of as a school course to be passed and then dismissed. At its first level the book tells how the educational system struggles to adequately support and provide the necessary accommodations to minority students in certain school districts in specific subjects. On a higher level the book tells about the shared mindsets of administrators, teachers, and even the students. This shared mindset is limiting to any student and add to the almost natural dislike for mathematics in most circles. My dilemma is clearly recognized.
I learned from my students the importance of being patient. After talking with my focus group and actually implementing some ImagineIT centered tasks and practices in class, the students are making more connections between the math they see in school and the math in their personal lives. For example, I was going over some geometry problems in one of my classes. I asked the students how they would begin to solve a triangle sum conjecture problem. One student raised their hand and stated they would turn it into a real world money problem and solve it by using algebra. I almost cried I was so happy. The student had obviously been listening to me on more than one occasion. First the student had converted the math in the geometry problem into a real world context. Then the student had used simple algebra to solve the real world money problem. Finally, I have listened to my students and have started with small projects. I will give them a large project in the near future. The biggest take away from meeting with my colleagues is that I am not in this alone. I am very glad. My colleagues stated that we should do a cross curricula project and we intend to do so. I am glad they see the importance of mathematics and it is our task to make the students see the importance of mathematics not only in our classrooms but also outside the classroom. If we can accomplish this, then we will begin to change the mindsets of the students. Who knows, we may even change our mindsets about mathematics also, and ultimately about the capacity of our students. Looking forward, I intend on meeting again with my colleagues in order to create a cross curricula project. I will change some of the practices I do in my class. My Deep Play Group is PBL. The book we read was Problem-Based Learning: An Inquire Approach by John Barell. Since I intend on using projects in my class, I intend on being very mindful of the three phases of a project as quoted in the book:
Stage one - teacher lead
Stage two- teacher/ student lead
Stage three – student lead
I will also make adjustments, as necessary. I am really looking forward to the upcoming weeks.