The modern mathematical mind of a high school student is an abyss due to the colorless lectures constantly repeating. Recently, the updated education system, Common Core Math, was implemented across the United States. Common Core Mathematics is a set of standards that focuses on a set of math skills and concepts to prepare students for mathematics in college, career, and in life. Although there has been a continuous dispute on how to instruct math, there are multiple methods for a teacher to teach mathematics. For example, some teachers stress memorization and exact answers, while others teach math with meaning and approximation. An adequate math pedagogy is perfectly between the two methods; a method where students can mentally solve a simple …show more content…
mathematical equation and where the student knows the meaning of what they are learning. However, does Common Core Math ensure a balance between the two methods? The curriculum of common core math does not demonstrate its effectiveness in students for the lack of creativity, the failure of a guiding human hand, and the misunderstanding of the true meaning of mathematics. The given mathematical problems in a textbook do not invoke students to use their imagination. Students are not taught thinking through the problem but rather given complex directions to solve the problem. According to the National Association of Independent Schools, “Teaching through problem-solving needs to be clearly distinguished from teaching problem-solving.” In current classes, students are given the steps rather than building the levels. The Egyptians and the Babylonians, the founding fathers of mathematics, were not handed any textbook to learn math; instead, they discovered the science of numbers and quantities through reasoning. Even Jorden Ellenberg, a mathematician, declares, “ the things we do know were arrived at only after massive effort, contention, and confusion. All this sweat and tumult is carefully screened off in your textbook.” Therefore, students should not be limited to a set of rules to follow but allowed to develop their approach to increase their ability to think through a real-world math problem. Teachers are murdering the brain of students with difficult discussions and tedious instructional strategies. Teachers are not developing effective methods for the benefit of students to learn an abstract concept. The curriculum of Canada states, “Recognizing that students need a solid conceptual foundation in mathematics to further develop and apply their knowledge effectively, teachers endeavor to create a classroom environment that engages students’ interest and helps them arrive at the understanding of mathematics that is critical to further learning.” For this reason, teachers are responsible for producing a positive atmosphere, where the students feel ease going to their math class due to the thorough explanations of a math problem. Teachers also do not engage the student's interest by connecting their knowledge and skills with real-life concerns of the world. The Ministry of Education in Canada publishes a mathematics book saying, “The activities offered should enable students not only to make connections among these concepts throughout the course but also to relate and apply them to relevant social, environmental, and economic contexts. Opportunities to relate knowledge and skills to these wider contexts - to the goals and concerns of the world in which they live - will motivate students to learn and to become lifelong learners.” Therefore teachers must grasp the attention of students through inspiring math problems that the students are capable of relating to their teen lives. Students are misunderstanding the original ideas and concepts of mathematics.
Teachers and textbooks present math as a settled notion, but mathematics is the exact opposite for it is continually discovered. “School mathematics is largely made up of a sequence of facts and rules, facts which are certain rules which come from a higher authority and cannot be questioned. It treats mathematical matters as completely settled. Mathematics is not settled”, exclaims Jordan Ellenberg. For this reason, students view math as a set of regulations rather than the structure of their entire lives. Jordan Ellenberg speaks of the dangers of modern math saying, “If we settle on a vision of mathematics that consists of getting the answer right and no more, and test for that, we run the risk of creating students who test very well but know no mathematics at all.” Apparently, Common Core Standards does not require teachers to instruct students mathematics with meaning, but rather let the teacher choose their strategies which will ultimately lead to a complex idea of …show more content…
math. Despite the effects of Common Core Math, the goal of Common Core Standards is to prepare students to be college and career ready.
The curriculum implies that teachers will teach students the skills they need for the future. Valley View’s High School math department announces, “Students will learn how to use mathematics to analyze and respond to real-world issues and challenges, as they will be expected to do college and the workplace.” Also, the new integrates math class allows students to distinguish the relationship between algebra and geometry. Although students are not being instructed a mathematical issue in depth, they are rapidly going through all the different topics in an integrated math class. Nowadays, students are too worried to pass the course to acquire a problem-solving mind. Paul Lockhart proclaims the entire problem of high school students saying, “I do not see how it's doing society any good to have its members walking around with vague memories of algebraic formulas and geometric diagrams and dear memories of hating them.” A mathematics class should not be intended to make a student weep from complicated equations, but it should encourage them to seek the numbers surrounding
them. Consequently, the Common Core Standards are not impressively developing a student's understanding of math due to the dull speeches, confusing instructors, and the misinterpretation of mathematics. From the students groan once the bell signals them to go to their math class, the developers of Common Core Standards can deduce that the curriculum is not grabbing the interest of students to take importance in mathematics. Not only is the curriculum shutting off the mathematical creativity of students, but it is also confusing students with ineffective teachers. The unsuccessful instructors are not delivering students a mentality that mathematics is a growing tree that has different branches or various topics. Although, Common Core Standards has brilliant goals to prepare students for their approaching life, by connecting the similarities of the different branches of the tree. Perhaps the education system is a beneficial beginning, but students need a thorough foundation of every branch of mathematics to observe the mathematical world through their eyes. “What is best in mathematics deserves not merely to be learnt as a task, but to be assimilated as a part of daily thought, and brought again and again before the mind with ever-renewed encouragement.” written by Bertrand Russell.
The second part of this memo contains a rhetorical analysis of a journal article written by Linda Darling-Hammond. Interview The following information was conducted in an interview with Diana Regalado De Santiago, who works at Montwood High School as a mathematics teacher. In the interview, Regalado De Santiago discusses how presenting material to her students in a manner where the student actually learns is a pivotal form of communication in the field (Personal Communication, September 8, 2016).
the reason why they are learning something, then they will get a greater sense of the
The common core requires higher standards, standards that are supposed to provide children with a deeper understanding of ...
● The children who were receiving a high quality education before the national curriculum is being used to work out the bends in this new system. If we were going to have national standards, there should have been some effort to design a baseline curriculum to be used in the first design of textbooks and testing materials. But I would guess a mix of things, but mostly political pressure and the threat that standardized testing would use common core as its guide and those tests could affect educational funding.
The foundation of learning was never built from that point on the next levels of math became difficult since we we never taught the principles. Every substitute teacher that came in our school trying to build a bridge failed because they were only, “‘starting on one side of the shore with some bricks and pieces of steel’” (Whitaker par.6). Math wasn’t the only subject I experienced with having many substitutes throughout a course. The other subjects where I experienced a low quality education included science, pre- calculus, and world history.
The Common Core was designed to be a set of standards with fewer in number yet clearer in describing outcomes, which all students are expected to attain. These standards are organized in a way that will give a sense of connectedness of each grade. To help students achieve these standards, teachers must create a scope and sequence about what needs to be taught along with a pacing guide to keep them on track. A difficulty for teachers is to decide what NOT to teach from existing curriculum. Teachers sometimes get caught up in lessons or activities that they like and the students like even though it may not be in the curriculum. “So, the Common Core State Standards are not adding more work for teachers but allowing them the “power of the eraser” over the “power of the pen.” (Sandra M. Alberti, 2012, p.4)
Mathematical dialogue within the classroom has been argued to be effective and a ‘necessary’ tool for children’s development in terms of errors and misconceptions. It has been mentioned how dialogue can broaden the children’s perception of the topic, provides useful opportunities to develop meaningful understandings and proves a good assessment tool. The NNS (1999) states that better numeracy standards occur when children are expected to use correct mathematical vocabulary and explain mathematical ideas. In addition to this, teachers are expected
Sherley, B., Clark, M. & Higgins, J. (2008) School readiness: what do teachers expect of children in mathematics on school entry?, in Goos, M., Brown, R. & Makar, K. (eds.) Mathematics education research: navigating: proceedings of the 31st annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australia, Brisbane, Qld: MERGA INC., pp.461-465.
Using literacy strategies in the mathematics classroom leads to successful students. “The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM, 1989) define mathematical literacy as an “individual's ability to explore, to conjecture, and to reason logically, as well as to use a variety of mathematical methods effectively to solve problems." Exploring, making conjectures, and being able to reason logically, all stem from the early roots of literacy. Authors Matthews and Rainer (2001) discusses how teachers have questioned the system of incorporating literacy with mathematics in the last couple of years. It started from the need to develop a specific framework, which combines both literacy and mathematics together. Research was conducted through
What is math? If you had asked me that question at the beginning of the semester, then my answer would have been something like: “math is about numbers, letters, and equations.” Now, however, thirteen weeks later, I have come to realize a new definition of what math is. Math includes numbers, letters, and equations, but it is also so much more than that—math is a way of thinking, a method of solving problems and explaining arguments, a foundation upon which modern society is built, a structure that nature is patterned by…and math is everywhere.
As a secondary subject, society often views mathematics a critical subject for students to learn in order to be successful. Often times, mathematics serves as a gatekeeper for higher learning and certain specific careers. Since the times of Plato, “mathematics was virtually the first thing everyone has to learn…common to all arts, science, and forms of thought” (Stinson, 2004). Plato argued that all students should learn arithmetic; the advanced mathematics was reserved for those that would serve as the “philosopher guardians” of the city (Stinson, 2004). By the 1900s in the United States, mathematics found itself as a cornerstone of curriculum for students. National reports throughout the 20th Century solidified the importance of mathematics in the success of our nation and its students (Stinson, 2004). As a mathematics teacher, my role to educate all students in mathematics is an important one. My personal philosophy of mathematics education – including the optimal learning environment and best practices teaching strategies – motivates my teaching strategies in my personal classroom.
Many students view mathematics as a very difficult subject since it does not only focusses on numbers but also in letters. Mathematics does not only require the students to come up with an answer but it also requires them to show the solutions on how they arrived at the answer. While in elementary, students were already taught on how to solve problems in a step-by-step procedure starting with what is asked in the problem, what are the given, make a number sentence or formulate an equation and solve the problem. These procedures are called problem-solving which cannot only apply in mathematics but also in other areas such as in Science, businesses and most
When I graduated from high school, forty years ago, I had no idea that mathematics would play such a large role in my future. Like most people learning mathematics, I continue to learn until it became too hard, which made me lose interest. Failure or near failure is one way to put a stop to learning a subject, and leave a lasting impression not worth repeating. Mathematics courses, being compulsory, are designed to cover topics. One by one, the topics need not be important or of immediate use, but altogether or cumulatively, the topics provide or point to a skill, a mastery of mathematics.
Devlin believes that mathematics has four faces 1) Mathematics is a way to improve thinking as problem solving. 2) Mathematics is a way of knowing. 3) Mathematics is a way to improve creative medium. 4) Mathematics is applications. (Mann, 2005). Because mathematics has very important role in our life, teaching math in basic education is as important as any other subjects. Students should study math to help them how to solve problems and meet the practical needs such as collect, count, and process the data. Mathematics, moreover, is required students to be capable of following and understanding the future. It also helps students to be able to think creativity, logically, and critically (Happy & Listyani, 2011,
Throughout out this semester, I’ve had the opportunity to gain a better understanding when it comes to teaching Mathematics in the classroom. During the course of this semester, EDEL 440 has showed my classmates and myself the appropriate ways mathematics can be taught in an elementary classroom and how the students in the classroom may retrieve the information. During my years of school, mathematics has been my favorite subject. Over the years, math has challenged me on so many different levels. Having the opportunity to see the appropriate ways math should be taught in an Elementary classroom has giving me a