Kansas Wesleyan Got Me Thinking...

The Team presented to Kansas Wesleyan last week. It was great for me on two accounts: 1. It is only a 20 minute drive from my house 2. My parents got to come and listen to us. They both still see me as their little girl who needs directions, protection, and help fixing the shower head. And truthfully, I do NOT discourage that thinking! I love being spoiled and pampered when I am "home!" I think it might have been strange for them seeing me being "all professional," and I hope they still spoil me when I go home!

One of the students asked a great question after the presentation, "Why do kids hate math so much?" YEP - hot topic with me being a math teacher. I get comments like "I am horrible at math" or "I hate math" quite often in my classes. I find this VERY disheartening as my students are seniors in their FOURTH year of math - College Algebra and Calculus. They are excellent students but somewhere along the way have been convinced they are not. I wonder how those students that aren't taking any math their senior year feel?? I have asked students (not a lot- but a few) why they feel that way. Their answers are varied...some say "I have to work so hard at it" to "I used to be good at it until 5th grade" My youngest son already feels like he is "no good" at math. I know where his attitude comes from: timed tests. He used to think he was good at math but the timed test created a huge amount of anxiety which led to him not doing well which led to - well you see where I am going here. Oddly enough, he knows his facts (just not in 5 minutes - it is more like 5.5 minutes) and is a great problem-solver. I am not sure I will ever change his mind - but I am not giving up. My oldest son has done very well on timed-tests but really dislikes math too. It started just this year with long division. He did a long division packet of worksheets that become his arch enemy. Problem after problem of long division with decimals, repeating decimals...you get the picture. He would sit at the table in the evening asking "Why can't I just use a calculator for the last 6? I get it already." The math teacher in me came out quickly. I told him he has to know it so well that it just becomes instinct - like creating muscle memory.


All this has me thinking though. Are we creating Mathicide for students? There is a book about how schools are killing reading for students, it is Readicide by Kelly Gallagher. There are two great entries in my friend, Cindi Rigsbee's blog about the book. One about the book and one is an interview with Kelly himself. I read a few chapters of the book and it got me thinking...I wonder if I could write a book about Mathicide. I know I have unwittingly contributed to Mathicide in my room...assigning way more problems than needed, doing too many worksheets and not enough projects, and not individualizing the homework for the level of student. I am going to try to get better at it. I don't want students hating math or thinking they aren't good at it. It makes me sick knowing I have contributed to it. I think project-based learning would help but there must be a BALANCE between constructivist math and kill and drill math. An article about it can be found here. Finding the balance in the two theories - and in life- is the journey that I am on.