Comments on: My Month Teaching Summer School & The Curse of Content Knowledge

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 08 Aug 2018 21:37:29 +0000

I spent some time last year looking at how to adapt the “Yes, and…” method of improvisation to the math classroom. My teaching has evolved to a point where I feel strongly that it’s important to validate a student’s mathematical thinking even when it isn’t “correct” or doesn’t match what I was hoping for next.

I just LOVE your bold comment above because it found words for what I was trying to express. I am an instructional coach these days and intend on making this idea a point of emphasis this year. Thank you for putting it to better words than I have been able to so far.

I will also second your recommendation for Max’s 2 > 4 ignite talk. I shared it with all my teachers last year because it’s so awesome. I won’t spoil his fantastic turn of phrase, but if anyone reading this hasn’t watched it they most definitely should.

By: 2>4 ? – kiwi physics

2>4 ? – kiwi physics — Tue, 31 Jul 2018 01:43:25 +0000

[…] quick talk, which I found on Dan Meyer’s blog. He argues that we should be “listening to (2) students, not for (4) an answer”. It […]

By: Burke

Burke — Tue, 31 Jul 2018 00:06:44 +0000

Hi Dan,

Thanks for your insights. Reflecting upon interactions is incredibly powerful. A filmed lesson (or a week) of your experience in the classroom would be invaluable for dialogue with colleagues to collaboratively enhance student experiences.

By: Alyson

Alyson — Mon, 30 Jul 2018 19:20:04 +0000

For the past year I have been teaching pre-college math at a community college for students pursuing a wide range of degree options including HS 21+. I fell into the job by accident, my only math teaching experience having been at a University. This post articulates so well EXACTLY what I have learned from teaching the diverse population of students who take my classes. Featured Comment

It's easy to throw a loaded question out there, and when someone doesn't answer in the way you expect, you just say NOPE and move on. When I learned to slow down and try to understand WHY the student answered in the way they did I started to learn where and how they struggle. I also learned that when I slow down and explore student thinking the whole class benefits, because guess what? There's a good chance there were other students thinking something similar.

Also, I believe stopping to explore student thinking creates a sense of community in the classroom where students feel safe enough to express their confusion. The students I teach often have an incredible amount of baggage from competitive, threatening classrooms. Showing them I am listening reduces barriers and gives them confidence that they can attain mastery of the concepts. Thanks for putting into words what I have been struggling with and embracing and loving all year with my students!

By: Dan Meyer

Dan Meyer — Fri, 27 Jul 2018 23:20:49 +0000

In reply to Marc Garneau. Love that second-to-last paragraph. By middle and upper grades I find students have a conception of themselves as mathematically incapable that's very difficult to disrupt, especially in three weeks. I'm glad your persistence paid off.

By: Dan Meyer

Dan Meyer — Fri, 27 Jul 2018 23:17:49 +0000

In reply to Javier Taylor. Nice! I need to do a better job prioritizing doing math in my life.

By: Dan Meyer

Dan Meyer — Fri, 27 Jul 2018 23:14:49 +0000

In reply to Annie Adams. Thanks for sharing, Annie. I featured your comment above. I'd love to read or hear more about your experiences meeting the needs of your refugee students.

By: Dan Meyer

Dan Meyer — Fri, 27 Jul 2018 23:13:02 +0000

In reply to Teacher Tiliches. I haven't seen an example of such a platform that successfully builds on the student's informal level of understanding. Even if it correctly predicts the student's overgeneralization or mistake, the phrasing is extremely important. When students have to exert mental effort trying to connect their idea to the computer's phrasing of their idea, that's effort not spent learning math.

By: Marc Garneau

Marc Garneau — Fri, 27 Jul 2018 17:33:10 +0000

Thanks for sharing your reflections – I always appreciate the raw truth you share. I, too, just finished a month of summer school teaching. This is the third year I’ve done this – 2 classes of remedial (ie. they failed) and I’ve got 40 hours to help them ‘pass’. Like you, I do it to for the sake of my professional muscles – and putting pedagogy into action over a ‘long’ term instead of drop-in lessons.
Both your truths resonate strongly with my experience. Getting ‘through’ a whole course’s content in a third of the time – ugh. And what to say when students cannot distinguish a side from an angle in a triangle!?! My only recourse was to focus more on bigger ideas – and that was a blessing.

Featured Comment

Your second truth is where I applied my most energy. I put in way more time, most of my time, into figuring out what sense they were making, and helping them to realize the same for themselves. For most, it was at least half-way through, if not three-fourths, for them to begin seeing what my goal for them was. They began caring for their learning, and caring for each others’ learning!

This took huge amounts of energy, but it was worth it beyond measure. It also helps me to appreciate HUGEly the work that classrooms teachers do ALL YEAR – I only did this for 3 weeks.

By: Javier Taylor

Javier Taylor — Fri, 27 Jul 2018 15:05:45 +0000

Hey Dan I really enjoyed reading your post. I work in the university setting so I admit it is nice to get out into a 7-12 classroom and teach. I work with a program called “upward bound” which is about a month long (basically the month of June). I also get a chance to work on the mathematics research project I am currently pursuing. Nice!

I noticed that perusing unresolved mathematics allows me to appreciate my students pursuit of mathematics in the classroom.