Math & Me

This quarter forced me to face the prospect of teaching math—and what I might do when that day comes. I like to think that if I get a middle school job, I won’t have to deal with math, because I’m getting my humanities endorsement. But I can’t assume that that’s the job I’ll get (if I even get a job). In some ways, this class has been a collection of activities, but when I step back and consider all that the class entailed, I feel as if I have come away with a slightly greater sense of comfort in the subject.  OK, “comfort” may be too strong a term. “Awareness of” might be a better phrase. (A vast sense of comfort would take more than one quarter.)

Admittedly, I enjoyed some classes more than others, which is mostly due to the topics involved. I hate geometry but like statistics, graphing and algebra. I appreciated Robin’s consistent method of, and theory behind, questioning, which she discussed in our last class (though as a student, I sometimes just want answers, not more questions). Overall, in my opinion, this was a class for which the homework truly supplemented the in-class teaching: None of it felt like busy work to me. I believe the video reflections, the virtual manipulatives, and even the lesson plans enhanced my learning in their own ways. While the lesson plans were a slog, they pushed me to think through each step of teaching a topic that doesn’t come naturally to me. I liked the videos—especially “The Location,” which, as I said in my reflection, I would absolutely use as in the classroom—because they allowed me to see teaching in action. And until this quarter, I didn’t know what a virtual manipulative was. I don’t know how often my students would have access to those, but they are an intriguing prospect, if only for an enrichment activity.

All that said, I often wonder how much of this I will use—simply because of the way math curriculum is structured. My main placement school (fourth grade) has a new math curriculum this year, and so far, it has left little room for modification or additional activities. The curriculum does a decent job of differentiating homework and offering enrichment, and the teachers feel pressed to cover a topic (chapter) a week. So I look at that and wonder, given that situation, when and how I as a teacher would add the kinds of activities we learned in Robin’s class. I’m not saying it can’t be done; I’m just trying to picture it.

In our last class (and I think in a previous class or two), Robin told (warned?) us that in our first years, we will need to rely on the curriculum. “The textbook is the life ring that somebody threw you, and you’re just trying to keep your head above water,” she said. I suppose the additional strategies and activities we learned are like the shore that we eventually wash up on. This is an image I can get my head around.

How could this class be improved? Well, perhaps what’s missing is that tie-in to curriculum reality, but I don’t know how helpful it would be to bring in a bunch of textbooks and go over them. Can you teach math agility, math comfort? That missing piece, for me, is the ability to stand up in front of the room and explain different strategies or answers as if I know what I’m talking about—even if they come from the textbook!  And maybe that can’t be taught. Maybe that will only come with experience.