For my resource blog, I found an article titled "We Should Teach Math Like it's a Language”, written by Jeannine Diddle Uzzi. This article stood out to me because of its title. Math as a language? That just does not seem write. But as I kept reading the article, I realized that it makes complete sense. Jeannine compares learning math to learning Latin. At first I was skeptical, but the idea that math builds on itself might seem obvious but in hindsight, this is one of the reasons why students have such a hard time with math. One problem that is evident in our higher education system for the United States is that “instead of encouraging them to start anew in order to reinforce their skills, we test them, label that review ‘remedial,’ and withhold college credit from them,” (Uzzi, 2018). This turns many students away and gives them the idea they are not good enough to take a higher level math. This process of throwing students in “remedial” courses and discouraging them from taking other higher-level math classes is a main reason why we are seeing less and less students follow the path of math-lead careers, including math teaching of any level.
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https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/05/30/we-should-teach-math-like-its-a.html
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/05/30/we-should-teach-math-like-its-a.html
Hey Carter,
ReplyDeleteI found this post very interesting and eye opening- in a way that it is extremely unfortunate how the United States school systems operate when pertaining to math classes. Placing students in any class that they do not feel 100% comfortable in is never a good idea. When discussing math, many students want to be in the challenging courses; however, if they do not excel on one test, it's "game over" for them. This label of marking a student as "on-level" or "normal" is not only demeaning but can affect how they view themselves in the real world.
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Carter,
ReplyDeleteI love the way you brought your article to light and explained how math can be taught as a language. As someone who struggled with math and didn't really understand what all of the x's and y's mean, comparing it to something I do understand, like English grammar, would have made my life a lot easier. I also like how you touched on the effects of labeling in math classes can lead to a student's disappointment in oneself when really they are trying their hardest. It is important to always keep students motivated and proud of their work.
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