10/6/2023 0 Comments Im center by math project![]() With that, guarantee your space will be one where children will make mistakes… A culture of mathematics includes conversations and debate about the math.Ħ. Mathematics is not done in isolation it is a collaborative process. …in whole group, small group, and independent work – where children talk about the math they are doing and observing. Speaking of conversations, create spaces… Children must realize the way they think about solving problems is unique, important, and can inspire others. Create an environment where they are allowed to think in ways that make sense to them, and honor and cherish that mathematical thinking at all times. Indeed, while children might not be thinking about numbers, operations, and computation just like you, they have ideas to contribute to the conversation. If not, you have to change that thinking right now. Do you believe that every single child in your classroom has math and the ability to share it? Once their strategy is put on the strategy wall, they become the experts of that thinking, and others can go to them for assistance when they want to try a new way of thinking! 4. Just like we can highlight authors’ work, we can highlight children’s after all, they are the authors of their mathematical thinking. Highlight children’s thinking with a strategy wall! ![]() Teaching a new math concept connected to an important math vocabulary word? Put that word up on the math word wall so kids can use the word wall when they’re attending to precision with their math language! 3. Math manipulatives and other tools should be readily available, and the placement should be just as important as books. Make your math manipulatives as prevalent as your classroom library. Here are a few to think about as you are starting your school year! 1. There are several ways you can easily make math visible in your classrooms. Does the environment say, “We do math in here”? If we want our students to see themselves as math people and embrace a culture of mathematics in their classrooms, math needs to have as much a presence as all of the other subjects taught in the classroom. Where is the math? The environment helps define the work that is happening in the classroom. The first question to ask yourself as a teacher is, when people walk into your classroom, do they know that math happens in there? Oftentimes, in our elementary classrooms, we see a library of books, a writing center, a cluster of computers, a word wall, and etc. I’m willing to tackle it, and in doing so, I think the first place we can start is in our classrooms and schools. While I can have lifelong dreams of encouraging ALL the people to embrace the amazingness of math, that’s an ambitious goal. Are there some who loved math? Who thrived doing timed tests? Whose parents worked in STEM fields and happily helped with homework at home? YES. Their math autobiography is not one full of fond memories. In my 10 years of doing professional development for elementary teachers in mathematics and teaching undergrads math methods courses, the majority I encounter do not see themselves as math people. We hear more about how people aren’t math people than people recognizing math is all around them. Math is literally everywhere and used in everything, but we don’t spend enough time acknowledging this fact. I believe this is because math is not a recognized part of our culture. In that blog, I talked about how the jobs in STEM related fields are rising while there are fewer Americans seeking STEM related jobs. In my first blog for Keep Indiana Learning, I already talked about how I became a math person. Ronda Harper’s Third Grade Classroom at Albany Elementary School in Delaware Community Schools in Indiana When a timed test was put in front of me, I would look for all the nines, do those first, and then go back and try to finish the test. I was in fourth grade, and my nines were something I just couldn’t get. My first memory of math in school is timed tests. ![]() ![]() In my family, we never really talked about numbers and math – even though in all our adventures as a family, numbers and math were very prevalent. We attended a lot of sporting events, theater productions, went on hiking trips, and listened to a lot of music. My dad owned an advertising agency and wrote/directed/produced commercials. My mom was an English and theater teacher.
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