Saturday 13 August 2011

Are we teachers ready for maths??

                                                              by Irène Marcovici     


I have always been having a love-hate relationship with maths. What I remember about maths was to memorise, memorise and memorise the various formulas for the different concepts that was taught. It was all about equations and problem solving.


                                             by Irène Marcovic

Maths is magical. It's either you get it or not.


I agreed with the text that PREVIOUSLY we learn maths through teacher's demonstrating the methods and then we practice the procedures.


                                   by Prof. Jorge Joaquin Delgado Gomez 


You memorized the formulas and if you remember it, you are lucky, if not, then you will get a X on your paper. How sad isn't it? I just do maths for the sake of doing and try my best to get it right.

Now, I believe that the teaching of maths has gone to a new level. To be a math teacher, it consists of understanding what it means to know and do Maths. Having the ability to think and reasoning it out is essential. 

But firstly to teach math, teachers must first love maths. Teachers must be persistent and has to show positive attitude towards the subject of maths.

"Teachers with  positive attitudes teach math in more successful ways that results in their students liking math more." (Karp,1991)

Teachers have to be aware and create that awareness for children and their families that maths is not inherited and that anyone can learn maths. I agree with the Curriculum Principle that maths is not a subject on its own. It is an integrated whole and not a subject in isolation. 

Another way for teachers to make the children feel comfortable with maths is to provide them with a classroom environment that 

1. allows them to express their ideas
2. allows them to have the autonomy with respect to the methods used to
    problem solve  

3. allows them to appreciate mistakes as opportunities to learn
4. allows them to rationalize their solutions to problems

I hope to make maths fun for my children and from this module, I will gain knowledge to create a fun and lively environment, and learn captivating methods on how to teach maths. :)

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