There has been a lot of math activity going on at TVA in the last month. In my own classroom I had one of those teaching moments where you look at your students and say to yourself, "
wow, they really got it". Not only have my students "gotten it", but they have exceeded my expectations. At Tecumseh Vista, Kyle and I "spiral' our curriculum (see last blog post) and it really seems to be paying off. I guess that would make sense since we are later in the year and we are revisiting topics , only now, in a deeper fashion. I was leading up to the Pythagorean Theory by spending a lot of time working on square/square roots and balancing equations(see last blog post).
I introduced the theory by pretending I was a golfer on the PGA tour and had this scenario (in Keynote) in front of me. Together we figured out how the theory works and then how the formula works. It was almost a bit of a letdown how easily students were able to solve questions involving the Pythagorean Theory. Even when I gave them the scenario of one of legs missing (an area that has always been challenging) they didn't bat an eye. Of all the years I have taught the Pythagorean Theory (18 years), this has by far been the most successful.
On another note, Paul has been very active putting together our school's Math Council. We began by students in grades 5-8 making presentations to their classmates as to why they should be their representative on Math Council. After we had 2 Math Council reps from each class, we met with all of them and their teachers. We asked them to return to their classes and ask questions like:
1. What would you like to get better at in math?
2. What would you like to change/do about how you learn math?
3. How can we make math more relevant to your life?
After the students collected their data, we met again. This time we added new members to our council including other principals, a trustee, parents and former board math teachers and consultants. Together we organized the students responses into categories and presented the results by grade and it was amazing to see what the students had to say about their math education #studentvoice. We all noticed common themes throughout every grade. Some of the bigger items were "make math fun" and "develop a growth mindset". Others included, alternatives to the textbook, opportunities to teach others, more hands on/inquiry learning. We all felt this was great information to have but we needed some more information. The math council reps were to go back to their classes and ask for greater detail. For example, what do you mean "make math fun"?
Our next meeting is scheduled for February 25th where we hope to have some even more specific data.
Comments
I should probably try to remember this golf hole Pythag question next time I feel confident enough to try to cut a corner over water on the links.