Math class needs a makeover

This is a Ted Talk called "Math class needs a makeover".  In this speech, Dan Meyer discusses the failings of modern math textbooks and subsequent teaching. He discusses the disconnection from real world problems, that don't have cut and dry plug in numbers, but either a surplus of numbers or a need to find more than what are given.  He demonstrates using two textbook problems, the latter of which is a hexagonal prism filling up with water.  The textbook shows a drawing of the water dispenser, and provides the measurements needed to calculate the time it'll take for it to fill up.  He begins by crossing out everything except "How long will it take to fill up?" He goes on until he has lowered it all the way to a video of him filling up a hexagonal prism water dispenser with a hose. Meyer explains that he plays that for the students without saying anything, and seeing what they say as it takes longer and longer to fill.  He goes on to explain that by starting here, the students do not need a high content area literacy to be interested and part of the discussion.  By bringing the math intellect to the base level at the beginning of the lesson, they are able to build up together to understand how a video of a water tank filling up is actually a complex word problem that they can all now understand. This technique he's using can be used with any math problem, the idea is just to get the discussion going and get students thinking about what is happening before they receive all of the cookie cutter information.

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Chapter 2

          This chapter did a stellar job helping to put things into perspective for many teachers-to-be.  Reading those complex passages, I could feel myself in the shoes of the young students I will be teaching.  It reminded me of classes when I didn’t understand anything, and it felt impossible to overcome.  In the classes I have struggled a lot in, I have managed to learn the content and be able to understand what is going on, and I hope that I can help get my students there too one day.

            I chose this picture because it portrays how many students feel reading in front of the class, particularly when it involves new math or science words.  When a student feels uncomfortable pronouncing words correctly and must go over them several times in their head before speaking, it can be expected that they don’t know the meaning of many of these words either.  I enjoyed this picture especially because I used to find the paragraph I would be in charge of…so that I could read ahead and know what to go back to when called on.          This chapter talked a lot about growing students reading toolkits so that they could be better prepared to understand complex passages or new words.  This all starts in the classroom, putting in the time and explaining to have the students achieve better reading skills.  We must help them learn to examine texts and pull information out.  I do intend to have these opportunities consistently in my classroom, to make myself a better teacher, and to therefore have better learners.

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