I’m in Berkshire this week and some of next week. I’m just enjoying the Olympics from China and reading as much as I can. I have purchased 264 spiral notebooks for my students this year. They were $0.05 each at WalMart and at Staples. This will allow me to give the students a notebook whenever they need one in my class.
I’ve studied the 6th and 7th grade state exams and reviewed the standards. I’ve written myself notes on some lesson plan ideas for some topics:
For Central Measurement (Mean, Median, Mode, Range): I think I’ll do a discovery lesson plan. This will mean that groups will receive data sets of numbers and the actual mean, median, mode and range. Their task will be to “guess” the definitions of each term. Then they will get another data set and see if their definition still fits. Maybe they will need to modify their initial definition. After reviewing all of the data sets, their groups’ definitions should hold up to all the data sets. For identifying radius, diameter, chords and central angles of a circle, I think I’ll do the same type of lesson.
I want the students to experience the discovery of mathematics. I had an excellent class in college that allowed me to have guided discovery learning and I remember thinking that students that don’t think of themselves as being “good at math” could see these lessons as a place where they see themselves as being good in the math classroom.
I think that many people confuse the ability to do computations quickly with being “good at math.” I think the student who creates logical problem solving processes can be equally good at math. I am reminded that future workers who are prepared to perceive patterns and to solve unconventional problems will be the sought after employee. Calculations are being done more and more by machines.
Our country should think of Mathematics as a pump rather than a filter in the pipeline of American education. Students shouldn’t be filtered out of careers by our math education, but instead math should be the key that helps push students into career paths.