Week 16

 Welcome back to the Alge-blog! This week, we looked at chapter 3 of the textbook, which highlights being stuck as a learning opportunity. This was an interesting and important idea because classroom culture also focuses heavily on being “correct”. 

What Stood Out and What I Learned

For our group discussion this week, I was the word watcher, meaning I picked out important words and defined them. This was my favourite definition from the textbook:

STUCK: “An honourable and positive state, from which much can be learned.”

I think this definition is the main point of this chapter and is really important to understand as a future educator. Many students get stuck on a problem and give up too soon. They conclude that “I'm just not good at math,” or get stressed about their grades. In our discussion, we talked about how it is important to shift this mindset in students and create a classroom environment where students feel safe to be wrong. 

In Class:

We tried the following problem in class, which I found challenging. I struggled to visualize what the question was asking, which made figuring it out harder, and I got stuck. 

Reading this problem through, I struggled to visualize the scenario. We started by drawing it out, going through what we know. Even through specializing, I found it challenging to find a pattern, and therefore I found I was stuck. It wasn’t until someone came over and described the scenario in a different way that I was able to visualize it better and understand what was actually happening. Building off of this, we were able to find a pattern more easily. 

We talked about how everyone has a different perspectives but they are all valuable. Having students use various resources and share their different perspectives can help students to work through problems in different ways. Sharing these methods could help other students who may not have thought of the same processes right away. 

Key Takeaways

From the in-class activity, I realized the importance of collaboration in mathematics. The way one person visualizes a problem may be different from someone else, and they may be able to describe the problem in a way that makes more sense to you. I was feeling stuck and struggling to understand what the problem was asking, and when a classmate broke it down further for me, I was able to see the question more clearly and start specializing more effectively. Because of this, I will commit to incorporating collaboration in my future classroom and encourage students to share their different perspectives, as they may help another student to see something they didn’t notice before. 

Furthermore, from our discussion highlighting being stuck as a positive state and a valuable learning opportunity, I will encourage students to share their ideas and create an environment where they feel safe to do so. Being stuck is normal and is part of the learning process, and it is important for students to know that and get comfortable with making mistakes. 

Overall, I will try to make a safe and welcoming environment where being wrong, making mistakes, and getting stuck are a normal part of the learning process. Students can learn to see that as a learning opportunity and a place to grow from. I will incorporate the use of tools and manipulatives as well as encourage collaboration to allow students to explore different ideas and share various perspectives.