The teacher I'm working with, Mrs. Mann, has a remedial math class 1st period to work with students who didn't pass their SOLs the year before. This class is very interesting because she has the same students in class later on in the day. She has them practice what they went over in the class the previous day, do their homework if they haven't already, and play computer games when they are finished. A lot of times, when the students are allowed to select the computer games they play, the three boys pick non-math games while the one girl picks a math game. I found this interesting because research articles I've read in class talk about how boys are more interested in math than girls. So, I thought that the boys would more likely pick a math-related game. I guess sometimes a cool video game wins out over math! Or, since they haven't done well on the Math SOL previously, maybe their interest in math has greatly decreased.
Something interesting to note about all the classes is their heavy reliance on calculators. When there was a substitute one day, he wouldn't let them use calculators on a worksheet and the students complained a lot. Mrs. Mann usually lets them use calculators, but I'm glad the substitute made them do the math on paper or in their head. It was really good practice for them, especially when some students have to do "6/2" in their calculator.
The Math 7 class was working on changing verbal expressions into algebraic ones last week. They struggled with this at first because they weren't sure "what the answer" was. They wanted the answer to be one number instead of something like "t-3." They also had problems knowing that a variable took the place of a number and didn't know how to put the expression in to words because of it. They asked questions like "How do I divide v by 2?" or "But what is x?" They also had problems knowing what operation to use and what order to put the number or variable. They thought that it didn't matter what order x-5 goes in. So, I had to review the commutative property and which operations it applies to.
A lot of their problems in class seem to stem from previous issues in math class. For example, their issues with whether subtraction is commutative or not comes from their lack of understanding of negative numbers. I asked a few students if 5-2 and 2-5 were the same thing, and they all responded that they are because both equal 3. Then, I drew a number line and carried out the subtractions, showing that 2-5 was -3. If these students understood negative numbers and that 3 and -3 are two different numbers, I think they would understand that the order in subtraction does matter.
Overall, the first week and a half at SMS has been very eye-opening. I can't wait to learn more and more about teaching throughout the next two months!
