As I look
forward to entering my 40th school year, 26 in the mathematics classroom
and the rest as a secondary mathematics resource teacher, I spend most
of my waking hours thinking about the art and
science of teaching. I have finally hit upon a metaphor that seems to
resonate with educators.
I believe
that mathematics is a complete and coherent (beautiful) story that
begins at birth and ends, I guess, at death. For most, it formally
begins in school and continues until a child is out of
school. Each of a child's teachers is the sacred keeper of a chapter of
this story. It is the teacher's job to make their chapter the most
engaging piece of the story possible. Characters, plot, storyline must
all develop in a logical sequence. These story
aspects must fit coherently into place based on what came before.
Connections must be made to previous characters and students need to
understand how the characters will fit into the subsequent chapters. The
story needs to be exciting, must capture attention,
must motivate the students to want to hear and learn more. Think about
what has happened to each and every one of us when we started to read a
book and it was boring or, for whatever reason, didn't grab our
attention. It doesn't matter if someone else tells
you what a great book it is, most of us will not pick it back up.
Especially when there are so many other options available. Once interest
is lost in a story, it's difficult to gain that interest back. Now,
think about a story where you were interested but
all of a sudden, new characters are introduced or the plot line seems
to diverge. Well, now the story loses me for another reason and, most
likely, I've lost interest.
I'm thinking
about teachers who use slang instead of correct mathematics terminology.
As a student, I'm losing the storyline and the characters. Think about
the teacher who teaches tricks instead of
conceptual understanding. As a student, I can't follow the plot line.
Think of the teacher who never lets students engage in a discussion
about the story. As a student, I'm tuning out because I have all these
thoughts in my head about the story but no one
lets me share. Wow! What is the actual probability of any student
getting 12+ amazing storytellers in their school life? Unfortunately,
the probability must be near zero. This has to change! Every student is
entitled to teachers who believe that their chapter
of the story is sacred and worth conveying as if it is the beautiful
wisdom, the flame of life. This means that teachers need to understand
the content and they need to understand the pedagogy that underpins that
content.
As I begin
this new school year, I am committed to having conversations with math
teachers about how their chapter of the mathematics story can be
developed and shared with students to keep them clambering
for more. I want every math teacher to know the joy when their class
period is over and the students say, "WHAT, class is over already?!"
