Friday, April 3, 2020

Math Struggles During a Pandemic

Start from where things make sense

  • “How could we draw a picture so this made sense?”
  • “This feels confusing. Let’s start with an easier problem.”


Be curious

  • “That’s the right answer, but I don’t see how you got it. How did you do that?”
  • “Let’s try to do it a totally different way. How many ways could we come up with?”


Keep it light and nonjudgmental

  • “It doesn’t matter if we get it wrong. Let’s just mess with it.”
  • “I have no idea what to do. Let’s figure it out together!”
  • -Math For Love
One of the MANY panicked e-mails I received from parents during these first few weeks of school closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic had to do with a student who was encountering the concept of fractions for the first time at home. "Help!" the parent wrote, "How do I teach my child fractions?"

I have told this as a funny story to several fellow teachers -- "Sure," I laugh, "Let me just put that in a quick e-mail response for you, NO PROBLEM!" (Several very LONG and involved e-mails later, with a lot of links to examples of how to make fraction manipulatives, we actually had a half-hour plus Zoom meeting, but that's not as funny a story...)

This scenario, though, is something I think is playing out in homes all over the world right now, and it is frustrating for all involved. Teachers STUDY how to teach math. We took college courses to learn the ins and outs of how to elicit mathematical thinking, identify the big ideas, and identify the common misunderstandings of each of the math concepts we cover. Many of us have advanced degrees and have spent countless hours in professional development courses to deal with just this subject. Seabury teachers all attend summer classes at UCDS in Seattle, learning creative ways to develop critical math skills through inquiry-based lessons they call math "vitamins," and we call math "quests" or "adventures." These lessons are designed to develop multiple entry points and multiple strategies and challenge students across many levels of understanding -- it's not easy, and there is a certain amount of art to it -- as well as a whole lot of classroom experience.

So, I have found myself wondering -- how do we boil that down for parents at home?

The bottom line, parents, is -- we don't. Do not expect that you are going to step right into your child's math teacher's shoes and pick right up where they left off, no problem. It's not quite that easy.

Thankfully, there are many fantastic resources out there designed to help - Khan Academy is just one that many people are relying heavily on right now. No matter what online resource your student may be using, however, they are still going to need some support. And although it is not reasonable to expect to replace your child's math teacher outright, it is also not impossible. Give yourself some grace, take a big patient breath, and know that you don't have to be a math teacher, just a math facilitator. And yes, please ask for advice from those of us who have fought for years in these trenches. Don't, however, assume that we can distill it down for you into one e-mail.

As I have been struggling with helping parents and students through this, I have been looking for the silver bullet. The one thing I can share with parents that will capture the essence of the skills, ideas, and questions that you need to be an effective teacher of math.

Short of going back to school for a teaching degree, I think I may have found the answer through a fantastic math resource that we rely on heavily at Seabury. We've had training from these folks and we use these games and lesson ideas regularly in our classrooms.

Spend 5 minutes reading this article from MathForLove:
 https://mathforlove.com/2020/04/math-conversations-at-home/

and then 15 minutes watching creator Dan Finkel's Tedx Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=ytVneQUA5-c&feature=emb_title

and you, too, can start to be inculcated into the cult of math pedagogy. It may not be a degree in math teaching, but it's the best I can do for you in the equivalent of an e-mail.

Hang in there, everybody! Don't give up on the math!






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