Five Burning Questions

Teacher Questions:

1. How have you motivated students who are not naturally excited about math?



2. Do you make use of different technologies in your class to encourage different learning styles, if so what are they and how do you implement them?



3. How do you feel about the current math curriculum, what is good what isn’t? Do you feel that there is a growing disconnect between math 12 and what is expected/necessary for first year university math?



4. From the time that you started teaching in a high school until now, have you ever been bored? If so, how did you deal with the issue of boredom?



5. When do you plan to retire? Do you plan do go into administration?

Teacher Responses:

I had the opportunity to ask two teachers these few questions; they will be referred to as teacher A and teacher B. Teacher A has been teaching high school math for about 10 years now and has taught mostly in international schools in Asia, namely Macau, China and Korea. She graduated from Australia. On the other hand, teacher B has taught in Canada for a total of 9 years, 2 years in Ontario and 7 years in British Columbia. He is teaching in a large public school in the Vancouver region. He graduated from Ontario.

Response to question 1:

Both of the teachers expressed that they try to give students questions that they can handle, in order for them to feel successful and to gain some confidence, this is where they would gain their interest in math. For example, “working with these students one on one and making sure they know how pleased I am when they do well on tests, quizzes or assignments.” was teacher B’s response.

Response to question 2:

Both teachers use computers and certain softwares to teach their lessons. Teacher A works in a school where all students have a computer and are networked with the teacher’s computer, so she can do things live on her computer in order to teach her students, this is very engaging for students living in a age where they are always around technology. Teacher B does not have the same luxuries as teacher A, nonetheless he also uses a computer and a projector for his class.

Response to question 3:

Teacher A said that AP calculus is the goal for most students at her school, and she feels that it prepares them quite well. She finds no issues of the curriculum that she is teaching right now. Teacher B on the other hand hasn’t found any concerns so far in the new grade 10 curriculum, since it is the beginning of the year. However, he did mention that there is less material to teach so there is more room to explore with new activities that he has thought of so far to help with the students learning.  He also mentioned, “I think students learn differently than before internet became available and technology became so advanced. Now, students are accustomed to retrieving information instantaneously and networking in larger groups. There almost seems like an impatience to learn when the Socratic method of teaching is used.” I found this to be the most useful knowledge to know about how students like to learn these days.

Response to question 4:

Teacher A said that she has felt boredom but it was because she was teaching the same things in the same way due to not having much access to resources. However, in order to get over her boredom she started doing more research online for new ways to use technology and read up on tweets about all these things other teachers were doing in other schools to improve her teaching style. Teacher B on the other hand, mentioned that he has never been bored since he has been always creating new lesson plans each year he teaches.

Response to question 5:

Both teachers expressed that they are not interested in administration; however that might change in due time.

Student Questions:

1. Do you think mathematics is useful in life? Why/why not?

2. Why do you think students dislike or like math?

3. When learning math, does it help to see real life applicable examples and applications or is it enough to know that something works and to see an example of it whether or not it has an obvious application?

4. What would you change about the way mathematics is being taught if any?

5. Would doing group research projects be helpful and is it something that would make your math class more enjoyable for you?

Student Responses:

Student who enjoys mathematics (Based on responses given):

Math gives us a basic knowledge to be able do everyday things, such as handling a budget and ones finances and is an important skill to know how to apply math and to show some understanding of simple math in many careers.
For many students math seems to be a rather daunting task, this can be attributed to the “wordiness” of many math problems which makes simply understanding the problem an issue, never mind actually solving it. Furthermore, it is one thing to see a teacher do an example on the board and have it look nice and easy but, for a student to do the math on their own is more difficult, especially when the question is not worded very clearly.
When trying to help students better understand mathematics it often helps to capture their interests by presenting real life examples and applications as opposed to just showing an example that works.
From the perspective of this student, some important qualities that a math teacher should possess are to be well organized, knowledgeable of the subject area and has clear goals for their teaching and learning objectives, and is available and willing to help students as often as possible.
Group projects can be seen as a good way boost marks but more importantly it gives students a chance to learn about math in different ways. A project is a nice change of pace from doing math problems day in and day out. This could be something good to do at the end of a unit, term, or the end of the year. However, it would be a good idea to keep in mind that, especially in the higher grades, most students already have a lot of other projects and larger assignments to do and that we should be aware of this and not overburden them with something that they really wouldn’t appreciate doing at the end of the year. If you are going to give a group project to students in either math 11 or math 12 it may be received better nearer the beginning of the year instead of nearer the end of the year.

Student who doesn’t enjoy mathematics

I was to interview the student who disliked mathematics.  Based on his response to our 5 burning questions, it was obvious to note that this student does not favor mathematics.  However, even though he disliked mathematics, he was able to admit that mathematics did have useful benefits in reality.  An example that he gave was related to purchasing items to renovate a house.  The student also mentioned that he was not interested in the applications of mathematics in reality; he would simply be content to know the steps to get to the right answers.
Like many other students who struggle with mathematics, the common issue among them is the need for more time to get their work done and constant practice to help them remember the steps more efficiently.  It is true that mathematics is one of the hardest subjects to learn in high school, from this student’s perspective, he seemed to prefer instrumental mathematics over relational mathematics due to the fact that mathematics is not really an interest of his. 
Since mathematics is not interesting to this student, he would want to get his work done and over with as soon as possible.  Thus he preferred learning and working on mathematics in a private tutoring environment, where it is only him and either a teacher or tutor to teach him the mechanics of solving the math questions.
When I asked him what he thought about the concept of group projects, he replied by saying that he would not be able to concentrate on both talking with group mates and working on mathematics.  He preferred sticking to the curriculum and keeping it simple, so that he can finish his mathematics education quickly.

Group: (Niyaz, Howard, Matt)