It’s your weekly dose of Math Motivation Monday!
I don’t know that I am a very good blogger yet, but I am trying to get better. It took me some time to warm up to the idea, but I realized I had to jump in with both feet and try things out. I realized that I could only learn on the periphery without participating for so long; that it would only take me so far. I had to actually practice it to get better.
I also discovered I had a second problem. There were so many things going on in my brain… tons of ideas to blog about. Which should I start with? Will it be interesting to people? Will it help with #changingmathattitudes? Or will I crash and burn? It seemed like something potentially blog-worthy was happening every day!
Okay, by now you have likely had the same “Ah Ha” that I just did… this is just like math! It can be big and intimidating and overwhelming most times. And it becomes harder to want to try when you aren’t perfect with it. But… you have to jump in and practice to get better, or you will never make any improvement. You have to have a growth mindset. Math is not a spectator sport!
Math… for enjoyment???
Speaking of which, sports are usually enjoyable for people to watch and participate in. Most people wouldn’t see math as fun in either regard. I actually brought that up in a training this past week… and then this pic came across my Facebook feed:
How true.
Those who have been around me know that I often say that if a person can’t read very well, we feel sorry for them and take them by the hand to help them. But if someone says they can’t do math, we fall all over ourselves high-fiving and fist-bumping each other saying “me too!” That’s our culture, and the problem we are fighting. I think her quote leads to my quote. One causes the other to happen.
Don’t worry, I looked her up, and Rachel McAnallen is a real person. In fact, she has a website and talks about math to people. Cool! Wanna hear something even more amazing? She got her PhD at the age of 75. Wow! Talk about being a lifelong learner! Don’t ever let someone tell you they are too old to change their thinking or improve their skills!
Her website is http://zoidandcompany.com/, so go check it out. I noticed her dissertation is called “Examining Mathematics Anxiety in Elementary Classroom Teachers,” and I am seriously going to look it up and read it this week. And Rachel, if you read this, thanks for the great words and your work in the cause!
So, how do we math for fun? Just this week, I did it in a number of ways. I used math to track exercise (weights and reps, calories burnt, miles ran, pace, projections for a race in two weeks, and my overall weight). The math was enjoyable for me, because it helped me see personal improvement and progress towards goals. #mathinreallife #howiusedmathtoday
I also mathed this week while taking some boy scouts hiking. We had to use some problem-solving strategies to find the right trail, read the contour lines on the map to estimate steepness and elevation, determine direction using a compass and degrees (including declination from true north), and figure out distance hiked and average pace. GPS on the cell phone helped too, but we still had to have a conceptual understanding to know what it mean!
Finally, in a math training for teachers, we played with math by playing with square manipulatives. Well, actually, a bag of Starbursts. Rather than me asking them questions to answer for my sake, they came up with their own questions and then answered themselves. That approach works on students and children too… people are much more interested in the answer when their curiosity can run free (just ask Dan Meyer!). Did you know that with 4 bags of starburst, each one had exactly 79 pieces? And that red was more prevalent in each bag than the 25% ratio you would expect if it were random? And that yellow was the least favorite flavor (is yellow an actual flavor?) by all the people there except 1? I know, you want to jump up and go buy a bag to see if you get the same results and answer your own questions. You have my permission… after you finish the blog!
I think we math for fun when we make it applicable and timely. I think we math for fun when we play around with it, literally or figuratively. I think we math for fun when we value a conceptual understanding and multiple approaches to our answers.
Your turn… what are some ways that you have “mathed” for enjoyment? Tell me in the comments!
If you are a teacher, what will you do this week to help your students enjoy math? If you are a parent, how can you reinforce that love at home, or have them take it to school with them excited to share? Or, on a personal level, what can you do to make math fun this week?
Can we make a difference?
Sometimes I wonder if we can make a difference in the world with this #changingmathattitudes crusade… and then something like this happens to let me know the time and effort is worth it. This is from a letter written to me by my 9th grade daughter:
I hope to give her a lot of things. A love of math is one of them. This is especially poignant since it was in 9th grade that my wife went from a gifted student in math to someone who still suffers from severe math anxiety today. When she was struggling with a particular math concept and (somewhat reluctantly) went to the teacher for help, he told her she was just a “stupid girl” who “could never understand math.”
Tragic.
We can make a difference. We have to make a difference. It might be in our family, it might be in our students, it might be in our community, and it might even be in ourselves.
Here’s to our efforts!
Cheers,
Adam
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