|
|
Part 1: Planning Meeting for the Drill and
Kill Math Association of America
At their first planning session annual Drill and Kill Math Association conference, the leaders discussed the need for bringing in new blood to their organization. Their ranks had been dwindling. “You know, I’ve been thinking” mused the Chairperson. “Pfttt. That’s news,” chortled the Sub-chair.
“Oh stop. This is important so listen up. There’s a new wind on the horizon. Have any of you read anything about constructivism? What about manipulatives? I think we need to change our focus. Math instruction isn’t just text books and a million practice problems anymore. I hear there’s another way.”
Silence greeted the Chair as she spoke. “Come on people! Our old ways just aren’t working. We’re losing our audience. We need to evolve like everyone else. So, I’ve engaged a recovering math phobic to be our keynote speaker at our conference.
Look at me!” she shouted when she noticed that her group had turned their chairs to look out the windows. “You’ll see. I think our group will be receptive.”
Keynote address – Drill and Kill Math Association of America
The lights dimmed as the audience shifted nervously in their seats. It was the annual conference of the Drill and Kill Math Association of America. This year, the conference planners had brought in a controversial speaker: a recovering math phobic.
The speaker moved hesitantly across the stage, her heels clipping softly on the polished wood floor. When she reached the podium, her fingers rattled her notes softly as she settled them near the microphone. The audience waited skeptically while she readied herself. She took a quick breath and began.
“I was a math phobic.” She paused to let the audience absorb her comment.
“My problems began in fourth grade, all those zeros in long division. Where were they supposed to go? I just couldn’t figure it out.” The teacher,” she paused. “The teacher tried to put me in the slow group.”
Heads in the audience nodded. Why that would be a good thing. She would have had a much easier time. What was wrong with that?
“From that day forward, I hated math” she spat.
The audience sputtered in horror.
“Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I hated math. Those dead numbers lay there on the page, doing nothing, meaning nothing. Every night it was: read the book, do a million problems. Who cared about how many feet of barbed wire one needed to fence a field? I didn’t. Geometry proofs? Why?” The speaker’s voice had increased in strength and volume. The audience sat silent, aghast at what the speaker had said.
“Ladies and gentlemen I am here today to tell you I am no longer a math phobic. I turned to a higher power; I placed my trust in statistics. It was math with meaning and I CAN do math” she screamed at the audience. “I can do math!”
“You see, as instructors of math, you have to make your instruction meaningful. You must connect mathematics concepts with your children’s lives. Make instruction interesting. Make it meaningful.” She paused and swept her gaze over the audience.
“Make it fun.”
A man shot up from his seat and shouted “Math fun? Math can’t be fun. It’s serious work. Children must practice! They need homework!”
“Of course they need practice sir, of course. Stop and think though of the children in your class with auditory processing disorders. Do you lecture a lot? Are your lessons presented visually as well as orally? What about the children with poor attention and weak reading skills? How are they going to understand math concepts just from reading the text?” Again, the speaker paused and spoke forcefully.
“I was not a child with a disability. I was probably smarter than many kids but I just could not organize those darn zeros. Think about this. If a smart kid ends up thinking she can’t do math, what about our children with learning challenges? I could do math. I can do math, and so can our children with learning challenges. Math knowledge is not going to come to students through a book. You need to engage their minds; you need to teach to their strengths and not instruct in a way that emphasizes their weaknesses.”
The audience collectively lifted one eyebrow and gazed quizzically at the speaker, interested in ways they might help more children in their classes.
The heckler shot out of his seat once more. “Alright, Ms. Math Phobic, tell us about this new way of yours.”
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
