5 Burning Questions to Math Teachers and Math Students (Answered)

5 Burning Questions to Math Teachers and Math Students

Below are the answers we received from our willing student and teacher participants. The answers are candid, honest and anonymous:

Answers:

Teacher:

1. I am much busier at the full time job. Lesson preparation is the most time consuming thing. Lesson plans don't actually get written on the job. For class management, it is easier to be strict at first, then ease up later rather than the other way around. Seating plans can be very useful to break up chatting kids, although I don't use them that often.

2. Students will usually get 20-40 min. of seat work depending on the lesson. It is difficult to avoid a lot of talking and notes but I try to vary it with activities. Things like math bingo work well as a transition from notes to seat work.

3. In math, I don't use much... algebra tiles are stupid. Only when I get to geometry and surface area do I use solids to show concepts. I try to do many short lab-like activities where kids physically measure stuff with rulers or stopwatches. It is important to get them out of the seat once in a while.

4. I typically try to mimic the textbook, although for physics I don't even use the text and then I go with what is in the IRP's or whatever they'll encounter in university. You must keep notation simple. They will get lost at something so simple as f(x) = g(x) and then you lose them entirely.

5. Yes. It's difficult in practice when you are a new teacher and already have enough preparation and marking. Just be patient and offer you time outside of class. Peer tutors are useful if your school has them.


Students:

Student #1:
Grade 9

1. I'm pretty comfortable and math is one of my favourite subjects and I'm comfortable because it isn't super hard and I know how to sorta do it.
2. I remember most of it. It will have to do with my future a lot because it is how to pay taxes and how to know how much space there is in a room so I can place a rug or something in it.
3. Not really slowly, because they want it to get done but you can always come after school and ask for help on the stuff we just covered.
4. Not to much, because it was all really easy and in class we covered much harder stuff.
5. He would do the math for us, not explain and tell us to just do the work sheet.

Student #2:
Grade 12

1. I don't mind math once I grasp the concept, but I have to study hard to completely understand.
2. I remember most of last year's curriculum because most of it applies to this year's course. I don't see much use in this knowledge in the future because I'm not looking into any professions involving a lot of math.
3. Yes, my teacher went at a comfortable pace for me and he covered all the material needed for the exam.
4. I improved my grade with the final exam
5. What I didn't like about my previous teacher's instructing style was that he didn't really like going over the homework if we didn't understand.

Student #3:
Grade 9

1. I actually really enjoy math and I'm mostly comfortable using it because I find it sometimes fun and I understand it.
2. I don't remember everything but I remember a lot of it. A lot of it is important for the future because it was about taxes, fractions and other things that will be helpful for the future.
3. Yeah, she was very good and went over things if people didn't understand. She covered all the material very well.
4. The final exam helped my final grade a lot because it was easier than the work we did in class.
5. She was pretty good but she had a really quiet voice so I had to sit at the front. Other than that, she was a really good teacher.

Student #4:
Grade 11

1. I enjoy math to some extent, I usually don't understand it so I'm not comfortable with using it.
2. My brain likes to do this thing called erasing all memories of things I don't understand or like during the summer... so I don't remember much. I remember learning about certain things, but I don't remember how to do them. I see a use for some of the stuff, but I really don't see when I will need to do factoring and stuff.
3. My teacher went at a very good pace and covered all and more material then was required for our exam.
4. I have to say my exam wasn't even close to representing my course mark. I was getting a solid B (76%) iin the course and then proceeded to get a fabulous 57% on my exam.
5. My math teachers is one of the best around. I don't think there is anything I don't like about his teaching method. Though, he does like to just give us the basic rules of the problem and then we have to take what he showed us and use the same concept for the harder questions. This is one thing that I am still having difficulty with, but that is just me.

Student #5:
Grade 9

1. I really, really like math except last year the text book was all about drawing diagrams and I didn't learn anything so I wouldn't be comfortable using math everyday.
2. I only remember the equations, not the diagrams which would be helpful in the future.
3. My math teacher went way too slow so the whole class began to lose interest and when the finals rolled along, we weren't ready.
4. I did pretty well, it raised my mark a lot, but everyone else who was in our class scored lower than the average mark.
5. I didn't like how my teacher gave notes without explaining them.