Have you ever asked your students the simplest question of all…..What is Math? Wouldn’t you be interested in their answers? In doing some researching, I stumbled upon Sara Van Der Werf’s blog post, I was absolutely curious to see what answers 11 year olds would give me. Within the first days of school, I wanted to post this questions so that they understand that they have a voice in my classroom.
We started off by watching this video… ( I needed to give them some context first before the discussion)
After watching the video, I gave students some think time so that they could ponder, question, and finally write down their answers. Then we started a group discussion and I recorded their answers. Just for reference, the word in the box is their one word, and the phrase after it is their reasoning.
I didn’t know what to expect. You could tell that the kids were really thinking deeply about their answers.
This one child who has been labeled a “troublemaker” in previous grade levels came up with this thought. It was really thought provoking (and literally powerful). Is this how he really felt when teachers/others would help him? Was he relinquishing his power?
Math is powerful. If you don’t understand and people help you…they take your power away from doing the problem.
For homework, I wanted to dig in more as to how they defined math. Here are a few responses.
A few closing thoughts about this activity….
- I wanted to encourage students to find their own voice. They were upfront and honest with their answers.
- Their answers were unexpected at times in that they put real thought into their words. I expected the students to tell me that math is equations, formulas, numbers, etc….but the students went a step further.
- One of my goals is to empower my students and build their confidence with problem solving.
I think this activity will be one of my mainstays in my curriculum. I wasn’t sure what the outcome would be, however I was proud to try something new and go with it. In reflecting, I wonder if I should show the video after their initial answers rather than before. Many of their answers replicated some of the video but that’s not the end of the world.
Until next time,
Kristen
