How does your maths teacher teach maths? (2 Viewers)

[Schoey93]

How does your mathematics teacher teach the subject? In the old-fashioned way that most teachers seem to use: "here are some worked solutions, now do fifty similar contrived questions from the textbook"?

I find that I enjoy mathematics more when I solve a problem that I created myself than when I do contrived questions from a textbook. It has a purpose then, there is a goal. You're not just sketching y=x^2 because a textbook tells you to - instead, you're doing something that's relevant to you and you're doing it because you want to, not because the textbook or the teacher wants you to. Does anyone else feel the same way?

Does anyone have a maths teacher that encourages them to create their own problems to solve during class, rather than just asking you to do what the textbook prescribes?

I would like to hear what people's maths classes are like. My only experience of maths in school has being year after year doing contrived questions that come from books.

Share your positive or negative experiences of maths classes here.

 

[Schoey93]

Bump!

 

[Klutsov]

We do the questions from the textbook. Its alot like rote learning.

Although, earlier in high school, we did practical lessons while learning about Trigonometry (ie. finding the height of a building in the school, etc.) and a few other topics.

 

[khorne]

The point is, textbook questions are designed to test your knowledge of specific elements of questions, and varying in difficulty..When you get to a later stage, i.e HSC, there is no way you'll be able to create "interesting" questions which match what is expected in the HSC, or even the difficulty. This is why you do textbook questions. However, most questions in 3/4U maths are generally different and can be quite fun to work with.

 

[darkcounty]

What's the point? The HSC doesn't require you to make your own problems.

 

[elmoateme]

What's the point? The HSC doesn't require you to make your own problems.

I'm guessing because hes doing year 10 maths, which is obscenely boring. Mind you, come HSC time there won't be much point, because you will find more interesting questions (with answers) in past HSCs and your textbook, especially doing 4U. Personally I don't see how making your own question up purely for the purpose of solving it makes it any more relevant to you, but whatever floats your boat.

Anyway, my teacher generally dictates some general information about the lesson topic, and then goes through a few worked examples on the board with us. Gets pretty dry, quite often im too lazy to copy it all down. Most of the textbook work occurs as homework, in 4U you don't really get much time for doing bookwork in class.

Another teacher at my school doesnt even go through examples though, he pretty much hands out sheets with worked examples that another teacher at our school wrote, and then gives textbook work. Mind you, I think thats largely because he doesnt generally teach 4U.

 

[SImon05089]

Well, for my first year of High school, the teacher just teaches us about the concepts, do a couple of examples, then we do the whole exercise! I usually complain and beg her for less work, seriously back then I was soo lazy. Still am

Now, still the same, examples then exercises, but honestly this year for year 10, we have this teacher, who explains a simple simple concept and takes almost a period (40 minutes), seriously she is so waste of my time. Most times, as soon as I start class, i would just get my textbook out and start the exercises, cus, after she takes 1 period of explaining, she gives us 2-3 exercises. I would rather finish the work in 2 periods instead of doing h/w!

My tutor maths teacher is really good, he always gets us thinking, he seriously does!! omg, he's just soo good, he is like a God mathematician to me, but i hardly complete h/w for him, I feel sorry...

I don't know if my post is relevant or not, but anyways a good maths teacher is not the best mathematician in the world. A good maths teacher is someone who knows how to communicate his maths knowledge to other people!! Well thats what my tutor maths teacher told me!

If you don't understand a concept, ask!! Next year if u dont ask, you're screwed!!

But anyways, sorry for the long post, and Good Luck everyone with your studies!! Especially Maths!! cus you will notice that you will spend more time in Maths 3Unit than all the other subjects combined!!

So yeah GOOD LUCK everyone

 

[x jiim]

My maths teacher knows that if he let us make up our own problems, we'd make them obscenely easy to get out of doing work. Anyhow, he generally goes through the basic theory, works through a couple of questions with us, then gives us a sheet or textbook exercise for homework. In the rest of the lesson we can ask him or other people about questions we don't get, which we generally abuse to talk, throw small projectiles, annoy each other etc. It actually works pretty well, most of the time x]

 

[sinophile]

My prelim teacher came second in the state back in the day. His lectures were full of technical tangents and he spoke really really fast.

My HSC tecaher jumbled up his sentance and spoke really slow. I didn't learn well from either of them.

 

[lpodnano]

My teacher shows us how to do the worked examples and explains them and then we do the rest. I actually prefer working on my own. I find that when I do an exercise by myself without any teacher brooding over my work and slowing the whole class down at the same pace it is a lot more enjoyable.

 

[santiii]

My old teacher would teach us and then set us stuff from the textbook. He was a good teacher.

I'm scared for next year because I've met my teacher and he likes to wear purple and yellow jeans and Hawaiian shirts. And he is 40+ ... its going to be an interesting year!

 

[Schoey93]

Creating your own problem to solve takes more effort than just answering questions from a textbook. That's the point - that's why I enjoy it more. I can also create problems that relate to everyday activity or the physical world, which are distinct from contrived questions.

I just think that a good maths teacher should be able to do a lot more than just teach from a textbook. I have not had one maths teacher who has not used the textbook to teach at least 90% of the course. If copying some worked examples out of a textbook the students don't use and then setting exercises from the textbook they do use is what being a maths teacher is all about, anyone could do it. I could do it, for goodness sake! And I'm 16!

I know that maths teachers also explain concepts, but in my experience they only do that when students ask questions. And in some classes that isn't very often.

 

[adriano_negr0]

Well I just learn maths best by a teacher talking to us then asking questions and going through worked solutions
Thats why I really dnt care about my maths teacher aslong as they're not retarded

 

[FTW]

My maths teacher is really nice! She doesn't care if we are late and tries to listen to any problems we have (whether it has any relevance with mahts or not!). My class has had her for the last 2 years now and we now have her next year as well. Because we've (the class) have got to know her so well, its become less like a normal teacher student relationship (I know it sounds weird) or the way a teacher usually teaches a class. She interacts with each person individually to adress their problems and if someone has a good prolem then she write it on the board for all of us to do. We do a bit of rote work which she writes on the board but majority of people don't do it, they prefer to work at their own pace and pick out questions that they feel appropriate. We also sometimes have just discussion lessons or lessons where she will just do examples on the board and we ask questions which is nice for a change.

 

[Schoey93]

My maths teacher is really nice! She doesn't care if we are late and tries to listen to any problems we have (whether it has any relevance with mahts or not!). My class has had her for the last 2 years now and we now have her next year as well. Because we've (the class) have got to know her so well, its become less like a normal teacher student relationship (I know it sounds weird) or the way a teacher usually teaches a class. She interacts with each person individually to adress their problems and if someone has a good prolem then she write it on the board for all of us to do. We do a bit of rote work which she writes on the board but majority of people don't do it, they prefer to work at their own pace and pick out questions that they feel appropriate. We also sometimes have just discussion lessons or lessons where she will just do examples on the board and we ask questions which is nice for a change.

That's what I think a teacher of any subject should be like. I don't like those lazy unhelpful teachers who get to school at 9 am and leave straight on 3 pm ... they chose to teach so one would expect they enjoy helping people, not slacking off! I wish Mrs Lowery (my Year 10 maths teacher) was/could be like how your teacher sounds.

The teacher I had is the Mathematics Coordinator at the school. She is the best mathematician in the school (Marian Catholic College, Kenthurst) without a doubt, but she focused too much on whizzing through the textbook than explaining things. I think maybe she forgets that even Stage 5.3 maths students struggle from time to time... I don't know... part of the problem was the class's disinterest in the subject!

 

[specky2009]

Yeah my teacher just makes us do textbook questions as well. She tells us the new topic or rule etc, then writes out examples on the board and then we do questions from the textbook. I guess it's alright because there is a set pattern for each lesson so you know what is going to happen. But it gets a bit repetative and boring which makes it easier to diverse, lol especially in my class.

 

[klaris]

My maths teacher would try and explain algebra to us by using fruit. And yes, he would bring fruit to class.

"Now, apples and bananas don't mix so just throw the banana away, you don't need that *tosses banana over shoulder* Now, what do you get when you times 2 of these apples against two of nothing?"

*class blinks blanky*

"Ahh, well *eats apples*

And my parents wonder why I hate maths and do shit in it.

 

[Sampri93]

One reason why I hate maths is because of my teacher. (Yeah, I've had the same one since Year 8, luck of the draw I guess.)

He's an advocate of putting up a brief explanation on the board/projector, and then leaving us with a massive workload of questions.

It works for some, but I seem to learn better with a slow approach to new topics, and plenty of examples. Independent maths sucks.

 

[ninetypercent]

textbook questions
and then exam style questions

seems to work for me coz I'm pretty good at maths

 

[Shadowdude]

Maths for me is like this:

Wait outside, look at some interesting thing outside the classroom with the teacher for about 2 minutes (like the construction site), "Okay, let's go inside", we take our seats, some jokes and banter, write up topic and short explanation, short speech as he writes examples and works through them, then some discussion (sometimes we skip that and go straight to the 'he writes down the exercise and questions to be answered on the board'), he writes down the exercise and questions to be answered on the board, sits there and/or walks around as we work, bell rings, "We'll call that stumps" or "That was fun, let's do that again some time", witty comment from us, we leave classroom.