Mathematics for Human Flourishing

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 The first part of this chapter that made me stop and think was when Su says, “Everyone cries out silently to be read differently.” I think what this quote means is that we as people are constantly forming ideas and “reading” people based on first impressions, their actions, what they look like, how they speak, etc. and these are not accurate representations of who they are. As educators, we must be as unbiased as possible when getting to know our students and work towards getting to know them as people with diverse interests, passions, and ideas.

In the context of my teaching experience, I think this relates to how students learn and take in information. For example, students may appear engaged in class taking notes, but when I ask them review questions the next day about the previous lesson, they have no idea what I am talking about. This may be an indicator of students “silently crying out” that they need more help with the material. I try to make sure students leave class with a stronger understanding of the day’s lesson by checking in with each student before they leave class and remind them to spend at least 20 minutes reviewing the notes/working on homework questions.  

 

The second part that stopped me in this chapter was with the quote, “If you are afraid to help kids with their [math] homework, you are teaching an attitude about math.” It makes me a bit frustrated hearing adults say things like:  “I’m not good at math, therefore I won’t do it”, “omg I’m getting a headache thinking about numbers”, “don’t ask me I can’t do math”, etc. It is also very often I hear statements like these in classes with other teacher candidates outside our cohort. If these teacher candidates continue to speak about math like this to their students in their classrooms, this would indirectly pass on stress and belief about inability to do math to students.

 

Reading: Su, F. Mathematics for Human Flourishing. University Press. Yale. Pp. 1-16

Comments

  1. Amanda FritzlanJuly 20, 2021 at 10:31 AM

    I completely agree with you about the frustration of people - and often student's parents - stating that they can't do math. There is a powerful popular myth that some people good at math and other's aren't. A part of being a math teacher is definitely to help students understand the ways in which they are mathematical and the ways in which they can be successful! I like that you have a practice of checking in with each student.

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