A Message from the VP of Elementary Math

A Message From your VP of Elementary Math, Margaret Williams:

Starting off the year right means conveying your values to your students from your first meeting and throughout the year. What does mathematics mean to you? What does it mean to your students?

If math class starts out the school with lots of fact practice and worksheets, what message does that send about your values?

What if our youngest learners began their school experience by exploring math tools through play? What if the adults in the room watched and listened and asked questions to draw out the children’s thinking?

What if your class began the year by creating and solving problems? Fawn Nguyen, creator of visualpatterns.org, s

uggests teachers pose open-ended and interesting tasks. For instance, many have seen this growing pattern and considered strategies for determining the 10th term:

 

What if we also posed problems such as this: If the figure below is the second term, what is the third?

Perhaps a student will describe the third term as 3 rows of three green trees and 1 black. Perhaps a student will determine that the third term as two rows, each consisting of 2 green and one black tree. What other possibilities could there be?

The importance of this task lies not in “being right” but in the children’s justification of their own ideas. What a wonderful way to set the tone for a classroom that nurtures sense-making and celebrates creativity of thought.

I wish you well as you begin a new year. Have courage and have fun! -M