Feb
28
It’s slowly becoming apparent that math education is failing our students across the country. This could be for any number of reasons- shorter school days, an overextended curriculum, fewer math teachers available to teach the material, the increasingly shorter attention span of students. The list goes on.
Out here where 60% of our high school students failed an exit exam with no fractions on it, we’re up against an interesting problem- a series of adopted curricula (YouTube video) that does little to address communicating actual math to our elementary students, leaving them ill-equipped to deal to a high school math program that leaves even experienced math teachers wondering.
Until a national math curriculum can be agreed upon and implemented, we have to figure out how to address this growing problem. Being weak in math is absolutely crippling. So much of what we do is based in math. Daily activities like shopping or cooking require some understanding of decimals and fractions. Many careers, especially those in any science, engineering, or business discipline, are heavily steeped in algebra and trigonometry.
Letting it go isn’t acceptable, but letting it stay in its current state is doing today’s students a disservice. These are kids who would much rather understand what they’re doing, despite their protests, than continue moving on to higher math levels because it will supposedly raise their self-esteem. I can tell you from experience, socially promoting these kids frustrates them. They know they were promoted to stay with their peers, and an unusually high number of them resent it because they know they don’t understand the new math they have to learn because they don’t understand what’s it’s built on.
What can we do? We can work to help these students become stronger in the basics. Even if all you do is get workbooks in various grade levels and help your student work through them, you’re giving them a much better chance at succeeding in math education. I’ve also recently started a math blog that tries to cover various topics to help students struggling with their homework (or parents struggling to help their students with their homework).
Do something. Take action. Your student will really appreciate it, even if they never say it out loud.
Feb
27
I’ve never been shy about the fact I can’t draw.
I can do nearly any other art you put in front of me, but the only way I’ve ever been able to draw (and Dead Bunny brilliantly illustrates this) is with either a School Tools book (which they sadly no longer make) or a Geometer. You give me a way to make geometric shapes, I can finally draw something other than stick figures.
Designing awe-inspiring pieces through geometry isn’t just a draw-inept artist’s means of creating. It’s actually one of the most ancient forms of designing. Take a look around at ruins, at less-ancient European cathedrals. You’ll find the most intricate, eye-catching designs in mosaics and stained glass windows, all done in the piecing together of geometric shapes.
Feeling a little draw-challenged? Start working in geometric shapes!
Feb
27
I love following fictional archaeologists. I’ve always enjoyed playing Tomb Raider. I hated missing episodes of Relic Hunter. The last Indiana Jones movie is one of my favorite ways to pass a rainy afternoon.
Last year, I spent a good portion of the dig season following the adventures of real-life archaeologists as KV 63 was excavated.
I’d never be able to convince myself to do anything more volunteer on a dig (and I really need to find myself doing that at some point), but I do love the idea of archaeology. You get to poke around where people lived. If you’re really lucky, you find something, however small, that tells you something about how those people lived. Even better, you find something that leaves you wondering about the originating culture. It’s a mystery, a puzzle to be solved. And I love a good puzzle!
While some people do get to chase their dreams of being a professional archaeologist, many are left unable to land so much as a research position. Some of them change professions. Others become unlicensed archaeologists, turning into the mercenary tomb raiders fiction loves to show off for us.
It’s just fascinating. Some people are content to be amateur archaeologists. Some people leave you wondering what they were taught in their archaeology courses. My museum science-trained self can’t help but wonder what goes through the minds of these “tomb raiders” as they’re unearthing and selling these artifacts off the grid.
Feb
26
“If you’ll not settle for anything less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish in your lives.”- Vince Lombardi
So often, my students tell me they can’t do the skill we’ve just discussed. A lack of self-confidence is often part of what has brought them to me anyway, so I smile softly and ask them why? They always tell me they don’t know why, but they know they can’t do a problem. I make them try one anyway, usually with a, “Give it a try. You just might surprise yourself.”
This conversation usually repeats itself while the student is working on mastering the skill, but when the same skill shows up later, the student often tackles it without thinking, simply because they know they can do it.
Sometimes, we face a skill that we’re positive we’ll never master, or a situation we’re sure we’ll never make it through successfully. Because a fear of failure has become ingrained in our society, so many of us walk away from the skill or situation, giving up on ourselves for fear of failing.
What we’ve really done is sold ourselves short.
When you try something outside your comfort zone, when you refuse to let yourself give in to the fear of potential failure, you give yourself the chance to grow, to find out you can succeed in unfamiliar territory. That is one of the greatest confidence builders out there.
Don’t sell yourself short. Don’t be afraid to fail. Don’t be afraid to try. Amaze yourself with what you can do when you put your mind to it.
Feb
26
It occurs to me that this would actually make a great writing exercise.
It would force you to really focus on what you’re trying to say, encourage you to not waste words.
I think it would lead to tighter writing on both a small and large scale. The math geek in me is already seeing this as scalable to larger projects (their fault for working out of 100).
I’m going to have working on incorporating this into my writing practice.
Feb
25
I was pretty excited when I first heard about She’s Such a Geek. Essays written by women who have more than flirted with math, science, engineering, writing, and gaming? I was so there!
In fact, I highly recommend it to my students. It’s that good.
I’ve also started reading the main blog, occasionally following links to an entry written by one of the author’s at her own blog. I have yet to be disappointed.
I’ve been wrestling with my own sense of geek ever since I moved to Washington. Once upon a time, I watched nearly every science fiction television show. I liked playing in the chem lab, even if I hated balancing equations. Despite a bad showing in both algebra and geometry, I did exceptionally well at precalculus and calculus. I’ve always played on any computer I came near…up until I got my own computer. Now I play on my laptop, and play on other computers if I don’t have my laptop handy. I’ve always played any nearby video game I could, even while not owning my own. (The boys fixed this at Christmas when they gave me my much-loved DS Lite.) I take great pride in the fact i was an informal science teacher, and would still drop everything to help kids explore science topics. I love being a math tutor, and laugh at the fact that girls who suffer from the mindset that girls can’t do math are often placed with me to help shake them of that horridly old-fashioned notion. It’s a rare day that goes by where I’m not watching anime, and the fact that I have three unread manga on my shelf scares people.
A lull in my access to gaming and the availability of decent sci-fi shows led me to this feeling that I was completely out of touch with all of it, and in fact had no right to claim any of that life I grew up with. My friends here often respond to something I do or say by simply saying, “Geek.” I fight it. I fight it tooth-and-claw. I really feel like I just can’t claim that at all, like I’m a fake.
She’s Such a Geek has actually changed my mind. Even if I did have that gap in my life experiences, it doesn’t change the fact that I have geek tendencies, that I am a geek. I’ve been slowly trying to make peace with the fact that I actually am a geek. The fact I’m not the same flavor or level of geek as my roommates or friends is immaterial because I am my own weird blend of geek that is still a valid form of geek.
I was a geek. I am a geek. I will forever be a geek. SSAG really helped me understand that.
Where it lost me is in the attempt of many of the essayists to come to terms with both their geekiness and their femininity. In so many cases, there was talk of sex (the act, not gender) was key to making or breaking their careers. At one point, one of the essayists left me asking the same questions I was asking of William Gibson’s Cayce Pollard. Why did I need to know about certian things that are inherent to being a woman simply because of human anatomy and biology? I get the gender issues. I was one of two girls in a gaming group (the best group of people I’ve ever hung with), I was the oddball girl in charge of the Pokemon League and my LARP chapter, but I was also one of the guys…even if the guys knew full well I was a girl. Maybe I just ran into the right groups of male gamers.
Women can do math, science, and technology. Fine. Good. I completely agree with that (because if I didn’t, I’d be a huge hypocrite). Women face old-fashioned, unfounded stereotypes. Yep. True story, and many of us have fought those in our own way. Women either have to completely suppress their sexuality or overwork it to get anywhere in a room full of guys. Um…check your calendars, ladies. While I have had a little too much fun using the fact I’m a girl to get things to happen within a gaming group, I have never needed much more than that to gain whatever power I’ve needed, and I’ve watched groups completely shredded by girls who have either suppressed or overused their sexuality.
It’s going to be hard to gain any sort of equal footing for both genders when the act of sex (both completely present and completely absent) continues to be such a major part of the equation.
Anyway, I’ve gone off on a tangent inspired by one of the last essays in the book. Just go read the book. Make the girls in your life read it. It’s worth it.
(Because I think it’s a bit funny, I’m sitting here watching one of my favorite movies, Contact, simply because I stumbled upon it while trying to find something else entirely. This is my idea of a chick flick!)
Feb
25
“Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.â€- Albert Einstein (Source)
I’m not happy if I’m not being useful. I don’t know why, but this has been true for a very long time. If I can help, I do. Sometimes I help even when I really can’t. It’s a weird affliction.
People tell me that I need to learn to say no more often, but I really just can’t do it. It’s a blow to my attempts to maintain a distant, unkind front. I have this helpful aura about me, despite myself.
As a result, I’m always looking for yet another way to help people. The Dead Bunny blog is a perfect example of this. It wasn’t enough for me to reach out to local students who need help in math. I had to create this blog to reach a wider audience. I think it’s actually the first time I’ve ever created a blog with the express purpose of reaching an audience.
Of course, as a natural teacher, I’m always adding some sort of value whenever I’m talking about just about any topic. It’s earned me a few interesting nicknames over the past year or so… But it’s also left me feeling like I’m not doing enough, like I could be doing more.
“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.†—J. Pierpont Morgan (Source)
About a year ago, I realized that I needed to do something. I had to shake off a rather large failure in my past and figure out how to move forward. Moving forward meant finding a profession where my unique combination of talents and passion would be well-utilized. After exploring job descriptions, I’d come to the slow realization that this meant being in a position where I can create educational experiences and still occasionally teach. A friend suggested I look into instructional design, not realizing I had already considered it. After much research, I finally realized that instructional design by and large focuses on adults, and I want to remain K-12 oriented.
This led to my applying for several freelance writing jobs. To my delight, many of the employers liked me. To my minor dismay, they liked someone else a little bit more. I still found the whole experience encouraging. It helped me feel like I was on the right path, that I was moving forward in some invisible way.
About a month or so ago, I discovered that many of the K-12 educational jobs that intrigue me look more for interactive media experience rather than instructional design. It’s led to my changing my approach to trying to find my path, but in the end is still going to lead me back to school, I suspect.
As long as I can keep moving forward, clearing away the things that don’t fit and building up the things that do, I know I’ll get there.
Feb
23
Today is really going to just be about sharing some of the posts I’ve been reading lately. The other day I was thinking about the new class of educational toys. Today I’m thinking about computer and video games. This might be because I have my interview with the Art Institute this morning to discuss whether or not their Interactive Media program is a good fit for the shift I’m trying to push myself through. I suspect by the time it’s all said and done, she’s going to recommend I find a more technical school…but we’ll see.
Okay…recent games reading:
- Racial ambiguity in games- Like Mrs. Dewey, it appears that games are starting to feature characters that are designed in such a way that most people can find something to identify with. I don’t know if I’ve ever thought to identify myself with Mario or Lara Croft, but I think this is just awesome. Designing with multiculturalism in mind can open up what you can do with a game, but at the same time, it also runs the risk of breaking down cultural boundaries, and potentially making it okay to generate a homogeneous culture instead of celebrating what makes various cultures unique.
- Hotel Dusk: Novel or Game?- I’ve been working on figuring out the Change Your Own Adventure development process for what I hope will become a series of games where math will help determine your path through the story, so finding out about this one excited me. I’m going to have to see if I can pick up a copy to see how they did it. One of the potential benefits of a game like this is that it can either breed an interest in reading in kids who wouldn’t normally read for fun, or it could pull avid readers into gaming (thereby encouraging them to become more social).
- Today’s Homework: Make Good Games- I remember when I was in middle school, my life science teacher thought it would be fun for everyone to create games designed to help us study for a test. It was a lot of fun. We each worked on our own, and I think mine was a version of Monopoly with a trivia element to it. It was awesome because I got to design something, and just creating the game helped me study for the test. When I got to make the box of reading games for one of my teacher prep classes, I thought that was pretty cool, too. I love playing games. I love solving puzzles. I love creating treasure hunts. And I love creating games, even if my experience up until this CYOA one has been low-tech.
- Game over- Play again?- Okay, so I really like this one! When I was a kid playing Donkey Kong Junior and Mario, it was all about how wonderful the games were for teaching things like problem solving and hand-eye coordination for us less athletically gifted kids. Now, games are hailed for being able to draw people together socially as they work together on MMORPGs or through xBox Live. Even the Wii is already being praised for getting gamers off their couches. (And if you have yet to play with a Wii, I highly recommend it. It is more fun than any one person should be allowed to have indoors!) The one unsung skill taught by gaming, though, is the ability to make mistakes and be completely fine with it because you know you’ll get an other chance. It’s actually a subskill of the problem solving skill. You try something. You die. You think, ‘So next time, I’ll try this instead.’ Which you do. It kills you. Finally, you figure out the right solution, and you keep going. No fuss. No stress over doing it “wrong”. It’s just an attempt. Smart gamers carry this skill, like the others, in their back pocket to help them get through real life. And it’s true.
Gaming isn’t a panacea to all of education’s ills, but it can be great for reinforcing skill development. And I’m starting to see why I’m gravitating back toward it, just from an educator’s perspective.
Feb
22
When I was in grad school, I had to take a rather encompassing design class. We learned how to design exhibits, signage, brochures.
The one design element that was discussed in every situation was line.
The reason for this is simple: line can help a designer tell the audience where to look without being overly overt. Paintings arranged carefully can tell a reader to follow a z or spiral pattern to see everything. A lack of line in an exhibit’s layout encourages a visitor to explore the space in their own way. Well-placed lines in a brochure can help a skimmer quickly determine what’s important in the brochure.
Line is a powerful design element. It should be used with care and with purpose.
Feb
21
As my thoughts on my future try to narrow in on a plan and a back-up plan for my career shift, I’m finding my reading shifting away from e-portfolios and adult-centric e-learning to information architecture/literacy and K-12 media and games. The more I read, the more I think about things, the longer I’m at my current job, the more I want to get involved in creating products to help students acquire and review math skills. (Actually, I want to be involved in more than just math, but it’s what’s got me fired up for so many reasons.) Right now, I’m just trying to figure out how to position myself to move into that kind of work.
It’s quite the time to try to figure out how to shift to a different informal education niche. The education industry as a whole is going through a rather large shift that may involve sliding in and out of paradigms as it grows to accommodate the accelerated changes in our society. Children are able to reach out and learn in many different ways and from many different sources. With a little training, they can learn what sources can be trusted, and what sources should either be reinforced with information from other sources or discarded altogether.
But I digress from my actual reason for writing today. My point is that children love to explore. They love to learn initially. They like to copy what grown-ups do because they know that’s part of becoming a grown-up. They mimic. They make knowledge their own. They find their own ways of doing things.
More often than not, they do it at a rate that is faster than their parents are able to adapt to the current new world order. Think about it. I’m a member of the video game generation. While my parents enjoyed sitting down to play favorite games when we first got the Coleco, I was the one who played nearly every game we had. When I was given a Nintendo right after they came out, Mom and Dad had their games, but again, I was the one who played nearly all of them. Now, they IM me for help on the computer (even though Mom is far more computer savvy than she realizes). Along with my technological toys, I had my Fisher Price kitchen so I could pretend to cook like my mom. I had my blocks so I could try to make my own buildings. I had no end of art supplies so I could create my own works of art.
I had access to toys my parents couldn’t have imagined when they were kids, but they helped me be able to successfully navigate my way into the grown-up world I had to deal with. Today’s children are now doing the same thing- except their toys are kid-friendly computers, cell phones, and other technological toys. Where I learned to design with my Crayola caddy, they’re using Crayola products that can do far more than my crayons and markers ever could. Where I learned to write BASIC programs and draw in Paint (both of which i did toward the end of elementary school), these kids are learning their way around WYSIWYG editors and kid-friendly programs to create with a computer. Many of them move on to harder programs by the end of middle school.
The kids show the grown-ups how to use the “basic” technology toys in use. It’s because it’s the world they’re growing up into. They become familiar with these now so that they can be prepared to quickly adapt to newer technologies as they develop.
Are we stealing their childhood from them by allowing them access to these types of toys, or are we allowing them to explore, to play, to discover?
Inspired by this article
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