Picture this: it’s a random Tuesday. You’re in high school heading to your Algebra 1 class. You arrive just before the tardy bell rings. You take your seat in one of the rows facing the front of the room and pull out your notebook. Your teacher goes to the board and begins to write down notes. You copy down the new concepts and examples and try a couple problems on your own. A couple of students raise their hands to ask questions. After this, your teacher writes the homework on the board: 1-55 EOO (every other odd). The bell rings, you gather your belongings, and head to the next class.

Sounds familiar?

For many of us, our math classes were similar to this. We were given lots of information to memorize and repeat back on quizzes and test. This style of teaching worked for me as a student, so I tried to mirror this when I became a teacher. I found out QUICKLY that this style of direct instruction was not effective. Some of my students could repeat my steps and processes, but I did not lead them through the exploration of the why. I did not encourage thinking beyond working an algorithm because…that’s not how I was taught.

Now let me say this. I appreciate every math teacher I’ve had. I learned to appreciate the beauty of numbers because of them. However, as I continued in my teaching career, I realized the learning math is less about numbers and equations and more about thinking critically, perseverance, and tenacity. It’s about the lightbulb moment that students get when they make really deep connections. THAT’S the stuff that matters.

So in short, the phrase “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” doesn’t apply to teaching lecture-style 100% of the time. That style is absolutely broke, so let’s fix it! There are definitely moments where direct instruction is necessary, but if that is all there is, we miss opportunities to encourage student voice, student choice, and deep thinking.

Oh, and it’s okay to let kids use a calculator!

Here are a few questions to reflect on:

1. What was my math experience like in school? Is this something I’ve been emulating in my career?
2. How might my students learn best? How might I find this out?
3. What is one new element I can add to my teaching that encourages independent student thinking?

What was your experience like? Feel free to leave a comment below!

Hope this was helpful. Thanks for reading 🙂