Creating effective Math classrooms in high schools!

One of the greatest challenges that a Math teacher faces in today’s classrooms is to uplift performance levels, particularly who are not interested in math. Achieving to make students complete their assignments and handouts let alone convincing them to believe that math will somehow somewhat be necessary throughout their life despite its abstract nature observed from outside.

Research literature says that Mathematics has the least perceived interest among high school students worldwide. The question raises naturally, why? Why on the earth students generally tend not to involve with math although it is the most fundamental science ever? Undoubtedly, there are various underpinning factors behind such paradigms which I intend to discuss in another journal.

Rather my interest is to put forward a firm belief that an effective teacher, motivated with an instinct by the combination of hearth and mind, single-handedly may challenge all causes and relative factors act as the barrier to teaching and learning maths. A dedicated and persevere teacher on one of side the scale may outweigh every challenge laid out in their path.

Some key elements listed below make such difference and naturally support the abovementioned belief.

-         An effective teacher takes teaching seriously!

First of all, it is my duty to emphasize that teaching profession is one of the noblest profession ever. The personality that we reflect upon students inside or even outside of the classrooms is exemplified by them. As educators, we have to be aware that students do not merely receive a formal training of subject knowledge but education that shapes their character and mindset. It is not supposed to be taken as too light or casual when it comes to teaching, every single act, approach, pastoral care and a word of courtesy matter.

-         A math teacher should be equipped with great content knowledge and pedagogy!

Students’ first impression about a teacher is shaped with first lesson experiences. I believe a teacher should not have any particular defect in terms of subject knowledge to gain students’ trust at first sight. Before kicking a start, you should be aware of the curriculum delivered, scrutinize the syllabus content, even solve problem sets explaining them to yourself and finally be ready for any possible questions may raise by students.

Moreover, contemplate over the pedagogy that you had received theoretically in university years. This time you are going to put them all in practice and be aware that you will be a real-life actor that has to manage more than twenty students in a classroom on average. In this regard, know that effective teachers are great stealers! Observe your colleagues at your free periods and work out some of their practices or make judgments about your own performance, compare and contrast the activities you planned and existing practices in your cohort.

-         A math teacher should possess an immense desire to teach!

A math teacher should have a great desire and zeal to teach. Teaching is more likely to be an art than science. Being equipped with pedagogy or subject knowledge could be a good starting point but is not enough to call you a teacher that touches the heart of students. The latter requires outstanding desire and effort to make progress, enthusiasm towards teaching and trying to make a traceable difference in the lives of individuals. Try losing focus and motivation towards paychecks and divert them on the progress of each child in your classroom.

Some technical details:

-         Launch the lesson with an exceptional starter, an interest-booster!

It is important to highlight the importance of a good starter that boosts energy of students towards learning. An effective math teacher would always go out of routines, surprises his students, starts the lesson in a different way that synergies a positive atmosphere and activates the students’ receivers for a powerful learning.

-         Know your students and build rapport!

You should be calling your students by name comfortably within a week from the starting day. A great teacher knows where to be humorous and where to get serious. Students should feel comfortable with your presence in the classroom. Build a genuine relationship that is caring, friendly and respectful. Draw clear boundaries about the times you all will enjoy together and the time you purely spend on teaching and learning.

If possible learn more about their families, background and social circle so that you could gain a total understanding of their circumstances in and out of your classrooms. Make sure that, you are not making judgements and possessing any sort of unfair perceptions before getting them to know truly.

-         Share lesson objectives in a SMART way!

After a boosting launch activity, outline your lesson objectives in SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) form so that students would be aware fully what they are going to learn and what would be their responsibilities to achieve such learning outcomes.

Sharing the objectives of the lesson in the very beginning is very effective as students would know what is to be learned and how they will get there. An effective teacher jots down what students have to do to achieve the learning objectives (success criteria) and direct the lesson towards that aim with minimum disruptions.

-         Combine conceptual understanding and procedural fluency!

For a long time, researchers have made tremendous efforts to identify the core elements behind mathematical competency. These empirical efforts have led researchers to categorize mathematical knowledge into two main streams namely conceptual and procedural knowledge. One refers to the comprehension of mathematical concepts, operations, and relations while the other is knowledge of sequences and steps or actions that can be used to solve problems.

I believe a math teacher should have a good blend of both in their classroom setting. You may teach topics conceptually; connecting and relating smaller chunks to each other and form a web of knowledge. Afterwards, create fluency through rigorous practices along with specifically tailored worksheets. In this regard, you may further look into useful articles/books like ‘Growth mindset’ (Carol Dweck) and ‘teaching for conceptual understanding’ suggested by Jo Boaler.

-         Use technology to further enhance student understanding!

Maths is quite abstract in nature. However, many things could be more visualized and better understood with the help of technology. Sometimes displaying a subject relevant video of three minutes would worth of thirty minutes of verbal explanation.

There are various interactive websites and online graphical calculators or similar platforms that could make tremendous contributions to your teaching atmosphere.

-         Differentiate your instruction! Consider commonalities and differences in terms of learning skills!

Accept the fact that, all of your students have different levels of abilities and aptitudes. Each individual has their own way of learning and maximising the range of activities would enable the inclusion of most students in your learning circle as much as possible.

Some will understand instantly some will need of processing. Some might have named as audial learners some might visual. Therefore, you need to tailor your teaching methodology according to their needs and understanding. Differential instruction enables teachers to leave no child behind of their peers, every individual would somehow acquire an acceptable level of knowledge prescribed by the curriculum. Check out Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory for a further grasp of this.

-         Deploy various assessment for learning strategies!

Focus on learners’ development, whether they understood the topic in depth or not and whether shared objectives are achieved, these could be identified from the students’ individual work reflected on work in the pages of worksheets or their notebooks. You may utilise Petty’s (2009) ‘Find faults, fix and follow up’ (assessment is diagnostic) method to make sure that the necessary knowledge has been communicated to the minds of your students.

Keep students at the centre of teaching. Remember, more than your performance or act of teaching, their understanding matters!  Through AfL strategies (refer articles of Black and Williams) you receive instant feedback and assess learning by having a perfect communication line and rapport with each student. As Petty (2009, p.40) mentions “Communication and learning require that the following chain works perfectly:

What I mean → what I say → what they hear → what they understand”

Otherwise, it would be like the game of Chinese whispers and what is taught is not what is learned!

-         Use reflective practices always spare time to re-cap your lessons!

Try your level best to question students with open-ended questions for building their own learning as we define this as constructive learning. By means of these questions assess their understanding, give them a chance to reflect on their own understanding and with their own words.

Finally, re-cap all certain points that you desire them to remember, give them a chance to self-judge whether they have understood the intended learning outcomes.

Wishing you a very fruitful and stimulating teaching atmosphere!