Love Mathematics or Hate it!

Do you love mathematics or hate it?  Why is there boredom, anxiety and alienation in Maths classroom? How can you be enthusiastic about it?  Here is why! First and foremost be patient, it will take time to master it and nagging at it won’t help.  Think of mathematics as a practice run that requires qualitative and applicable strategies.  

Step 1

Tell your students to relax and stay calm. Eliminate fear and discouragement from their minds. This should be your top priority. 

 

Step 2

It is best to teach Mathematics in the morning, I mean the first lesson period.  Interestingly, I teach a whole class and I encourage diligence with no distractions.  They work in an atmosphere of diligence with no chatting but high level of concentration

Step 3

It is important they learn and memorize formulas.  Encourage your students to continuously learn math formulas, including learners with negative bias. Advise them that formulas exist and are expected to memorize them.  Give then some formula drills before each lesson starts and even after school.  If you like allow them to chant and recite it. It’s not horrific rather it enhances and deepens their understanding of the topic.

Step 4

Provide high quality teaching materials. That is to say, use real objects, pictures and symbol.  Visual models are required for modeling mathematical problems.

Step 5

Another crucial factor for effectiveness, avoid loading students all at once on broad topics. Instead, strip down the curriculum and teach few topics but in greater depth. Teaching broader concepts tend to generate shallow levels  that produces bad result.

Step 6

Student must perform the same task before moving to the next concept, together.

On a final note, it is not compulsory to teach mathematics from broader concepts before breaking down a math’s problem into procedural steps.  Basically, my model demonstrates that students are capable of learning anything depending on how it is presented.

Stimulate  your students  mathematics skills!