HumaneMaths

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Teachers often feel quite burdened by the syllabus. However there are topics that can be left for the students to learn on their own, with some smart strategy on the part of the teacher.  One such topic is Scientific Notation.  I f you do not wish to teach it directly, this is what you do! Set clear objectives: At the end of this lesson, you should know:     How to convert a number to scientific notation/standard form.     And the reverse, converting a number back to normal form. Give the students a clear task sheet.  Preferably email to them do they can go to the required websites directly. The task sheet language should be SO clear that they don't have to come back to you with questions. (It is hard...took me 2 years to refine my language) Mine went like this: Go to the  site .  Learn about Scientific Notation Open the site 2 .  Read and understand the information on scientific notation.  Scroll do...

2 students teaching the whole class. In this picture, 2 students are teaching the whole class. One of them has  dyslexia  and the other one is an  Introvert . This is the end of the year, just a month before the exams, that time when we revise the syllabus. It is usually the most boring time for us! This class of mine was grade 6 at  PWSA So this is what I did! I asked the students to pick their best friend and the concept they were good at and revise together for the whole class.  To organize it properly, I put up a list of concepts and told them to scribble their name and date on the concept chosen. First come first serve.  There was a rush and within 2 days the list was covered.  Each pair had to share with me their plan and set of problems before teaching. They had to also give and correct the HW.  And I reserved the right to take over the class if it did not go well.                ...

Life Skill: Public Speaking They were the nutty twosome, always up to something for they were creative and intelligent. But they were also scared of public speaking. So pat I went ahead and asked them to teach! They were very shy in the beginning but with encouraging smiles from everyone and silence from my end, they tried and managed to run the lesson. They were happy..."can we do it again pease?". The class's response..."it's nice to have another face than the teacher..!"

She was gifted...and bored. She found the concepts too easy to capture but did not wish to be left on her own doing advance Maths. So I asked her if she wanted to take a new concept and design a lesson on it for the class. She agreed, with light in her eyes. She planned, shared the lesson with me and then launched into it fully with CW, HW, evaluation and corrections. She was good! She did not like me much as a teacher, but that day there was a grudging smile for me...

She was one of the most Math phobic students I had ever seen. By the end of the year, she wanted to teach during revision time. She chose Brackets. The magic was the Maths magazine project, and she was a language prodigy. The project was mind blowing, and she lost all fear of Maths class, enough to stand in front of the class and - teach. Life Skill: Self Confidence

Set them to work, step back into one's inner silence and simply watch. Take a deep breath and find in yourself the space where you don't immediately interfere when you feel that the balance is getting disturbed. Let the class flow...

This was by far one of the most popular charts in the class! Simply 'record your aha moment'. This students wrote only the day they really had an 'aha!' worth recording. To integrate value education, they had to write an aha that did not hurt another person. (So 'my aha moment is that Sara got a 0 in maths test' was not allowed at all and had to be whitened away!) Life Skill: Noticing positive moments

Divide the class into pairs.  Each student writes problems.  The students exchange notebooks and solve.  They re-exchange notebooks to correct the partner's work.  Give a score, a remark and sign.  What does the teacher do?  Give clear instructions and then simply watch the class hawk eyed to see how they work on their own.  Signing and writing a remark is so important here for that is when the role of emotions steps in.  The students are emotionally engaged in learning.  And they love it!

Students talking about their work is always a delight to watch and listen! They may be good at their work, however they need guidance when presenting so the focus is clear. I generally ask them: Explain what you have done Explain how you have done it Explain the joys and pains of the project Give me a suggestion for improving the task next time I love to watch their originality come through. There are always surprises - a weak in Maths student turns up a confident speaker; an introvert is discovered to be very creative...all in the day's work - discovering hidden talents in the students! Life Skills: Confidence, Thinking, Creativity

Students design problems in a topic Ask students to make problems.  This can be done in any topic. I usually ask them to: Design problems Solve them and get answers Exchange notebook  Solve peer's problems Exchange back to correct the work. Makes a great collaborative classroom and turns me into a facilitator Making problems helps work the mind in the reverse order.

Why is the formula for angle sum property of a polygon (n-2) x 180? This is what the students investigated by cutting a set of different polygons into triangles and arriving at a conclusion with their group! They had a clear task sheet for the work. They hummed, sang and chatted their way to the discovery. Even the most disinterested in Maths joined in --- eventually. 

Instructions given Student work The students were asked to analyze themselves taking the IB learner profile as the tool and then place their qualities on the number line. They did it very seriously and methodically! Next they worked on areas that were not that great about them and wrote a plan to get better. We also shared areas they were good at and how they strategized! Life Skill: Reflection

This has been motivated by the desire to make Revision time more interesting!                                                            1 I divide the children in groups according to the topic they wish to revise with group captains in each group. They work together and revise the topic. I start things off for them with general guidelines on how to work in a group and they take over... 2 They choose topics according to what they did best and they teach the class. Of course I guide them. 'Go over concepts briefly; 5 sums for C.W; 5 sums to assess; 5 sums for H.W'. I try and see that everyone gets to teach something. Even the one in the corner, believing himself to be rotten in Math gets a chance to teach something he was good in through the year!

"Contour maps" give a good way to bring alive negative integers. I Handed out a contour map to the class and had a short discussion. Then I asked students to make problems based on the map. They exchanged with peers and solved each other's problems. Exchanged notebooks back to be corrected. This was a difficult one, for many kids did not quite get the 'make the problems' part. :(

Mind map by a group Algebra can be scary! But n ot when you understand emotions and give them a chance to let out.  I wrote 'Algebra' in the middle of the page and asked the children to just let go. Write what they connect with. It was interesting, for in the beginning some of them hesitated to let out the feelings, but then they came out. And what a relief was in the air when some of them could say freely 'I find it so confusing'. Then we went on to the exercises... without much of the fear! What's the use of it one may wonder?! The use is that only when the emotional blocks are clear, can intelligence flow smoothly! Life Skill: Reflection

Another wonderful class where I could take a backseat while the peer teaching took over! I created groups ensuring at least one good in math student in each group. I set the work "Learn about interpreting graphs yourself", set the timer to 20 minutes and ... let go of the class. They chirruped softly and worked and I got on grappling with the school software with soft laughter in the background... Needless to say, the work was turned in by the time the timer rang through the rustle.

I asked a kid to explain something on the board to the entire class.  "No ma'am I feel scared", was the answer.  I grabbed the opportunity to make him face up to it.  On a prompt, the entire class cheered him and egged him to go for it.  Shyly he got up and explained the sum on the board...looking mostly at the board only! But he did it... and we loved him for it...! I more small change on its way to add to the previous ones.  Life Skill: Confidence, Cooperation