Teacher Tuesday

Here are some little things that will help your student as they get older in their math class. Some are obvious. Others may not be. I am looking at this from a high school teachers perspective of what skills students need to already have.

1. Always have students show their work or explain how they got their answer verbally.
2. When doing word problems, students should label their answers and even sometimes write a sentence stating the solution. This will help the student reread the problem and make sure he or she found what they were really suppose to find. It also helps them analyze what the number they found actually means.
3. Remember you are teaching problem solving. When they ask a question, ask one back. Sometimes the best way to learn is through trial and error. Don’t be afraid to let them go in a wrong direction just so they can better understand the right direction.
4. Don’t forget there is sometimes more than one way to solve a problem. I often find myself backtracking when I find my daughter has solved the problem just fine but in a different way.
5. Practice makes perfect.
These are good reminders for me as I teach W and D. It is also challenging to sometimes solve problems at their level knowing their certain tools they have not learned yet.