Fiore, G. (1999). Math-abused students: are we prepared to teach them?. The Mathematics Teacher, 92(5), 403-406.
This article was written for the purpose of trying to show teachers that they need to know and understand the limits that all of their students have in their abilities with math. The author, Fiore, recounts an experience teaching a college math class. He tells about a couple students that struggled in his class. After talking to them, he found out that they had been "math-abused", meaning that their previous math courses have hurt them either emotionally, mentally, or both. In one of the cases, it was the teacher that caused so much abuse to the student. Fiore emphasizes our need to understand the students and to be careful not to "abuse" any of our students.
I agree with the author and think that it is critical for us not to "abuse" our students. Like the students in Fiore's math class, teachers can hurt the students they teach. It can be as simple as calling on students that you know are struggling and don't know the answer, or making fun of a student in class. It is the people that teach from the beginning that cause someone to like or dislike a subject, depending on how that person's experience turns out. A suggestion, given in the article to help understand the students, was to ask each student to write a paper talking about their previous encounters with math. This way the teacher knows where each students is coming from and can carefully plan lessons around the needs in the class. This can help the students learn more efficiently. Lastly, the students deserve an environment that they feel comfortable learning in. Teachers owe it to their students to make their classroom a place of welcome, not hostility. Math is a subject to be understood and enjoyed, not dreaded.
I think your first paragraph, although I could kind of predict what the main idea is, I think maybe you should be a little more clear on what you summarize the main idea to be. I was more curious when you talked about "math-abused" in the first paragraph. although you elaborated in the second paragraph you ended the second paragraph giving a feeling of dissatisfaction? you started out saying what it was but then your definition was a bit vague. So maybe a little more concrete example of what "math-abused" is in the first paragraph.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree though that teachers have to be aware of emotionally hurting their students by putting them on the spot if you know they are shy. I like the idea of having students write out their previous math experiences so that the teachers can get to know them better and adjust to their circumstances. thanks for your blog entry!
You have a good topic sentence, and you did a good job to explain certain things like what he meant by "abuse". But I would like to know why does the author find it important not to "abuse" a student? And maybe, how does a teacher avoid doing this?
ReplyDeleteI am really interested in what this article has to say. I wish you went into a little more depth on how the students were abused in your first paragraph but you kinda gave a little bit of an idea in the second paragraph. I think you've made some really good points and it is important to know where your students stand. I've never thought about that before so ya, I really like this blog entry.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your blog entry. It had clear topic sentences. You did a great job defending your point in the second paragraph.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you gave some examples of how "abuse" occurred. I was curious what some would be after reading the first paragraph. It sounds like an interesting article with some new perspectives.
You had mentioned having students write about their previous math courses. I think that's an interesting idea. I'm not sure what I would write. Also, I'm not sure if I had a bad experience in math class if I would write about it. I guess we just need to be careful to respect our students and be mindful of their feelings.