Some kids are facing Dyscalculia while learning mathematics. Due to Dyscalculia, it is difficult for the kids to comprehend numbers and symbols and to perform the basic mathematical operations. In other words, we can also say that it is known as the mathematical version of dyslexia. As a result, kids can’t create a sequence of the mathematical operations, can’t pay attention to the orders of the operations and they also fail to learn the simple geometrical shapes. To overcome these problems of the students, teachers should try to adopt some essential strategies in teaching math. 5 essential strategies in teaching math to the students are given below;
Page Contents
Raise the Bar For All
In a class, you have to teach boys as well as girls. According to Sarah Bax (a math teacher), most of the girls think that they are not good at math because math is not their subject. It is a socially acceptable thought but if you want to provide equal opportunities to the girls as well as boys to learn mathematics, you should overcome this kind of socially acceptable thought from the minds of the girls. You should encourage them that by doing practice and persistence, they can easily enhance their mathematical skills. You should also encourage the students about the power of mathematics not only for the boys but also for the girls.
Exorcise your math demons
Math anxiety is not only the problem of the students but it is also a problem of students too. Some teachers have negative experience about the math from their school life and they also show this negativity while teaching math to their students. The students also pick this negativity and they don’t show interest in mathematics. For this reason, teachers should try to change their behaviour while teaching to their students. They should try to create fun while teaching math to their students. For example, if you are teaching BODMAS rule to your students, first of all, you should try to explain the order of operation. After that, you should explain it with the help of examples.
Create a testing pathway
No doubt, math is a boring subject for the students but as a teacher, if you want to enhance mathematical skills of your students, you will have to create interest in your teaching method. For example, if you want to know that either your students have understood the concepts or not, you should try to use formative assessment. After guiding the students, you should ask them to guess the next steps. At the end of the lesson, you can also take a five minutes quiz from your students. This quiz will also provide you with an idea either your students have learnt the mathematical skills of today’s lesson or not. On the other hand, if you are teaching math to the students by following the traditional teaching method, you are just boring your students and your students will never learn anything.
Observe, modify and reevaluate
Most of the mathematics teachers try to cover their course without taking care either their students are understanding their concepts or not. As a result, when they assess their students at the end of the term, they get zero results. Along with covering the course, teachers should also observe that either their students are learning math or not. For this reason, they should try to assign some problems to the students and try to assess their mathematical abilities. If they are performing well, you should move ahead. On the other hand, if they are facing some problems, you should try to overcome these problems of the students just by slowing down your pace.
Connect math to other learning areas
It is a fact that students learn more if we are providing them with daily life examples. Therefore, while teaching math, you should also try to connect different mathematical concepts with daily life examples. When they see that mathematical concepts are related to daily life things, they show more interest in mathematics. For example, if you want to teach mathematical shapes to the students, you should try to give examples of different mathematical shapes from our daily life things i.e whiteboard is the example of a rectangle shape, the clock is the example of the circle and door is the example of rectangle etc.
Personalize and offer a choice
To motivate the students to take part in learning, you should provide them with opportunities to learn and demonstrate their understandings. This is the best way to provide them with opportunities to learn mathematics by following some essential techniques. It will also provide them with an opportunity to practice math problems by following different strategies. You should also try to provide different opportunities to the students. It means you should ask the students to select the best learning technique from a variety of options, to solve the exercises before the time and you should also ask them to select a topic from plenty of topics. This is possible only if a teacher has impressive foundational skills. When students are showing enough concern about learning mathematics, they should understand and track their understanding. After getting feedback from the students, teachers should also tailor their lessons accordingly.
Play Math Games
In mathematics, you have to rely on worksheets. When you are relying on the worksheets, student’s participation and student’s engagement is a real challenge to you. Under such a situation, to involve the students in the games is a funny activity to engage the students in the learning process. By engaging the students in the learning process by playing games, you can get lots of benefits like you can promote the strategic mathematical thinking, you can ensure the computational fluency and you can also involve the students in understanding different mathematical operations. You can also assign different problems to the students with the help of these games.
By personalizing with the students and by offering choices to the students, you can also encourage them to learn mathematics. At last, you should never forget to encourage them to take part in the group discussions.
