Assignment, due Monday, 9/20/23: This week’s reading is from Dan Meyer, who was a high school teacher and long-time math education blogger before he took on the job of Chief Academic Officer at Desmos (yep, the folks who make that online calculator). He has a lot to say about teaching math, and he has experience both “in the trenches” (teaching in high schools) and “in the ivory tower” (he obtained his doctorate from Stanford University in Math Education).
For this week’s assignment, read Dan’s blog post from 2020 titled “But Artichokes Arenât Pinecones: What Do You Do With Wrong Answers?” and respond to each of the questions below.
- What do you think is Dan’s main objective in this post?
- What is something Dan said that you agree with? Explain.
- What is something Dan said that you disagree with? Explain.
- What experiences have you had in your own life that could help you to respond to students more like the way Dan responds to his kids? Explain.
- Extra Credit. Respond in some way to one of your fellow students’ comments. Do you agree? Disagree? Do you have a response to their question? Did their comments make you think or provoke additional questions? Reminder: Be respectful, be kind.
I think the main point is that teachers might not always have the time or the right learning environment to build upon every single student’s understanding as opposed to their own kids. Oftentimes you will have to deal with lots of problem behaviors like students talking when the teacher is talking, cell phone use not related to the lesson or students who don’t care regardless of anything the teacher does or doesn’t do. Sometimes other circumstances outside of the reach of teachers is going on and there might not be might the teacher can do.
I agree that asking about a student’s thought process is more than the three type of responses given. I also agree with doing away with the idea that certain kids are “more special or valuable than others” I also agree with the author when they mention a students answering a question it is almost like they are showing a piece of themselves. Being quick to dismiss the student if they are wrong will make it very difficult for them to speak up again. When I work as a tutor I care more about the thought process of the student more than getting the right answer. When I was a student teacher I tried to use the same technique but ran into problems with classroom management so it didn’t always help. Time management was another issue that I ran into
I disagree about knowing content better I feel like if you are a teacher who has been teaching for a while you would know where to find curriculum or who to ask to find the state standards. Teachers I have found can pick up material that they don’t teach fairly quickly. Even if someone isn’t a teacher they still have access to their kid’s work through a DOE at least from what I’ve seen.
Yadira R. Vazquez
I think Dan’s main objective is trying to explain some of the challenges as a teacher . For example he stated it is difficult for him to correct students when it comes to mathematics. As he provided examples with real life scenarios with his kids and students in his classroom. On how to ask for the answer to a question: “How are you thinking about this question right now?” It can be helpful for students knowing there isn’t one right answer but just about what approach they are taking to solve a problem.
I agree with Dan when he states he is working with a team because all students learn differently. Some offer others may not where some may be stronger in different areas than others therefore trying to work with them is important. Trying to help them out to be a bit more confident with their responses to not simply call them out by stating its incorrect or correct. But being able to hear their ideas and how it is they started the problem and how it ended up there to then build from it.
I don’t disagree with Dan, I personally feel like he makes a valid point and completely understand what he means. I also like how he isn’t finding excuses, he says things the way it is.
I’m the oldest of 3, I have 2 younger brothers. I remember hearing one of my brothers say things wrong all the time but we worked with him. We knew he had an idea and he was so close every time but it technically still was not properly said. I definitely get what he means by still being proud they were so close and being able to correct them perfectly fine so they get it right for next time. Therefore, I think I want to use the “what are your ideas for this problem” question because it’s not a right or wrong answer. Students can go in depth to why they took that approach and why and slowly we can build from that and help them out.
I feel like Dan’s posts have a couple of different takes to it. Ranging from the thought process as an educator to find a way to fix a wrong made by the student while teaching them what’s right, to trying to make students be able to comprehend and explain their thinking, to a point where their answers are not necessarily just “wrong”. One major recurring topic I see Dan go over includes the comparison between teaching his own kids to teaching of a student, whereas the former is easier than the latter.
I agree with Dan’s statement to some extent, where teaching mathematics can be much different from teaching a child what a item is. However, I cannot understand personally the difference in difficulty of teaching rights from wrongs, where Dan feels it is harder to build on a student’s mistake than his child’s mistake. I believe that a variety of factors can contribute to these feelings portrayed by Dan which in a way, may impact the way he feels about teaching the subject at hand.
(I realized I accidentally did all 2-4 in one paragraph, though way too briefly so I’ll restate it down here for clarification.)
2. I agree with Dan on the aspect that mathematics may be harder to guide as there are concepts, procedures, formulas, etc. that must be taught, compared to the explanation of simple objects and the difference between them.
3. I disagree with Dan when it comes to teaching. While he feels it is harder to teach his student from the wrong answer given compared to his child, I do not feel any difference when it comes to explaining or teaching of any subject.
4. As I’ve mentioned in #3, I do not feel any difference between the teaching of mathematics and the teaching of other subjects. For any teaching I have done, it’s all within the same manner.
Taspia Jannat’s reply:
I agree with Jason when he said, “to trying to make students be able to comprehend and explain their thinking” because like I said in my post, students shouldn’t always be told they are just wrong but instead go deeper in their thinking and thoughts. I disagree a little with Jason when he said “I do not feel any difference between the teaching of mathematics and the teaching of other subjects” because I believe math has it’s own way of being taught rather than a subject like history. Math needs strategies and certain steps to solve a problem but other subjects may not have to be this way.
Taspia Jannat-
In my opinion, I think that Dan’s main objective in this post is that when a wrong answer comes up whether it’s your own family like your son or a student, you should ask them questions to get them thinking instead of just saying it’s wrong. Questions like “how are you thinking about this question right now?” Basically, he’s pointing out the fact that whenever the kids give an answer, “they’re offering something of themselves just as much as they’re offering a fact or a claim.” To give students questions, they can build a deeper understanding of that certain concept and challenge themselves for a better understanding. Teachers should build on students thought process by asking questions. One thing that I agree with Dan is when he said, “I am trying to develop pedagogical tools that make use of differences between student answers to replace ones that try to reconcile or flatten them. Tools like ‘How are these answers the same and different?’ or ‘For what question would this answer be correct?'” I agree with this statement because asking such questions will allow the students to think over their response and connect to other responses and questions. There was nothing that I disagreed with Dan because I completely agree with his strategy/way of dealing with wrong answers with questions in replace of it. When he started off his blog post, I thought we can’t differentiate our close people and students but to think “we are not separate.” An experience that I have had in my own life that could help me to respond to students more like the way Dan responds to his kids is that sometimes students will answer “yes, they are like terms” to the question “is 2x and 2x^2 like terms?” I would respond to this as “I see why you are saying that” or “can you elaborate on this?” Many students will say yes because both expressions has the variable x in it which makes them think it’s alike.
The objective of Dan in this article is what to do, and how to deal with wrong answers compare from different children such as your own kids and the other kids in your classroom as a teacher. As Dan stated himself about his goal in the reading âMy goal is to celebrate those early ideas and build from them so that students will learn better math, but also so theyâll learn better about themselvesâ. Although he spends more time with his own kids than others, he still welcoming different forms of reasoning from every student that he could work them through to get the final right answer.
I agree with Dan where he stated âI am trying to learn more math more deeply so I can make connections between a studentâs early ideas and the later ones they might develop.â As a math tutor at the Atrium Learning Center here at City-tech, when students bring their web-work assignments, test correction, or practice review exam; I ask them first do you have any idea on how to approach this problem, do you remember some concept of the lesson on this type questions. Then from that I know how much details they need to get it done.
I donât see one of his statements that provoke me of disagreement, as we know itâs very easy for students to call a green pear a green apple without paying attention to their similarities and differences.
Being a tutor, I often see students saying x+x = x*x out of many other mistakes, just by having these xs both sides then they assume itâs the same. So, I always first try to get their toughs and started building a series of questions that lead to right answer.
I agree with Irina âOftentimes you will have to deal with lots of problem behaviors like students talking when the teacher is talking, cell phone use not related to the lesson or students who donât care regardless of anything the teacher does or doesnât do.â I remember working for the CUNY Tutor Corps where Iâm assigned to a high school, I saw some students were often disruptive, showing negatives behaviors.
The main idea of Dan’s blog was him explaining how your pedagogy can be better by utilizing the ways we go about correcting our own kids early wrong ideas.
I agree with the entire perspective of the blog. The connections are there between your kids and students because its pretty much the same but emotionally different. With both as teaches we have to understand that we are just adding to ones web of information. What are students supposed to walk away with? The blog states you may not feel the same way about the student like your kid but the student deserves to be corrected and treated in a way where wrong answers are okay and all answers should be examined.
I disagree with this just being about kids. This perspective can be broader and a common practice to where its a behavior. To me it will allow a more open environment and ownership of ones own learning experience through questioning.
Well with my daughter she knows everything, so she spew out misinterpretations all the time. But i love the confidence and I always understand why she’s wrong. I ask her to explain more to correct the misconception or let her at least know what she hasn’t learned yet to understand what she’s talking about. With students this works really well. It also shows a lot of respect toward students and the learning environment.
Dan’s main objective was to show the level of patience needed to emphasize on the importance on early wrong ideas.
I agree with majority of what he was speaking on. Learning is more than right and wrong ideas. Its all about understanding why things are wrong and why they are right.
I disagree on the some what emphasis on relating parenthood to teaching. I think the approach he’s insinuating has to do with a teachers personality on a day to day basis and how the class respond to an approach. Teaching one approach may not be useful for every class. Focusing on wrong answers may take more time and bore student who are passed a point. Yet still important to use wrong answer to get to “factual correct” answers, because like i said earlier it more about understanding than right and wrong and wrong answers
When I’m tutoring I tend to let the student try the problem by themselves and then show them how I’ll do it. Let them explain the process of what they did wrong or different. It gives me a direction of guiding them in a direction that works for them individually. Most math problems can be approached in many different ways. And many people see them differently. We as teachers have to understand that.