9_13 Readings

The “Group-Worthy Tasks,” article by Lotan reiterated much of what is already known about group work. It must be complex, it must have multiple skill level entry points, and each individual should feel accountable for their contributions to the group. These are all ingredients of successful group work. I felt like such conclusions aren’t really leaps of genius, but that much of that can be figured out from experience. One point that stood out the most to me was the importance of group work that had multiple ways for students to show intelligence.

In the piece “Rethinking Mathematics,” Guttstein and Peterson emphasize putting math problems in context of fighting injustice in the world. They make a case that students need to learn math so that they can gain critical thinking skills and understand things like pollution concentration or understanding if racial profiling is happening. This is a sort of “hook,” for student interest in the math problems. The authors recommend that teachers use social justice to peak student interest rather than following a more teacher centered approach with typically neutral mathematics problems. I think this can be done to a degree in the classroom, but it has to be tailored to the student’s interest. I also think it can’t be shoved in their face all the time because it’s a bit of a drag, and teachers should also try to include more “fun” problems also. One negative for the teacher is that they would have to do more research in order to create accurate problems, and one benefit is that students are prompted to think critically about the problems of other people in the world and the problems and injustice that they face themselves.

 “Blades of Grass: How Many Are on a Football Field” was a very charming lesson that seems to exemplify student centered learning. I loved how the teacher let the students make decisions and felt confident that they would discover their own mistakes and arrive at a good estimate. I do wonder about how long this lesson took. It seems like it would have taken a very long time, but it also sounds like it was the kind of concrete project that allowed all student levels to participate and it would be something that they would remember. One important part of making the lesson successful that the writer mentioned was that the question and process had to be open-ended, and that the teacher did not tell the students how to do the problem. The teacher was a guide through a student led journey of fully understanding a problem.