I like this a lot, thank you for sharing! (even though I don't teach math 😅)
Over the years I have found myself breaking a big task into those "micro-skills" for students too. But a lingering thought is whether I'm just spoon-feeding them everything or not? Like is this even good for them in the long term? (my students are uni freshmen)
I love this. To me this post is about intentionally building self-efficacy. I ran into a study a while back that strongly correlated student self-efficacy with math achievement on NAEP, and my hunch is that it is actually a positive feedback loop where developing stronger skills leads to more self-efficacy which then provides motivation to continue on with harder skills.
This is terrific. I’m teaching Algebra I at a high school, and I’ve run into the problem of what happens when students don’t have the kind of experience that you described. So many have internalized that it doesn’t matter if they work hard, they just aren’t going to learn. Yesterday I was struggling to get students to engage with some visual quadratic patterns, and so many just wouldn’t even start. The most vocal were complaining about how I “wasn’t telling them what to do” when I had set up the tools they needed to solve the problems, but they weren’t willing to even start without being given the answers first.
My conclusion is that those students are probably acting rationally, given their experiences and the evidence available to them. I think our job as teachers is to give students experiences that show them learning is worth the effort.
I like this a lot, thank you for sharing! (even though I don't teach math 😅)
Over the years I have found myself breaking a big task into those "micro-skills" for students too. But a lingering thought is whether I'm just spoon-feeding them everything or not? Like is this even good for them in the long term? (my students are uni freshmen)
I love this. To me this post is about intentionally building self-efficacy. I ran into a study a while back that strongly correlated student self-efficacy with math achievement on NAEP, and my hunch is that it is actually a positive feedback loop where developing stronger skills leads to more self-efficacy which then provides motivation to continue on with harder skills.
This is terrific. I’m teaching Algebra I at a high school, and I’ve run into the problem of what happens when students don’t have the kind of experience that you described. So many have internalized that it doesn’t matter if they work hard, they just aren’t going to learn. Yesterday I was struggling to get students to engage with some visual quadratic patterns, and so many just wouldn’t even start. The most vocal were complaining about how I “wasn’t telling them what to do” when I had set up the tools they needed to solve the problems, but they weren’t willing to even start without being given the answers first.
I've been in that position over and over.
My conclusion is that those students are probably acting rationally, given their experiences and the evidence available to them. I think our job as teachers is to give students experiences that show them learning is worth the effort.