Being STUCK Isn't A Bad Thing

 Hello Everyone and welcome to my first blog! If you don’t know already I’m a teacher candidate at Brock University and will be discussing a lot about mathematics (my main teachable). I’m going to reflect on a variety of different educational approaches to improve my pedagogy and hopefully give you some neat concepts to mull over. Before we discuss the pros & cons of being STUCK while performing mathematics, I'm going to present to you the math joke of the week!

Often students associate mathematics as difficult and boring. I think it’s important to include a bit of humor into mathematics classes. By starting the day off with a simple but corny joke, you can help change that student's attitude and create more classroom engagement. Resulting in a better educational experience.

Being Stuck in Mathematics

When you hear the word STUCK what do you think of? Most of us think that being stuck is a bad thing. It means we’ve hit some sort of obstacle that we can’t easily overcome. Unfortunately this happens often in mathematics. Lots of individuals get stuck on problems and say things such as “I don’t get it” or  “math is hard”. When discussing with my peers about times we’ve gotten stuck on a math problem brought back many memories. It also helped me identify that being stuck isn’t a bad thing. Being STUCK is an opportunity for growth as you have to think about the problem in a different way. 

Some Strategies to Use When get STUCK

As a future educator it’s important to identify that your students are going to get STUCK. We need to teach them strategies to overcome these challenges and encourage a growth mindset. The first strategy I plan to integrate into my classroom instruction is the entry & attack phases of a problem. When faced with a problem solving activity, students should begin with the entry phase. The entry phase is where individuals ensure they understand the question and ask themselves the following; “What do I know?”,  “What do I want?” and “What can I introduce?”. This allows them students to get all their information they need from the question in their OWN words. Now the student will enter the attack phase. This is where students will take the information they have written down to deduce a potential solution and attempt it. It’s important to try different approaches even if you don’t think they’ll work. If you're unsuccessful you shouldn't give up! This is an excellent time for learning as you can reflect on your approach and ask yourself, “what went wrong”, “where did I go wrong”, “how can I change my technique”. This helps students uncover their own strategies/tricks that they will add to their problem solving tool chest. Over time students will gather a wide variety of strategies and approaches, improving their cognitive ability to problem solve. Overall, getting STUCK is a valuable part of learner and as an educator you need to ensure students get the most educational value out of these moments as possible.

Till next time,

Mr. Salmond