As a former Math teacher, this is one area of instructional leadership that especially interests me. I have recently started to engage some of our math teachers in discussions regarding how we teach math to 21st Century students. In many cases, it appears easier for an English, Social Studies, Science or any other discipline teacher to frame their lessons around 21st Century Skills -- i.e. using Digital Storytelling seems natural in English, but one must be a little more creative to apply this skill to Mathematics.
Like all teachers, math instructors are sometimes surprised at their students' lack of enthusiasm for their content. Math teacher Dan Meyer describes in his TED talk (March 6, 2010) what it is like being a Math teacher passionate about your content:
In her recent post "Math Class Doesn't Have to Suck - Help for Not Very Good Math Teachers", Lisa Nielsen (The Innovative Educator) blogged about this very topic. She writes: "What I did learn is that the way we teach math in the U.S. sucks about as much as the way we teach language, but that's fodder for another post." Included are many links to some interesting math concepts and ideas for classroom use.
Ultimately, making math instruction relevant, applicable and interesting doesn't require a great deal of flashy entertainment. We simply must think about what will engage students. In addition, math instruction should focus on teaching students critical thinking skills -- not rote memorization and the ability to model one problem to solve another (as we so often assign for homework!).
So what are your thoughts? What is the ideal math lesson in your mind?
