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Hi everyone!! My name is Breanna Vinella, and I am currently a Secondary Education-Mathematics major at The College of New Jersey. I am unsure which grade I want to teach, but I'm leaning more toward middle school. I have always had an interest in Mathematics. Throughout my school history, math has always been my favorite subject. Math has been my favorite class to go to and the subject that I thrived in the most. I would always help my classmates with problems they were stuck with, which caused me to think about becoming a teacher. Having these experiences with my classmates and hearing the fear about math stuck with me, which is why I wanted to do my project on math and test anxiety.
There is a big difference between parents’ and children’s experiences in school. Parents will talk about the fun they had and how they got to explore life while the children undergo numerous tests. In elementary school, students must take standardized tests for the state and regular tests their teachers have made. This leaves little room for children to have fun in elementary school, which causes more stress and anxiety. A survey of the Colorado Education Association found that “teachers spend 30 percent of their time on prep and testing.” This leaves teachers spending a decent amount of time planning tests, which leaves room for creativity and imagination. Children are forced into a certain aspect of education that leaves their answers wrong or right. This causes students to experience signs of depression and anxiety. The article states, “Standardized tests seem to ignore the reality that kids are at various stages in their emotional development and maturity.” Therefore, test anxiety can affect 20 percent of school-aged children. The feelings students experience are “disappointment, anger, helplessness and fear,” which is not ideal when these students are growing. There needs to be less testing on students since it causes way too much stress and anxiety. Teachers and the state need to come up with other unique ways to asses students on material that will cause less stress.
There is a divide between the importance of taking timed tests. Some believe that timed tests are important because “there are real deadlines in life and careers–and real consequences to missing them.” This is an interesting point to bring up because there will be deadlines in careers, and workers have to stick to them. There is a chance that if you miss a deadline, that could cause you to lose your job, so some believe it’s important to teach students the importance of time management. Whereas some “felt that timed testing causes a kind of paralysis in children, throwing a wrench into students’ cognitive machinery and hindering deeper learning.” This is another crucial point to bring up that testing is just causing fear in students and not allowing them to show everything they know. However, taking timed tests in mathematics has caused 50 percent of first and second-graders to hate math. Students felt that the only thing they learned from timed tests was that they were “stupid and slow.” It is horrifying to hear a young child feel this way about a test. As teachers, we need to find ways to stop this from happening. It’s hard to say that timed tests will go away, but as teachers, we must make them more approachable and lively to make students feel less stressed. Teachers need to emphasize that there is no pressure and make the test seem fun. As a future teacher who will probably have to give timed tests, I will make sure I prepare my students to the best of my ability and work with students who experience this type of anxiety.
There are benefits to testing if the whole testing concept is designed properly. To receive the benefits of testing, teachers must give quick, easy quizzes on content taught recently. Teachers should also give tests frequently and provide feedback quickly so that students can learn from their mistakes and improve on the next quiz. To achieve these benefits, teachers can give quizzes requiring them to write down a few facts they’ve learned from the prior day or a standard quiz on a previous lesson. This will allow the information to be in their students' minds and strengthen their knowledge. Also, to reduce the effect of anxiety teachers must provide these “practice tests also need to be low-stakes (with minor to no grades) and administered up to three times before a final summative effort to be most effective.” Next, the article discusses the importance of the design of these tests. Although educators believe that open-ended questions are better because they offer a bigger window into students' thinking, no research has supported this compared to multiple choice. Overall, many factors go into administering a test. The test must be designed properly and a good environment for each student to succeed. Therefore, when I become a teacher, I will want to receive input from the students about the tests' effectiveness and what would be better for them. This way, I can help them succeed and cause less anxiety around tests.
There are many ways students can cope with their math anxiety. One of the major ways students can control their math anxiety is by asking questions when they become lost. This is so important for students to realize when they are in school because teachers cannot help students if they don't know they are struggling. As a future teacher, I will make it known that students should feel free to stop me or reach out to me if they have any questions about the topic. Another tip would be to resist the temptation to measure your math abilities to your classmates. Many students compare themselves to others in the classroom, which causes them to feel bad about themselves and stress more. They believe that if their peer can do it, they should be able to. However, this is not true because everyone has different abilities and strengths. The next tip is to be an active learner instead of a passive learner. Become involved in the classroom discussion because this will help students learn better. Although it is upsetting that students will have anxiety about a subject, we must come to the reality that it's common. Therefore, providing students with these tips will hopefully help them lower their anxiety about the class so that they can succeed.
Interview With High School Math Teacher
Interview With High School Math Teacher
I interviewed a math teacher at Ewing High School for her insight and opinion on test anxiety and timed tests. This teacher teaches ten chapters every year, which forces her to give ten unit tests and one to two quizzes per unit. Although this may seem like a lot, the teacher gives her students many assignments to balance out the quizzes and tests if the students do poorly. She understands that math and tests can cause anxiety, so she does her best to prepare the students for the test and, during the test, helps in any way she can. Before the test, she gives out review packets just like the exam except with different numbers. Therefore, students can review the questions and learn how to do them before the test. Also, during the test, she circulates the room to monitor the students and be accessible if they need help. While monitoring the test, she sees if students are stuck on questions or are zoning out. To keep them on track, she will advise them to go to the next question or give a polite reminder to get back on track. Also, she allows the students to listen to music while taking tests so that they felt more relaxed. This teacher stated, “Most students have test anxiety in some capacity, but there are things that teachers can do to combat that anxiety.” She believes in helping her students succeed and be less stressed about taking tests and quizzes.
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