Math

Class overview

I am a firm believer that the best way to learn something is by doing it. For that reason, my classroom is set up to facilitate student hands-on learning every day.

I also believe that it is much more helpful for students to understand the "why" behind an idea rather than just memorize it. For instance, why is the formula for an area of a triangle (base x height) ÷ 2? Well, let's think about the area of a rectangle: base x height. What happens when you cut a rectangle in half diagonally? You make a triangle! So, the formula for the area of a triangle is just taking the area of a rectangle (base x height)  and cutting it in half (÷ 2). I find this approach much more helpful than just memorizing a formula!

Finally, I believe that students who develop their own ways of thinking about math -- explicitly taught or not -- have a greater understanding of mathematics. For instance, there are multiple ways to add 46 + 57. For some students, lining up the numbers and adding them in the traditional method works best. (In fact, I use the traditional method in my personal life.) For some students, they might break the problem down into 57 + 3 + 43 to make 57 + 3 into 60, then adding 43. Or, they might think of 46 as close to 50, and since 50 + 50 is 100, they know the answer will be around 100; since 46 is 4 below 50, and 57 is 7 above 50, 100 + 7 - 4 = 103. I teach multiple methods of getting an answer, so that students can choose or develop the method that best works for them.

I teach the North Carolina Standard Course of Study for Mathematics for grades 6, 7, and 8. A copy of the standards can be found here. Marjorie Williams Academy uses the Open Up curriculum for middle school math.