Robin Bailey 10 Big Ideas

Robin Bailey Literature Review

Title:  10 Big Math Ideas

Author:  Marilyn Burns

Source: http://www.mathsolutions.com/documents/2004_10_Big_Ideas.pdf

Summary:  Marilyn Burns gives ten ideas that will encourage students to find a love of math.  Here are her 10 big math ideas, and some of their key points.

1.      Success comes from understanding.

·         Tell students to do only what makes sense to them.

·         Encourage students to explain the purpose for what they are doing, the logic of their procedures, and the reasonableness of their answers.

2.      Have students explain their reasoning.

·         Don’t just look for a right answer.  Have students explain their answer with both right and wrong answers.

3.      Math class is a time for talk.

·         Interaction helps kids clarify their ideas, get feedback for their thinking, and hear other points of view.

4.      Make writing a part of math learning.

·         This is best used after the students have been able to math talk. 

o        What I learned about multiplication so far..

o        Today I learned…

o        I am not sure about…

5.      Present math activities in contexts.

·         It stimulates student’s interests, provides a purpose for learning, and makes math come alive.

6.      Support learning with manipulatives.

·         This helps make mathematical ideas concrete. 

·         Can be used to introduce concepts, pose problems, and to use as tools to figure out solutions.

·         Important not to be used in just the early grades, but also available to older students.

7.      Let your students push the curriculum.

·         Choose depth over breadth. 

·         You don’t want to cover a subject, you want to uncover it.

8.      The best activities meet the needs of all students.

9.      Confusion is part of the process.

·         Don’t expect all students to learn everything at the same time, and don’t expect all students to get the same message from every lesson.

·         Errors are opportunities for learning, and should support children taking risks without fear of failure or embarrassment.

·         Learning should be a long-range goal, not a lesson objective.

10.    Encourage different ways of thinking.

·         There is no one way to think about any mathematical problem.

Analysis:

This article had some great points, that in my opinion, if all math teachers were doing, all kids would love math.  Some of the ideas made me feel great, because they are things I am already doing (math talk, encouraging different ways of thinking), while other ideas reminded me about things I should be doing (writing in math, let students push the curriculum).  This is a good top 10 list I will be striving for.