teaching advice

[x_x]

This semester I'll be giving mathematics lessons to high school kids. I'll have a classroom, I'll take assistance and the students are probably going to call me "teacher" and give me apples. I gave some music theory lessons like six years ago but this kinda scares me out. I don't know much about teaching and I have no idea on how to handle high school kids.

Any suggestions? How did you learn math? What's the best way to motivate them?

[tjookum]

Im not really sure how this will apply to high school kids, but I would suggest starting with the fibonacci sequence and golden ratio. For me the relation between nature and our surroundings and math really sparked my interest.

My sister told me that her math teacher was her favorite because he always found a way to link math to the real world. She told me he once said they are going to be introduced to someone in the next class. With a load of theatrics he would then start to talk about the number E and how they now are all members of the club of E. Bottomline, if you bring it with humour and they can relate to it you'll do just fine.

[x_x]

thanks tjookum, I'll definitely talk about Fibo, the golden ratio and logarithmic spirals too!

[Acoustic Interloper]

I teach undergrad computer science, and while that involves students who have matured somewhat beyond high school, it's not all that many years.

Try to incorporate some physical activities when possible. We homeschooled our two kids and used physical manipulatives when they were little (here is a link to some virtual manipulatives), and physical activities such as orienteering and stream sampling (measurement, probability & statistics, problem solving approaches in finding contamination sources, etc.) later.

In teaching sorting algorithms I have my students walk through the major algorithms, letting one of them act as the CPU and others as numbers self-engaged in sorting. The development of Scrabble-to-MIDI in my undergrad Java programming course created a musical instrument in what could have been a dull Java class. We go out and play gigs now -- I'll be playing this at electro-music 2010 in a couple weeks. Make up some games! Designing math-involving games with your students is way better than just playing games.

Have fun!

[Wout Blommers]

Well, teaching is a profession, which doesn't mean non professionals can't do it.

My three golden rules in class are:
1 you have to know what has to be learned: it's deadly if you have to think loud during the explanation. Think also of the traps...
2 know everybody by name and
3 be honest.

To learn their names within three quarters of an hour with youngsters I play a game: human memory. Everybody writes a nickname on a piece of paper (without their own name, of course. I write all these names on the black board (today smart board...). I also have a nickname.
The rules are: saying a name from the black board one has to couple it to a person, like: John, are you Napoleon?
Mostly it's a No and that person may ask the next round.
When there is a Yes the player has a second turn.
(I mostly choose the sound 'uhh', what most children will utter when they are thinking, so they have to link it to a person, which fails until a clever one realizes it has to be me... BTW I always will play the first turn, because I'm the oldest, most beautiful one, the fattest or something else)
Meanwhile I have made a copy of the list of nick names and fill in who is what.
Who will win the game? The one who can link all the names and persons. That could be the one who was found first!

Clever pupils will choose a nickname without a trace to one self, or even better, to another person in the group, like boys who take the name of the most popular lady singer which only girls like…

After the game the teacher knows everybody.
There are no false names, because the children will ask each other by their real names.
You find the bad guys at first glance, because they will present their selves as Mother-Fucker and other nice things… but they will be the Mother-Fucker all the game! Hé, Jerry! You are the Mother-Fucker! And Jerry has to say Yes…

And somebody can tell a lie and denies the nick name. This always come to truth in the end!
And it is a nice start of the year.

Wout

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[Acoustic Interloper]