Tuesday, 8 November 2016

Overcoming Math Anxiety

We were asked to watch the following video: Getting Kids Motivated: Overcoming Math Anxiety and record our questions on math instruction and learning.

I guess my questions would start with how teachers plan their year in the best way to scaffold learning and therefore diminish math anxiety.  I have overheard a few conversations by seasoned teachers where they debate the best order in which to plan the year regarding math units and they rarely follow an order in a textbook and are not always in agreement with each other in regards to the best way to approach it.  So, what is the answer so that learning is scaffolded in a way that consistently builds but also reinforces so that you are constantly practicing each skill in math.  My issue with math teaching has often been that teachers teach units in math and when the unit is done, it isn't revisited until the following grade.  This does not help reduce math anxiety or reinforce skills or concepts.

In the primary grades, I don't see math anxiety.  I see a lack of confidence and, even more frequently, frustration, when they don't "get it" as easily as others.  I think the anxiety comes in the Junior and Intermediate grades when that frustration has been allowed to fester for too long.


so the challenge is to go from ^ to:


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