Rationale
All 8 th grade students at August Boeger Middle School take Algebra 1, regardless of their failure or success in kindergarten through 7 th grade mathematics. This aggressive approach leaves the math teacher a challenging task of building foundations while maintaining rigor and adequate pacing to complete the required standards. The challenge must be addressed by focusing on conceptual learning of the foundations so students have the ability to think and apply their skills accurately and fluidly to the wide variety of math problems they will encounter.
August Boeger Middle School is located in East San Jose. Seventy-four percent of our students receive free or reduced lunch. Gang life is prevalent on campus as well as in the homes of many students. The school faces many challenges in a difficult neighborhood. We serve a high percentage of English language learners, making English language development a key issue across all subject areas. The common thread I find in mathematics, if students are given clear steps and the support necessary to successfully complete a problem – they do it! The difficulty with Algebra is many students have fallen so far behind in math they are unable to even begin.
"Show your work." "No work. No credit." "Why are you turning something in without work?" My students jokingly mock me with the quotes they hear more times than they can possibly count. I have often heard that your greatest strength can also be your greatest weakness. This is true for me when it comes to teaching math. My strength is teaching steps and procedures. I have spent many hours agonizing over ways to teach Algebra to students who don't know how to do basic operations. I found that clear, detailed steps allowed all students regardless of ability to do the work. It eliminated excuses and made errors straightforward and easy to catch. Initially I was delighted with how well the steps worked and allowed students to successfully complete problems. I realized I had a problem when I saw students couldn't figure out which set of steps to use for which problems. It was like they had this big library of steps memorized, but they always needed me to tell them which one applies. I also saw they were unable to see the connection between the different methods. I had trained them to solve problems a certain way and they believed that using another method was not ok.
So now I am stepping out from my comfort zone in teaching to find ways to build conceptual knowledge in my students. I recognize the limits I place on them by allowing steps and procedures to be a main focus of their learning.
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