The smallest things are the most important ..
That applies to many facets of life.. In this blog I want to yap about how it applies to teaching junior high school students mathematics...
So often during maths I will demonstrate a new concept, explaining each step ever so painstakingly, get them to copy the example in their notebooks and then set an exercise from the text book to apply the new knowledge. Within five minutes I hear one of two things - "Miss, I don't get it" (that's a whole post on it's own) OR "Do I HAVE to show working?"...
Cue exasperated sigh... My response is a resounding YES!!! As one of my very dear work friends put it, working out is learning how to put mathematical terms into mathematical sentences, followed by paragraphs and then pages.. The latter of which you have to do in senior maths.
I explain this to them in kid speak and also the fact that it may mean the difference between partial marks or no marks at all- and I STILL get moaned at. Honestly, some days I am exasperated at the laziness of this generation- although there's are a select few who are highly motivated and self disciplined. I still hold hope they will be the future leaders of tomorrow!!
I shall have to have a think about a strategy to use on my students that will somehow get through to them that the small things matter!
TGBTG
Xx
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