and teaching fractions is no exception. Before trying to
teach something, it is important to sort out your own
experiences first.
What do you think about math? When you were in school, do
you hate math? Find it boring and useless? Does math make
sense to you?
The answers to these questions may just be determining how
effective a teacher you are.
Good teachers and effective teachers love the subject they
are teaching, or at least aren't totally negative about it.
If a teacher feels negatively toward math, children will
pick up on subtle clues and they too will feel negatively
towards math. Two major factors in the student's acheivement
in math are the way it is taught and the way the teachers
feel about math.
Stay positive, and if possible, enthusiastic about math. If
this is difficult, you may want to look at your past
experiences, feelings and beliefs and work on changing them.
This is an ongoing process. In the meantime, look at math
examples that you can be enthusiastic about. Concrete, daily
life examples are always valuable. Think of practice
examples of using fractions in the kitchen, or around the
house. Any example like this is good! Start off using
examples that are concrete and that you can feel
enthusiastic about, and you will pass on your enthusiasm,
and avoid passing on negativity to your students.
Treat your math class just like other subject, not as a
difficult and unlearnable subject. The more positive you can
be, and the more 'real' you can make learning math -- the
more students will learn and retain what they learn.
Brian Stocker has written widely on teaching and teachers. Visit his
math site at http://www.math-lessons.ca