I Love Maths now!!

I have just completed a stint working in a Gr 6 class where I was taking a number of maths lessons ( as if I need encouragement to do this!!)

The lessons to me didn't seem to be all that spectacular, but I must admit I did put in a lot of preparation for them, as I do with all my lessons.

The focus was on number patterns, which I introduced by getting the children to explore and create patterns with shapes and colours first. We eventually got up to creating and solving patterns with numbers, with increasing complexity, imagination and creativity.

It was highly interactive, with lots of movement, noise, mess and collaboration.

Fast forward a few days and I was approached by a parent at a sports day that these children were participating in. This father introduced himself and said that his son was in the class I had been teaching. He said that his son was never a high achiever in maths, and tended to struggle at times, but always had a go.

His son came home from school last week to say to his parents "I just love maths now", and when quizzed, he said it was due to the lessons we had been doing.

His dad asked him what exactly I was doing that changed him so much, and his reply was "It's just the way he does it".

What that was to his son is still a bit unclear to me, but obviously, something in my approach resonated with his son.

A few days later, his mum appeared in the classroom after school to see me ("Oh my goodness, What have I done now?" I was thinking)

To my relief, she was saying the same things as her husband, and wanted to know what I was doing to change their son's perception of maths and himself as a learner in such a short time?

I couldn't say much other than explain my approach to teaching and that I always believe in the capacity of everyone to learn, and in creating hooks for learning to engage the children as much as possible.

But, above everything else, my attitude and approach comes from a great few lines from a brilliant book by Dave Burgess,

Burgess, D. (2012). Teach Like a Pirate. San Diego, CA: Dave Burgess Consulting

"Today I am thoroughly convinced that any teacher who is willing to put in the time, care and effort can transform their classroom and their life as an educator. Much of your success as an educator has to do with your attitude towards teaching and kids. The rest of your success is based on your willingness to relentlessly search for what engages students in the classroom and then having the guts to do it" (p.84)

Attitude clearly has a lot to do with everything!