I work at Volta Elementary School with school population over 1,000 students in a prekindergarten to 8th grade school. My school is a neighborhood school, located in Albany Park, with 66% Latinos, 24% Asians, 7% White (Arabic), and 3% other. 90% of Volta’s students come from low income, and there are 12.5% of students who are diverse learners. 50% of students have limited English; the mobility rate is 16%. There are bilingual programs (Transitional Bilingual Education Program and Transitional Program of Instruction) offered at the school in languages: Spanish, Arabic, and Gujarati. There is Dual Language Program in Spanish from kindergarten to 7th grade. Arabic is taught in grades 6-8 to all students. I teach 7th grade math to about 120 students, for about 90 minutes daily. One of my 4 classrooms is part of the dual language program where my students will be taught Science in Spanish from another teacher.
Many of my students wonder, “why do we have to learn this? My parents don’t know how to solve these. I don’t need this in life.” when I teach according to 7th grade math standards. My key idea for my students to understand is that math is everywhere. It is not only in my math class with the math teacher, but it is all around us. Math is in architecture that we are part of; math is in everyday finance; math is part of cell phone usage. Most of my students enjoy playing games; they will create a simple game using Bootstrap program. During this unit, my students will realize how much math is involved in coding, in the games that they play.
In the past, although my students asked the questions of why it’s necessary to learn algebra in 7th grade, I have answered their questions with simple sentences such as, “because you need to.” “It’ll be on test.” Or have provided simple examples such as need for finding unit price at the grocery store for a better bargain. However, this year, I want to provide more than just simple answers. I want for my students to discover that math is everywhere. I want them to experience where and how math is in their everyday lives.
In order for my students to understanding math behind coding, I will be using Chromebooks, using Bootstrap program, in the content area of math. Order of operation is especially important when students write codes because the program follows codes in order. My students will also need to understand the coordinate plane in order to write codes that will make the characters move. Starting from this Bootstrap program, I want my students to realize that there’s math involved in things that they may not have realized. I want to start the conversation of where the math is in the things that they did not realize, and then with the help of technology, I want my students to capture these moments and share it with classmates.
Many of my students wonder, “why do we have to learn this? My parents don’t know how to solve these. I don’t need this in life.” when I teach according to 7th grade math standards. My key idea for my students to understand is that math is everywhere. It is not only in my math class with the math teacher, but it is all around us. Math is in architecture that we are part of; math is in everyday finance; math is part of cell phone usage. Most of my students enjoy playing games; they will create a simple game using Bootstrap program. During this unit, my students will realize how much math is involved in coding, in the games that they play.
In the past, although my students asked the questions of why it’s necessary to learn algebra in 7th grade, I have answered their questions with simple sentences such as, “because you need to.” “It’ll be on test.” Or have provided simple examples such as need for finding unit price at the grocery store for a better bargain. However, this year, I want to provide more than just simple answers. I want for my students to discover that math is everywhere. I want them to experience where and how math is in their everyday lives.
In order for my students to understanding math behind coding, I will be using Chromebooks, using Bootstrap program, in the content area of math. Order of operation is especially important when students write codes because the program follows codes in order. My students will also need to understand the coordinate plane in order to write codes that will make the characters move. Starting from this Bootstrap program, I want my students to realize that there’s math involved in things that they may not have realized. I want to start the conversation of where the math is in the things that they did not realize, and then with the help of technology, I want my students to capture these moments and share it with classmates.