Thursday, May 7, 2009

What I've learned...

I've learned that math can be taught in many ways that can be fun and innovative. There can't be any excuses of how math cannot be taught to students. Social justice math, SJM, is a great way to teach children from any background. This technique not only teaches students mathematics, but also connects them more to their community. As we have seen in the last book we read, students do want change. They have also shown great ability when provided the opportunity.
SJM allows students to have a chance to identify the problem as a group and work together to find a solution. Students were much more engaged in the classroom but more importantly they took ownership and felt empowered.

Throughout our walking tour, we really found opportunities and situations that would fit into SJM and would create great lessons for students. It was really important for us to go down to Newark and see the city for ourselves. We all know that Newark has some poor performing schools. I hope that SJM can be used as a solution towards improving math performance and bring it closer to their lives.

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