As I was looking for activities to make math more accessible, I kept coming across key ideas to use in your classroom to make sure all of your students are understanding the material. As future educators it is very important that all of our students retain the material that is being taught. This is not an easy task to accomplish, so how do we do it? I found a few different activities and strategies that can be used in a math classroom at all levels of teaching.
According to Education Week Teacher, the following activities are fundamental instructional strategies that are easily adapted at any grade level. The first activity is very simple and pretty old school. It is just to have white boards and markers in your classroom. This can be a very easy way to make math enjoyable for all students. You are able to teach concepts, and they can easily follow along by writing down steps or concepts during the lesson. It is also a good way to give examples and easily see which students may not be understanding the lesson at any given point. They allow for easy assessment to know right away if what you are teaching is getting through to all of your students in the classroom. When I was a student, this was a very effective way and really resonated with me and my peers. It was always one of our favorite activities. Another way to make math more accessible to all of your students is to put real life situations into your lessons. If students are able to connect the material with situations in their own lives, there is a better chance that they are able to grasp the knowledge. It is also another way to make math more enjoyable for all involved.
Another way to make math more accessible to all of your students is offering extra time for your students to come in and get help. Some students may feel more comfortable in a one-on-one setting, so having this as an option may be very beneficial for many of your students. It also allows you to build more connections with your students in a one-on-one setting.
There are also different ideas that you can use in your classroom every day to make math more accessible. One way is to help your students look at math is a positive light. There is often a negative connotation with math, and it is our job to help change that. It is also beneficial to do a lot of group work with in your classroom. Group work allows students to share ideas and learn from each other. It is important for us to realize that we are going to have students in our classroom that do not enjoy math, but we have to be able to help them succeed. Being able to find different activities and strategies in making math more accessible with be very important. We have to find ways to help make math more fun for all of our students.
7-12 Math Methods 