Together we....

Its a very different experience to observe a class in choir practice. They are all singing together in-tune and in-rhythm, engrossed and taking cue from the conductor/teacher's hand. Their own collective voice makes them quiet and focused. If only one could get such behavior in the maths classes then so much more can be done.

However in many ways aims of choir and maths are in opposition. While in choir, we would like all to sing one note in sync, in maths we would like children to have varied response and approach. Further, there is no telling what thoughts would occur to different children. One would encourage a variety of explanations and methods of doing same problem. It would be full of kids questioning teacher and each other. So in many ways a maths class can never be like choir practice.

The great feeling that one gets from being together in choir has to come in maths class from collectively discovering inner workings of maths.

How to solve a problem...

Usually, maths is taught with series of rules where - certain rules are taught to solve certain problems. As long as you learn these rules, you can solve those problems. However that doesn't mean you have understood how it works. So how to build understanding of how it works ?

I find this template from Rafe Esquith's book useful starting point for maths teaching. His steps are very practical. It's another matter as to how to get children to think like this.

• Step 1 - Put your pencil down, Collect data (what is given)
• Step 2 - Chose appropriate strategy -Act it Out, Chose an Operation, Draw a picture, Guess and check, Look for a pattern, Make a chart or table, Make a list, Reason with a partner, Work backwards
• Step 3 - Pick up your pencil, Give it a go
• Step 4 - Does the answer make sense ? No - don't worry, re-think. Yes - great you got it. Can you do it by any other method
  

This way one can build skills to look at same problem from different angles. Meta-rules can be built from which children can themselves derive rules.