Daire, S. A. (2010). Celebrating mathematics all year 'round. Mathematics Teacher, 103(7), 509-513.
When students are given excitement and motivation to participate in mathematical thinking activites, they are brought to a greater knowledge and understanding of mathematical concepts after the activity is completed. Sandra Arguelles Daire read a magazine article in her early years of teaching that inspired her to really help students understand pi through activities such as puzzles, story problems, and contests. Throughout the years, this celebration of pi turned into a "Mathletes Boot Camp" which consisted of year round festivites promoting students to gain a love and understanding for mathematics. Competitions and prizes along with the enthusiam from the school faculty continue to draw more students in every year.
Mind games, contests, and other activities are great ways to get students involved with mathematical concepts. Daire did an excellent job at going above and beyond the average math teacher. The article made it clear that more students participate in Daire's activities and contests each year than the year before. More educators need to bring a bright side to mathematics to get students excited about the subject and erase the underlying hatred there has always been for math classes. Daire put an intense amount of work into planning activities, but sometimes that is necessary to get students motivated. Every math teacher will have their own way to get students involved, so as long as they put effort in, both the teacher and the students will benefit, which is the goal of teaching.
Great topic sentence! You did a great job summarizing and organizing the author's article. I understand the main point of this article. I am left wondering what some specific activities are that helped the students better understand pi. Did the author mention any specifics in the article? Also, how did these activities specifically engaged the students and help them? Awesome job!
ReplyDeleteYour topic sentence nicely lead the reader to what you were going to talk about. Then the specific example of how Daire decided to celebrate pi and develop her students' understanding of the concept. I liked how I knew exactly where you were going with your article.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what the exact connection between the excitement and motivation in mathematical activities translates to a greater knowledge and understanding of these concepts. I can make assumptions about this connection, but I am not sure those assumptions are in align with Daire's paper.
Great job!
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ReplyDeleteI really liked how you described the importance of activities and fun brought into mathematics in order to help kids enjoy it more. I thought you described the article very well and I'm very interested in how it worked specifically and what types of games and activities were used. A nice addition could have been more of an explanation on the boot camp. But very nice work! I'm quite interested :)
ReplyDeleteWas the article more about the different activities that she did, or about how students love and understanding of math increased through these activities?
ReplyDeleteGood job supporting your stance concerning the article.