1) Beauty, inspiration
-American Mathematician David Eugene Smith
2) Practical skills
Numbers rule the universe.
-Pythagoras
3) Brain strengthening
-Scottish physicist, John Arbutnot
Commentary: The first of these is the most important. What, after all, is life for. When I can light this flame in my students, wow! That's what teaching is all about. The three together guide all my teaching. When planning lessons, I always hold the lessons up against these three standards. Sometimes, the third reason will justify some amount of rote exercises, but only some. The truly great math teacher roots all of her lessons in beauty or practicality.
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- Be amazed. Be awed. We naturally love patterns and symmetry. Math is an unending source of wonder. Math connects the mind to the world.
- Have fun. Enjoy live. Math is a game. Dance with it.
-American Mathematician David Eugene Smith
2) Practical skills
- Get competent in life.
- Mortgages, tips, budgets, career decisions.
- Analyze anything. With a good mathematical model you understand anything better.
- Become a master. Design buildings, coordinate huge teams, engineer nanotech devices, create the future.
Numbers rule the universe.
-Pythagoras
3) Brain strengthening
- Master problem solving. See how to attack problems.
- Persevere. Will power grows strong with practice.
- Stretch your mind. The brain grows strong with exercise.
-Scottish physicist, John Arbutnot
Commentary: The first of these is the most important. What, after all, is life for. When I can light this flame in my students, wow! That's what teaching is all about. The three together guide all my teaching. When planning lessons, I always hold the lessons up against these three standards. Sometimes, the third reason will justify some amount of rote exercises, but only some. The truly great math teacher roots all of her lessons in beauty or practicality.
To receive notification of my future blog posts, please click here.