{"id":2893,"date":"2019-09-10T07:30:49","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T11:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/teachersfirst.com\/blog\/?p=2893"},"modified":"2019-09-09T19:21:59","modified_gmt":"2019-09-09T23:21:59","slug":"math-storytelling-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/2019\/09\/math-storytelling-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Math Storytelling Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Not all elementary teachers love teaching math, but I do. I love encouraging classroom discussions about different ways to solve problems and think about math concepts. I love seeing students frustrated by a new skill and building confidence as they gain knowledge. I love it when I meet incoming students who say their favorite subject is math. I love the abundance of resources and methods for <\/span>learning math content. I love it when support teachers come into my math class and say they learned things about math they didn\u2019t know. Teaching elementary math is joyful and provides opportunities to engage students through real-life connections and interactions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because I love math so much, I appreciate the opportunity to celebrate Math Storytelling Day (#mathstorytellingday) on September 25. It gives us a chance to think about taking math instruction beyond the rote memorization of math facts and ideas and also take the time to relate math to our everyday lives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When I taught second grade, I remember a student saying after a lesson, \u201cWe just spent an hour talking about if a circle is an oval!\u201d Some people may think that spending that kind of time on one simple question is excessive. I see it as a thoughtful way to encourage students to think about math in a variety of ways. Second graders love to talk, and they love to share their opinions, this is the perfect opportunity for them to become immersed in learning through classroom discussions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Later, when I taught fourth grade, I continued to engage students in their math instruction through a variety of methods. One of my favorite activities was using three-minute journals. At the beginning of each new unit, I asked students to write about the new topic in their journals for three minutes. I encouraged them to write the whole time – it could be about what they know, didn\u2019t know, or through drawings. After this, I invited students to share their journals with the class or in small groups. The sharing was always optional because I didn\u2019t want to discourage students from putting down their thoughts for fear that they had to share publicly. At the end of the unit, we repeated the activity. This reflection piece was the most exciting time for me because students realized how much they learned, and we were all rewarded as we shared in the excitement of each student’s accomplishments.<\/span><\/p>\n

As math conversations come up within lessons, take advantage of those opportunities to allow student voice and discussion whenever possible. I am a firm believer in the theory that, many times, students learn better from each other than they do from the teacher.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As you prepare for Math Storytelling Day, here are some ideas for promoting classroom discussions and math storytelling in any classroom:<\/span><\/p>\n