Brittany Finkley-Smith

EDU 7520|01
October 3, 2018

Mathematics Pedagogical Teaching Philosophy

While taking the ​Mathematics and Technology: Teaching and Learning ​course, I have

come to the realization that my beliefs regarding how mathematics should be taught will

ultimately influence the classroom practices I put into place. Correspondingly, this has led me to

the realization that there may be some practices I may want to change when I begin teaching

mathematics again. In order to determine the practices that could be changed, I went through

both an honest and thoughtful reflection process looking at the ways in which I was taught math

growing up. Many traditional methods of teaching are outdated and need to be replaced. I,

personally would like to move away from the traditional manner in which mathematics is taught

because it is too test-centered. This approach leads to the creation of a population of students

who are more concerned with the grades they are receiving individually and who possess an

unwavering sense of competitiveness. Mathematics should not be a competition. Instead, our

education system should encourage the use of innovative methods of teaching mathematics

that is relevant to the lives of our students as well as the current happenings in the world.

Take a look at the following question:

It takes $1.50 to travel each way on a city bus. A transit city “fast pass” costs
$65 a month. Which is the more economical way to get to work, the daily fare
or the fast pass?

Answer:
5 workdays in a week x 4 weeks per month = 20 workdays in a month
20 days x $3 round trip = $60, so the daily fare is cheaper
Who is this problem geared to? If you said middle-class students, you would be correct. This

problem fails to take into consideration students from lower income families. Who’s to say that

their parents/guardians only work 5 days in a week? Who’s to say their parents/guardians only

work one job? And lastly, who’s to say they may not need the fast pass for other things besides

commuting? Learning math in this manner, helps to perpetuate systemic oppression for

marginalized groups; that is why I hope to take a socio-political approach to teaching math. Not

only does a socio-political approach promote equity within classrooms, it also empowers

students to both understand and confront social inequities outside of the classroom. Through

the use of the socio-political approach, I hope to engage students in meaningful and relevant

activities that encourage them to use math to question and/or critique important issues in their

lives. Learning is more meaningful when you can connect it to something concrete.

In reflecting on my current beliefs on teaching and learning math, I aspire to utilize a

dynamic, problem- driven approach where math is contextualized and the focus is on problem

solving. I would love to teach my math lessons backwards. In doing so, students would be given

a problem to solve while working collaboratively or independently. Once the students have

spent some time with the problem, we would then engage in a discussion where they

explain/demonstrate how they went about solving their problems. Lastly, I would offer a solution.

Unfortunately, my current math approach is one of a bag of tools. In following our current math

curriculum and CCSS, math has become nothing more than “an accumulation of facts, rules,

and skills to be used by the trained artisan skillfully…[for] an external end”. The way I currently

teach math involves repetition to assist the learning of algorithms, math facts, and strategies for

solving problems. For example, when learning to round decimals, students learn the rule, “5 and

above, give it a shove. 4 and below, leave it alone”. Students complete various problems

utilizing this strategy along with putting a box around the digit being rounded, underlining the
digit to the right of it, and deciding whether they are rounding up or down. Yes, students may

learn how to complete the task, but they do not know why they are taking these steps. Using a

dynamic problem-driven approach, students will be able to develop a clearer understanding of

why they take the necessary steps to solve certain problems. All too often, we hand students

strategies for solving math problems without allowing them to explore the problem first.

Lastly, in examining my psychological beliefs regarding teaching and learning math, I

realized I could not only pick one. I hope to be somewhat of a constructivist where I make use of

manipulative materials. All the while, I also aspire to use my students’ points of view to

understand their conceptions in the moment to help inform future lessons. In addition to this, I

would like to incorporate elements of Vygotsky’s approach. Namely, the use of collaborative

working groups. I believe that collaborative groups can help all learners to actively participate in

the learning environment. One of the more important components I would like to place more

emphasis on is content vocabulary/language when teaching math. When you are a native

English speaker, you typically fail to realize the challenges content vocabulary/language may

present for a lot of your learners. A lack of understanding content vocabulary/language can lead

to limited access to whatever is being taught.

Although I aspire to be all of the things above, I am aware of the fact that some of my

current teaching practices mirror that of a behaviorist. I have been conditioned to view math

teaching and learning in a way that no longer works for our current population of students in

public schools. With that being said, I am working double time to change my approach to

teaching mathematics in the future. Every little bit of change counts.