I 'm Just Not A Math Person

Dweck’s ‘The Growth Mindset’ postulates that if a student’s intelligence is something that can be improved thru hard work and being challenged, he (she) will only get smarter. And too, she proposes adopting new strategies to learning if effort and challenges fail to work. In Wes Moore’s book The Other Wes Moore, Wes Moore (the Rhodes

Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence’s (MI theory) is a valuable resource for teachers, if they understood how they could apply this in the classroom (Snowman & McCown, 2012). In this class, there are multiple intelligences observed amongst the students; however, there is minimal differentiated instruction to allow the students the best opportunities for success. It is critical that teachers understand that their teaching methods may not be wrong, but they

Whether we realize it or not, test scores play a vital role in many people’s self esteem. A person who frequently scores high will be confident that they are very intelligent and will expect others to see them that way. Asimov attested to this when he stated, “All my life I’ve been registering scores like that, so that I have the complacent feeling that I’m highly intelligent, and I expect other people to think that too.” (Asimov, 536). On the other hand, those who score low on tests often write themselves off to be unintelligent. Emphasis on the importance of the ACT or SAT test scores can lead an adolescent to conclude that he or she is not capable of succeeding in college and lead them to not pursue higher education. The tragedy is that we may pass on opportunities because we have labelled ourselves unintelligent based on a test score which is not a true refelection of our

After reading Seal’s article which stated that Americans often thought kids are born smart while Asians more often believed that studying makes a person smarter, I was reminded my own personal beliefs on intelligence and I realized that I have thought people could get smart by exerting effort since I was in the last year of elementary school in Vietnam. Therefore, I empathized with Seal’s attitude that success and achievement are a result of working hard. I could remember that I got this attitude when I was in an important final exam which decided where my middle school was in the next year that depended on my score. In this exam, the math test was an extremely difficult test for every student because it had a strange math problem which my classmates and I had never studied before. At first, I had spent for 2 hour to solve this problem, but I didn’t succeed. So, I wanted to give up. However, I was worry about my score and thought about my mom, who hoped that I could get the high score enough to enter a famous middle school. Since I didn’t want to disappoint my mom’s wish, I tried to solve this math problem again and again and again. Eventually, I was successful to solve

In the film, various students are shown to be quite vocal about what they believe they cannot accomplish, and this mainly revolves around Jaime Escalante’s math class. Many students claim that math is just not for them, that they do not understand it and are better off without it. The filmmaker specifically shows this through a scene in the beginning of the film when Escalante asks different students a simple question on a basic concept in math and given in return unsure answers. The filmmaker gives close up shots of the students looking down at their desks, seemingly unconfident in their own understanding of basic math. The students at first resist trying to take math seriously, but with time Escalante eventually succeeds at sparking their interest and showing them that they are capable of a lot more than they believe to be possible. Plenty of students today deal with low self-esteem and may even limit their own advancement and achievements simply because they do not believe in

Additionally, Albert Einstein once said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” There are different forms of intelligence that go beyond what our school system measures. Students are not a unit to be measured, and students cannot be assigned a numerical value to identify their intelligence. Students are diverse—they learn at different speeds, and they learn in different ways. Focusing solely on test scores is hurting our students and deviating away from building our society on success and excellence. Critics are slowly realizing the problems associated with standardized tests—they create anxiety, they are extremely biased, and they do not measure the ability to think deeply.

Teachers and parents have dedicated their time to tell children that they are smart and talented every time they get a good grade. Praising children this type of way has had an impact on their lives. Dweck said “many students believe that intelligence is fixed, that each person has certain amount and that’s that”. Students with fixed mindset only care about how smart they look or how smart they appear. By having this fix mindset, they turn down the ability to learn new things. They believe that if you study hard, you are not smart enough, and that if you were smart things will come to you with no effort. This has made students lose their belief in oneself when they face complicated circumstance. Dweck says that the reason for kids to have a fixed mindset is “intelligence

In the article, “The Secret to Raising Smart Kids” by Carol S. Dweck, he states, “The students held hard work in high regard, believing that the more you labored at something, the better you would become at it” (23). What he means by this is that there are students who don’t try in academics or are naturally smart but just lose interest in school. The quote means that students who keep a goal in their mind, the better you will get at it. Dweck also states that “As we had predicted, the students with a growth mindset felt that learning was more important” (23). Again, the quote basically says that students who have a clear mindset on what goal they would like to accomplish, nothing would keep them from learning. Any student can be successful in their own ways, it's just about how they want their mindsets to be. If they have a growth mindset they can accomplish anything if they put themselves to

This can affect those less able because it foes against the main stream. This is backed up by “Gilbourn and Youdell have examined the role of educational policies in creating the context for such school processes to take place” (Item A) Gilbourn and Youdell shows how teachers notions of ability conclude to their decisions of which pupils have the potential to achieve 5A*-C grade gcse’s. Neil Keddie then argues that the more intelligent students get taught more complex and advanced information and methods while the students in the lower sets are not recognised and being left behind. However Rosenthal and Jacobson performed an experiment where they picked random students from the class who were also working class and told teachers they are able to improve, this later resulted in teachers spending more time with these ‘selected’ students which made them improve and achieve better. Therefore showing that self-fulfilling prophecy can have an effect in education underachievement.

To enjoy academic success, you must consistently exhibit qualities such as perseverance, diligence, and tenacity; both in and outside of the classroom. When you are inside of a classroom, it is of utmost importance to grant your teacher your full attention. Even the most brilliant of minds find difficulty in achieving success if they do not adhere themselves to actively attempting to learn material that is covered in their classes. Contrary to popular belief, being a ‘genius’ is not required to have good grades. Anyone of average intelligence can achieve classroom success through perseverance and work ethic, although there is truth in the assumption that obtaining stellar grades may be more effortless for those with higher levels of intelligence.

Hence, after we look at all these case studies, we could conclude that the students’ academic performance is clearly tied to teacher’s expectation. In other words, the students who were deemed as “better” or “good” ends up achieving better also due to the higher expectation that the teacher was giving to them. These result, especially Rosenthal and Jacobson’s, demonstrated extremely powerful self-fulfilling prophecy on the part of the teacher. This is because when a teacher forms certain expectations towards their students based on whatever characteristics

Today’s education system has become focused on standardized intelligence testing and what works best for the majority. This system, although created to help the masses, is impersonal and only benefits a specific group of students who learn the best through testing. Those students who think creatively and use imagination are left behind. This is why intelligence tests are not accurate measurement of a child’s knowledge as it does not account for creativity and the child’s individual strengths. Changes need to be made within the school system. Instead of focusing on what is “correct” schools should be encouraging problem-solving through the process of making mistakes and failing. This challenges a student to learn about themselves and the world around them. When everything is already laid out for them it is easy to follow. There is no single way of thinking. By making a student have to think on their own it stimulates creativity and allows them to better connect concepts to real world situations.

able to learn and understand mathematics, if they never have a solid foundation to start

First off, who I am as a learner has changed over the past years. At times before, I wouldn’t take certain classes or assignments seriously and have learned my lessons when I failed. I believe having classmates at the time who weren’t as focused as I wanted to be, played a big role in my lack of understanding in classes. I understood later that if I felt learning was so important to me, I need to realize that it is my future and I needed to focus on my own. Having learner in my top 5 strengths defines me very well. Rath (2007) explains that, “The process, more than the content or the result, is especially exciting for you” (p.133). I believe this defines me as a learner because I enjoy having books in hand, opening up my notebook to write notes and learning new ways to understand the class. Regardless if the content is something I have to get in to or if I don’t do well on tests, I enjoy the process of studying and learning more even when I know I didn’t do so well; that is what motivates me. I believe as long as I keep this mindset and understand that this is my strength, I will continue to grow and further my education as much as possible. Even though I have failed a few of my last classes, I never let that stop me from continuing. Knowing that I have “failed” makes me realize I know I can do better and I try my hardest not to let it get me down. I will not get further if I don’t keep trying and as a learner I am a motivator to myself in my studies.

Mathematics is a type of reasoning. Thinking mathematically includes thinking in a rational way, developing and checking conjectures, understanding things, and forming and validating judgments, reasoning, and conclusions. We show mathematical habits when we acknowledge and explain patterns, build physical and theoretical models of sensations, develop sign systems to assist us stand for, control, and review concepts, and create treatments to address issues (Battista, 1999).