Hints for Helping Students with Math Work

How do I encourage students to be independent and high-endurance learners?

听This document is designed to provide some guidelines and some simple techniques for helping students with math work.听听The ultimate goal of these techniques is to build our students鈥 math independence,confidence, and perseverance.

1) Encourage healthy habits of mind:

Self-help: Before you provide any assistance, remind students to take out and read through class notes or related class materials.

Reading carefully: Have the student read the problem听slowly听out-loud.听听After they read, ask them to underline key words.

Meta-cognition(self-talk): Encourage students to ask themselves:

  • 鈥淲hat do I need to find out?鈥
  • 鈥淲hat do I know?鈥澨淲hat information does the problem provide?鈥
  • 鈥淲hat strategy can I start with?鈥 (e.g., drawing, list, table鈥)

Perseverance:Don鈥檛 let students听leave things blank.听听Even if he or she can鈥檛 figure out a problem, ask them to write:

  • 鈥淚 need to find out鈥︹
  • 鈥淚 know that鈥︹ (the facts of the problem)
  • Try a strategy.

Empowerment:听Make sure to give sufficient wait time; students need to be given a chance to do the thinking work and to express it themselves, before receiving any coaching.

2) Build a positive attitude about their ability to learn math.

  • Praise perseverance and technique; we want students to believe that they can get better at math.
  • Don鈥檛 tell students that you were 鈥渘o good at math鈥 or feed the myth that some students are good at math and others aren鈥檛.听Similarly, don鈥檛 undermine their confidence by telling students that 鈥渢his is so easy.鈥

3) If you feel like you need to teach the student鈥

  • Don鈥檛 give students answers!听听听听Students grow by wrestling with the material themselves.
  • Don鈥檛 give short-cuts.听听Students may need to go the long way for a while, in order to develop their mathematical thinking, and then take advantage of short cuts.
  • Refer to class notes and materials as you help the student; the consistency of similar language and methods helps develop understanding.

听4) School assignments should take about 30 minutes鈥

  • If this is consistently not the case, please let your child’s teacher know.