The StoriesStudents Tell
by
Ian Walton,Mission College, Santa Clara
“I have never spent a morefrustrating, thought-provoking, demanding, yet manageable sixteen weeks. How,you may ask, can a class be described by all of the above?”
Several years ago I participated in a forum on exemplaryteaching, sponsored by the American Association for Higher Education. Ilistened to Pat Hutchins suggest that college faculty could learn much byspending more time telling and listening to each other's 'teaching stories'.She felt it was a successful way to share the challenges of teaching, and torecognize their importance in the life of faculty.
“I was angry because I had totake this class in order to graduate; I was afraid because I did not know if Icould pass it; and I thought that the teacher would be another boring personwho appeared disinterested in all students not naturally gifted in math.”
“This was the first time in mylife that a math class was not emotionally traumatic; not once did I feel likecrying. Wow, what a miracle! I talked to my father (my life-long math tutor) acouple of days ago. During our conversation he asked how my classes were going.I said 'Dad, I am having such a good time in my math class'. His response: 'I'mglad I was sitting down for that'.”
For several semesters I have collected 'before and after'comments, like the two quotations above, from students in my liberal arts mathclass at Mission College. Of course, I knew about the research on math anxietyand the barrier that math presented to women in particular. I knew thatencouraging students to share their feelings and experiences was a good anxietyreduction technique. But the words of my students presented the impact onindividual and family lives in a way that scholarly articles never could:
“Last semester in algebra Itried my best, but still had to take an F. This broke my heart. After thisclass I can receive the first two-year degree in my family.”
This student did the best quality work in the class.
The 'before' quotations routinely confirm all the theoriesabout years of failure that often originate with a single incident in schooland then build into an insurmountable barrier:
“I can pinpoint my difficultiesto fourth grade fractions.”
“I always feel uncomfortablewhen I see numbers.”
“Most math classes start offwell, and then progress into a dizzying snowball of confuseddis-interest.”
“Most of my math teachers werefootball coaches.”
Research shows that many students are permanently limited intheir choice of college majors and careers by their avoidance of math.
“I think I'm doing OK, butactually I'm not.”
“Fear of math has kept me fromdoing many things.”
“I thought I would never needmath out of high school - WRONG!”
But perhaps less expectedly, students still enter this classwith hope, and a good sense of what they mean to achieve to move forward intheir lives. Perhaps they knowthat this class is designed to be as different as possible from their previousmath classes, with an emphasis on writing and speaking and problem solvingtechniques rather than answers:
“I hope to be able to think ofmath as a friendly tool rather than a frightening subject.”
“I hope to not only learn, butto understand.”
“When you said we'd learn tothink differently, that excited me.”
And at the end of a successful semester, students have aremarkably accurate picture of what they've achieved (and sometimes what theyhave still to achieve):
“The classroom was anenvironment that allowed freedom of expression and freedom for errors and mostof all FREEDOM. I would like an A for effort, but deserve a B for the hours ofanxiousness and confusion, for the weeks of mental anguish, and for the fewminutes of actual mathematical breakthrough. I've learned so much about math;and I don't just mean the application of it.”
“Prior to this course, I put thestudy of mathematics and the practice of Zen in the same realm - you either get'it' or you don't. I have acquired a wealth of theoretical knowledge that evena Bodhissatva could appreciate.”
“I learned how to thinkdifferently.”
“The understanding was difficultat first but now is coming quickly.”
Many semesters, every woman in the class can relate a storywhere she was told 'girls don't do math' - even in Silicon Valley in thenineties:
“This class reminded me of howmuch women have been oppressed in the subject of math.”
“I learned that I need to beaggressive in my education. It is myeducation.”
“I had not successfullycompleted a math class since third grade. You have provided me with the mostinteresting, enlightening math experience I have ever had.”
Many students discover unexpected and unexplored talents.And as the teacher I receive encouragement to experiment with alternativecontent and approaches to mathematical thinking:
“I have learned that I actuallyhave a propensity for abstract mathematical ideas. This came as a completesurprise, for like most of my classmates, I have been told all my life that Iwas math disabled.”
“The pursuit of a solution is asimportant, and in some cases more important, than the solution.”
“I have learned that I probablywill never understand infinity, but I appreciate having been exposed to theconcept.”
And every once in a while I get the perfect response to acourse that in classical liberal arts fashion tries to teach appreciation forthe beauty and power of mathematics. Can you guess the major of this student?
“It was interesting to see thatall of the mathematics that I will never use is more of interest to me than allthe math I do use.”
What can I say?
Thanks to all the students ofMath G at Mission College for many good experiences, and to the following inparticular for the quotations used in this article:
Gary Abkin, Elaine Anderson,Robert Bradley, Nancy Ceideberg, Angela Cernobori, Jackie Ferguson, Lee Gamma,Cynthia Hatfield, Lilian Hebert, Sandra Henson, Christne Kavoshi, ChristieLefforge, Mary Marhula, Corbin Matousek, Lycia Messersmith, Raj Patel, VirginiaRoxas, Serenity Taunton, Paul Vasquez, Linda Wedding, Debra Yantis, BrianZimmerman.