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velvetpageI hate teaching math.
Actually, I don't hate teaching math. I hate marking math. I hate trying to figure out what's going on in their heads when they do tests and assignments in math, and I hate knowing that being honest with them is going to crush them utterly and destroy their motivation to try.
The problem is about prediction. Whenever I give an assignment, I have to try to predict how they are likely to do on it. I need to predict what they would do given no guidance, and then use that prediction to establish guidelines for the assignment. In English, this often translates to statements like: "I need one sentence per grade, plus one, per question. If you're in grade 5, that means six sentences. Every sentence needs to contain one complete thought. Every question you write needs to be open-ended; if you can answer it with yes or no, you need to change it until you can't." In language, I'm good at this. In French, I'm very good at it. I know exactly what mistakes they're likely to make, and I head them off. The result is assignments where most students achieve a B or better, if they pay attention.
In math, I have trouble predicting how they're going to see the question. Which mistake are they going to make? Because the units go so fast, with only a day or two spent on each sub-topic, I don't have the time to assess their learning for every sub-topic. Some things inevitably get missed. What happens is, I know exactly how they'll do on the two or three sub-topics that were stressed. The remaining three are a mystery to me. I get the tests in, I look at them, and I groan. I can see at a glance that I got the mix wrong; I didn't give enough marks for the things they could do, and I gave too many to the ones it turns out they can't do. It's difficult to predict which ones they won't get. Sometimes my information in class is that they get it, when in fact, they're all making the same mistake that I didn't catch.
So I go through the test, marking them up, taking some questions out of the final count and marking them separately as A-level questions (the kids who couldn't do them don't get penalized, but the kids who could get an A out of it.) I correlate, I adjust, I do my calculation-free version of grading on a curve, and then i have the utterly awful task of trying to explain to them, and their parents, exactly what I did to give them that cozy little C-. It's hell.
And by the time I've done all this, two weeks have passed and they've forgotten half the stuff that was on the test anyway. Taking it up becomes a battle - they're discouraged, they're mad at themselves and at me, and they're not in a mood to learn.
I think that's enough job rants for one day.
Were any of you considering teaching math? :)
Actually, I don't hate teaching math. I hate marking math. I hate trying to figure out what's going on in their heads when they do tests and assignments in math, and I hate knowing that being honest with them is going to crush them utterly and destroy their motivation to try.
The problem is about prediction. Whenever I give an assignment, I have to try to predict how they are likely to do on it. I need to predict what they would do given no guidance, and then use that prediction to establish guidelines for the assignment. In English, this often translates to statements like: "I need one sentence per grade, plus one, per question. If you're in grade 5, that means six sentences. Every sentence needs to contain one complete thought. Every question you write needs to be open-ended; if you can answer it with yes or no, you need to change it until you can't." In language, I'm good at this. In French, I'm very good at it. I know exactly what mistakes they're likely to make, and I head them off. The result is assignments where most students achieve a B or better, if they pay attention.
In math, I have trouble predicting how they're going to see the question. Which mistake are they going to make? Because the units go so fast, with only a day or two spent on each sub-topic, I don't have the time to assess their learning for every sub-topic. Some things inevitably get missed. What happens is, I know exactly how they'll do on the two or three sub-topics that were stressed. The remaining three are a mystery to me. I get the tests in, I look at them, and I groan. I can see at a glance that I got the mix wrong; I didn't give enough marks for the things they could do, and I gave too many to the ones it turns out they can't do. It's difficult to predict which ones they won't get. Sometimes my information in class is that they get it, when in fact, they're all making the same mistake that I didn't catch.
So I go through the test, marking them up, taking some questions out of the final count and marking them separately as A-level questions (the kids who couldn't do them don't get penalized, but the kids who could get an A out of it.) I correlate, I adjust, I do my calculation-free version of grading on a curve, and then i have the utterly awful task of trying to explain to them, and their parents, exactly what I did to give them that cozy little C-. It's hell.
And by the time I've done all this, two weeks have passed and they've forgotten half the stuff that was on the test anyway. Taking it up becomes a battle - they're discouraged, they're mad at themselves and at me, and they're not in a mood to learn.
I think that's enough job rants for one day.
Were any of you considering teaching math? :)