My Purpose of the paper

Today’s classrooms are filled with so many different learning styles, preferences, abilities and ethnicities. It is expected that teachers deliver a sound curriculum in a way that fosters each of these individual styles and abilities. This is becoming more and more difficult to achieve. Teachers and students can not afford to continue teaching and ‘learning’ in the way that is illustrated in Classroom One. It is here that teachers face the reality that everyone in their classrooms are not meeting their mathematical potential, or achieving the desired outcomes. Some may blame the curriculum for not allowing all students equal access to achievement, but the author of this paper will argue that it is the way the curriculum is delivered that causes students to become outsiders in the mathematical world.

It is not hard to see the difficulties students have with learning math. Current research, and even the very curriculum guides we use, suggests that math be taught through a problem based approach. It is here that tasks are open ended which allows students to learn the intended math outcomes through solving rich, contextual problems. The teacher’s role is merely a facilitator, whereby the students take on a more active role in constructing their own knowledge, as seen in Classroom Two. According to TIMMS (2007), Singapore is ranked the top country in the world when it comes to mathematical achievement. Problem solving is at the heart of Singapore’s math curriculum, where reasoning and communication are of utmost importance. Newfoundland and Labrador has just recently adapted the WNCP math curriculum from Western Canada. It is intended that this new curriculum will fix all of the problems created previously. However, the actual curriculum is not the single reason students in Newfoundland and Labrador have failed to meet basic mathematical understandings, we must also look at the way in which the math was taught. Simply adopting new curriculum does not mean students will understand math better. Students need different experiences in the classroom that enhances their opportunities for obtaining their mathematical potential! It is the experiences like that of the students in Classroom Two that will provide the opportunities all students need to become great mathematical problem solvers and thinkers.

With the introduction of this new curriculum, a curriculum that has been proven to work, the author of this paper feels it is the right time to begin a discussion about how to go about teaching mathematics. This discussion needs to focus on how math should be taught, a way where all students are given the opportunity to succeed, to become mathematical thinkers. The purpose of this paper is to discuss some strategies and suggest some possible ways to open up classrooms and ultimately, the curriculum that will provide all students with equal opportunities to learn mathematics in their classrooms, one where all students have access to the curriculum and the learning. This paper will discuss three major elements needed to make this type of learning situation possible, namely the importance of talking and discussions in math class, the important role of asking the right questions to facilitate these discussions and providing students with something worthwhile to talk about.