Highlighting mistakes

I have been thinking about the new year that is fast approaching. I am excited to be heading into a new year, but I will miss my summer vacation. I want to have conversations with my students and help them through their mistakes. I have recently discovered the benefits of making mistakes and have found how much I have learned from my own mistakes.

Far too often I hear from students that they just want the answer. They look up answers on photomath and think that is all that they need to pass the class. I do not want to concentrate on the answers but rather to concentrate on the process. It is one thing to get a correct answer but does having the correct answer mean that they have the understanding of the process. I think not. I want them to understand the relationship of numbers and patterns.

This year I will have all freshmen and will be teaching Algebra I. I have named my class Madtown Mathematics. Algebra Boot Camp. Madtown is for our city of Madera which is also the name of our robotics team: Madtown Robotics.

I like the idea of having an Algebra Boot Camp. I was thinking that more than likely, my incoming freshman will probably not have enough background knowledge as they need. It seems that is always the case. There are a few that come in with all the background knowledge that they need to be successful, but the majority do not. I don't know if it is a flaw in our system as it is or not, but I just know that I am going to give my own students as much as I can.