Today in math class I learned about different ways to teach geometry, how to think about graphing backwards, putting emotion into math, and having the right to fail. Woah, that's a lot.
The backwards graphing caught most of us off guard. We're so used to graphing with units in mind. We've been trained and been marked down on tests for not labeling the units on the axes. So today, when we had to plot data points to show the linear relationship in measurements, we felt like the earth had switched its rotation direction. What makes present-day math teaching and learning so linear? Why aren't more teachers allowing their students to explore different facets of math and offer different access points for learning? Is it fear of failure?
This society also is very set in the mindset that we cannot let students fail. We can see this on innumerable levels and understand why this is so ingrained in our culture. I like what we talked about in class in terms of the lessons that we learn from failing. Often, we have made our most life-changing choices when faced with these situations. This is juxtaposed by the philosophy that in order for us to keep desiring learning, we need to be successful. There is a balance between these philosophies; the question is where? I suppose the answer is that it depends on the individual.
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