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Provide Concrete Learning Goals for Each Math Lesson

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Mathematics MS/HS/College Strategy

Skills

Abstract Reasoning

Provide Concrete Learning Goals for Each Math Lesson

If your student lacks self-confidence in math

Teach It!

  1. Objective: Students will better understand what success looks like, and will better gauge their own learning needs, when they are provided the specific learning goal of a math lesson.
  2. Instruction and Practice: a) Communicate the learning goal at the beginning of your lesson. You might also consider writing it on the board to refer to throughout the lesson. b) Learning goals should include the purpose, so students appreciate the "why" of learning and potential applications. c) Associate each goal with clear success criteria that are specific and measurable (though not graded!) Providing a benchmark enables students to take charge of their learning and understand if they need to seek help. d) Refer back to the learning goal as necessary throughout the lesson.
  3. Ongoing Reinforcement: Provide students opportunity to communicate whether they believe they are meeting the learning goal through tools such as conferencing, math journals, problem solving aloud and exit slips. Through these means, you can adapt your teaching and lesson plans without needing to rely on as many formative assessments.

Why It Works (the Science Of Learning)!

Given the abstract nature of math, students often feel they are supposed to understand and apply everything they heard by the end of the class. This is often not the teacher's expectation, but without a common understanding, students can feel demoralized about what they do not understand. Quite simply, when a goal is well understood it is more likely to be achieved. This is true of the workplace as well as mathematics class. While communicating a learning goal is important in all classes it might be most important in math class given the abstract nature of the material and the recursive way math knowledge is gained. In addition, having clear goals can lessen some students' math anxiety because they have clarity of expectations.