Teaching math courses is about more than just imparting academic knowledge. There needs to a holistic approach, a gestalt if you will (that is, an organized whole that is more than the sum of its parts). That is because all good instruction has two parts: knowledge of the material, and the harder to define intangibles. For example, what we instructors believe about our students.Guess what, it affects how our students learn. And this is magnified when dealing with students in developmental math courses. Here's why.
Students in developmental math courses often come to us with baggage. Not only do they not know the material, but they have judgments about their own ability to do math, either from being told directly that they are unable to do it or from self-judgments because their past struggles with math.
Additionally, having to take a course that is not ‘college-level’ often sets up barriers of resentment and frustration in students. This can come from the frustration over the added time in school, or concerns over financial aid.
It is no surprise that many developmental classes have high attrition, which is just a fancy way of saying high drop and fail rates.
Add to this all together and it is easy for teachers to feel overwhelmed.
I have heard of teachers who walk into class the first day and announce to the class, “Half of you won’t pass this class.” Teachers who do this often say, “I’m just being honest with the students.” Though these teachers are well intentioned, such pronouncements will often have a negative impact on students.
An alternative is to keep a positive attitude. Tell students, “You can do this!” Emphasize places where they already know what to do and encourage them every step of the way. A positive attitude has been shown to improve student achievement in studies of K-12. (here) And, as I talked about in my last blog (here), validating students has been shown to increase retention. While it has not been studied as of this writing, my contention is that a positive attitude and validation can only increase passage rates of developmental courses.
This is not to say that we should be dishonest with our students. If an individual student asks about their grade, or if they are going to pass based on current scores, we need to let them know as kindly as possible where they stand. Acknowledge the student’s struggles and encourage them to keep attending class even if they drop.
When it comes to the things taught in developmental math courses, namely arithmetic and basic algebra, I believe that the old adage, "Everyone can do math" is true. It may not always be at the pace we would like for them, but they can get there.
Additionally, to my mind, one of the best way to help students learn math is to help them get past their fear of math.
Most importantly, we need to remember that we are in the classroom because we feel called to teach mathematics. All of us want to help our students succeed. And remembering that good instruction involves more than just academics is an important part of it.
I'm grateful to Yakima Valley College for the opportunity to serve as an Instructor of Mathematics.
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