I’ve never been a really strong math person. In fact when I was in elementary school I hated it with a passion and was deathly afraid during most math classes that I would be called upon to answer some question because more likely than not I had absolutely NO IDEA what was going on. Not only that, but of course there were the dreaded flashcards. The teacher would go around the room so everyone could have a chance, and there is nothing better than the “deer in the headlights” nervousness of everyone’s eyes on you as you struggle to figure out what 43-17 equals. I just never did well under pressure.
Thank goodness my own students won’t have to feel the fear and trepidation I did as a youngster. If only my former math teachers had realized the benefits of things like manipulatives. I think I would have had an entirely different mathematical experience if I would have been able to see and touch the problems we were working on rather than be expected to memorize a bunch of numbers and formulas. It was never put into real life context and therefore made absolutely no sense to me at all. I realize that teachers back then didn’t have the technology that there is now, unless you count (and I’m really dating myself here) Number Munchers on the ol’ Apple IIE. Innovative at the time, but not a great stride in teaching kids math.
The manipulatives we have worked with in MML are great. They really show what is going on and give students a chance to see where the math is coming from. I think this is so important.
Here is a great website for manipulatives Manipulatives
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