Quick Tip: How to listen to your math teacher so you understand them.
A quick way to make sense of what your teacher is saying!
Hello MATH STUDENTS! Today’s all about how to listen. Let’s do this!
1. Your math teacher’s job is to help you understand what they’re saying. Yeah, you may not agree, but hold your horses, keep reading. They do that by using past math (that you should know), to help with the new math (that you don’t know). They talk and you listen! Your job is to listen* and bridge the gap between old and new math!
*Listening and hearing are not the same. Listening requires thinking and then a response.
2. To understand your teacher’s talking, be asking yourself, ‘How is this similar to math I know?’, ‘‘Where’s the old math in this new math?’ One way to do this is for every math word(s) they speak you change that into an easy question and jot it down.
3. Let’s go into a math class: The teacher is talking,
“Last week we worked on Simplifying Algebraic Expressions. Today we’ll build on that and get into Solving Equations.”
That’s five math words: Three are from the past, and you should know (Simplify, Algebraic, Expressions), and two are possibly new (Solving Equations).
When you hear, “Simplify, Algebraic, Expressions” think of an easy question, as in, Simplify 2x + 3x or Simplify 2x + 5 - 3x + 4. That’s you listening with a response!
If you’ve already seen, Solving Equations, then you should be able to think, and then change those words to an easy question, Solve x + 3 = 4 or Solve 2x - 3 = 5. That’s you connecting!
If Solving Equations, never taught, then you know two things:
1) It has something to do with Simplify Algebraic Expressions and
2) The teacher will show how Solving Equations and Simplify expressions are related.
Your self-talk should be, “How can I make this easier, so I remember it.”
4. Listen to what they’re emphasizing: When they say, “You should know this” or “This builds on that question we did last week” (that’s where you raise your hand and ask, “What question last week?”). Asking your questions helps you understand and communicates to the teacher, “Hey, I’m listening!”
5. Summing up: Listen. They’re giving you clues. Think about math you know to help you make sense of new math you’re taught. Change math words to easy questions. Do that, and you’ll soon be a ‘listening star’, an influencer in the math classroom.
Have a stellar listening day,
Eh
What’s EH? Initials for my name, Edison Hopkinson. Plus, ‘EH’ is a part of Canadian culture - it’s how many of us finish off sentences. Have a good day, EH! Math’s going well, EH! So not so much a question, but more a statement. Well, I guess it could be a question, Math’s going well, EH? I think I’ll stop there, EH.