Results from Student and Teacher Interview

Student Interview

                For our student interview, we talked to a grade 12 student who is tutored by one of our group members. He is an intelligent student, who just does not fully apply himself. With tutoring, he has been able to greatly improve his marks, and he has had teachers in the past from whom he has been able to learn effectively.

                Our first two questions were about what he likes and dislikes about math. He likes to graph and to use the graphing calculator technology, indicating that he is a visual learner. He dislikes problem solving, which we feel is a common issue with many students. He said that this was because there is no predetermined way to change words into equations that was the same every time. To us, this implied that he doesn’t understand math at very deep level.

                Our third question was "What could be done in the classroom to help your learning?". The student said that he wished that the teacher had better and well organized notes. If the teacher is writing on the board, he finds that they often write in a 'non-linear' way. This means that these teachers will write in different locations, go backwards, erase things and write overtop of diagrams. This makes notes difficult to follow after the lectures. The student suggested that teachers will be more effective to use overheads instead of the blackboard. We feel this is significant because teachers need to be aware of these specific learning styles if they are trying to use engaging activities. Some students still need the more traditional teaching strategy of note taking in order to learn effectively.

                The student also mentioned that he likes teachers to give examples that are the same as questions on their tests. We feel that this is an indication that he is used to learning instrumentally, but his teacher is trying to teach relationally.

                Our fourth question was "what would you like to see done in your classroom?". He said that he wanted a more interactive environment. We feel that this means that he wanted a more relaxed and friendly environment, where he felt comfortable talking to his peers. He also mentioned that there are many grade 11's in his class, and that this affects the feel of the classroom. This brought up the importance of the overall mood and feeling that you create within your class. Not only do you have to think about how to organize a lesson and explain concepts, but you also have to consider how students will feel while they are sitting in your class. This is not a simple matter either, for there are many different factors that can affect a classroom environment.

                Our final question was about how he views his overall math education. He found that his view of mathematics changed with every year, and with the individual teacher that he has had. This stresses the importance of our jobs, and the effect (both positive and negative) that we can have on a student. He also said that he felt that elementary school mathematics was a joke, and that nothing was really taught there. We agree with this sentiment as there is no reason why elementary students should not be learning more advanced mathematics because they are perfectly capable. The issue is that teachers cannot assume that students have learned anything in previous years, because they get passed regardless of ability. We also feel that the new curriculum is moving concepts into higher grade levels, while we feel that many of these topics should be taught earlier.

Teacher Interview

                For our teacher interview we talked to the department head at one of the local Vancouver secondary schools. He is fairly young (likely mid to late 30’s) and very involved in the math education community.

                We jumped right in by asking him how he deals with students who are not interested in math. He said that he tries to make the activities and problems as engaging as possible, but admitted that he does not make any special effort to encourage individuals. He implied that choosing to engage in the activities or not is the student’s choice. We found this answer very surprising as it gave us the impression that this teacher almost did not care about such students, and that if they do not want to learn math, then it is not his problem. We feel that reaching out to those students who may have a negative view of mathematics and trying to change their opinions is a very important aspect of teaching math.

                We then asked the teacher if he had any especially effective teaching methods that he would suggest. He said that he likes to teach through investigatory activities, and believes that students learn best through discovering, not being told something. This is something that we have heard a lot about in many of our classes, so it was nice to see that there are teachers putting it into practice. He also said that he likes to give students surprising problems, meaning questions which might have answers that are contrary to what was initially expected. He finds that this really grabs their attention and helps them engage in the material.

                Our third question was about what aspects of the job he finds to be most difficult. He said that his biggest challenge is recognizing his own weaknesses, learning from them, and growing in his teaching. He sees many of his colleagues getting “stuck in a rut” and being afraid of change, therefore he finds it difficult to prevent himself from falling into the same situation. He has tried to integrate new ideas into the classroom, but finds that there is a lot of resistance, both from the students and his fellow teachers. We feel that this is an important thing to recognize, particularly while we are trying to bring in new ideas during our practicum. Everyone gets used to a particular system, and it is very difficult to change.

                Our fourth question dealt with the amount of time that is involved in teaching. He said that he works approximately 55 to 60 hours a week. He stays at school until 5pm everyday, and works in the evenings and on weekends too. There is a lot of marking, although the amount of preparation time required decreases as you gain experience. He is also constantly thinking about teaching, so in that sense, it invades all aspects of his personal life. These are, of course, good things to be aware of as we enter the teaching profession.

                Finally, we asked him, what was most rewarding about his job. He said that he really loves interacting with intelligent, thoughtful and inquisitive students. We agree that this would be a wonderful part of the job, as you would be able to share your love and enthusiasm for the subject matter. However we also feel that helping students who struggle, and seeing them having a major breakthrough with the subject, would be extremely rewarding as well. This may even be more rewarding than interacting with the intelligent students. We got the impression that this teacher focuses a lot of his energy on the bright students, and less on the weaker students. We feel that all students deserve a teacher’s time and energy, and that a teacher can learn a lot from each and every one of their students. 

(This post was created in collaboration with Edward Liao and Shannon Kennedy)