Mathematics quite unfortunately from time immemorial has become a subject of detest for many. Hence, as a maths teacher my two-year long journey has been quite eventful. From earning student’s wrath to dealing with some of the major issues associated with mathematics, it has been quite a roller-coaster ride for me.
In this ride however, there are a number of important aspects and details that I have come across, and found out certain ways to deal with a number of challenges that maths as a subject has thrown towards my students.
Why are students so adverse towards this subject?
As a subject, the necessity of maths has only increased manifold in present times. More than half of the students around the globe can be said to have apathy towards this subject. In such a situation, it was quite important on my part as a teacher to bring about a change in terms of viewing of the subject.
Another very important factor that I checked out was that especially during assignments, students developed a negation with regards to this subject. It is quite a well-known fact that maths assignment brings in a host of challenges for its students; however, as a teacher, it was my responsibility to find out solutions for such challenges and place them before the students for their benefit.
Understanding the adversities and finding out solutions to deal with those:
When a particular student performs badly in a specific subject and that too, over a considerable time period, the onus and explanations fall on the teacher. It is generally taken as a matter of fact that due to that particular teachers’ negligence, or lack of explanation that student, or rather that batch of students are underperforming.
It was such a low moment of my life as a teacher, when I had to face such criticism, and that is what drove me to analyse the problems first and then play accordingly.
Dealing with maths assignment:
In fair comparison to maths homework, or regular maths classes, maths project was a completely different ball game. Here, certain, important and complicated topics had to be taken into consideration and then explained those with a detailed analysis.
Under such state of affairs, it was quite natural on part of the student’s to get carried away from the major topic and divert their attention to something less significant. Not just that, there are moments when it so happened that some of my students simply were not bothered about the project that they had to deal with, and this resulted in their getting low grades.
Naturally, as a teacher, it was my duty to find out solutions associated with this problem.
 Steps to make maths assignments an enjoyable process:
As I have noticed, that students, to a great extent tend to get bored while completing their assignments. Especially those students for whom maths as a subject is extremely challenging, they tend to avoid lengthy calculations, let their concepts remain unanswered and choose for easier topics on a repetitive phase.
In this way, the major challenge that such assignments address as learning the techniques via working out and consulting resources are defeated to a great extent. As a teacher, it was a personal challenge for me to find out ways to deal with such problems and get proper solutions to it.
- Finding the correct resources
Though there are a number of challenges while finding out that correct resource that would help in ensuring that your assignment is completed in the best manner, once that correct resource is found, half the battle is won!
There are a number of professional websites, as well as books available from where reference material can be obtained. Prior to choosing a specific website, it is important that as a student you should check out the reviews that are associated with such sites. Once that is done, naturally, completing the project becomes much easier and challenges are won by any student.
On a more personal note, I had made sure that my students were left all alone while searching out resources and utilising them. In this way they got to learn newer concepts and tricks as well.
- Checking out the shortcut methods
A project is the best place to ensure that you have the option of trying out new techniques that would help you in making the process of your project completion easier. Hence, it is important that as a student, you take up a specific topic and check out what the shortcut methods that are available fort that and apply them.
As a teacher, I appreciate such details and definitely a student is put in a better spot due to this. Clearly, this is the ideal answer to facing challenges that may be associated with completion of a maths project. Are you wishing to know more about the challenges that are faced while doing such assignments? For that you can check out Top 6 challenges faced by the students while doing mathematics assignments?
- Using video lessons as a backup for explanation
Since the primary aim of a project is to learn the concept while doing the work, hence video lessons are really a great option. Most of the students are challenged with the fact that they do not get to learn the concepts as they complete their project. However, by making use of these video lessons, students will get the perfect response to problems that are associated with this project.
I had tried this technique in my class, and the response was really good. Thus, you too can try it out and make sure that you have the correct mode of understanding placed before the students.
- Making a framework and being within that domain
To maintain a proper framework while doing the project is an important and most problematic aspect that a student can face. It so happens that after a certain point of time, a student as I have seen from personal experience tends to lose out the structure.
To ensure that such a situation does not arise, it is best that a student initially make a framework and ensure that they remain within that.
- Final proofreading and cleanliness
Silly mistakes are the biggest hurdle in ensuring that you have a perfect assignment and get that perfect score. Well, as a teacher, I would suggest you to proofread and ensure that all the calculations done are checked properly by using a calculator.
In this way chances of mistakes would reduce to a great extent and your chances of getting the top score would also increase!
So, do you have any other ideas? Do you think as a teacher I should take things from a different perspective? Do mail us your views and updates!