Effective Way to Teach Mathematics - A Guide For Tutors

Working in a classroom can be a challenge at the best of times, and with growing class sizes and varying levels of comprehension and learning abilities, reaching specific curricular targets and goals can be tough for the best of teachers. Here are some tips to help you build an effective way to teach mathematics – a guide for tutors and teachers at all levels.

Individual students learn in different ways and benefit from being taught in ways that match their learning styles, however, there are a few techniques that broadly cross al learning styles and can help when working with a large group or faced with a more challenging student.

Learning new and abstract concepts can be a challenge and hard for children to understand, which in turn makes it hard for them to also verbalize and ask the right questions. When they are still learning new concepts and vocabulary, being able to eloquently inquire about what they are learning is a serious challenge.

Making the subject hands on and tactile can make math less abstract for your student. Using shapes, blocks and visual aids can really help your students to pick up and understand the concepts along the way through learning new skills in the subject of math.

Try imagining the problems from their point of view. How would a 5 year old visualize an addition problem where one thing is added to another? Can you make the subject more visual for them to begin to literally SEE the answers. Lego is a great way to demonstrate number building, operations, fractions, sorting, patterns, 3D shapes, and more and it also begins to establish a relationship between fun and learning too!

Visuals and images will also help your students to comprehend and retain information. Visual and tactile aids are two ways to span across learning styles and make your students understand why and how math works in a physical and visual way, not just in an abstract form.

Applying the subject to concepts that your student age group is familiar with will also help.

Students learn when they feel confident. They need time to learn at their own pace and can’t be rushed however deadlines and curriculums need to be met and goals for the child’s progress in the subject are time sensitive, so finding the right balance is important.

Mastery learning is about giving students as much time as they need to grasp a specific skill or concept. It involves varying the time you give each student to succeed. Work closely with your students if you can, to establish a fair amount of time to be spent on specific subjects which allows the most productive outcome for you and your student.

Technology-based classroom tools can offer a powerful way to differentiate learning while teaching elementary math, which is an effective way to help students in mixed-ability classrooms to succeed. This can allow extra time with specific students and help the ones who are finding a topic simple to continue with their learning.

Communication is key! Asking your students to explain their ideas and understanding of the topic helps them to solidify their learning. Group work can enforce this even further and help your student build confidence in what they know. Have you ever noticed how much more confident you feel about a concept after explaining it to someone else?

Meta-cognition is the process of thinking about your options, choices, and results, and it has a big impact on the way students learn.

Asking students to brainstorm problem-solving strategies before they are assigned a specific problem can help them to organize their thoughts and consider the techniques and skills that they can use. Encourage students to work together to suggest different strategies in a respectful way.

This process can be carried out at every stage of problem solving when teaching math. Once students have offered an answer, ask them to talk through how they reached their answers and explain to the others in the group or to walk through the answers to their challenges with you if you are a private tutor.

With Math word problems, sometimes telling stories or creating scenarios where the problems would be used in a real life scenario can help. When it comes to igniting the interest of young minds, not much comes close to a good story.

Incorporate story problems into your classroom lessons allow students to see how certain math concepts can apply to real life. Math word problems rolled into storie sare a good way to help students understand how to use math in everyday life and see the relevance of math.

These different approaches can help you share your knowledge and skills with all students of mathematics.

Source: Math Tutor Calgary NW