Nueva Math 1: Reflection From The Classroom

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Feedback on Nueva Math 1

The feedback I 've gotten from some students is that the math teachers give out homework problems that they haven 't discussed with the students so the students spend hours at night trying to figure out how to do the homework. The next day, the Math 1 teachers have the students who have solved the problems tell how they did so. Our understanding of the Nueva method of teaching is not to give out answers but to ask questions that assist students in figuring out ways to approach and solve problems. Students get frustrated when they are given homework for which they receive no introduction; many students are not sure how to get started. Half or more of the students in Math 1 have tutors who I suspect are helping them …show more content…

These are the students who are teaching the others (in the preceding paragraph) and they feel frustrated because they aren 't learning much. They would prefer to spend time learning new material rather than explaining or listening to what they already understand, know, or could easily figure out. They only started finding the class interesting when they they were introduced to Trigonometry. The material presented in class feels like review to them. They are pleased when they get more challenging problems from the teacher.

Parents are supportive of learning mathematics through problem solving. We (parents and I) appreciate your providing problems that are accessible to all students in the class and also providing deep exploratory problems so eager students can also be challenged. Can you devote time for the eager student to discuss their approaches or solutions?

Recently I have been doing much of the homework and I also find it difficult to do the homework when I am not provided with some sort of introduction. I appreciate that recently, Nueva Math 1 teachers have been providing scans of chapters from the books where the homework problems are taken.