Looking deeper into my focus area: mathematics

After determining that mathematics was an area of need at my school I began formulating survey questions for the students at the school to determine what effective teaching practices were already being used and what areas might need improvement. I chose to survey the whole school because my colleagues were also interested in looking into mathematics as a school wide action research project. I also tried to create a survey that would give me a clear sense of my own students attitudes towards math and preferences for learning math.

My completed survey focused on how much students liked or did not like math in general and then strove to determine exactly what teaching techniques and/or activities students found engaging and which activities they did not find engaging. The first set of questions used a Likert Scale, the second set was multiple choice and focused on demographics, and the final set was written answer.

All three teachers at our school gave the survey (I created a smiley/grumpy faced one for the K-2nd grade class). The results of the survey indicated that the students in my class did not like math (6th-7th graders). The rest of the school was much more positive about math overall. My students, who I will focus on for my Action Research Project, particularly disliked lessons based on the text book and particularly enjoyed group work and computer supported mathematics. My next post will share some more of the specifics I learned from my survey and tell the story of where it led me next.