What do kids want to learn and how do they want to learn it? There are certain requirements for every course that must be mastered by the students. But what makes learning enjoyable for some and drudgery for others? As a teacher, I can show my students an outline for the course and try to put everything in perspective so that they have a better idea of where I am taking them through the course. They know where they are and they know where they are going.
It always happens in every math class that I have taught that one day a student will as me why they need to learn this stuff. They are not impressed with explanations of how math trains their minds to think logically and teaches them to solve problems in a sequential manner by applying properties and theorems. The best answer that I can give my students is that I don’t know. And they don’t either. It depends on them and what they end up doing with their lives. Some of them will probably never use any of it. I am giving them tools to use and it will be up to them to decide if and when to use them.
I look at it as they are on a journey, one that I have already traveled. In high school algebra and geometry, they are at the beginning of a journey that will take them to calculus and higher math. Calculus is the door to a whole new way of looking at the world and leads to an understanding of the way things work. They are beginning a journey that will take them places and allow them to understand things that they haven’t even imagined.
I realize that most of my students will end their journey early and go no further than the basic algebra and geometry that is required for them to graduate from high school. That is fine. Math isn't for everyone. As long as you can make change and balance a checkbook. You probably learn all of the math that you need for normal, everyday life by 6th grade.. But there are a few who will make the journey. They will take the tools that I give them and acquire many more along their journey.
Hopefully, one or two of my students will continue the journey even further than I have gone.
