Math Smart! Student Voices

Students in a south Texas school district were surveyed by IDRA in 2008. Below is a sample of their responses.

What are some things teachers do that really help you learn in class?

When they take time to help you, and when they make the environment a lot more comfortable and fun. When they have a sense of humor.
They make themselves available after class for tutoring, and they give us good strategies.
They ask us if we understand and if we don’t they’ll go all over again until we understand.
When teachers make learning fun and explain well to students and when they teach us by doing activities.
Nothing because this teacher explains very fast.
Explain what we are dealing with.
Group work and activities.

What are some things teachers do that really help you learn math?

They have different techniques
We do fun activities together about math and it helps us because we’re having fun doing math.
Sit down with me and explain to me.
They teach us step by step till everybody learns it.
They give us different examples to see which one we learn.
She explains the lesson in different ways
We work with blocks/tiles and shapes.
She makes it fun to learn so it can be easier to understand.
Making the sentence smaller and easy to learn
They make games out of math problems and they make smart ways to remember stuff.
They do fun subject and some time in group
Sometimes my math teacher helps me but she talks very fast and she is always angry with us.

When did you enjoy learning math the most? Why?

I enjoy it when I get it.
In groups, it gives opinions from others.
When the teacher makes it fun or funny.
I enjoyed math in eighth grade. I learned a lot of stuff.
On Friday when I finished all my work. I enjoyed learning it because I understood it.
When I was in third grade because it was fun.
The teacher is cool with me and doesn’t let me fall behind.
When we do group experiments.
I don’t like it because I don’t understand.
When the teacher would show us how to do the problems.
When we use the calculators.
When I work in an activity with my friends.
Last year, because the teacher would explain you the things until you understood it.
When we used graphs, because I like drawing!
Well in my sixth-grade year I enjoyed math because my teacher that year taught math to the point where we would understand. If we wouldn’t get it he would stop and help us.
By playing games, because we have fun and at the same time we are learning.

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