Hear what students are saying about their math learning
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.