How to Create the Ideal Math Classroom

Create the ideal math class? What am I to do? Well, my ideal class is going to be created for 7^th or 8^th grade students. However, I need to work within my constraints. The constraints are as follows:

- I have a traditional text and no instruction as to how to use it.
- This is an older district with mixed ethnicity classes of 25 students
- The Principal wants me to "shake things up"
- I'm the first new teacher in 5 years, and the existing staff is entrenched
- The Board wants results
- I have $300 to buy resources for my classes
- I have 5 new computers

The constraint placed upon the text is one that will be tough to work around. The Principal wants me to "shake things up," but there are a number of entrenched teachers on my team. The other teachers are used to teaching in a specific manner. I don't think they are going to be very receptive to a new teacher who comes in and tries to rearrange things. At the school where I did my observation, a first year 8^th grade math teacher came in with his "new fangled ideas" and tried to "shake things up." The other math teachers who had been in the school a couple of years and had experience with the "working class families" warned him against these new ideas. He forged ahead anyway, and is currently failing miserably. He has succeeded in confusing his students, and drawing the contempt of his colleagues.

The location and demographic constraint are nothing to worry about. That more or less describes the area that I've had most of my observation and teaching experience. I won't have to make any adjustments. In fact, 25 students per class is actually less than the average class size I'm used to.

Sadly, the test score consideration will rule all other criteria. As most public schools are living under the constant specter of Adequate Yearly Progress, these schools are for all intents and purposes teaching directly to the test. My "ideal" class becomes moot at this point. All I can hope to do is make the best with the information I need to teach. What I can do is take the material I have to work with, and present it in as constructivist a manner as possible.

Classroom environment in my "ideal" class would be pretty standard. Five rows of five seats, facing the board. I would incorporate a good deal of math posters and visual aides (formulas, etc.) around the room. Since this is my room, I would put on some light music in the background. I find that instrumental music (ambient jazz) seems to help a lot of students stay focused on task. I don't know exactly why this works, but for me, it does.

Dealing with the diverse needs of students is going to be tough if I need to make sure test scores improve. This is where the five new computers and software come in to play. Seeing as there is no possible way for 25 students to make use of the computers as a class, the computers will be reserved for those with special needs. The computers and software would be used to supplement the lessons, and provide some extra time with the material. If there are any special needs that can't be met with the computers or one-on-one teaching, I would check with the school to provide inclusion with a special education teacher.

As far as developing my program, I'm not going to be able to reinvent the wheel in my first year. If the other teachers are teaching from a specific text, it is more than likely because that text is aligned to whatever needs the school has to make AYP. I will definitely tweak the text and add some of my own materials to supplement and clarify the lessons, but unfortunately the Superintendent's call for higher test scores trumps the Principal's call to "shake things up." One of the lessons I would do as a review would be a variation of the Really Large Quantities activity (DeWalle p.197). I would "give" the students $1,000,000 each with the instructions that they must spend it all, but not spend more than $50,000 on any one item. This would be a good review and a nice lead in to more complicated ideas.

Since I am at the middle school level, my manipulatives would be either calculators, electronic, or software based. For example, there is a great deal of good geometry software that could be applied in the room. At the middle school level, most of the students are going to be headed in to concepts that can't quickly and easily be shown with manipulatives. Granted, working with the constraint of five computers for 25 students, the computers would have to be reserved for those that really needed the additional clarification.

Assessment will have to be fairly traditional if I am going to prepare the students for the standardized testing. In class I can patrol the room and ensure that each student has an understanding of the lesson at hand. Other methods will include homework and review assignments, as well as tests and quizzes.

So how am I going to handle the parent meeting? Well, what's important about my class reveals my philosophy. My math program will teach students to utilize math in their daily lives. Math is a part of life, and if one is going to succeed in school, and many careers down the road, certain aspects of math must be mastered, or at the very least, understood. Unfortunately, I can't solve the problems of working class parents. The best I can hope for is to teach math the way I hope children will learn. I have a solid background and understanding of how things are supposed to go in the classroom. I know what should work, but won't know what will work until I get in the room and try a lesson out.

In the end, I realize that I was supposed to describe my ideal math class. Given the constraints provided, and No Child Left Behind, I realize that an ideal classroom can't exist for me at this time. Maybe in the future, when legislation changes or all schools receive adequate funding and support, it can be at least a possibility. I don't know if that was the intent of this final essay, but that is the lesson I learned. It is still an important lesson though. I realize that math educators have quite a task to accomplish, and they must continually re-examine what they are doing to try to provide the best possible education despite what seems to be everything working to the contrary.