The Creative Writing, Teaching Mathematics in Everyday Life

Associating mathematics to students' everyday lives will be an objective for me as an educator. The studies I have read and my own struggles with mathematics have led me to believe that children need to make connections between the real world and mathematical concepts so that math becomes relatable to them. As it becomes relatable, students become more motivated to learn and more interested in the learning process. I believe that students will benefit from using journal writing in mathematics because it will engage them in further exploration and analysis of mathematical concepts.

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Educational Program and Assessment Standards for Teaching School Mathematics (1989) emphasises that "communication plays a vital role in helping children construct links between their informal, intuitive concepts and the abstract language and symbols of math". The focus on mathematics has shifted from solving equations to solving real world problems and explaining how the solution is achieved. A fifth-grade teacher wrote an article in Math Teaching in the Middle School, about how she implemented math journals in her classroom. She would have her students work in groups to find an answer and then each child would explain the process in his or her math journal. She stated, "The writing helps ensure that the student understands the problem-solving process and recognizes how much mathematics is utilized in everyday life." This is my objective as a teacher.

My primary reason for wanting to use journals with my class is to seek understanding of mathematical thinking. I will have my students maintain a journal, and I will provide them topics to write about. I will not grade on grammar, punctuation, or spelling because I want them to express freely what they are feeling. I will check their journals after they write each time. This seemed to be a concern in much of the research that I examined. Teachers complained that it took a lot of time to review each child's entry. I simply do not understand why a teacher would have students write in a journal without intending to review the work. I will read the journals because the questions that I pose will help me understand what concepts the children are grasping and which ideas they are missing, thus requiring further work with them on my part. This is very important, in my opinion. I need to be able to evaluate my teaching effectiveness regularly.

I believe that journaling fits well with my hands-on approach to teaching mathematics. It will allow me to feel comfortable enabling the students to explore without imposing on them specific concepts. I will be able to assign a task and then, at the end of the class, pose a question or a problem for them to work on that will assess understanding. I believe a teacher can learn a lot about his or her students and gain insight into individual students and their feelings about a particular concept through journaling in mathematics. Using journals is also an effective way of engaging each student individually. It will enable me to tailor my instruction because I will understand specific challenges each student faces, whether they are cognitive or emotional.

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