A Study Guide for Learning to Love Math: Teaching Strategies That Change Student Attitudes and Get Results

Most of the questions contained in this study guide are ones you can think about on your own, but you might consider pairing with a colleague or forming a study group with others who have read (or are reading) Learning to Love Math: Teaching Strategies That Change Student Attitudes and Get Results.

Chapter 1: Reversing Math Negativity with an Attitude Makeover

1. Which cause of student negativity toward mathematics most applies to your students? Consider how reading pathways develop in the brain and the implications for reading difficulties. What effect might this have on early intervention plans and differentiated instruction?
2. How might your students benefit from retests, math autobiographies, and other interventions described in this chapter?

Chapter 2: Understanding and Planning Achievable Challenge

1. What are the achievable challenge elements of video games that resonate with students' enjoyment and intrinsic reinforcement? How can you use these same motivators to engage students at individual levels of achievable challenge when they have a wide range of foundational knowledge?
2. Think of one or two students who fit the characteristics of Map Readers and Explorers. What behaviors, learning strengths, or challenges do these students demonstrate that allow you to see them as one of these categorizations?

Chapter 3: Examples of Differentiated Planning for Achievable Challenge

1. Using one of the examples of differentiated planning for achievable challenge in this chapter, plan an instructional unit that meets standards for the grade level you teach.
2. Using strategic curriculum planning with results in mind (such as Wiggins and McTighe's Understanding by Design), how can you plan for success, define the goals, and assess student success for the unit you create?
3. How will you design for knowledge transfer so your students can take what they learn in class and apply it to other applications and creative problem solving?

Chapter 4: Reducing Mistake Anxiety

1. Through neuroimaging (of the amygdala, hippocampus, and the rest of the limbic system) and measurement (of dopamine and other brain chemical transmitters), we now have visible evidence that there is a profound increase in long-term memory and higher-order cognition when students trust and have positive feelings for teachers. The same results are seen when students benefit from supportive classrooms and school communities. How can you use this information to support class participation and motivate students to risk making mistakes?
2. Select one of the math units in this chapter that is troublesome for some of your students. Develop ideas that will increase participation and promote changes in neuroplasticity that help students learn from mistakes.

Chapter 5: Change Your Intelligence? Yes, You Can!

1. In your opinion, when is it reasonable for students to use calculators in class? How is this decision influenced by your knowledge of stress, achievable challenge, and the need for a firm grasp on fundamental skills?
2. What information in this chapter and in the Brain Owner's Manual (Appendix B) surprised you? What information confirmed what you instinctively knew to be true?

Chapter 6: Motivating All of Your Students

1. Enthusiasm and inspiration are generated when students are presented with novelty and have the freedom to find creative ways to explore or connect with new material. What are some ways you could generate students' curiosity, awe, and sense of wonder? How can you pull students into lessons so they will be motivated to connect with the information in a meaningful way?
2. Any pleasurable activity (such as singing, chatting with friends, listening to music, or sharing jokes) can provide the amygdala with a chance to "cool down” and allow neurotransmitters to rebuild. When have you used syn-naps, and did you notice the positive impact of these "brain breaks” on your students?

Chapter 7: Bringing the Real World to the Math Classroom

1. Dopamine release from a number of activities increases positive behaviors such as perseverance and creative problem solving. How can you use dopamine-stimulating activities to help your students benefit from the resulting state of mind?
2. Superior learning takes place when classroom experiences are enjoyable and relevant to students' lives, interests, and experiences. Recall a time when this was promoted in your class, or ask colleagues about things they have done to make math relevant to their students. Consider new ways to make connections that increase the value students place on the math they learn.

Chapter 8: Creating Student Goals for Motivation

1. Active learning, such as inquiries and investigations chosen by students and based on personal interest, increases student engagement and knowledge retention. Can you anticipate and plan for potential problems, such as classroom management or varied student abilities, so your lessons are successful and all students experience the joy and intrinsic motivation of discovery?
2. The last region of the brain to mature (through plasticity) is the prefrontal cortex. Therefore, the associated executive functions directed from that region also develop relatively late. How can you support the development of judgment, prioritization, and delay of immediate gratification so students recognize and appreciate the relationship between effort and progress toward a goal?

Learning to Love Math: Teaching Strategies That Change Student Attitudes and Get Results was written by Judy Willis. This 180-page, 6" x 9" book (Stock #108073; ISBN-13: 978-1-4166-1036-6) is available from ASCD for $18.95 (ASCD member) or $23.95 (nonmember). Copyright © 2010 by ASCD. To order a copy, call ASCD at 1-800-933-2723 (in Virginia 1-703-578-9600) and press 2 for the Service Center. Or buy the book from ASCD's Online Store.