Interdisciplinary studies centered around mathematics

As someone who has grown up having a very strong passion for many different subjects in school and having many different hobbies and interests outside of the classroom, I understand the importance of branching out into other fields of study.  My interests include but are not limited to mathematics (obviously), most sciences, history and social sciences, analytical writing, visual arts, and performing arts, such as band and theater.  Don't get me wrong, I was no valedictorian or prodigy who could do almost anything with great ease, but I always felt as though my strengths were very diverse.  At that time, and honestly only until just recently, I had always wanted my strengths to be less diverse and more singular.  In other words, I would rather have been very strong at one discipline rather than average/mediocre at many.  Though at the time this idea sounded logical, nowadays, I couldn't feel more different.  The reason is that now I realize how much each study relates to and relies on one another.

This past fall and winter I had the amazing opportunity to work for the Brookings High School marching band and winter drum-line as their front-line instructor.  I had been a front-line instructor previously at my old high school, which was an amazing teaching opportunity and allowed me to grow as an educator.  When I was teaching drum-line at my old high school, I was still teaching with the perspective of isolation among certain subjects, especially between math and music.  It wasn't until I began working at Brookings High School that I started to realize how much of my teaching was influenced by mathematics. Once I realized this, I began to experiment with the idea of merging these two disciplines in my teaching.  One of the earliest attempts was my use of functions to explain the growth and decay and the shaping of dynamics in a specific phrase.  I also used trig to explain wrist rotations and angles of mallet heights off the keyboard in order to define specific dynamics and stroke types.  I also used the concept of basic machinery to explain motor movements and the math and physics of velocity and distance behind these movements.  It was also crucial to have an understanding of anatomy of our bodies in order to maximize on energy efficiency and technical development.  All of us staff members also used many different analogies and emotional connections to express the show concept to the students and to get them to perform with a certain style of movement and emotional display.

I could honestly go on and on about the different disciplines used in teaching for front-ensemble, but I think you get the picture.  The important thing to take away is not how many different disciplines can be applied to music, but instead how relatable and intertwined each different discipline can be.  In order to maximize on the learning of individual studies, all it takes is a little imagination and the knowledge of multiple perspectives of learning.  Though I'll admit, most of my experience with interdisciplinary teaching centers mainly around music, I feel very strongly that just being able to harness the power to pull concepts and perspectives from all subjects is immensely crucial in teaching any content area.

Recall and the reasoning behind Problems of the Day

Throughout the time I’ve been in the education system, especially high school, there have been many classes in which we “warmed-up” before our class lecture or activities began. In elementary school, this idea was usually limited to vocal music, band, and physical education, or a class at the beginning of the day. All of these were quite valid classes to warm-up for. Once I got to middle school, there was one more class that added to this idea, and I’m starting to realize why.

Once I got to middle school, both math teachers started each and every class period with a set of problems on the board, called our “Problems of the Day,” or POD for short. These problems were usually recall from previous sections or even previous courses we had taken. The POD’s became a staple in their classrooms until I graduated, as I had both teachers for all of my math classes. At the the time, my student mind viewed these problems as tedious and pointless, as it just took time out of our time to lecture and learn new material. However, once I got to college and started taking some of the higher level math courses, I began to understand why the POD’s are quite effective.

It’s not secret in today’s world that there are many students that despise mathematics classes, and it isn’t hard to understand why. Math requires a different type of thinking than most courses. The non-math courses I’ve taken in the past required a lot of memorization and understanding how things work, while the math courses I’ve taken require understanding of concepts with a little memorization, such a trig identities. However, where math differs from these other courses is that math requires us to piece together what little we can memorize and solve equations using a series of steps. It is a very different way of thinking than other subjects, which brings me back to our POD’s.

Many students don’t like math because it is a different way of thinking. This idea changed my thought on why our POD’s in middle and high school were so important. It can be a tough transition from the thought processes of different courses. Think about the schedule of a high school student: They begin the day in a Biology class, then move on to English, then study hall, then off to choir, then lunch, then PE, then math, and end the day in shop class. Each of these courses and time slots have a different way of thinking, which can be tough to get in the right state of mind for lecture.

I now understand that idea of our POD’s were to get our brain in “math mode” or in a mathematical way of thinking. Having a 50 minute lecture is pointless when the students aren’t in math mode until 15 minutes into class. At that point, a third of the class has gone by and students may have missed an important part of the topic. This doesn’t bode well if the class doesn’t comprehend about a third of the class over the course of the year. Using information recalled from previous chapters is especially important in this as well, as it would likely tie into the content you are currently covering. Using this idea will help students get into the right state of mind when beginning class.

I may not have enjoyed them in middle and high school, but I now understand the importance of POD’s and how they can impact the effectiveness of the lessons we give and how the class interprets the content as a whole. I would personally like to integrate POD’s into my classroom when it is all said and done, which I something I never thought I would have said about seven or eight years ago.

Are You Not Entertained?

From the teachers that brought you, "Stand in front and lecture," and "Here's the answer now figure it out," comes "Everyone quiet whilst you work, I don't wanna hear any talking." Starring Generic Math Teacher, and a special guest by the Social Studies Department.

One of the largest perceived problems of math classes in high school, and, frankly, in college is that the lecture lifestyle is the life for the common teacher or professor. The variability in day to day teaching life is somewhat limited and the lifestyle becomes a staple in the everyday life of both students and teachers. Most movies purvey math classes as boring, and there's a large social stigma behind math because of the fact that it doesn't hold the interest in people who don't receive structure well. 

Something that I love to emphasize is a combination of fun activities, gamification, and lecture-style teaching in a course to help progress the students not just by them learning the subject, but also by piquing their interest in math. The coolest concepts in math can hold such significance. I specifically remember the day one of our math teachers came in to teach us imaginary numbers. She started in regular lecture style, then left, and returned with a tutu, a crown, and a magic wand, and graced us with imaginations large enough to comprehend imaginary numbers.

Whereas the structure behind lecture-style teaching correlates with the structured students, the theatre kids are left in the dust on occasion as their imagination isn't suited for the rigorous structure and boredom of everyday math lecturing. Therefore, the emphasis here is to not forget lecture-style teaching but to entertain the ideas of different activities to keep the students wanting more math rather than less of it.