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.
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