Discussion
Sometimes I have a student who has to work much harder than their peers just to keep up with the mathematics. It could be that they have less experience with math, it could be that math is difficult for them, but it can be discouraging to work as hard or harder than everyone else and just get a C-
It can make you feel really small and not very smart. Even if objectively you know that isn't really true.
For those who have been that student what helped you to keep going?
@futurebird I won't haev a good life if I didn't graduate high school, That's the only thing that kept me going back then.
That's a harsh way to look at it. But, it's not detached from the truth unfortunately.
@futurebird I stopped caring about grades and focused on what I could learn on the subjects. I developed this mentality not long after I started college.
There were subjects I had a low grade but learned more than subjects that had good grades.
@futurebird For me it was focusing on two things:
1. Whether I was good at something or not, was I learning? Maybe I was struggling, but at least I was taking in _some_ new (hopefully practical) information.
2. Focusing on the end goal. The class might be hard, but it was getting me to the next stage - in my education, in my career, in my hobby. The individual grade/test wasn't important, the class was moving me toward where I wanted to be.
@futurebird I didn't. I quit. I had a peer tutor, but it wasn't enough.
I studied art instead, then education...then ...architecture?
I work with math profs. When we drink and I ask them about math they tell me my questions are the best and that I'd be so good at math.
But like, I never opened a textbook after grade 7. In grade 6 Mr. W let the boys play video games while the girls worked from the textbook. In grades 7 & 8 I got D's. In HS the teacher quit 1/2 through so we all passed.
@futurebird I was such bad at mathematics because of a very bad teacher who horribly bullied us when we had questions, especially when we wanted to know more philosophical stuff (like ' did humans always had a zero?'). Unfortunately, nobody helped us in school time.
Very late, when I designed jewelry with paper art, inspired by natural forms, I suddenly learnt that nature is fascinating geometry and mathematics, and that I intuitively used the good old Pythagoras. Ictried to relearn it.
But the
I would add that "keep going" isn't always the right answer. But, if it is, how do you hang on through the (seemingly) unrewarding part of learning?
Set your own bars for success? Know that getting a C- when you started from behind is a big deal and harder than just getting As with little effort since everything has been just how you needed it for years?
I think sometimes when students can work through this stage they do get to the other side. It gets easier.
And yet. It's hard.
@futurebird speaking as someone who only worked in project based mentorship settings - primarily with inner city HS & undergrad audience (biotech, growth curve math)
I remind the student that this is merely a skill, like metalworking or woodcarving, and in no way represents their internal quality (like 'intelligence', whatever the heck that is). As long as they know how to problem solve, whether they do it the best way, or really quickly under test/competition settings is kind of irrelevant.
This might not be possible in a classroom setting but in the research lab I try to focus struggling students on their personal gains.
In lab, we have ppl at different stages and most are used to being the best. But the best undergrad is never going to be as good as a an ok postdoc and usually not as good as the grad students.
Students get discouraged when techniques that seem easy to others fail for them.
@futurebird I can only share the experience of working with a few of them in vocational college. 3 of 5 of my colleagues just needed a different approach as the one the teacher could offer. One of them came to “it's that easy‽” after solving a few exercises. For the last 2 I also didn't find a good aproach.
@futurebird
for me it was the maths teacher who took the extra time to sit down with me and see that I had understood it, even if I wasn't as fast as the others at solving the problems. Just knowing that she knew that I could solve the problems but was just slow was enough.