I know that almost everything you find on the interwebs is true. But nothing I’ve found is more true than this:

This talk really resonates with me. Everyday, as I lecture in my community college classroom, I look into my students’ faces and see boredom, confusion, and an effort to just try to get through. And all of that despite the fact that I am hilarious! As I’ve considered how we’ve educated these students through their high school years (and even in their undergraduate years) I see clearly a pattern of “helping them too much” and not allowing/forcing/tricking them to think critically about the situation. No wonder they fail so many math classes. No wonder they don’t retain anything from semester to semester. And no wonder to quickly get out of the STEM disciplines and head to something else.

While I struggle with this idea I also realize that there has never, ever, never been a better time to be a math teacher (in both a potential-energy and kinetic-energy sort of way). Technology offers the opportunity for us to teach AND inspire (whoa! my own students would be confused by that statement). Math teachers will always be responsible to help students learn their multiplication tables and what-not but we should also feel a responsibility to help them become problem-solvers (and I’m not talking about story problems – see the video for a distinction).

I have experienced the wonder of mathematics. What can I do to give them the same opportunity?

P.S. Part of the reason I’m using this video in my blog is so that I always have the video on hand when I need inspiration. I’ve watched it many, many times and am tired of having to do a Google search for it whenever I want to see it.