Giving Math a Voice

"As a kid, I felt that my voice was a little stifled."  Many kids love to socialize.  When I was in high school, one of my classmates regularly requested "social breaks" just past the halfway mark of our 90 minute blocks.  Though we laughed it off as a joke at the beginning of the year, we began to echo her call for breaks in the intensive curriculum (we were in health care professions track classes) to decompress and let our brains recover from technical information processing and critical thinking.  Little did we realize, many of the real-world topics we discussed during our free time could have been associated with themes and concepts we encountered in the classroom.  All that was needed was context and perspective.

In his talk on math education at TEDx Providence, Khalil Fuller shares his own experience helping his peers relate to math in high school.  He saw a glimmer of hope when math seemed like it could be fun.  His inspiration: Kobe Bryant.  More importantly, how Kobe Bryant and other basketball players created data that students already knew and even understood.  They heard about it on the radio, on the news, and most ostensibly on ESPN.  "Was that the exact kind of conversations that students all around the country are having every day and just overlaying math on top of it?"

Math Hoops and the organization that got them started, Big Picture Learning, are examples of educators that are working to understand what students are passionate about and tap into that in the classroom.  Though Math Hoops is still in the developmental phase, it may be worth keeping track of as a possible tool for future use in math classrooms around the world.

"The world is a fascinating and fun place.  Shouldn't the classroom be, as well?"

Watch the full video from Khalil Fuller at TEDx Providence:

A somber footnote:
"...in a major study in a U.S. city they found that 94% of murder victims under the age of 25 were high school drop-outs.  Literally bored to death."  Keeping in mind that correlation does not equal causation, this still strikes me as a disturbing correlation.  I love keeping the classroom light-hearted, but it is important to remember the gravity of my task and the responsibility of youth development that remains in any classroom.