6th grade math. How can I get my students to feel the need to learm it?

Question

I teach sixth grade math at a middle school in a small southeast Ohio town. My students are nice young people but so many seem so uninterested in really learning math. I like to hear from adults but really am interested in what young people think.

Answer 1

Heyy Mr.Huling.
Its Kaitlin, I Like The Way you teach I Think Your an awesome teacher!!!!!!! I Think you teach great and you have taught me alot of things about math and helped me. And you have taught me well actually the whole class about other stuff too to make it more fun haha. I always have a great time in your class. Good qusetion i dont really know the answer to it though. Its a thinker.Well ill see ya tomarrow bye.

Answer 2

I'm currently in high school, however i was in a gifted school in 6th grade. My teacher always had us do things for a reason. You can teach anything as much as you want , but they won't learn it if they can't apply it. In sixth grade if you really want to, they've already learned what your teaching, it's mostly review, maybe you should start introducing useful math like algebra and geometry. Even if you can't do that try weekend projects, say your doing ratios, have some students build scale models. I really have no clue what your teaching, but even the kids have ideas. Ask them, and transfer the ideas one class generates and apply them to the others and vise versa. Teams work well too, maybe 5 in a group. Have competitions for test scores winners at the end of the quarter get a pizza party, every day in class put questions on the board and give points each time they get it right. winning team gets candy. (Apparently any motivation involves food.) I hope you do well, and always be fun about it, maybe even going out of your way to defend students makes them like you enough to value what you have to say including your subject

Answer 3

Honestly, there is no way to get students interested in something that they just don't care about . You may happen to catch their interest by being a good teacher, but they will care about listening to you, not the subject itself. However, the kids that genuinely want to learn will thrive under challenging learning environments. I am a high school senior taking calculus right now, and I don't really like math. I do like being challenged, though, so I enjoy learning it. I hope that makes sense. Then there are the third group who will actually enjoy the subject, and those will probably be pretty rare. If you nurture those kids, it will be the highlight of your career.

Answer 4

Most math isn't needed, but some is. The fundemental question is why would they need to learn it? The more vague you get, they more lost they will get. You are going to have to use real world examples that are used every day by people.

I had to take three courses in college in algebra and 12 or so years later, I have yet to use any of it. They may feel the same way.

Fractions decimal converstion, division: P/E (right there is a fraction) ratios for stocks

multiplication: compound interest, sales tax, multiple case quanitity

Answer 5

Kids don't have, or lose interest in any subject that they simply do not recognize in their everyday lives...sooo, go into their world and find the ways that they will use these math skills...shopping, tools for their cars, building, making clothes patterns, etc. If they can see the sense of the learning, it will be no problem for you at all, except to maybe keep up with the new ways they find on their own...and don't forget to include the fun in it all...always a big plus!

Answer 6

Actually thats untrue, kids really don't care if they'll be using it for the rest of their lives. They are only interested in what pays off now, which probably is not caring. I know alot about this, being a 9th grader and all. Make it fun... You dont have to stick to the book constantly either. Split the class in half once a month and have a competition, offer prizes to the winning half. This normally makes them want to prepare so they can win. Hope i helped

Answer 7

Well show tem how you would use that kind of math in real life!

if you use graphs show them how lines have slopes like mountains!
my teacher hopped on a desk and showed us how lines that are vertical dont have slopes, he jumped off the desk and it was hialarious! now we always remember!

If you use equations, put them to a song!
ex to pop goes the weasel x eguals negative b plus or minus square root b squared minus four A C all over 2 A

get creative!

good luck

Answer 8

When I was in sixth grade, my teacher made ways for us to want to understand it, like explaining radius by comparing it to the 3 point like on a basketball court, or other things like that.

Answer 9

Be honest... tell them that if they don't understand the fundamentals of math now, they'll have immense difficulty for the rest of their elementary and highschool careers. Tell them that math is relevant to everything, be it science, engineering, business... etc. They're likely to need it regardless of what job they pursue.