Tips on how to improve your mathematics skills.

Do you want to improve your mathematics skills? Do you wish to get excellent marks in Mathematics? Let's read the tips below. :)

Five Strategies to Keep Students Learning in a Calm Classroom Environment

Strategy 1

Keep the lesson moving. If you have a forty-five minute period, plan three different activities. Try to get them up out of their seats at least once during the class period. Those students with pent up energy will thank you for it.

Strategy 2

Don’t lecture for the whole period. Students who are actively engaged in a learning activity are generally not disrupting the class. Hands-on activities work great for vivacious classrooms.

Strategy 3 

Talk to your students. If you see them in the hall, in the cafeteria or at the grocery store, ask them how they are. If you see a student in the local newspaper, congratulate them. If they do something nice, tell them that you appreciate their kindness. This lets them know that you really do care about them.

Strategy 4

When students are being disruptive by talking, poking, pulling or crumpling paper, go stand by them. This sends them a direct message to stop what they are doing. Most of the time they stop and get back to work.

Strategy 5

When you have stood by the student, talked to the student and kept them busy with lessons, and they still are disruptive, take them in the hallway. Ask them, “Are you OK?” The students will crumble and tell you that they had a fight with their parents, didn’t get up on time or are having other issues. If they are defiant, send them on to the principal.

From : http://jijahmaths.blogspot.com/

Examples On How To Motivate Students To Do The Reading.

Assign the reading at least two sessions before it will be discussed. 

Give students ample time to prepare and try to pique their curiosity about the reading: "This article is one of my favourites, and I'll be interested to see what you think about it." (Sources: Lowman, 1984; "When They Don't Do the Reading," 1989).

Assign study questions.

Hand out study questions that alert students to the key points of the reading assignment. To provide extra incentive for students, tell them you will base exam questions on the study questions. (Source: "When They Don't Do the Reading," 1989).

If your class is small, have students turn in brief notes on the day's reading that they can use during exams.

At the start of each class, a professor in the physical sciences asks students to submit a 3" x 5" card with an outline, definitions, key ideas, or other material from the day's assigned reading. After class, he checks the cards and stamps them with his name. He returns the cards to students at a class session prior to the midterm. Students can then add any material they would like to the cards but cannot submit additional cards. The cards are again returned to the faculty member who distributes them to students during the test. This faculty member reports that the number of students completing the reading jumped from 10 percent to 90 percent and that students especially valued these "survival cards." Source: Daniel, 1988).

Ask students to write a one-word journal or one-word sentence. 

Angelo (1991) describes the one-word journal as follows: students are asked to choose a single word that best summarizes the reading and then write a page or less explaining or justifying their word choice. This assignment can then be used as a basis for class discussion. A variation reported by Erickson and Strommer (199 1) is to ask students to write one complex sentence in answer to a question you pose about the readings and provide three sources of supporting evidence: "In one sentence, identify the type of ethical reasoning Singer uses in his article 'Famine, Affluence, and Morality.' Quote three passages that reveal this type of ethical reasoning" (p. 125).

Ask nonthreatening questions about the reading.

Initially pose general questions that do not create tension or feelings of resistance: "Can you give me one or two items from the chapter that seem important?" "What section of the reading do you think we should review?" "What item in the reading surprised you?" "What topics in the chapter can you apply to your own experience?" (Source: "When They Don't Do the Reading," 1989).

Use class time as a reading period. 

If you are trying to lead a discussion and find that few students have completed the reading assignment, consider asking students to read the material for the remainder of class time. Have them read silently or call on students to read aloud and discuss the key points. Make it clear to students that you are reluctantly taking this unusual step because they have not completed the assignment.

Prepare an exam question on undiscussed readings. 

The faculty member asks her class whether they have done the reading. If the answer is no, she says, "You'll have to read the material on your own. Expect a question on the next exam covering the reading." The next time she assigns reading, she reminds the class of what happened the last time, and the students come to class prepared. (Source: "When They Don't Do the Reading," 1989).

Give a written assignment to those students who have not done the reading. 

Some faculty ask at the beginning of the class who has completed the reading. Students who have not read the material are given a written assignment and dismissed. Those who have read the material stay and participate in class discussion. The written assignment is not graded but merely acknowledged. This technique should not be used more than once a term. (Source: "When They Don't Do the Reading," 1989).

From : jijahmaths.blogspot.com