My current nemesis is the concept of integers. I am slowly realizing how much of my math learning centered around rote memorization and learning “the rules.” This makes it difficult for me to teach conceptually considering I’ve used rules my whole life.
Trying to explain to someone why when you subtract a negative number, you actually add is probably the most difficult thing I’ve had to articulate in a long time. I just know that the two negatives cancel out, but that’s not good enough for some of my students. They need to understand the why. I’m slowly beginning to realize where there are gaps in my “whys” for math. I’ve spent more time with the conceptual knowledge. I think I have a grip on subtracting a negative, but now I need to teach them why the product of two negative numbers is positive. Help?
Some days, I feel a little overwhelmed. I love teaching, but I worry that the way I understand things won’t be good enough for all my students… which could result in me not teaching them content they need to know. It’s great I have a math expert (my CT) to fall back on, but she won’t be around next year when I’m doing this on my own.
Anyone have suggestions for teaching conceptual knowledge, rather than procedural??
