Analyzing Math Teaching Techniques: An Interview and Class Management

This report presents an interview with Mr. James, a mathematics teacher with 13 years of experience teaching grades 5 to 10. James emphasizes that many students develop an aversion to mathematics due to negative early experiences and advocates for avoiding punishment as a key management technique. He stresses the importance of teaching the 'how' rather than the 'what,' using tools and methods tailored to different topics and grade levels. For subjects like trigonometry, he employs real-world applications to make learning more engaging. Empathy, the ability to see things from the learner's perspective, is crucial, along with logical reasoning, effective question management, and maintaining a sense of humor. He prepares thoroughly for each class, incorporating humor and managing classroom order while allowing students space for self-paced learning. James blends traditional and modern techniques, using technology to enhance his teaching and advises younger teachers to be empathetic and apply concepts to make math interesting, highlighting teaching as a dialogue that is rewarding both financially and emotionally and recharging weekly.

RUNNING HEAD: TEACHER INTERVIEW 1
Teacher Interview
Student Name
Institution Name

TEACHER INTERVIEW 2
Teacher Interview
Every teacher over a period of time hones teaching skills especially when the teacher
teaches the same subject and to different grades. The purpose of this paper is to interview Mr
James (second name concealed) who is aged about 38 years and has been teaching Mathematics
for grade 5 to grade 10 for the last 13 years. He is a post-graduate in Mathematics with a diploma
in teaching. He has attended numerous workshops on teaching at school level and has the credit
of conducting one such mathematics teaching workshop during 2018 for the younger teachers in
his school.
James is very explicit that Mathematics is a subject that most students are averse to,
scared of and develop an aversion towards as they grow-up. This, he opines, as a consequence of
the experiences that children might have had during their early years, wherein they get punished
for not learning even simple things like numbers, arithmetic tables, simple addition, subtraction
and other operations. He strongly opines that the human mind at younger age is more attracted to
colours, shapes and things in two and three dimensions.
During early childhood years, the human mind is not yet ready to accept, store and
retrieve information. He says that children must memorise “how” to do rather than the answers
themselves and he says he has carried this teaching philosophy into higher classes and that is the
reason of his success in dealing with higher class learners (Kort, Reilley, and Picard 2011).
Most teaching philosophies believe that learning by the rote method, is something that is
apt at a younger age and tend to overload the young minds with a large number of things to
remember rather than teaching the children how things progress from one to the next. Children at
young age tend to get distracted easily, which makes memorising difficult (Pearson, 2014).

TEACHER INTERVIEW 3
When there is a punishment that is added to such situations, it become worse and the child
develops an aversion which only grows stronger with age, due to early negative imprints that are
created. Avoiding punishment, he feels, is possibly the most effective management technique
that would be of great help, particularly when teaching complex subjects like math (Guido,
2018).
Teaching mathematics, according to James, needs a special logical bent of mind. He says
that the teacher is equally responsible for learning among the students and at some point, the
onus is on the teacher to ensure that the learning happens (Krantz, 2010). James over a period of
time has developed tools and methods to teach different topics as he progresses from grade to
grade. He has developed different tools that he uses with different examples while teaching
different topics. He emphasizes that it is important for a teacher to teach the “How” rather than
the “What.”
James goes on to explain that teaching in the earlier classes is more of a challenge
because that is the time when the foundations of mathematics is laid, and children develop either
a liking or an aversion to the subject. Once the foundations are properly laid in place, then he
says it is progressively developing various concepts based on the foundation and moving ahead
(National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), 2014).
James goes on to explain that he uses a variety of application tools for teaching his
subject. For instance, an area like trigonometry, which could get dry and difficult to identify
with, he has developed a variety of tools. Things like how to find a height of a building without
measuring it. He extrapolates it to finding the height of a mountain for instance extending the
same logic. He essentially makes learning more involved and fun. He himself, he says, never

TEACHER INTERVIEW 4
takes a serious approach or use angry emotions while in the class, however difficult it is at a
personal level or however difficult the class may be behaving and refusing to learn.
James gave out a very important clue on class and subject management. The secret, he
says, is empathy – the ability to look at things from the learners’ perspective rather than just from
the black board side. This, he says is super critical while teaching and for all teachers,
irrespective of the subject they teach (International Education Advisory Board (IEAB), 2008).
James also speaks of other different class-management techniques like being able to
prove logically, what you say; ability to manage your class and their questions; not getting
exasperated and losing your touch of the sense of humour and always managing to gain the
respect of the students in the class room. He emphasizes the last point and highlights the need for
adequate preparation before entering the class room. He speaks of preparing notes, examples and
he says he even prepares a few elements of humour and designs situations to use them
appropriately.
James also highlights the importance of keeping the class in order and not letting the
orderliness flow out of control. This he says is not meant to imply that he would be ruling with
an iron hand or have utmost discipline in classroom. He highlights the importance of letting
some amount of space to allow the students to explore the topic, go on their own after learning
the basics. He does this using what he calls Self-Paced Learning of a few topics. He hands out a
few topics after the class for the students to learn on their own pace before the next class and in
the next class, he ensures he revises the self-learning part and goes on to clarify any questions or
doubts that the students may have. He then uses examples to cover the self-learning part and
without actually explaining the concept, he uses an application of the concept to make sure the
students understand it.

TEACHER INTERVIEW 5
James is a mixture of the old-school of thought and the millennials. He uses technology
including models, presentations, videos to make his teaching interesting and absorbing. He
advises younger teachers to be empathetic and not use the learning-by-rote blindly but use
applications to make learning mathematics interesting (U.S. Department of Education, 2016).
Teaching, he reiterates is not a one-way communication but a dialogue, which a teacher must be
aware of respond according to the needs of the students. This he says makes learning interesting
and teaching very rewarding both financially and emotionally. He signs off, saying he reserves
some time weekly for himself to recharge his own batteries.

TEACHER INTERVIEW 6
References
Kort, Barry & Reilly, Rob & Picard, Rosalind. (2001). An affective model of interplay between
emotions and learning.
International Education Advisory Board (IEAB). (2008). Learning in the 21st Century: Teaching
Today's Students on their Terms. Retrieved April 13, 2019, from Certiport, a unit of NSC
Pearson, Inc.:
https://www.certiport.com/Portal/Common/DocumentLibrary/IEAB_Whitepaper040808.
pdf
Krantz, S. G. (2010). How to Teach Mathematics? American Mathematics Society.
National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). (2014). Teacher's Use of Research
Evidence. Slough, Berkshire: National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER).
Pearson. (2014). The Learning Curve: Education and Skills for Life. London: Pearson. Retrieved
April 13, 2019, from http://thelearningcurve.pearson.com/reports/the-learning-curve-
report-2014
U.S. Department of Education. (2016). Future Ready Learning - Reimagining the Role of
Technology in Education. Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, Office of
Educational Technology. Retrieved October 10, 2017, from
https://tech.ed.gov/files/2015/12/NETP16.pdf