In order to understand our students, we have to understand the context in which they learn: how they learn, their motivation, and with what preconceived conceptions students enter the classroom. Here, we explore the mathematical disposition, social development, and family and community context of an eighth grade class in an urban inner city. These eighth grades are taking various levels of Algebra instruction from Honors Algebra 1 to Algebra 1A1, which is an Algebra Readiness course.
Mathematical Dispositions
Many of the students within this class doubt their ability to succeed in mathematics. Students' low self-efficacy has led many students to lose interest and curiosity in mathematical problems. The students with the lowest self-efficacy hardly ever participate and usually do not try to understand concepts or work through problems, unless a teacher figure is directly next to them; thus, these students need a great amount of scaffolding and reinforcement. Yet, constantly reinforcing students with the lowest self-efficacy (either from the teacher or peers) has helped a few of these students gain confidence and curiosity in mathematical procedures. However, their mathematical disposition is not constant.
Other students within the class are generally willing to try to solve problems; however, when problems look slightly complex, students quickly give up and wait for the teacher to walk towards them in order to complete their work. This is directly linked to the fact that many students believe that they are "bad" in math. Only a handful of students show curiosity and self-efficacy in mathematics. These are the students that usually participate in class discussion, complete their homework on a daily basis, and attempt to complete classwork regardless of the apparent difficulty of the work. Since the main difference between the few students with self-efficacy and the students with low self-efficacy is their mastery of basic math skills, such as basic arithmetic, I am assuming that the mathematical dispositions of these students is greatly influenced by their past experiences in mathematics.
Social Development
As expected from middle school students, many of these students are still learning how to express themselves in appropriate manners and how to negotiate with the adults in their lives. These students are exploring the norms of the society around them; yet, most of them have identified the societal norms around them, they still have trouble working within these social norms or attempt to challenge them. For example, in private safe spaces students will address questions about race with each other and with adults that they feel will understand them. Additionally, students will question why they have to learn certain mathematical materials, do certain work, or complete homework. Most of these students are simply trying to figure out what is important to them and how to balance schoolwork with the "cool" activities in which they want to participate. However, a few students are not at the same stage of social development as others. A couple of students have not moved away from the stage where everything revolves around them. These students have many behavioral issues in class which are reprimanded by the teacher, but also by other peers. These are also the students that have the greatest difficulty in getting along with their peers.
Family and Community Context
Although most of these students are from low-income homes and have limited resources at home, most students have internet capable cell phones and access to a local public library with computers that can give them access to the internet. Also, most students know how to use the basic functions of the calculators within their phones, but they are not aware of more advance hidden options, such as the square root button. Furthermore, not all students feel comfortable with technology besides their cell phones. For example, some students refuse to come up to the smart board because they are afraid of not working on it correctly.
Lastly, all of the students are from minority backgrounds. Approximately 22% of the students are African American and 78% of the students are Latino. The Latino students vary in generation, but the majority are second generation Latinos from Central America. This is reflective of the community ethnic breakdown.
In order to understand our students, we have to understand the context in which they learn: how they learn, their motivation, and with what preconceived conceptions students enter the classroom. Here, we explore the mathematical disposition, social development, and family and community context of an eighth grade class in an urban inner city. These eighth grades are taking various levels of Algebra instruction from Honors Algebra 1 to Algebra 1A1, which is an Algebra Readiness course.
Mathematical Dispositions
Many of the students within this class doubt their ability to succeed in mathematics. Students' low self-efficacy has led many students to lose interest and curiosity in mathematical problems. The students with the lowest self-efficacy hardly ever participate and usually do not try to understand concepts or work through problems, unless a teacher figure is directly next to them; thus, these students need a great amount of scaffolding and reinforcement. Yet, constantly reinforcing students with the lowest self-efficacy (either from the teacher or peers) has helped a few of these students gain confidence and curiosity in mathematical procedures. However, their mathematical disposition is not constant.
Other students within the class are generally willing to try to solve problems; however, when problems look slightly complex, students quickly give up and wait for the teacher to walk towards them in order to complete their work. This is directly linked to the fact that many students believe that they are "bad" in math. Only a handful of students show curiosity and self-efficacy in mathematics. These are the students that usually participate in class discussion, complete their homework on a daily basis, and attempt to complete classwork regardless of the apparent difficulty of the work. Since the main difference between the few students with self-efficacy and the students with low self-efficacy is their mastery of basic math skills, such as basic arithmetic, I am assuming that the mathematical dispositions of these students is greatly influenced by their past experiences in mathematics.
Social Development
As expected from middle school students, many of these students are still learning how to express themselves in appropriate manners and how to negotiate with the adults in their lives. These students are exploring the norms of the society around them; yet, most of them have identified the societal norms around them, they still have trouble working within these social norms or attempt to challenge them. For example, in private safe spaces students will address questions about race with each other and with adults that they feel will understand them. Additionally, students will question why they have to learn certain mathematical materials, do certain work, or complete homework. Most of these students are simply trying to figure out what is important to them and how to balance schoolwork with the "cool" activities in which they want to participate. However, a few students are not at the same stage of social development as others. A couple of students have not moved away from the stage where everything revolves around them. These students have many behavioral issues in class which are reprimanded by the teacher, but also by other peers. These are also the students that have the greatest difficulty in getting along with their peers.
Family and Community Context
Although most of these students are from low-income homes and have limited resources at home, most students have internet capable cell phones and access to a local public library with computers that can give them access to the internet. Also, most students know how to use the basic functions of the calculators within their phones, but they are not aware of more advance hidden options, such as the square root button. Furthermore, not all students feel comfortable with technology besides their cell phones. For example, some students refuse to come up to the smart board because they are afraid of not working on it correctly.
Lastly, all of the students are from minority backgrounds. Approximately 22% of the students are African American and 78% of the students are Latino. The Latino students vary in generation, but the majority are second generation Latinos from Central America. This is reflective of the community ethnic breakdown.