Chapter 9 is basically a recap of what was discussed throughout the book. In this chapter, Boaler discussed ways for parents to make a difference in mathematics teaching and learning. This chapter also listed other books about teaching math for parents and elementary teachers to read.
This chapter and book and general were helpful to me and made me realize there are several different ways a teacher can teach math. It also taught me that the traditional way of teaching math is not necessarily the way to go if I want my students to be successful. Hopefully, this book will help me become a better elementary teacher and maybe I can use some of these methods discussed in the book in the future.
Chapter 8 is called, "Giving Children the Best Mathematical Start". The title of this chapter pretty much describes what the chapter is all about. This chapter explains how it is important to start children off on the right foot with mathematics. There are several different examples of word problems and puzzles for children in this chapter.
I think it is very important to introduce mathematics to children in an enjoyable way with puzzles and different word problems. If a child starts off liking math then maybe they will enjoy it through out their life times.
In chapter 7, Boaler talked about the time she taught summer school in California. The students in her summer class had struggled in their math classes during the school year. When Boaler taught them over the summer she used different strategies that would help the students individually. She had the students journal, and discuss math with one another in groups. The students were successful in her summer class. Once they went back to their math classes during the regular school year they went back to a traditional math classroom and were again, unsuccessful.
I think that it is crazy that students do so much better in mathematics when they are taught it in a different way. I surprises me that math classes are still taught traditionally and some students are still unsuccessful, when teachers could be engaging the students more and teaching them math differently. I would think teachers would all teach non-traditionally since it is proven that it has a higher success rate.
Chapter 6 is about girls and women being discouraged to study mathematics and science. This chapter explains how girls and women want to know how things work while boys and men just do the work and do not ask questions about what they are doing. The chapter also suggested that women do not go into math or science because of societal stereotypes. This chapter's purpose was to help encourage girls to enjoy math and science and to encourage them to make a career out of them.
Honestly, I did not completely agree with chapter. Being a girl, I was never afraid to ask questions in my math classes and was never intimidated by the males in my math classes. I just did not find math interesting at all. I feel like I never would have enjoyed math no matter how many different ways it was presented to me. English and Social Studies were always my favorite subjects. I know several women that are math or science majors, including my own mother who is a high school AP Biology teacher. This chapter felt to me like it was stereotyping all women. I agree that we should encourage all students to go into math or science and enjoy these subjects, but if a student really is not interested in the subject, then they are just not interested.
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