The text I chose to use for this assignment is an article called “Aspects of Children’s Mathematics Anxiety” by Karen Newstead. The article basically tries to give some understanding and rational to a topic referred to as ‘mathematical anxiety’ that has received considerable attention among researchers and mathematic educators in recent years.
With that said, there are two reasons why I chose this article. The first is that I am very curious when I teach math to understand the “phobia” that students display. The second reason I chose this article is that I enjoy being an armchair psychologist and attempt to understand the inner working of the mind. Because of the reasons why I chose this article I read this text a certain way. I read the text primarily picturing and making connections. Keep in mind the approach I used to read this text may be totally different than an approach I may take to read a different text or a text I donot enjoy or content I donot understand.
The first 8 pages of the text talks about “facilitative” and “deliberative” types of anxiety experienced by young adolescent in the classroom and their teachers experiences. I can easily envision the students’ anxious faces and distant stares in a typical math classroom setting and the teachers’ puzzlement trying to get the material across to the student. I can see the anxiety of the student and the quietness of the classroom for those questions that need to be surfaced but are afraid to be asked. I can also very easily picture myself as both the student and the teacher of math to round out the experience of anxiety from both ends.
This type of metacognitive content area reading makes me comfortable, engaged and personalized with the reading experience. It makes the reading playful, entertaining and very insightful. I connect very easily and pictures surface in my mind constantly. This is truly one of those reading moments when mental pictures are worth a thousand words. It easy to grasp what is being read. I literally have conversations in my mind alongside of the reading. My metacognitive experience with this text was exploding with sight, sound and imagination.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. I was one of those students who could excel in math when I had confidence and security i.e. no anxiety. I am not one of those "English" people who is completely math-phobic, and I don't really like that stereotype. Sure, I wasn't too great at math in high school, but I also wasn't too great at driving a car, paying bills, or reading literary theory--all things I gained proficiency in with age and education. Why cling to that "not a math person" identity from adolescence?
I can see your visualization and personal connection processes clearly. I did similar things with my text. I am also interested to see if you made any predictions while reading, identified any problems that required rereading, or any of the other "invisible" processes of reading comprehension. For example, I see that your article uses the terms "facilitative" and "deliberative" anxieties. What does these terms mean? When I read a text that introduces new terminology I usually have to reread or write it down. Did you have to do anything similar to that?
Anthony