When students say, “I don’t get it,” they’re likely putting up a barricade, one that is difficult to navigate.   It isn’t that they’re lying, they don’t get it.  The questions are:

What don’t they get?

Why don’t they get it?

In this episode we talk about ways to help your students break down the barricade themselves because it is often the case that if they can articulate their point of confusion, they can also resolve that issue.  In the case that they are still stuck, they can communicate in a way that will provide insight to whomever is helping them.  

This ability to communicate is a great byproduct of education.  More importantly, it also helps students develop metacognitive insights.  And most importantly, when students begin to articulate what is confusing, they’re not building barricades out of problems, but instead are empowered to own their own learning!  

You can listen to this episode of On Teaching Math, the podcast, here with the player embedded below, or find it on your favorite podcast hosting site.  Let me know how it goes, what you think.  Leave a comment here, at the bottom of the page, or send me an email:  [email protected].

Hey, are you interested in resources that will help you introduce mathematics with a conceptually focused approach?  Would you like your students to be more mathematically literate?  There are tons of resources on this page that are designed with those two goals in mind, and all of it can be had free of charge.  You  still have to do the hard work of creating buy-in and helping students to see the value in learning, but the curriculum will be in place for you.  

If you’re interested consider looking at the page on inequalities.  Click here to find it.