Article Review: Changes in Instruction

Mr. Robinson’s article illustrated a period of time that he changed his teaching method from a “controller” of the classroom to a “facilitator” of the classroom. Instead of making the class his one man show, he changed his teaching style by letting students actively participate in the math topics. The classroom has shifted to become student-centered environment. As a math tutor for many years, I know the importance to get students involved. Active participation means better understanding of the materials and better results. Furthermore, by letting students discuss with each other. Students will begin to help each other. I remember one seasoned teacher told me: “Students usually have the same age and similar living experience, one students’ explanation to another student is usually better than teacher’s. An example obvious to the teacher is not necessarily being so obvious to the student. “ Another important change Mr. Robinson mentioned was his questioning method. He changed his assignments from procedural questions to the ones that need deeper thoughts. I totally applaud his changes. Procedural will not help students understand the materials better. That’s why some of the students did very good at every assignment for each chapter, yet they failed the final exam which needs the students to combine the knowledge from different chapters to solve the problems. For many students I tutored, if I just review the contents of the textbook, the students will get bored. They have already spent so much time in class to understand the materials. Therefore, questioning skill is the one I use most often. Through insightful questions and listening to student’s answers, I will get an idea of how the student understands the materials. Then I will either use examples or exercises to help them correct the misunderstandings. That way, my students were doing very well in the school.