Everyday, I enter the math lab, quietly sit down, open my laptop, and blankly stare at the assignment that I left open. I put my headphones in and loudly play my music, signaling that I don’t want anyone to come over to me.
I look at the problem and it reads, “Measures of all six central angles: 72 Now think about an enclosure that is in the shape of a regular polygon. A regular polygon has sides that are all the same length. Find the area of an enclosure that is built in the shape of a regular pentagon using 300 feet of fencing.” What does this even mean? I don’t know how to find the area of a pentagon.
I look around the classroom and everyone is in their own little world. The room is quiet, except for the few pre calc students discussing their work amongst each other.
Thirty minutes go by and still, I’m staring at my laptop screen. Maybe if I apply the pythagorean theorem to this problem it’ll work… No, no, no. That won’t work. What if I try doing cosine, sine, or tangent it’ll work… Nope, not that either.
Over my music I hear students talking to each other, not about math, but more about their personal lives. Great, how am I supposed to focus now, with everyone talking.
Another 20 minutes go by and still I’m staring at my laptop screen. Why did they change the math lab? This isn’t working. How do they expect me to graduate if they don’t teach me…
The clock says still another 30 minutes left of class. Some teachers are at their desk and some are sitting with students. I read the assignment over and over again hoping that maybe I’ll understand it this time, but I don’t, so I put my head down and sigh. What’s the point of even trying anymore? I’m not going to finish IMP2 by the end of the year. I’m not even going to get a math credit.
Fifteen minutes later a teacher finally comes over to me and offers me some help. Why are you just now starting to help me? I’ve been sitting here for over an hour and now you decide to come to me. Even after I finish this assignment it’s going to be the same when it comes to the next one.
Five months in and I still haven’t even finished the first unit… It’s never ending. I’m hopeless.
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This is basically what I go through every time I enter the math lab, and I bet plenty of students feel the same way. Students shouldn’t have to feel like failures every day, and I’m interested in making a change to for everyone who is struggling. In my Community Based Problem Solving class I am working to make the math program work for all students.
What do you think would make the Math Lab better for students? I need as many suggestions as I can get. Please leave them in the comments and visit my blog again to find out what’s happening to change the math lab.
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