Math Bully

During the first week of October (Oct. 1 - 5, 2012), New Jersey held its second annual "Week of Respect" which was created as part of the state's anti-bullying law. During the week of respect, we are asked to include something in our lesson plans that reinforces the importance of treating all people with respect. I was thinking about respect and the importance of respect in the math classroom and I realized that the kind of bullying that I usually see in a math classroom is students laughing when other  people make mistakes. I think it is very important that my students feel safe in my classroom and know that if they make a mistake that they will not be ridiculed. So for my lesson on respect I decided to talk about "math bullying." I start out the lesson by asking my students what they think a "math bully" is and that usually elicits some interesting comments. My definition of a "math bully" is something who laughs or ridicules another person when they make a mistake. Then I share with them some quotes that I found on the importance of making mistakes in the learning process.

Making mistakes simply means you are learning faster.

   --West H. Agor

Constant effort and frequent mistakes are the stepping stones of genius.

  --Elbert Hubbard

Mistakes are the portals of discovery.

--James Joyce

The many who achieves makes many mistakes, but he never makes the biggest mistake of all - doing nothing.

--Benjamin Franklin

Never say, "Oops." Always say "Ah, interesting."

--Author Unknown

It's okay to make mistakes. Mistakes are our teacher - they help us to learn.

--John Bradshaw

I have not failed. I've just found ten thousand ways that won't work.

--Thomas Edison

After we read the quotes together I shared this Respect Pledge:

And then I invited all the students to cut out a geometric shape and write their name on the shape and add it to the Respect Pledge classroom mural at the back of the room. I like the fact that this activity gives us a chance to do a quick review of some geometry vocabulary while at the same time it illustrates that we are all different and unique and we come in all shapes, sizes and colors.