Response to Lockhart's Lament

I found the article, Lockhart’s Lament, very interesting as it was the first time I’ve heard math described in this manner. One thing in the article that I agree with is many math classes are taught by memorizing facts and formulas. The math classes I had also encouraged this way of learning as well. I think it’s important to focus less on this method of recall and shift the focus to the bigger picture. Looking back at my math classes, most of them were taught by giving students problems and having them practice the problems over and over until they understood the concepts. I think due to this, students aren’t able to build on their problem-solving skills or form deeper connections with what they are learning. This may be the reason why many students are unsure of how to approach a problem they haven’t seen before or haven’t had to memorize. I also relate to the part in the article where it discusses learning and memorizing facts such as 5 x 7 = 7 x 5 and how it shouldn’t be the way math is taught. I agree with this because when I was tutoring a student and I explained this rule they didn’t understand it at all. However, when I used counters and conceptualized the rule by making five groups of seven and seven groups of five, the student was better able to learn and understand the concept. One thing in the article that I disagreed with was the part about how there is no need to make math interesting and relevant to students' lives as math is already interesting. I would disagree with this because from my experiences as a student, I found when the teacher would make the topic relevant to daily life I was able to understand more and remember it easily. I think making math interesting and relevant, allows students to pay attention in class and be engaged with the lectures. Overall, I enjoyed this article and the unique perspective on learning and teaching math in a classroom.