After 22 years at my college I finally took a bank leave this semester. Although there has been a lot of relaxing and traveling, I used my time off to do some reading and thinking about how I wanted to improve my math and statistics classes. In particular I wanted to help my students grow, learn to think, and take away skills that they would find valuable outside of the classroom.

One of my ex-students (who I respect a great deal) shared a photo on Facebook about how students learn about the Pythagorean theorem but not about anything practical that they can use in their lives like how a mortgage works, how expensive student loans can be, how to do their taxes, … . I am not sure that these life skills directly fit in with my algebra classes, but I can definitely help shed some light on them. So I will.

In my algebra classes I start the semester with a survey that helps me learn about my students, their goals, and the struggles they face. It helps me to get to know my students and identify stumbling blocks that they may face. I am in the middle of reworking that survey for the first time in a long while, and I have decided that I will ask my students to tell me which mathematical/numerical/financial topic they would like to learn about. I want them to have some ownership over at least one thing they learn in my class. Although not directly related, I am sure that this will also have a positive impact on my students’ learning. At the very least, having some control over what they will be learning should help with their motivation for the class.

I will work this self-chosen topic into my grades. I am leaning toward counting it as equivalent to one of my six exams. I am trying to decide whether I will prepare materials (worksheets, web links) for each topic for students to work through, take a few minutes out of class each day to address one of their topics, or ask the students to make a presentation about their topic.

So, if there was a math-related/quantitative topic you wish you had learned about in college, what would it be? I’d love to hear what you think. Please leave a comment or send me an email with your topic. I have asked some of my Facebook friends and their responses have been very interesting!