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Sudoku
Recently a friend introduced me to Sudoku. If you haven't tried it, you must. Be warned, though, it is addicting. Sudoku is a number game of logic. I bought a book with several of these puzzles in it, and they come in four different levels. I find the first level, which requires basic logic and reasoning skills, to be quite simple yet entertaining. When I try the next difficulty level, I find myself becoming stumped and frustrated most of the time. I've yet to complete one of these. I can admit this now because I do still feel like a novice with this game, but I really thought that I had more than basic logic and reasoning skills.
I think about school (that is about all I think about for 11 months out of the year). I wonder if my students could complete the first difficulty level. I think that most could. What about the next level? To be honest, I don't think I want to know. :) They sit in class day in and day out as I help teach them the rules of Algebra. They are simple rules and they always follow a pattern. You just need to know what pattern you are looking for. One student this week finally figured out word problems. The story is generally different for each word problem, but in Algebra most problems fit into one of two different formulas. She just needed help seeing the pattern. It is amazing to see the difference in this girl now that she sees the pattern. I see a confidence in her that I've never seen, and there is a bond between us now--she trusts me to teach her, and that is huge.
I sometimes wonder if what I teach really does have much of a point. To be honest, I always made A's in math, but it wasn't until I started teaching it that I really understood why I did what I did to get the correct answer. I don't think if I were my own teacher, that I would give myself an A.
Maybe the whole point in math is like Sudoku. Sudoku pushes me and makes me focus and think. I can spend hours on a puzzle just to erase the whole thing and start over. When I finally see the pattern and solve one that I didn't think I could solve, maybe I'll get the confidence like my student did this week.
I think about school (that is about all I think about for 11 months out of the year). I wonder if my students could complete the first difficulty level. I think that most could. What about the next level? To be honest, I don't think I want to know. :) They sit in class day in and day out as I help teach them the rules of Algebra. They are simple rules and they always follow a pattern. You just need to know what pattern you are looking for. One student this week finally figured out word problems. The story is generally different for each word problem, but in Algebra most problems fit into one of two different formulas. She just needed help seeing the pattern. It is amazing to see the difference in this girl now that she sees the pattern. I see a confidence in her that I've never seen, and there is a bond between us now--she trusts me to teach her, and that is huge.
I sometimes wonder if what I teach really does have much of a point. To be honest, I always made A's in math, but it wasn't until I started teaching it that I really understood why I did what I did to get the correct answer. I don't think if I were my own teacher, that I would give myself an A.
Maybe the whole point in math is like Sudoku. Sudoku pushes me and makes me focus and think. I can spend hours on a puzzle just to erase the whole thing and start over. When I finally see the pattern and solve one that I didn't think I could solve, maybe I'll get the confidence like my student did this week.
posted by Becky Davis | 9:47 AM
2 Comments:
Hey, girl! Yeah, I have a Sudoku book, but I´m really not addicted. I just do them when I get bored, which is occasionally. I´m going to give the entry-level ones to my kids who are super hyper-active but really smart. They´re 10 and 11, so I´m sure your kids will be able to handle them. :) Good job on getting through to your student! That´s a major breakthrough. My math teacher always made us do the proofs for any of the equations we used, which made life more difficult, but we understood WHY things worked instead of just plugging numbers into an equation. Good luck!!
Chandi
Just as an FYI--I did finally successfully complete a moderate level Sudoku. Yay!
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