[Blindmath] Math for everyday use

[Bente]

Well if I had a penny for every time a student asked me that ... well you know.
 The truth is, not every concept will be used by every student in their adult
life.  However, the idea of thinking both critically and logically is essential
to everyone.    I taught in middle school for quite a few years and I understand
their mindset, scary but true.  They want to know if the task is worth the
effort.  We live in a society of instant gratification.  The key here is to get
them to understand that the ability to "problem solve" is a life long skill.
 Being able to look at a particular situation and ask questions like, 1/what did
they give me 2/ what do they want 3/ what do I already know in my head and from
past experiences that can help me with this particular problem, well that is
life skills!!  We are, or should be teaching them how to think and reason. So to
sum it up: you may not use this particular concept depending upon what you
choose to do as an adult, but there are many other things that may depend on
previous knowledge Education, especially in math, is like a brick house, if you
build a weak foundation by leaving out blocks in the beginning, the higher you
build the walls, the weaker they get, until they eventually fail and crumble.
Education is power and strength.  No expert (insert name here...Michael Jordan,
etc) got where they are today by going right to their end game.  They practiced
skills in isolation and then put them together and developed strategies based on
skills and knowledge.  All this being said, just remember, we are talking to an
8th grade child and they do live in an alternate universe LOL, so as sponge bob
would say... "Good luck with that" !!

Bente J. Casile
Math Learning Specialist
Disability Support Services
Wake Technical Community College
Raleigh NC
bjcasile at waketech.edu


> On December 8, 2014 at 11:57 AM Wilson_KC via Blindmath <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> wrote:
>
>
> I have an 8th grade blind student in pre-algebra. She constantly asks the
> question, "When will I ever use this?" or "Why do I need to learn this?" I'm
> going to have her do some of her own research on practical applications for
> math, I have some of my own ideas, but I wanted to ask you all for some "come
> back" answers. I realize many of you are math geeks, but this student is not,
> at least at this point in time. So can you let me know how you, as a blind
> person, use math in your every day life?
>
>
>
> Thanks.
>
>
>
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