Week 1 Task 1: Your mathematical dreams and worries

1) I want my children to enjoy learning and using this very valuable skill. They should have the desire to learn and enjoy math and not think it as one more subject to get a good score in. They should feel confident instead of getting scared.

2) Knowingly or unknowingly we use multiplication a lot on a daily basis. I would love my kids to be able to use his skills everywhere from a grocery store to sharing while playing with friends. It should be a part in them and not have to think that now since I have to find this, i have to multiply...

I want to make sure that my children are comfortable with mathematical concepts beyond the extreme rote learning they get at school. To be able to know how comfortable they are, it's important that we have a common language around maths and that it's part of our daily life, without adding to the educational burden they feel (already I can't help with their homework or be very involved with their school life as I don't speak the language they are learning in). My eldest is starting to learn multiplication at school, so these are concepts I want to know she's comfortable with right now.

1. My dream for my sons is that they will be able to see connection across mathematical applications, not just isolate techniques. I want them to see math in life and all around them.

2. My son can already multiply (he has not memorized the tables however, he just does it all in his head), but I don't know that he sees the applications of it, and I'm not certain how well he applies it. I want him to play with it and use it, not simply know how to do it. I also want him to see the application of the process to more than just the 2 through 12 tables.

1) My son is 19 months old (a little young for this project!), but he just loves numbers. He started pointing out numbers on license plates, so we started telling him what they were, and over the course of 3 days, he learned his numbers from 1-10. He can now count and recognize from 0-12, though he doesn't fully understand the concept of how much 8 things versus 5 things is (for example). Sometimes when he first wakes up in the morning, I hear him counting while playing with the stuffed animals in his crib. I think one of my dreams for him would be that he continue to find the joy and curiosity and excitement in numbers and math that he sees in them now. I dream that learning more will inspire him more and not at some point turn into a drudgery imposed by someone else. I also hope he is able to see real-world applications for the concepts and tools he learns. I always did best with math when I could use logic to understand it or could apply it to a problem I might actually want to solve someday. I don't know what kind of approach will work best for him as he gets older, but I do hope that I (and eventually his teachers) can find one that keeps him engaged.

2) For now, I know any sense of multiplication would be very basic for him. Looking into the future, I would like to see him use it during everyday play and tasks (maybe figuring out how many Legos he needs for his tower?). It would be wonderful to see it become just another way he looks at the world, not a separate exercise. In more practical terms, multiplication is an important building block for further math, so I want him to master it well enough to pursue whatever academic and career goals he might eventually have.

1. To see mathematics as natural and intuitive

2. They see it in real life

1. I wish my children (4.5 and almost 7) enjoy math things, find interesting questions and try to solve problems themselves. I hope they curiosity will spread into math questions too (because now they don't interested much in this sphere). 2. I dream that my children will understand math concepts by more natural and beautiful ways than I did at school. They will not just learn the multiplication chart by hart as poem, but can see the real meaning of things and find usage of multiplication in nature, toys, technics and in everyday life. Maybe I wish my children have since of multiplication (for ex., they can approximately guess how much will be 134*235 or smth. like this).

1. Dreams for my children and math: self- confidence, wonder, joy of struggle and mastery, curiosity. 2. Learn multiplication through seeing patterns, playing games, discovering relationships through play and fun. Use multiplication- to make or build something, plan a party, eventually see it's place and use it in higher math.

My hope is that my children will develop a healthy relationship with math. I want them to embrace the beauty, and the challenges, that working with numbers can bring. I dream for them to develop a rich, and true understanding of basic math so that if they wish to study advanced math, or science, they can do so with gusto and confidence. Right now we are doing multiplication with our seven and a half year old. There is a level of rote memorization, but every day I try to stress what is really and truly going on. I hope that my children learn what multiplication truly is so that they can apply it to their lives every day. Right now we are planning a garden, and I am showing them how multiplication is used. I am not very creative though, so I am hoping that this course helps me demonstrate the beauty of math in new ways for my kids.

I hope that my grandchildren can enjoy life to the fullest with a strong positive attitude. Mathematics is weaved into the fabric of life and should be fun like any game is to a child. It should foster and encourage curiosity in initially learning the basics and then building on that foundation to explore the multiple facets of mathematics and its infinite applications. I am constantly encouraging and teaching my grandchildren to enjoy numbers and there usefulness and am looking for more ideas to help - ages 6 months to 4 years.

I can see them learning initially by learning how to group and expand various objects such as toys - lego blocks, cars, planes, etc.. Initially, at their ages, they will hopefully apply multiplication ideas in their play, reading and interactions with others.

1. What is this really about? It's about learning to love learning about the world. That learning is a fun and enjoyable experience. That there's room for both challenge and ease :)

2. My hope is that our kids come away from the experience with a good grasp of how multiples and math coincide. That they see practical ways to use their knowledge in the *real* world.

I want my children's experience of math to be similar to our experience with poetry. We read some every day, whether it's fun and sweet things by AA Milne or Lewis Carroll or Robert Louis Stevenson, or rich, meaty stuff, like Spencer's Fairy Queen and GK Chesterton's Ballad of the White Horse. Through the course of the day, favorite lines from poetry might come up, or someone might invent a rhyming game on the spur of the moment, or one of us might use the words of a poem to express a feeling or idea or just to make everyone laugh. In any case, we live in a sea of beautiful words that lead us into imginary worlds, and help us understand the world we live in.

From what I've been reading about math lately, it seems that it's like that -- that it's a language, it's a doorway into a world of ideas, and a way of understanding and relating to the world we live in. I want my children to be as much at home in that world as they are in the worlds of poetry and music.

1. I hope to find a way that my children can enjoy learning about math which I never did. My frustration and inability to make any sense of it was the Achilles heel in an otherwise respectable education. If I can find a way for my children to avoid that episode of my life and instill in them the desire to enjoy learning anything mathematical, whether it is by building something, applying to everyday use, in some form of game or in any other way that makes sense to them then that will an advantage that I never had.
2. I've been showing my child ways to incorporate multiplication - and math in general - in everyday use and it seems to be paying off. Basically the more approaches that he has to this subject the more likely that he'll find his own way of incorporating it into his own life.

1. My dream for my son is that he will have a strong foundation in math.

2. He will understand the concept and be able to use it daily and teach it if necessary.

1) My dreams include that my children would be excited by math, both the wonder of the universe like the Fibbonacci sequence and also just the fin of computation. That they would feel confident in relating to math. That they would feel safe enough to fail and try again.

2) They would easily use multiplication and division a the store, in the garden, in cooking, etc. They might find a way to practice or play with computation in the way that fits their learning style best (computer game, worksheet, whatever) and choose to do that themselves. We learned the facts of multiplication through word stories, but I would like to see the fun of that journey spreading into other uses of multipilcation and math in general.

1. I want them to have math confidence and never fear "getting the wrong answer." I want them to see math as fascinating and something they can understand and use. I want their first reaction to a difficult problem to be "let me see what I can do with this" rather than "I don't know how to do this." I want them to see math very broadly and its uses in the world around them. I don't think all of my children will necessarily want or need to take advanced levels of college math (e.g., math for engineers or math majors) but I want them to have the solid foundation necessary in case they want to.

2. I'm not sure I understand the connection you are making between imagining my math dreams for them coming true and how I see them learning multiplication and using it. Currently, I see them learn it as rote memory at times, but I also see them understanding certain multiplication "facts" in relation to other facts. I think their experience with multiplication does, in many ways, reflect my current dreams -- they don't have anxiety about it. (Actually, I have a bit of anxiety whenever my kids over 3rd grade still get some of the facts wrong now and then -- and I wonder if I should have taken the "drill and kill" route -- but I usually get over it fairly quickly.)

1. I want my boys to have fun with math. I want them to enjoy challenging problems (and not be scared off by them). I want them to feel confident with math.

2. I see them learning multiplication in fun- engaging and natural ways. I want them to connect multiplication to its real life applications. For my older son- I would love to deepen his current understanding of multiplication. I would love for both my boys to use multiplication in everyday life.

My sons have a natural aptitude and interest in math. I hope that I am able to provide new ways to challenge them and support their learning.

1. In teaching second graders, I have been a little shocked to learn about the already fixed attitudes towards math. Some students think they are great at math and love it. Some think they are better at it than they actually are. Some think they stink at math and will never be good at it. I hate that at such a young age these kids have such firm attitudes. My dreams for these kids is that they learn to love the challenge of a problem, that they recognize that they use math all the time and that just because they don't know something it doesn't mean they will never know it. I want them to develop perseverance and determination. I want them to learn how to collaborate and problem solve with their friends / classmates. I have a lot of dreams for my students!

2. I want my students to use multiplication to simplify and solve problems. I want them to recognize patterns and see that those patterns are multiplication. I want multiplication to be a tool that the students automatically pull out to solve larger, more complex and daily problems.

I want my children to not fear math, but to just dive in. I don't want them to make decision based on avoidance of "hard" maths, like I did. I want them to be able to conect math to real life, and not just something in a boring textbook.

1. I want them to have fun and enjoy delving into mathematical ideas and enjoy tackling a difficult problem even if they don't get a satisfying answer right away. I want them to be able to use math and never feel fear when a question involving math arises.

2. This one is harder because I have students that are long past "learning multiplication." I want them to have an understanding of multiplication that allows them to use it in all of it's varied forms, and for them to understand the concept as broadly as they can.