The "BEAR" Cycle for Success

Success in any math course comes from continually striving to improve and continually making connections to other courses. More than either of those, though, it also requires a fair bit of self-confidence. One of the best methods I've found for building self-confidence is the "BEAR" cycle.

• Belief in yourself increases your enthusiasm.
• Your enthusiasm drives you to take action.
• The actions you take lead to positive results.
• Those results reinforce your belief in yourself.

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College and Career Readiness

Before I was a math teacher, I taught Career and Technical Education in the Engineering and Design (now Engineering and Architecture) and the Energy and Utilities (now Energy, Environment, and Utilities) sectors. Despite my success in high school, I was unable to go to college for a few years after graduation. As I had been in college prep courses my whole life, I had no idea what to do when I entered the workforce right away.

One of my missions is to make sure students are prepared for college and career after high school because we never know what life will throw our way. I try to include elements, not just of my fields, but of artistic, linguistic, and other fields as well.

[Look at the highlighted parts on pages 39 and 40 of the Energy, Environment, and Utilities standards for a special surprise. ☺]

Contextual Learning

I am a firm believer in contextual learning, especially for mathematics. Here are ten properties of contextual learning. These standards appear to some degree in almost all texts, but contextual instruction is rich in all ten standards. I'm not always successful at meeting all ten, but I always strive for them.

1. New concepts are presented in real-life (outside the classroom) situations and experiences that are familiar to the student.
2. Concepts in examples and student exercises are presented in the context of their use.
3. New concepts are presented in the context of what the student already knows.
4. Examples and student exercises include many real, believable problem-solving situations that students can recognize as being important to their current or possible future lives.
5. Examples and student exercises cultivate an attitude that says, "I need to learn this."
6. Students gather and analyze their own data as they are guided in discovery of the important concepts.
7. Opportunities are presented for students to gather and analyze their own data for enrichment and extension.
8. Lessons and activities encourage the student to apply concepts and information in useful contexts, projecting the student into imagined futures (e.g., possible careers) and unfamiliar locations (e.g., workplaces).
9. Students are expected to participate regularly in interactive groups where sharing, communicating, and responding to the important concepts and decision making occur.
10. Lessons, exercises, and labs improve students' reading and other communication skills in addition to mathematical reasoning and achievement.