Who I am
I am an elementary school teacher. I am very happy to go to school where my children and I learn new things every day and we really enjoy doing math.
For some time now I have been carrying out a project that I wanted to call "not one less" as the title of the wonderful film by Zhang Yimou from 1999.
"Not one less" is a style that I have tried to make my own and for which I develop paths, ideas, strategies, development of physical tools and software to reach all children with the best math, not only my students, because although in my place and in my classroom, I feel and I know that I am working in a school as big as the world, which goes beyond the walls of my classroom and my small school.
That’s why I meet many teachers: to share simple, easily accessible tools that effectively support their daily lives and with increasing effort in wanting to reach everyone with the best possibilities.
And that's why I created a web space: so that every educator, in any place and class, with a common device connected to the internet can enter an environment full of tools and ideas, useful to recharge energy and passion, to give new reasons to their commitment and willingness to give the best education to everyone, not one less.
The commitment
I strongly believe in school and in being a place where a better future for every child can be sown and cultivated.
Each person is born with potential and grows in a physical, social, family environment, which proves to be predictive of his future. So it is that every child, very often, travels a road that turns out to be almost "marked", for better or for worse. Unless you meet, on this path, a good school, the best school, made by the best educators. A school that knows how to cultivate attitudes, passions, which develops potential. A school that provides the best tools so that everyone can imagine and build his best possible future.
This chart helps us to better understand the weight of our work.
Among the many and complex variables that influence the growth of each, I believe that we can consider, simplifying, at least three:
_the environment (intended as a family, social, physical... but also "school" environment)
_the propensity of the child
_the propensity of the adult, meant as anyone who enters an educational relationship.
Now, if we compare this graph to the school environment and give value 1 to an average propensity, of the child (x), of the adult (y) and of the environment in which the child lives (z), and define the product of these three factors such as learning (l), we have that l = x * y * z.
From here we can derive interesting reasoning.
For example if we have a high propensity in the child and in the adult with a value = 1.5 and an unfavorable environment = 0.75 and we multiply the factors, we will result in a value of 1.68 which is well above the average and constitutes progress also with respect to the starting value of the child.
If, on the other hand, we have a teacher, a child and an environment with a propensity of 0.75 value and we multiply the factors, we have a result of 0.42, a worsening of the starting value.
Otherwise an average child = 1.0 with a good teacher = 1.5 even in an unfavorable environment = 0.75 can reach a result of 1.1 and thus improve their potential.
What does this mean? That a good teacher makes a difference.
What is the propensity?
Propensity is the "quality of those who are naturally inclined to do something" (Treccani). Its synonyms are: inclination, disposition, attitude, preference, weakness, favor, sympathy, feeling, love, passion... It is not uncommon to say how much a person has an aptitude or not for... implicitly believing that having an aptitude, or being inclined to something, is part of the genetic heritage and that little can be done. But it is not like that. For example, the "propensity to consume" that we all have, to varying degrees, can be varied by the action of advertising. The fact that the propensity can be cultivated also explains, at least in part, how it is not uncommon to speak of "sons of art" when talking about who, as a son, follows the footsteps of a parent who has proved very good at something. In summary, the propensity of the child depends on many factors, but we are the most important factor in school. It is there, at school, that the propensity can be nourished, cultivated, increased or even unmotivated, turned off. It is important to keep this in mind to understand that by acting on us and on our propensity, as well as that of the child, we can "bring" everyone to mathematics, as to language, art...
I am an elementary teacher and for many years I’ve been working hard to give every child the best math
In many years of work I have developed ideas, strategies, paths and also physical materials and software that I would now like to make available to anyone who wants to use them even beyond my country, Italy.
Mathinitaly is before a registered trademark, a project that says how much these tools are the result of creativity, craftsmanship, originality and passion.