Blog 2

Summary and Synthesis - After class today I realized how important using materials and models are within a classroom. But, it's not just important to use them if the students aren't going to get anything out of using the materials. When using a model within the classroom, it has to have a purpose that will benefit what the students are learning, and align with what the teacher is trying to accomplish within the lesson, not just do the activity or use the model because it is fun. Also, many teachers have the thinking that if the student's use the manipulative's that they will just get it, but this is not the case. A teacher must use the manipulative correctly so that it enhances the student's learning and assists it. I find this very helpful to me as I enter the profession, it makes me think more about the activities that I would have planned, manipulative's that I would use, and why it makes sense to use a certain activity. So, in summary, I find the discussion we've had in class the last couple of days very helpful in preparing me to plan lessons and the use of manipulative's.