New Insights and their Implications

In this class, I feel like I have learned so much and have grown as an instructor. I used to think that math teaching consisted of lecturing, formulas, homework, tests, but now I see so far past that. I know understand how important it is for students to understand why they are doing the things that they are learning. I know that using models and diagrams greatly improve comprehension. Overall, my views on teaching math have changed completely.

Summary and Synthesis

The clinical interview taught me more about thinking about the way students think. It is important to try and understand how they think when creating your instruction. Think about what makes learning easier for them and how to explain it best at their level. Asking students why they came up with that answer and how can tell you a lot about the way they think and solve. Every students may have a different answer as to how they got their answer and how they can explain it to you. Therefore, your instruction needs to be varied enough to address all students and be open-ended so all students can take their own approach on it and the clinical interview taught me about that.

Looking Back at Math

Since my internship, I have been thinking about my past math experiences.  I went to meet the teacher I would be with for my internship and it turned out to be one of the two favorite math teachers I had while I was in school.  As I sat there and watched her teach, I tried to figure out why she was one I chose as a favorite math teacher.  Nothing she did was way different than any other teacher who taught math.  Then it struck me, she let you do the math the way you figured it out.  You would just have to show her how you came to the answer.  So many times in school if you weren't doing the math the way the teacher was teaching it, you were doing it wrong, even though you were arriving at the same answer.  Both of my favorite teachers allowed me to do that!  I was one who liked to figure it out on my own, using my own methods and they allowed me to do that.  This is a lot what reformed based math looks like.  I hope that when I teach math I give the students the opportunity to discover methods on their own and find their own way of doing the math.

Summary and Synthesis

Recently, my group presented our LPU project over the Instructional Sequence of Measurement. In some ways it was harder than I expected, but in other ways it was easier. At certain points during the lesson, I knew exactly what questions I wanted to ask and it seemed to flow smoothly. Other times we felt more forced and awkward.

I'm always concerned about time (being able to fill an entire class period). Had you asked me at the beginning of the semester to plan a lesson that would last 75 minutes, I might've had a panic attack. However, the time seemed to fly by. We started with our first activity, and it seemed like 5 minutes later we needed to wrap up because the class period was over.

Both the time management and inquiry parts of the lesson I think can be further developed with experience. It's hard to plan questions and time limits for activities that you've never done before because you don't know what kind of problems, challenges, or questions will arise.

New Insights and Their Implications

After presenting our lesson plan, I have come to realize how much work it takes to present a thought-out lesson that will make my students think critically. It takes a lot of time and even after coming up with an idea you find to be flawless and after presenting it you may find flaws. The activities you do are very important and it can be hard to find the best activity to help your students understand each concept. I don't think you can ever settle on presenting the same lesson every year because there will always be changes that could be made to make it better.

Questions and Answers

Recently our group had to present our lesson on 'Place Value' to the class. My greatest concern was if I was able to understand and relay my understanding to the rest of the class. The lesson we go over in class are by no means necessarily easy to understand, they take thought and process. As we went through out lesson I was concerned I was not doing a good job explaining the game and students would be lost, but as the lesson continued they showed that they understood and I was doing an decent job at making them understand. This gives confidence that I can explain to people in a way they will understand.

Summary and Synthesis

From the last time I posted we have finished the first part of the class and began the second. We took the final and received our grades back. I didn't think the final was too hard. It was basically what we did in class everyday. The multiple choice was, for me, the most challenging part of the test. There were a lot of concerns throughout the class about scores and the difficulty level. The first few classes were tough to get into the swing of 'thinking outside the box" but as the semester went on it became more and more familiar and easier to put your self in that perspective. Overall I think the class has made me a better future teacher.

Personal Concerns and Next Steps

After taking the exam, I think my concerns were wether or not Dr. Reins would think that if we did poorly it was because we weren't listening in class or we weren't trying very hard. I think there were many students that were worried about the test before hand. Since we didn't grow up in an education system that made us think outside of the box, it's harder to train your brain to see math problems in a new way. I think it would be nice to have just a few sample questions before the exam so we knew more of what Dr. Reins expects or would be testing us on.