New Insights and Their implications

I feel that I have found myself really learning about some new methods of teaching in this course. I feel that I have maybe been a little sheltered in my previous math instruction in elementary, middle and even high school and college. I feel that a lot of the methods of instruction that I have been exposed to have been very traditional and "one way". I am beginning to see that if I could start over in my math experiences, I would have had a lot better chance in success if I could think through processes on my own without having someone telling me the "one way" to complete the problem. I feel as if I am finding different and better ways to help my students gain understanding without shoving a process down their throat. Even in class periods, I have found myself learning and better grasping concepts by hearing other people's perspectives on the topics. It helps me to work through a process myself before someone tells me their process. I find that if I even see someone else's process first, it impacts and skews my perceptions of the problem and further complicates it for me. I found the videos from the book with the children working through math processes very interesting and helpful also. I realized how great and empowering this method of instruction can be for students. They have a sense of accomplishment and success after figuring out a process on their own. Also, from seeing other people's perspectives, they can change how they are thinking in a slow process to move further in their learning. I feel that our instructor has also been taking a positive role in the classroom, as he is implimenting the methods with us as a class without always directly teaching it. The examples provided from the instructor are helpful, but it is also helpful to work through processes in our own ways to be first hand learners of the method we should be implementing in our future students.