blog 2

Up to this point, I have found myself struggling to learn math with a new approach. I do see the meaning and effectiveness of the reform-based approach Dr. Reins has been using in class, however I find myself becoming frustrated quite frequently. I think it is extremely important that we are learning this new approach to teaching in order to make learning content, particularly math, important to our future students. In this math course I have learned new things about old concepts that I have been learning about throughout my education. Mainly, I have learned the focus and meaning behind many formulas, such as area. The part that becomes frustrating for me is learning a new method in a manner that becomes tedious, especially when I know the simple way to find the answer that is much shorter. I believe this frustration is from working backwards, had I been taught the meaning behind the formulas in the first place I feel this process would make much more sense to me know. With that being said, this helps me to see the importance of teaching the actual concept rather than teaching a formula with symbols and numbers that become more memorized than understood. Another frustration I have is not necessarily with this class, but with the education program at USD in general. I feel that I should have been taught how to teach this way from the beginning, rather than having this one class my senior year showing me this approach to teaching. I will try my hardest to teach this way in my classroom because I do see the importance, however I feel that other professors should be introducing this approach as well so that we, as future teachers, are more prepared and comfortable.