Summary & Synthesis

In the short time that we have had class, I have learned a lot about the way to present math to students. Often times math is a subject that scares students away, because they are afraid to get the wrong answer or what others might think of them. This class so far has showed me that I need to look at how I will teach students in a whole different perspective. If I encourage them to learn and to what to find a way to get the answer themselves, they won't feel the discouragement of not understanding a formula. I have learned that teaching math shouldn't be a "here is a formula, plug in the numbers, here is the right answer" method, it should encourage students to find their own way of getting the answer and sharing their method with other people. Students need to learn math by doing math, and solving problems themselves. As a teacher, I have learned that I will need to step back and let the student work on their own. If asked for help, I should ask the student to explain themselves and give hints on how to become unstuck, but I shouldn't give the student my way of figuring out the problem. This class so far has taught me that communication in math is huge, and if a student can explain how and why they got an answer or did a problem they will fully understand it better. I have learned to integrate communication into math to help students talk the problem out. This class has also taught me so far that the problems and standards I use in a class is very important to the outcome. So often "formula" problems are used to meet general standards. I have realized that it is important to give deeper thinking problems to the students to meet more specific standards that will help the students in the long run and in many different subject areas.