Personal Concerns and Next Steps

While going through this course, I have learned a lot about the way that I learn in the area of math. Math has always come very easy to me and I have always taken a liking to it. However, after experiencing this course I have found that I do not enjoy math as much as I used to. I think that I don’t enjoy math as much anymore because I am so confused on how I will someday teach my students. I know that what we are learning in class on how to teach math will help students to really grasp the concepts that they are taught, but I struggle with the fact that sometimes it takes me awhile before I understand what is going on in the class. At times I never really figure out how to do what we are learning until we have moved onto a new concept, and it is then that I finally understand what we were supposed to take from that new “idea.” I think the reason that I am struggling so much in this class with understanding what is going on, is because I have never been taught this way. I was taught the traditional way of using worksheets to figure out how to solve problems; I never really got a whole lot of interaction with manipulatives. I fully intend to someday teach as the way that we were taught in Eled 330 and Eled 432, but as already mentioned, I will have to do a lot of practice working with different models and thinking of different activities before I am able to teach the way Dr. Reins teaches. I am a little concerned that I will become frustrated with learning/teaching my students deeper level thinking process and turn back to the “traditional” way of teaching.