Encore Encore! A Final Reflection of 8P29

           Summer 2016: The first assignment I received this semester occurred before the semester even began. I remember getting an email in late July or early August that said I was required to complete an online math refresher course before the first day of classes and being utterly terrified. First, I was scared of the workload; the program had not even started and we were already expected to have completed assignments. Second, at the time even mentioning the word math made me shiver. As many of my classmates also divulged on the first day of class, math was not my best subject. However, I quickly shoved those negative feelings under the rug, signed up for ‘Elevate My Math’, read the first few questions and… just as quickly pulled those negative feelings back out. ‘This is supposed to reflect Junior/Intermediate math!? What does this even mean!?” I couldn’t remember a single thing about math. Over the course of a week or so I managed to struggle (with lots of frustration) through the math course, printed off my certificate and vowed never to open it again. I would NEVER be a math teacher anyway…

          December 2016: This week we had our last math class (which also happened to be my very last class of first semester). We were asked to create a song, skit, rap, rhyme or any other creative expression of math that we could think of. As each group performed their silly creation I looked around the room at my fellow ‘non-math students’ and noticed how different we looked as a class. On day one we walked in scared and shy; we expressed our fear for the course and our awful math backgrounds. On our last day I could visibly see the differences this course had made for us. I was now surrounded by smiles and laughter, silly jokes about math but also an obvious understanding of what had been taught. Over the course of twelve weeks we had moved past our fears and learned how easy it is to enjoy math and even more importantly how to make math enjoyable for our students as math teachers.

          Throughout this course we’ve moved past our fears by learning that math really is for everyone as long as teachers let it be. We need to teach our students not one but many strategies for solving any and every problem. We need to encourage students to do what makes sense to them rather than sticking to a strict formula. We need to instill a growth mindset in our students by exemplifying those characteristics in all of our lessons. We should never let a student to feel like math is not for them or get discouraged because something is not right. Math is not about right or wrong as we always thought, it is about mistakes, discovery and growth. Both students and teachers need to use their mistakes to discover new things in order to constantly grow as learners and educators.

          This course has taught us the importance of variety. This is appropriate for all subjects; lessons, activities and tasks should be fresh and new. There should be a number of mediums used to demonstrate ideas not just to keep lessons engaging but to ensure every style of learner is able to be successful. On day one we were told that ‘no’ does not belong in a math class. Math is about saying ‘yes’ to our students and encouraging them to explore their thought process and ideas. The more we can help them explore, the more we will foster their growth mindset and ensure they never say ‘I hate math’ like so many of us thought we did before starting this course.

          We’ve also learned the importance of collaboration when teaching math or really when teaching at all. We should collaborate with our fellow teachers when creating lessons and units in order to make sure we are providing students with the most opportunities to succeed. We should ‘collaborate’ with online resources in order to introduce students to as many learning opportunities as possible. We should also learn to combine all of our new teaching techniques with the old ones in order to collaborate with parents. There needs to be a balance between the old and the new so parents are able and willing to help their child’s growth. We should teach in this new and inclusive way but include some of the old ideas and strategies so it is easier for parents to understand and therefore be involved with their students learning.

         This semester I have learned so much about teaching math but most importantly I have learned that there is still so much to learn. Just as we expect our students to always be willing to grow, we too must realize that we can always learn new and exciting ways to make math fun, accessible and enjoyable for ALL of our students.

Can You Guess What We Learned This Week?

          As a (pre-service) teacher we are constantly warned about taking precautions during our lesson plans. This means always remaining politically correct or unbiased, ensuring inclusivity and avoiding (some) pedagogy’s or tasks that me be an issue to parents/guardians. When I thought about these precautions I often associated them with subjects in the arts, for example talking about global issues, politics or religion. This week in math however, I was (once again) shocked by the precautions that need to be taken with some units, such as data management and probability.

©vecteezy

          I’ve learned this year that successful teaching is about getting your point across in a way that is interesting and engaging for the students. Often this means assigning tasks that seem like play but surround elements of the unit or topic being studied. For example, we’ve spent a lot of time this term playing and reviewing online math games that could possibly be used with our own students. When teaching data management and probability, one of the best ways to incorporate the elements of play is by using dice or playing cards. However, the use of these instruments can often be associated with gambling and therefore may cause an issue for some parents/guardians. This is not to say we should avoid using these tools altogether, as they can be very helpful. As teachers we just need to be ‘smooth’ about our practices. First, we need to get to know both our students as well as their parents (and family dynamic) before we begin testing any questionable boundaries. Second, we should learn to address these tools in a way that avoids the gambling issues. For example, we can use different names. Instead of dice, we call them number blocks, and so on as to ensure we are disconnecting them from their associating to gambling.

         

This is our Stem and Leaf data!

Pat consistently shows us the benefits of making small changes and altering typical activities in order to make them more fun and exciting. There are so many traditional games or tasks that have been done over and over throughout school and therefore can become less exciting for the students and in turn, cause them to be less engaged. One important lesson I’ve learned through this math class is we don’t have to break our brains trying to think of completely new activities, we just need to find ways to change old ones to make them more fun again. An example of this happened this week during class when Pat was talking about making estimates. Traditionally, this is done by talking about guessing how many jelly beans are in a jar. However for us, Pat used oreos in a jar instead. The activity remains the same and the educational aspect does not change, however it made it more exciting for us because it was something new!  Each member of the class estimated how many oreos were in the jar and then we used that information to make a stem and leaf plot. It was a great way to introduce a new concept!

This Week in Math Nation: Collaboration Stations!

For me, teaching has always been the goal and that is pretty clearly reflected in my work experiences. I have spent the last five summers working at camp. I loved being a councillor but I’ve also loved holding more senior positions and being a part of the planning process for both day schedules for campers and training plans for staff.

I’ve worked at two different camps and although the training program is different, there is at least one aspect that is consistent. Both camps trained their staff in a manor that is reflective of a campers experience; the training programs are taught in a way that mimics games, activities and strategies that could be used during a camp day. This is a ‘two for one’ strategy. Not only are staff learning the policies and procedures but they are being provided useful tips for how to make interact with the campers and facilitate a smooth camp day.

One of my favorite parts of teachers college is that it is reflective of this teaching style. Although we are treated as teachers and peers we are also put into the classroom setting and take the perspective of the student. Many of our classes are taught in a way that mirrors how that subject would be taught in a J/I classroom. In my opinion this is beneficial in two ways:

The first is that it allows us to experience exactly what the students experience. We are given the opportunity to see what vocabulary or activities are successful and build our confidence in that subject area versus what may be less helpful or even more harmful.

The second is that it provides us with usable activities or lessons for teaching in our own classroom. We will walk away from each class with a plethora of teaching tricks and tasks for each course we study.

           This week we were given the opportunity to experience co-operative learning/problem solving. We were split into six groups and had to move around the room to co-operatively solve different math problems. There were three types of problems we were expected to solve: a problem using number charts, a problem using toothpicks and a problem using connect-blocks. At each table there were the manipulatives required for one type of problem as well as an envelope that had a set of clues in it (one clue for every group member). Each teacher candidate had to read their clue allowed and then the group was expected to work as a team to solve the problem.

(Example of a connect-blocks station)

This type of learning is beneficial because it forces every student to have a voice within the group. The instructions clearly identified that clues were to be shared orally and could only be placed in the middle once the problem was solved. This prevents potentially introverted or unconfident students from avoiding involvement. Using this type of activity in the classroom would ensure that all students have to be engaged and actively participating. Although learning skills and work habits are not included in math marks, this is also a way to document collaboration skills.

Another positive aspect of this activity is that it gets students up on their feet. For some students this is important because they might struggle to remain seated or still during lessons. Whereas for other students the excitement component could encourage them to be more physically active in the classroom.  

(Example of a toothpick station)

            This is definitely an activity I would be interested in using in my own classroom. As someone who has a more difficult time with math however, I was (at first) slightly nervous about the creation process (ie. Making the problems and creating the clues). However I did some research and found a wonderful article that not only lays out how to organize this type of lesson but it also provides some example problems that could be used. This was encouraging because it made me know that I will always be able to find resources to support and assist with my potential teaching ideas (both in math and other subject areas).