Pursuing every available opportunity to teach at various levels of education has granted me the opportunity to interact with students at all stages of life, from basic school to high school and university, both in classroom and in one-on-one settings even internationally. With the view to improving and focusing on my own skills, my genuine goal is to bring this experience, together with a commitment to continue learning and adjusting to my future career as a mathematics lecturer. As I develop my course contents, I seek to answer the following questions which forms the basis for my philosophy in teaching. How relevant is the ensuing topic? It is common for a student in a typical math class to raise the objection, “When will I ever need this …show more content…
In addition, I find it effective to have students’ present selected parts of the course material, or their solutions to relevant problems in front of their classmates. Not only does this give the presenter valuable experience in expressing her mathematical ideas to an audience, but also adds variety to the class, and helps encourage the rest of the class to think critically about the material presented (since it comes from a less ‘authoritative’ source). This builds the ‘can do’ spirit in all my students. Counting on the success of my days as a mathematics student, I can the best way for students to learn math is to do math. Relevant and instructive assignments and projects are naturally integrated into all my courses. I follow up on this by working out examples in class in order to showing problem-solving techniques, and making mistakes, getting stuck and trying different strategies. This combination of the theoretical and the practical brings a mathematical concept to light. On several occasions,
The purpose of the study is to identify how varying ways of knowing mathematics manifests in the use of the core practice of facilitating classroom discourse. I am interested in better understanding how teachers use their mathematical knowledge for teaching to facilitate meaningful discourse. Gaining greater understanding it this area will aid in assisting teachers in developing the skill of facilitating meaningful discourse. The ability to engage students in mathematical discussions that enhance student learning has continued to be a topic in mathematics education and is viewed as a major component of mathematics education reform. It is vital that teachers, novice and experienced, develop the skills necessary to create a learning environment
As a future educator, it is the my job to educate all students through means of teaching that enable students to be successful in health, fitness, leadership, character development, and accountability for their regular lives outside of school.
It also requires the student to understand approaches to problem solutions utilized by other students and being able to provide peer feedback. Students should be introduced to the use of mathematics to: organize data, solve problems applicable to their life, and understand the world around them. This approach makes the subject both interesting and enjoyable. The use of these strategies is addressed in the next standard “#4 Model with mathematics” (Academics), which helps the student to make connections, surpass procedural knowledge and gain a conceptual understanding of a
I see students as the next generations’ heroes in so many fields. In my vision, I have to inspire students and prepare them with confidence, knowledge, experience and skills. Which means I encourage, communicate, guide, teach, and assess students in order to enrich their infrastructures.
How are your lessons designed for student learning of mathematical concepts, procedures/algorithms, and mental math strategies through problem solving?
Another idea to improve mathematics performance in elementary level is to encourage the student to link the existing knowledge and the new knowledge effectively while working math problems/examples. A worked example is “a step-by-step demonstration of how to perform a problem” (Clark, Nguyen, & Sweller, 2006, p. 190). This will prepare the students for similar problems in the future as they bridge the connection between the problems and the examples. In many cases, students are encouraged to link the informal ideas with the formal mathematics ideas that are presented by the teacher to be able to solve problems. When students examine their own ideas, they are encouraged to build functional understanding through interaction in the classroom. When students share among themselves on differences and similarities in arithmetic procedures, they construct the relationship between themselves hence making it the foundation for achieving better grades in mathematics. Teachers can also encourage students to learn concepts and skills by solving problems (Mitchell et al 2000). Students do perform successfully after they acquire good conceptual understanding because they develop skills and procedures, which are necessary for their better performance. However, slow learning students should engage in more practice
The primary goal of the lesson sequence was to actively engage students through fostering problem solving skills and develop conceptual understanding about mathematics. Consequently a range of authentic learning experiences that aimed to actively engage learners through the use of real life contexts, concrete materials and peer collaboration was incorporated in the lessons. The purpose of designing authentic learning experiences was to enthral students in true mathematical problem solving. Fisher, (2005) supports this theory by stating ‘The true use of maths is seen in its application to real-life problems. The activities throughout the lesson plan were intended to support students in actively constructing knowledge by completely immersing students in relevant and authentic learning experiences to become an expert on the content.
It is important to note that a student’s view of a subject is founded upon the experiences in which he/she is immersed in and this subsequently forms their expectations of mathematics (Knowles, 2009, p.29). The strategies that teachera employ should be both challenging but achievable and furthermore within Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development (ZPD).
Education is defined as the lifelong process of acquiring knowledge, skills, and values through either formal means, such as schooling, or informal means, such as firsthand experiences or vicarious experiences gained through reading books or discussions. Every person that is or wants to be a teacher has his or her own educational philosophy. We all have our own views, methods, and curriculum that we were taught when growing up. A lot of people may have the same teachers in school, but all of them learn different things from that teacher.
taught using PowerPoint’s. The students in these classes are advance in their knowledge of mathematics, and understand greater complex ideas and concepts (in math) than their fellow students. Since this class is the highest course, they used the tool PowerPoint. PowerPoint included direct instruction, independent practice,
“A Collective Vision: Voices of the Partner Disciplines” reports that nearly every discipline promotes the importance of having students communicate mathematical and quantitative ideas—both orally and in writing.
When teaching mathematical concepts it is important to look at the big ideas that will follow in order to prevent misconceptions and slower transformation
Although mathematics has not changed, the manner in which it is taught has changed in substantive ways in recent years that are far removed from rote memory drills and traditional dusty chalkboards. As one mathematics educator emphasizes, "Chalkboards have come a long way, haven't they? In the past, the standard writing surface in the mathematics
Despite some common misconceptions, there is a huge difference between doing or learning math and thinking mathematically. Unfortunately, many students in the United States are simply doing math. They are using mathematical operations such as addition, multiplication, estimating and measurement to solve algorithms or story problems. Their goal is to get the correct answer.
There is a current push for more progressive teaching which is moving forward from learning by rote and teaching to the test. This old style of teaching causes many pupils to disengage as they do not find it interesting and see it as irrelevant to their everyday lives. It is something that I have witnessed for myself in the classroom and experienced as a student. Learning a formula and then applying it to similar questions over and over again becomes a very monotonous process, even for those with a passion for the subject. This then becomes a negative perception of the nature of mathematics which can be passed on to other students. The newer progressive style of teaching focuses more on the understanding of mathematics which enables students to see more relevance. The actual contents of the maths may still seem irrelevant to the students’ and they may never use it again, however, learning maths is more about learning how to solve problems which enables them to develop a skill set which they can use to solve any problems that come their way. It is therefore important that the teacher is able to get this message across to the pupils.