In my math teachable course this week, we had some guest speakers that came to talk to us about some online resources and differentiated instruction for our students. Some of the online resources were very helpful - the Khan Academy being one of them. I wanted to talk about some of the hands-on activities that were discussed. They introduced two activities - "I have, Who has" and a paired worksheet. The "I Have, Who Has" game I've seen before, but they explained it in a different way to make me understand better. If you make the game properly so that the last person matches with the first person, the result will be a loop, and students can see if they have correctly completed the game if they return back to the first person.
Secondly, they introduced a worksheet that has two columns on it - one for Partner A, and the second for Partner B. The worksheet is to be designed so that each question for both Partner A and Partner B result in the same answer, so that they can self-correct again. If there are any discrepancies in their solutions, they will be able to look to see where the mistakes were made.
Giving students the ability to identify and solve their own mistakes is crucial. First of all, it takes away the negative stigma that a bad mark gets when the teacher is assessing someone. Students often feel more comfortable around their peers and are more willing to make mistakes and learn from them if there is no fear of failure. Secondly, students that self-correct will develop a deeper understanding of the material, because the activities provide immediate feedback. Students don't need to wait a day or two for the teacher to mark something and return it back, the results are immediate.
Self-correcting activities should be used frequently in the math classroom, and frequently throughout a unit to develop understanding and boost confidence in student work.
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Blog # 6 - Courseware and Resources
I was going through our courseware book today to check out what is available. There are a lot of resources, games and activities tailored to the curriculum in there. We even had the opportunity to do some of the activities in our math methodology course. In order to teach the concepts, we need to have an understanding of what the concept is all about!
Finding resources and developing a resource bank is very important, no matter what subject you are teaching. Textbooks will never nor should never suffice as your only method of teaching the concepts. Extra worksheets, overhead transparencies, dot paper, nets, etc. all have a place in the classroom and our students need to have access to these materials to help facilitate their learning. Differentiating your instruction to meet the needs of all of your learners is a never ending challenge, but having the right resources at your fingertips makes it that much easier to implement.
Creative ideas can stem from resources too. Teachers are always borrowing and manipulating ideas and lessons to make them their own. Teachers need to find what works for their students and for the lessons, and develop resources that will best suit the needs of the lesson and for the students. There are an abundance of resources online, so we should be starting our collection right now! You never know when you are going to need something!
Finding resources and developing a resource bank is very important, no matter what subject you are teaching. Textbooks will never nor should never suffice as your only method of teaching the concepts. Extra worksheets, overhead transparencies, dot paper, nets, etc. all have a place in the classroom and our students need to have access to these materials to help facilitate their learning. Differentiating your instruction to meet the needs of all of your learners is a never ending challenge, but having the right resources at your fingertips makes it that much easier to implement.
Creative ideas can stem from resources too. Teachers are always borrowing and manipulating ideas and lessons to make them their own. Teachers need to find what works for their students and for the lessons, and develop resources that will best suit the needs of the lesson and for the students. There are an abundance of resources online, so we should be starting our collection right now! You never know when you are going to need something!
Saturday, 1 October 2011
Blog # 5 - Cookies
Cookies are delicious, and baking them is really fun too. When we talked about multiplication and division, we used the example of cookies and chocolate chips. Grouping our chocolate chips to make sure that there were an equal amount per cookie was the idea behind the lesson. If we have 3 cookies and 15 chocolate chips, how many chocolate chips can we put on each cookie? We also learned with multiplication that the questions can be interpreted two different ways.
The first way of 3x5 being that we have 3 cookies and 5 chocolate chips on each cookie. How many chocolate chips do we have? We could also look at it as 5x3 where we have 5 cookies with 3 different chocolate chips on each. This is partially exploring on factors - that there are different ways to represent one number. When we put the numbers into context, 3x5 and 5x3 represent different things, but the end result is the same - we still have the same number of chocolate chips.
Every concept in math is stemmed from another idea, and is the gateway to another concept down the road. All of our mathematical concepts are interrelated. When we put real-life contexts into our concepts, it makes the idea that much more attainable. Also, when we are looking at similar problems down the road - i.e. another cookie problem on a test - the students can more easily identify that they have seen this problem before and may find it easier to understand and solve the problem.
The first way of 3x5 being that we have 3 cookies and 5 chocolate chips on each cookie. How many chocolate chips do we have? We could also look at it as 5x3 where we have 5 cookies with 3 different chocolate chips on each. This is partially exploring on factors - that there are different ways to represent one number. When we put the numbers into context, 3x5 and 5x3 represent different things, but the end result is the same - we still have the same number of chocolate chips.
Every concept in math is stemmed from another idea, and is the gateway to another concept down the road. All of our mathematical concepts are interrelated. When we put real-life contexts into our concepts, it makes the idea that much more attainable. Also, when we are looking at similar problems down the road - i.e. another cookie problem on a test - the students can more easily identify that they have seen this problem before and may find it easier to understand and solve the problem.
Monday, 26 September 2011
Blog # 4 - Have Fun
One of the important things we need to remember about teaching mathematics is to have fun. Both students and teachers benefit from fun and interactive activities in the classroom, and learning mathematics this way is no exception. Most of the math curriculum can be taught using either manipulatives or real-life applications, and when at all possible, these methods should be incorporated into the lessons.
Some teachers have their fortes in other subject areas aside from math, and often feel discouraged or intimidated when trying to incorporate manipulatives into their lessons, or even stray away from the layout of the textbook. Classroom management becomes a greater concern when group work is introduced or manipulatives are brought out for instruction. Kids see groups as an opportunity to socialize or see manipulatives as toys to play with. The overall benefits significantly outweigh the cons to using manipulatives. Teachers can even deeper their understanding of the curriculum by simply watching the students explore and build upon their ideas.
If proper rules and structures are put in place before hand, if the teacher is well prepared for the lesson, and if the lesson includes opportunities for exploration, collaboration and reflection for the students, then there is no reason why the lesson and use of the manipulatives can't be successful.
Some teachers have their fortes in other subject areas aside from math, and often feel discouraged or intimidated when trying to incorporate manipulatives into their lessons, or even stray away from the layout of the textbook. Classroom management becomes a greater concern when group work is introduced or manipulatives are brought out for instruction. Kids see groups as an opportunity to socialize or see manipulatives as toys to play with. The overall benefits significantly outweigh the cons to using manipulatives. Teachers can even deeper their understanding of the curriculum by simply watching the students explore and build upon their ideas.
If proper rules and structures are put in place before hand, if the teacher is well prepared for the lesson, and if the lesson includes opportunities for exploration, collaboration and reflection for the students, then there is no reason why the lesson and use of the manipulatives can't be successful.
Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Blog # 3 - Bring in the World
TV shows like CSI use real-life examples of situations to create interest and excitement in their shows that draw its viewers to watch on a nightly basis. Though the show itself is not real, the ideas behind it have the potential to be. It is quite possible that the crimes that are depicted in the show could have happened at one point or another. But now I ask - would the show be as interesting if the events were completely fictional and far from believable?
Teaching concepts in our school systems should be set up the same way. Our history, geography and science classes are all about true facts and instances, but our math classes seem to be strict and by-the-book. If math teachers used real-life examples and situations, and created lessons and units on that, students would be much more interested in the material. Granted, not everyone enjoys history, geography or even science, but the enthusiasm for tackling real-life situations is far greater than when the material is just rules or conventions.
We learned in class this week that "the best teachers bring the world into the classroom." Students develop a deeper understanding of the material if they can believe what they are working on. Instead of just doing straight computations for a set of data (trying to add the values), imaging that we are going furniture shopping as a class and we want to know roughly how much we'd need to spend at the store to get all of our purchases. It seems daunting at first, but when student success is increasing because of the new approach, it makes it all that more feasible and enjoyable too.
Teaching concepts in our school systems should be set up the same way. Our history, geography and science classes are all about true facts and instances, but our math classes seem to be strict and by-the-book. If math teachers used real-life examples and situations, and created lessons and units on that, students would be much more interested in the material. Granted, not everyone enjoys history, geography or even science, but the enthusiasm for tackling real-life situations is far greater than when the material is just rules or conventions.
We learned in class this week that "the best teachers bring the world into the classroom." Students develop a deeper understanding of the material if they can believe what they are working on. Instead of just doing straight computations for a set of data (trying to add the values), imaging that we are going furniture shopping as a class and we want to know roughly how much we'd need to spend at the store to get all of our purchases. It seems daunting at first, but when student success is increasing because of the new approach, it makes it all that more feasible and enjoyable too.
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Blog # 2 - Math is Everywhere
Math is a part of everything. It is all around us - and we actually use math more in a day than we may believe. Math is involved when we are trying to figure out how much time we have left to get ready in the morning, budgeting our paychecks to pay bills, paying a parking meter and even measuring out detergent to do a load of laundry.
Math isn't just straight computation. It has a lot to do with identifying relationships between one thing and another. Adding things gives us a total, multiplying things tells us how many groups we have, ratios tell us the relationships between one thing and another in a group, and probability gives us the odds of something happening. We see probability on the weather forecast and we decide to bring an umbrella based on the chance of rain. We use ratios when we are baking cupcakes and we need to double or triple, or even half the recipe.
Understanding that math is a part of everyday life is important to instill in our children as young as possible. It is an essential skill that we will use for the rest of our lives, whether we want to or not. It is also important to teach math everyday to our students. There is so much to learn, and not enough time to learn it or practice it!
Math isn't just straight computation. It has a lot to do with identifying relationships between one thing and another. Adding things gives us a total, multiplying things tells us how many groups we have, ratios tell us the relationships between one thing and another in a group, and probability gives us the odds of something happening. We see probability on the weather forecast and we decide to bring an umbrella based on the chance of rain. We use ratios when we are baking cupcakes and we need to double or triple, or even half the recipe.
Understanding that math is a part of everyday life is important to instill in our children as young as possible. It is an essential skill that we will use for the rest of our lives, whether we want to or not. It is also important to teach math everyday to our students. There is so much to learn, and not enough time to learn it or practice it!
Sunday, 18 September 2011
Blog # 1 - Math is a Passion
Mathematics has always been a true passion of mine. I've always been fascinated with the relationships with numbers, and enjoy solving math related logic or puzzle problems in my spare time. I have countless books on my bookshelf to show my love for math. I even fell in love with the high school curriculum; that is when I realized I wanted to teach math.
It is good to be passionate about something and even more so to pursue that passion as a career choice. Working full time in a job you enjoy and are confident in can be very rewarding. I understand the importance of math education and realize that the skill levels of young students may not be where they should be.
My passion is a driving force for me, but as a teacher, may appear as intimidation to my students or other peers. I have subjects that I dislike and have openly expressed that I've disliked them in the past. I understand that math is not a strong subject for everyone - and hopefully I can take my passion for math and teaching to try to improve the attitudes of my students in the future.
It is good to be passionate about something and even more so to pursue that passion as a career choice. Working full time in a job you enjoy and are confident in can be very rewarding. I understand the importance of math education and realize that the skill levels of young students may not be where they should be.
My passion is a driving force for me, but as a teacher, may appear as intimidation to my students or other peers. I have subjects that I dislike and have openly expressed that I've disliked them in the past. I understand that math is not a strong subject for everyone - and hopefully I can take my passion for math and teaching to try to improve the attitudes of my students in the future.
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