It’s hard to think that in just 8 months
we will have completed our time here in Teacher’s College and beginning our
adventure into the teaching world. Entering second year Mathematics this past
Thursday brought back the memories of entering year one mathematics and how
terrified I was to teach mathematics to students. However, this year was a
little different, I was excited more excited and less terrified and learned to
be more positive and have an open mindset with exciting and new opportunities.
Unlike many of my teacher candidate
friends I was not placed in a placement my first block that allowed me to teach
Mathematics or any classroom subjects, I was placed in a physical education setting.
I enjoyed my first block placement very much, I mean how can someone not enjoy
being in physical education setting such as the gymnasium and come dressed for
work in active gear! There was definitely teaching experiences I learned being
in a gymnasium, such as time management and classroom management, especially
when you have 2 classes close to 30 students in each. I was a part of setting
up and going through the dynamics of a whole unit with majority of the classes.
It was a student-centred based plan and a new approach to creating a plan that
I have experienced before and overall was done successfully with minor changes
that can be implemented for future sport units.
Although I was not able to implement the
creative ways of problem-solving and manipulatives from year one, I look
forward to building my toolbox of resources in year two and hopefully have the opportunity
to implement many of these teaching tools in a mathematics classroom setting.
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| via http://gameaboutsquares.com |
Playing Game of Squares brought back the
fun we had in class from first year learning what creative games the internet
has for our students to start a period with or even end…not to mention how
addict I know am to the game personally.
The first week back in class had us
exploring what the next six weeks will look like, how our dynamic lesson
planning will evolve into unit planning and incorporating more technology based
assignments. One of our class activities incorporated the curriculum and it was
during B-I-N-G-O that really captivated me to understand just how important it
is to really understand and know the curriculum. It’s our foundation of
teaching the different units and a crucial document to understand how we can
build our students knowledge and understanding of mathematics from one grade to
the next. The EQAO questions were example of curriculum reviewing for each
grade and how they are very similar yet the different stepping stones they achieve
from one grade to the next.
I look forward to the next six weeks as
I continue to grow as an educator and build my own understanding of the
mathematics curriculum and learning the way of ‘spiral teaching,’ intertwining
all strands of mathematics within a whole year of learning and more importantly
how to connect math to real life and make it meaningful for all.
Great post Trisha!
ReplyDeleteI agree playing games like Game of Squares really creates a fun environment. I’m always analyzing what Pat is or isn’t doing, and I noticed the only instructions she gave us prior to playing the game was to open the link. One reason why I hated math as a kid was because it was strongly based on teacher-led instruction and worksheets. Prior to playing the game Pat gave us no instructions, she simply let us figure it out. For some it was a struggle, others had to ask for help from a neighbour and a few caught on quickly. This is why I truly love modern day math because it resembles real life, sometimes I ask for help while other times I struggle a bit but eventually I get it.
Hello Patricia,
ReplyDeleteI also thought that the Game of Squares was a great way to begin the class! I think it would be a great way to get to know the students in the class in terms of their learning styles. As a teacher observing my students playing the game, I could get a sense of which students are visual learners, auditory learner, or kinesthetic learners. I could also get to know which students prefer to work by themselves and which students enjoy collaborating with others. Games also have a tendency to bring students' personality and character traits out as you can see which students are competitive, which students consciously make an effort to help others, and which students tend to persevere despite frustrations. I was amazed at how such a short, simple game could be such a valuable tool for us as teachers in getting to know the students in our class and how we can effectively support them!
Great start to your blog Patricia. You have done a great job of analyzing the activities of our first class and relating them to teaching math as well as tieing in the curriculum readings. As we go forward also try to incorporate the math mindset module of the week, webinars (once they start) and even how you are applying new strategies and ideas to your unit planning.
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