Class 7: Chapter Reflection – Week October 27-31, 2015

Chapter 4: Helping Children Master The Basic Facts

        This chapter covered a great deal of information. However, I found the most important, especially for me as a student teacher is that it educates us to not only get children involved in learning Math facts, but teaches us the importance of allowing children to develop their own Math strategies. While the author reminds us that knowing Math facts is necessary, knowing the facts alone does not mean that a child has a good grasp on the material. I think it’s also meaningful to remind us that we should not simply be passing our own strategies on, but encouraging the children to learn their own way of solving problems, because there are so many different ways that Math can be done. We each learn in our own unique way how to problem solve. It can be tempting for us to drill students, but we must ensure that they have a strong understanding of their Math before doing drills. I also felt, that the authors gave a positive suggestive about the role of introducing individualized drills allowing the student to use the strategy they had learned.

       

      The chapter contained a vast array of activities that would be useful especially for new teachers, because we have so much to learn about using games, activities, and techniques that encourage children to enjoy learning. I was surprised that subtraction tends to be more difficult for children to learn than addition. Therefore, I would be more likely to spend greater time on connecting subtraction to addition. Learning this, I would also spend greater time on activities that more effectively help children learn subtraction such as “Build up through the ten frame” and “back through ten frame activities. “ Likewise, I feel that all the activities would be of use in the classroom. I would certainly incorporate all as I was teaching the various Mathematics units, but also first ensure that my children understood their own Math strategies including how to solve word problems.

      Lastly, I found this video on youtube.

 We often think of teaching the children alone, but I believe creating videos that parents can also learn from and use to help their children with homework can be incorporated. This helps parents to understand the newer methods of Math. If the Mom or Dad were feeling excluded such videos may put them at ease, and help them to feel they included in their child’s learning process.