Personal Reflection … Two Stars and A Wish … November 17-22nd, 2015

Personal Reflection for Math 4173 X1: My Learning & Growth

         When I first started this course in September, I was unaware of how much the teaching of mathematics had changed since I was a child. Even though, I had been a school volunteer much of my work centred in the area of Resource for Language Arts or helping during Middle School Social Studies. What is impressive is the numerous ways that children are being taught to express their math work. Being exposed to the pentomino puzzle as well as to the video of Ms. T. Oliver has taught me that teaching math to our students should be an enjoyable experience that is makes learning fun for the children.  

        My growth has gone from the mindset of no longer wanting to use Math worksheets. Looking back to my elementary school days, I had never enjoyed doing math in this way, but we were not exposed as children to other ways of doing math. As a teacher, my classroom will not be quiet, but would be a busy, active learning environment in which children have opportunities to work collaborately in groups, and also with manipulatives. I believe that the use of manipulatives not only improves learning, but also opens the door to children learning other problem solving techniques that will grow with them. In my class children will no longer learn by rote memory, but through being actively engaged learners. They will have many opportunities to express their work in engaging, insightful ways.

        The fundamental role that literacy can play in math was also an eye-opener. Through this course, we were exposed to many books containing stories that appeal to both children and adults. As a teacher, I would appreciate being able to incorporate both math and language arts into a lesson. It was interesting to learn how this can be done!

         Lastly, my learning throughout this course has grown through leaps and bounds. I’m grateful to have had the opportunities to work alone, with a partner, and with groups to expand on my understanding of elementary math. I had not realized that there was such a degree of mathematics material through visual arts, literacy, through computer, and other games that can expand on children’s learning. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to take this course, because it has enabled me to be better prepared to teach math to children.

Two Stars and A Wish

Two Stars

1. I have worked well on my weekly math journal.

2. Another area that I have worked well on is in my class work.

One Wish

I need to work on improving on my problem solving.

Personal Reflection – Mental Math – November 3-7, 2015

        When, I came to Tuesday’s Math class, I was excited to see the “Hit the Button” game on the Smart Board. I feel that games can be useful for helping children by reinforcing their Math skills, because children learn through play.  This particular game would be helpful for children to recall division facts and times tables whilst building on skills such as doubles and halves, and also number bonds.

        We received our picture book drafts back. I was very pleased with my mark, because, I was not certain if I had done the assignment correctly. It was also important for me to understand where improvements were required. Jill’s assessment technique, “the three questions,” was helpful in giving us a better understanding of our own work along with the necessary changes that needed to be made.

        Tuesday’s class about Mental Math was certainly a busy night of learning. I found the class to be insightful in a number of ways. We were provided with a definition for Mental Math and Estimation that gave us a better understanding of what is involved when a child is learning Mental Math. I found the Mental Math P-3 sheet to be helpful in defining time allotments for both the Mental Math and the Math Block, and also for providing suggestions that will better help us to the integrate blocks.

      

          Math has always been challenging for me. Therefore, I was satisfied with the explanation provided by Amy about, ”Memorizing a sentence in which words have meaning.” Children in the not so distant past, had experienced learning Math through memorization, but this fails to teach children that there are many pathways to learning Math.  When children are taught Mental Math each school day this teaching expands their learning horizons. It was an eye-opener to learn how many math and number concepts that children would need to learn in Grade Primary to help them with their Mental Math in Grade 1.

        My favourite resource from our Math night was the Rekenrek.  I was absolutely astonished by the number of ways that we as teachers can help children master basic math through this handy little device. I admit as a child that I also would have found it enticing to use the Rekenrek as a toy!   

When I was attending elementary school children at that time were not taught Math through such a variety of ways.  I think that I would have developed a better understanding of Math concepts had these learning opportunities been available to my peers and myself. What I take away from our Mental Math class is the concrete, pictorial, symbolic, and oral methods that can be used to help children learn Math.  This is essential, because all children learn differently.

         Learning about the Mental Math Facts was certainly interesting. I had no idea that there were so many facts for addition alone. My favourite facts were Next Number, because this was simply about remembering the number that came next. I also liked the One Aparts, because the child would remember that it is doubles plus one. Such as:

5=6 becomes 5+5, next number = 13

The Plus 2’s were also neat to learn about, because a child would simply need to know that its about the “next Even” or “next Odd” number. For example, you could say:

“If I say 5 … you say 7.”

“If I say 2 … you say 4.”

It’s understandable that the little ones would be confused about learning the “add zeros.” I would be interested in observing how the children develop their strategies for mastering these facts especially for The Last Six.

        The partner bingo game would be an excellent activity for a child to take home as homework.  Even though the game we played in class cannot be won this would still be an engaging learning game for our children.