Final Reflection!

WOW, this is my last math blog post for the semester and boy did that fly by. I remember starting off the semester feeling completely uncomfortable and stressed out. Math was never my favourite subject when I was growing up. I tolerated it because it was mandatory but I never truly looked forward to it, instead I dreaded it. I thought math just wasn't my thing, that I was simply not a math person. However, this course and Pat have both made me realize that everyone can truly be a math person. This course expanded my horizons and I saw math in a whole new light. Math can be fun, interactive and have multiple solutions. Math can incorporate literature, technology and manipulatives. Math is taught today in a way that I never had the privilege of learning. Now being a teacher candidate and a future teacher of math for my grade 7s and grade 8s, in January and February I could not be more thrilled to teach them the way Pat has taught me. The math class this semester has truly prepared me and provided me with the knowledge and vast amount of resources to teach my future students. My confidence has been boosted when it comes to math and I can only hope one day to be as skilled and charismatic as Pat was in front of our math class.

Some key things I took away from this course included the use of manipulatives, providing students with open questions, creating a growth mindset, encouraging mistakes, and allowing students to explore math in a way that makes sense to them!

MANIPULATIVES 

Manipulatives are huge for students of all ages and all math levels. Whether a student needs them or not, all students should be encouraged to use the manipulatives that they are provided. I am an extremely visual learner so I find that manipulatives; whether it is number blocks,  geometric shapes or fraction strips they all help me to visualize and understand math in a creative and easy way. Some students might find that if they use manipulatives they feel that they are "stupid", this is not the case, and it should be addressed at the start of the math year. Manipulatives help students to check their work as well as understand and communicate what they are learning in math. Furthermore, the use of children's literature is huge! Everyone loves being read to, even our teachers college math class does! Thus, I feel starting off a math lesson with a story can help promote students critical thinking as well as their creativity. Students can relate the story to their lesson and develop a better understanding for what they are learning in math. Reading in math is crucial for understanding what the question is asking the students. As well, reading can help students to understand how subjects can cross over and tie into other subjects. I know even in my grade 7 and 8 classes I will try to read to my students and show them the importance of literacy in math.

OPEN QUESTIONS 

Additionally, another key idea that I picked up on in my math class was the importance of providing students with open questions! Students need to think outside the box and attempt to solve for a question in a way that makes sense to them. If we provide our students with open questions they can constantly solve and improve upon what they are looking for. Open questions promote critical thinking, creativity and allow all students to get started. Open questions can go on forever and have multiple right answers.... something I was never introduced to in math. When I was taught math there was one right answer and one way to solve for that answer. We never had a choice, and this is huge for our students. Our students need freedom to learn in a way that suits them, open questions allow this to happen. 

GROWTH MINDSET

Having a GROWTH MINDSET is imperative when it comes to teaching and math. We need to provide effective feedback to our students and encourage them to constantly think outside the box. The idea behind a growth mindset is that our skills and intelligence are constantly growing and evolving. We need to keep trying and have a positive attitude in everything we do. Students should be encouraged to learn from their mistakes and keep on learning. I  have seen the emphasis and importance within all of my classes at Brock as well as at my placement. Every classroom highlights the importance and benefits of a growth mindset and how it should be a part of every students learning.

MISTAKES 

As Miss Frizzle from the Magic School Bus cartoon once said, its time to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!!! I love this idea. It is extremely crucial that we encourage our students to try their best but to also not be afraid of making mistakes. Some of the most successful people in the world failed before they became who they are. We LEARN from our mistakes and can grow as a group and individually. Students need to stop stressing about their marks and thinking that they look stupid if they don't get a question or ask for help. There is no such thing as stupid question and our students need to understand this concept. All we can do is improve from our mistakes. They are excellent ways to move forward in life and to LEARN!

EXPLORE

EXPLORE!!! Students need to be encouraged to go outside of their comfort zones and take on new challenges everyday. Students need to explore math in fun and interactive ways like never before. As they are exploring math they will learn more about themselves as well as the world around them. Encouraging students to explore and think for themselves is vital to their progression and successes in life.

In conclusion, this entire experience has been one hell of a ride. I have learned things about math that I didn't know before, I have refreshed my mind on topics I once loved and I have developed new feelings towards math that I thought would never be possible. This past semester has been extremely enjoyable as well as eye opening and rewarding. I have learned much in the past twelve weeks and I intend on taking everything that my fellow classmates and Pat have taught me, out into my first teaching block. Thanks for an excellent first semester of teachers college! I cannot believe its already over, the time has flown bye. 

Until next time, 

Cheers, Courtney Helt 

Have a very Merry Christmas to all of my fellow teacher candidates and viewers of my blog!

Data Management & Probability- Week 10

Different Types of Graphs, Tables, Charts. Google. 2016

This past week was all about DATA and PROBABILITY! We started off the class with Pat asking a question which created an open discussion about estimating! We were asked, "Did anyone do any estimating today?" Everyone looked around for a moment and then you could see the light bulbs go on in everyone's minds. OF COURSE WE DID! Our days are filled with estimating, my peers began sharing their estimating experiences. For example, some estimated how long it would take to get to school? How much farther can I drive my car before getting gas? Can I get my forum posts done before math class? If it's raining will there be more traffic getting to school? The estimates went on and on, all different for each student but also many students had experienced the same type of estimates.

This activity was a great way to open up the lesson and have students apply a math topic to their everyday lives. As future teachers we will get the same old question, "But Ms. Why do we have to learn this, I'll never use it in my everyday life?" or, "Ms. How does this apply to the real world, math is so stupid." I have learned throughout this course that it is important to provide learning opportunities that coincide with everyday experiences, in order for students to be successful in math. If students can understand math concepts and see that they apply in everything they do, the students will take more away from the lesson and also look at math in a fun and informative way.

Pat also showed us an excellent video about Growth Mindset. Below is a cute video that students of all ages can relate to. The video can also relate to other subjects not just specifically math, and encourage students to have a Growth Mindset.



This video is part of an adorable collection of videos that talk about Growth Mindset. There are also videos teaching students about empathy, perseverance and many more.

Pat also showed us all the different ways in which we can teach our students to display data. She brought in a cookie jar filled with oreos and had everyone in the classroom guess how many oreos were in the jar. Once everyone guessed we put our information onto a stem and leaf plot to see what data the class had gathered. This is an excellent way for students to use manipulative's. Both the cookie jar and chart paper can help students see and therefore understand math concepts better. It is important to provide a fun and interactive learning environment.

As well, Pat showed us various ways to graph information using different graphs, charts, tables, scatter plots, and histograms through online resources as well as good old fashioned chart paper. All of these tools and methods can be used to display different topics related to probability. It is important to provide our students with online resources that they can use on their computers at home, as well as interactive resources such as the smart board. These tools help to make learning fun for students of any age. As future teachers it is key to provide our students with lessons and resources that they can relate to and find appealing.

Additionally, we used linking blocks, an EXCELLENT MANIPULATIVE! (Manipulative's are my favourite, and the key to success in any math classroom), to also show different ways in which data can be represented.

Below are two pictures that I took in class.

This first picture is of the problem that was presented to the class. The idea behind the question is to create bars for each original number presented in the problem and then figure out how to make each bar the same length, therefore levelled.


The second picture is of the block towers I created. This picture shows how I levelled the bars using the connecting blocks to solve for the problem.

In conclusion, the reason Data Management is so important in our world is because it helps everyone to make predictions as well as estimates. This helps individuals to know what to expect, who doesn't want to be prepared. This week provided me with some valuable insight. For my first teaching block I will be teaching the unit on Data Management and Probability. This week, Pat provided her class with so many valuable resources and insight into how to properly teach this unit. I definitely feel more prepared as a result of Pat's lesson and the important information that our course textbook highlights. There are tones of fun and interesting activities that I can pull from our course text to help me teach my first math unit to my grade 7s and 8s. Hopefully it will be a great success!

Wish me luck!

Cheers, Courtney