Dr. Seuss

Today you are You, that is truer than true.

There is no one alive who is Youer than you.

Dr. Seuss

The more that you read, the more things you will know.

The more that you learn,the more places you’ll go.

Dr. Seuss

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Chapter 9 Mathematics


Things I Do And Plan To Do……….
When teaching math, I use direct instruction, hands on activities, computer activities, group activities, and written assessments. I know a lot of students find math to be boring. So I try to make things fun when they are learning. Since I teach younger students we use a lot of manipulative to count, add or subtract. Using visual objects that students can touch and regroup allow them to see the problem that they are trying to figure out.
       Things I Do Not Do………
While reading the chapter, I saw several ways to help students break down math problems. Students, especially young students think that when they are done with an assignment, they have all the answers right. Most students do not check their answers and just assume that even though they rushed through the assessment it is perfect. In the text, there are several examples such as read for understanding, paraphrase the problem, visualize by using a graph or diagram, hypothesize the problem, estimate your answer by using prediction, compute the math, and check your answer. All these steps are broken down and I do not teach this to my students. I think if students know these steps at a young age they would enjoy math because they would understand it better. If students take these skills with them in high school and college math would not be such a challenge.
       Things I Need To Improve…………
I need to work on helping students understand math on a deeper level. I want to explain to students that this is a real world skill that you have to know and math can be fun. I also want to work on teaching students helpful skills to check their work and showing them how they can break down problems so they will not be so intimidating. I know when I was in school I hated word problems and they used to make me feel like it was so hard. After observing several teachers, I have learned several tips to show students to understand word problems. For example, if a problem says take away the students know it means to subtract. Students can see the key word and highlight it or underline it so they know this is a problem about subtraction. I think small tips can really help students go a long way.

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