Math education is the view of numbers and equations used in everyday life. As human beings, we rationalize and find a solution to problems we are confronted with. The purpose of math education is to teach students how to use a logical thought process to help them frame a problem in a way that allows for computation and decision making. Students should be taught the importance of making conclusions from information they are provided and be able to use advanced concepts of mathematics in everyday life.
When it comes to learning mathematics, students have a role to
fulfill in the classroom. The role of the student in learning mathematics is to
be actively engaged in the learning process. The student will be responsible
for putting in the effort to find the solution to a problem and not expect a
teacher to give them the answer. Students will research and use their resources
to help get to their answer. The teacher will firstly teach the lesson and
provide an example for the visual learners. Once students have been taught the
logical reasoning behind a concept and have seen an example of every possible
form of the question they may see, they will be able to do some practice problems
in a group during class. I believe that students learn more from their peers.
Therefore, students will be able to interact with their classmates to share
ideas and knowledge. I have previously learned that through peer tutoring the
student that is assisting the other gains knowledge through the process as well.
Students are expected to be respectful towards their peers during group time
and to the teacher during instructional time.
The role of the teacher in teaching mathematics is to be a
facilitator or coach. The teacher will not give students the answer, but push
their students to use their critical thinking skills to come to the answer on
their own. The most important thing a teacher could enforce is making the
classroom one where the students speak and volunteer often instead of one where
the teacher is the only one speaking. In classrooms where the teacher is the
only one speaking, students will absent-mindedly copy down all the notes and
not understand the major key points of the lesson. To keep the students engaged,
the teacher will use different activities to teach the students. The teacher
could do a fun hands on activity or an activity that will help relate the
lesson to a real life situation. Using resources in the classroom would be
helpful as well to correlate the content with real life through math YouTube
videos and virtual fieldtrips. Davison and Mitchell mention in the article that
“John Dewey supported a vision of education as one connected with experience
and real-life. [He] argued that mathematics education should be integrated”
(2008). To ensure comprehension, the teacher could stop after a major skill is
learned in the lesson to allow the students to practice before continuing to
the next skill. When students answer a question in class, the teacher should
encourage the student to explain why they chose their answer. This allows the
student answering to think the problem further and logically explain their
reasoning and it helps other students who may be confused. The teacher should
also allow creativity in the classroom and not make everything seem like a
drill. Teachers should encourage the different ways a student may solve a
problem. Students should have the flexibility when finding their solutions as
long as it is accurate and can work for similar problems.
Learning strategies are methods “used by students to help them
understand information and solve problems” (Learning Strategies, 2016). Not all
students will know strategies to help them learn; therefore, the teacher is
responsible for providing strategies for students to use. A student learning
strategy I would use in my classroom is having students write exit slips. Exit
slips require the students to write what they have learned and to reflect on
the lesson. Another strategy could be organizing certain information in the
notes into a chart or graph that makes it easy for students to remember information
covered in the class. According to Hamilton, using groups to allow students to
share ideas and teach each other is a good learning strategy as well (Hamilton,
2015). When students are in a group and they are assigned a role for the
activity they are going to participate in they take in information from their
part and their partners through the teamwork. The students must explain to each
other how they got their answer and all students must agree on the answer and
the method on how they got to it. The teacher can ask the students a question,
allow the students to discuss it in their group, and then the teacher chooses a
random person from the group to answer and explain.
Effective teaching strategies are the different ways a teacher
may present information to the class to increase learning. Before beginning a
lesson, the teacher should use the strategy of activating students’ prior
knowledge. In math, everything a student learns is based on prior basic math
they have learned before. To prepare students to learn a new concept, the
teacher should go over the information the students should already know to
refresh their memory and then begin teaching the new material. Another
effective strategy is modeling; it involves the teacher demonstrating to the
students how to do a task with the expectation that the student will follow the
model. A benefit of this strategy is that it requires the teacher to think
aloud and talk through a task to explain the steps which allow the students to
understand the reason behind every step of solving a problem. Repetition during
instruction is also a good strategy to use to help students learn. Repeating
important key concepts and vocabulary to students could help them remember the
information if they hear it enough times. Lastly, the use of illustrations and
diagrams in a math class is crucial when teaching students. This strategy
allows the teacher to spend some time discussing any illustrations, graphs, or
charts that may appear in the text book that could reinforce the information
from the lesson. The use of these visuals could also spark interest in the students
and intrigue them to learn more about the topic.
Classroom management plays an important part in making sure the
classroom runs smoothly. There will be high expectations of the students that
will be made clear in the first month of school and will be reinforced
throughout the year. In class, students will also be expected to pay attention
and to participate. If any problem arises the student will be spoken to in
privately in the hallway and if necessary with the parents. Any misbehavior
will be handled firmly and calmly without yelling or sarcasm. According to
Englehart, students do not respond well to public confrontation or yelling and
sarcasm; it causes students to close themselves off or become rebellious (2013).
A teacher can maintain good classroom management and keep students engaged by
walking around the classroom. When a teacher walk around the classroom students
feels the teacher presence a lot more on them which will keep them on task. If
students are on task then they will be engaging more in the lesson and class
discussions (Hamilton, 2015).
There are five content standards according to the National
Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) that have goals for the students to
some degree no matter the grade level (De Valle, Karp, & Bay-Williams, 2013). The five standards
are in number and operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, and data analysis
and probability. In every mathematical level of education, several of these
standards will be the base of the new concept the students will be learning. There
are also five process standards to which “students should acquire and use
mathematical knowledge” (De Valle, Karp, & Bay-Williams, 2013). The standards are problem
solving, reasoning and proof, communication, connections, and representation. In
my classroom, these standards will be met and considered for every lesson to
apply the standards that are appropriate.
References
Davison, D. M., & Mitchell, J. E. (2008). How is
Mathematics Education Philosophy Reflected in the Math Wars? The Montana
Mathematics Enthusiast, 5(1), 143-154.
De Valle, J. A., Karp, K. S., & Bay-Williams, J.
M. (2013). Elementary and Middle School Mathematics: Teaching
Developmentally (8th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc.
Englehart, J. M. (2013). Five Approaches to Avoid
When Managing the Middle School Classroom. The Clearing House, 103-108.
Hamilton, S. (2015, November 16). Creating and
Maintaining a Collaborative Classroom. Retrieved from http://www.carnegielearning.com/resources-support/events-webinars/webinars/creating-and-maintaining-a-collaborative-classroom
Learning Strategies. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.kucrl.org/sim/strategies.shtml
