Student who liked you as their teacher:
Hey Mr. Hu,
How have you been? Are you still teaching or have you become so popular that you have retired already?
I just wanted to update you on how I have been as of late.
I was able to get a stable job that I enjoyed shortly after graduating from university. I remember you telling everyone that the most important thing when looking for a job, is not the job itself, but it should become your career which you enjoyed because no one likes the feeling of being tortured or simply bored. That's why if students ever needed help, you were often available to talk things over and help them. I remember sometimes that there would be too many students needing help about either math or personal issues that you ended up having people to set up appointments in order to talk about their issues on some days.
I wanted to thank you for all your support and suggestions with the problems I had during highschool. You were the only teacher that was able to give me honest, thoughtful and justified alternatives to the choices I had during that time. I know that you tried your best to help all your students to try and achieve their own dreams and to become the best they can be, with the afterschool tutorials sessions and requested math workshop topics with other math teachers too. I am glad that you were able to convince me that these additional math help available for all students afterschool was beneficial for students like me who had trouble with math concepts.
Thanks for making my highschool math classes entertaining and helping me with issues I had to deal with in my life, you really helped me get back on track on becoming something better that was only a dream at the time.
Take care and hope to see you soon!
Student who did not like you as their teacher:
Hi Mr. Hu
Just wanted to tell you that even though you were not my most favorite teacher, you were still one the teachers that stuck in my mind when thinking of my past teachers. I know that you tried to help me to get my study habits on track and told me to go to those afterschool math help sessions, but school in general just wasn't for me. I preferred to hang out with friends and just wanted to have fun. I had no interest in academics and my parents didn't encourage me to do well in school either.
Similar to my parents, as long as I had some sort of paying job, then the money I got made me happy. However, since I graduated from college, I noticed that it is harder to find jobs that I enjoy doing and it is really frustrating. I decided to go back to school, to get another degree in culinary arts, which is my other passion.
I would like to thank you for encouraging me to try harder in school and told me that if I needed any help that I could talk to you. I know now that your suggestions were just trying to help me make better decisions in life!
Anyways, I should get back to studying and stop procrastinating!
Cheers!
As a teacher, I discovered that my students do find my suggestions to be useful and they do appreciate the effort I make in order to help them. I am glad to know that my students are able to trust me enough to talk to me about their personal issues when they have no one else to turn to. The only thing I worry about for my students is that they do not listen and just want to vent and end up doing something they will regret. Although I am a very good listener, maybe I should be more assertive in making sure that my opinions get across to them and that they will avoid making regretful decisions on their own.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Battleground Schools: Mathematics Education Response
This article mentions about the two polarized characteristics of mathematics – “progressive” and “conservative” or “traditionalist” views. The battles around mathematics education are based on three periods and movements:
1. The Progressivist movement – Dewey’s teaching techniques involved “programming the environment” to spark experimentation, inquiry and interpretation for learning students.
2. The New Math reform – took the democratic view that every student was a potential future rocket scientist
3. Math Wars, based on NCTM standards reforms – TIMSS supported the idea that a deeper conceptual understanding of mathematics was key to success in international rankings, but there is argument coming from both the traditionalist and progressivist side on which is more beneficial for studentss
Also, The article mentions the following complication factors for mathematical education:
1. negative public views of methematics
2. teachers who found success in a conservative system
3. teachers who are math-phobic
4. unqualified math teachers
Due to the combination of math phobia and with a lack of understanding of mathematical concepts, majority of elementary school teachers in North America teach their students the memorizing procedure and algorithms without being capable of making sense of why they worked.
The problem at the secondary school level, there is a shortage of specialist math teachers, thus lower secondary grades may be taught by non-mathematics specialist teachers.
My response:
This article was an interesting summary of the current history of the development of how and why mathematics is taught the way it is. The idea of the progressivists and the traditionalists brings us back to the issue of "Which is better, instrumental or relational mathematics?". I found it interesting that the main purpose of the "New Math" was to view and try to create more students to be potential future rocket scientists. Of course, in reality, this is not possible, but the change in teaching mathematics can benefit the mathematical education the students receive in order to expand their understanding. Although this article was referring to California, it is also applicable to many other places around the world as well.
1. The Progressivist movement – Dewey’s teaching techniques involved “programming the environment” to spark experimentation, inquiry and interpretation for learning students.
2. The New Math reform – took the democratic view that every student was a potential future rocket scientist
3. Math Wars, based on NCTM standards reforms – TIMSS supported the idea that a deeper conceptual understanding of mathematics was key to success in international rankings, but there is argument coming from both the traditionalist and progressivist side on which is more beneficial for studentss
Also, The article mentions the following complication factors for mathematical education:
1. negative public views of methematics
2. teachers who found success in a conservative system
3. teachers who are math-phobic
4. unqualified math teachers
Due to the combination of math phobia and with a lack of understanding of mathematical concepts, majority of elementary school teachers in North America teach their students the memorizing procedure and algorithms without being capable of making sense of why they worked.
The problem at the secondary school level, there is a shortage of specialist math teachers, thus lower secondary grades may be taught by non-mathematics specialist teachers.
My response:
This article was an interesting summary of the current history of the development of how and why mathematics is taught the way it is. The idea of the progressivists and the traditionalists brings us back to the issue of "Which is better, instrumental or relational mathematics?". I found it interesting that the main purpose of the "New Math" was to view and try to create more students to be potential future rocket scientists. Of course, in reality, this is not possible, but the change in teaching mathematics can benefit the mathematical education the students receive in order to expand their understanding. Although this article was referring to California, it is also applicable to many other places around the world as well.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Five Burning Questions
Teacher Questions:
1. How have you motivated students who are not naturally excited about math?
2. Do you make use of different technologies in your class to encourage different learning styles, if so what are they and how do you implement them?
3. How do you feel about the current math curriculum, what is good what isn’t? Do you feel that there is a growing disconnect between math 12 and what is expected/necessary for first year university math?
4. From the time that you started teaching in a high school until now, have you ever been bored? If so, how did you deal with the issue of boredom?
5. When do you plan to retire? Do you plan do go into administration?
Teacher Responses:
I had the opportunity to ask two teachers these few questions; they will be referred to as teacher A and teacher B. Teacher A has been teaching high school math for about 10 years now and has taught mostly in international schools in Asia, namely Macau, China and Korea. She graduated from Australia. On the other hand, teacher B has taught in Canada for a total of 9 years, 2 years in Ontario and 7 years in British Columbia. He is teaching in a large public school in the Vancouver region. He graduated from Ontario.
Response to question 1:
Both of the teachers expressed that they try to give students questions that they can handle, in order for them to feel successful and to gain some confidence, this is where they would gain their interest in math. For example, “working with these students one on one and making sure they know how pleased I am when they do well on tests, quizzes or assignments.” was teacher B’s response.
Response to question 2:
Both teachers use computers and certain softwares to teach their lessons. Teacher A works in a school where all students have a computer and are networked with the teacher’s computer, so she can do things live on her computer in order to teach her students, this is very engaging for students living in a age where they are always around technology. Teacher B does not have the same luxuries as teacher A, nonetheless he also uses a computer and a projector for his class.
Response to question 3:
Teacher A said that AP calculus is the goal for most students at her school, and she feels that it prepares them quite well. She finds no issues of the curriculum that she is teaching right now. Teacher B on the other hand hasn’t found any concerns so far in the new grade 10 curriculum, since it is the beginning of the year. However, he did mention that there is less material to teach so there is more room to explore with new activities that he has thought of so far to help with the students learning. He also mentioned, “I think students learn differently than before internet became available and technology became so advanced. Now, students are accustomed to retrieving information instantaneously and networking in larger groups. There almost seems like an impatience to learn when the Socratic method of teaching is used.” I found this to be the most useful knowledge to know about how students like to learn these days.
Response to question 4:
Teacher A said that she has felt boredom but it was because she was teaching the same things in the same way due to not having much access to resources. However, in order to get over her boredom she started doing more research online for new ways to use technology and read up on tweets about all these things other teachers were doing in other schools to improve her teaching style. Teacher B on the other hand, mentioned that he has never been bored since he has been always creating new lesson plans each year he teaches.
Response to question 5:
Both teachers expressed that they are not interested in administration; however that might change in due time.
Student Questions:
1. Do you think mathematics is useful in life? Why/why not?
2. Why do you think students dislike or like math?
3. When learning math, does it help to see real life applicable examples and applications or is it enough to know that something works and to see an example of it whether or not it has an obvious application?
4. What would you change about the way mathematics is being taught if any?
5. Would doing group research projects be helpful and is it something that would make your math class more enjoyable for you?
Student Responses:
Student who enjoys mathematics (Based on responses given):
Math gives us a basic knowledge to be able do everyday things, such as handling a budget and ones finances and is an important skill to know how to apply math and to show some understanding of simple math in many careers.
For many students math seems to be a rather daunting task, this can be attributed to the “wordiness” of many math problems which makes simply understanding the problem an issue, never mind actually solving it. Furthermore, it is one thing to see a teacher do an example on the board and have it look nice and easy but, for a student to do the math on their own is more difficult, especially when the question is not worded very clearly.
When trying to help students better understand mathematics it often helps to capture their interests by presenting real life examples and applications as opposed to just showing an example that works.
From the perspective of this student, some important qualities that a math teacher should possess are to be well organized, knowledgeable of the subject area and has clear goals for their teaching and learning objectives, and is available and willing to help students as often as possible.
Group projects can be seen as a good way boost marks but more importantly it gives students a chance to learn about math in different ways. A project is a nice change of pace from doing math problems day in and day out. This could be something good to do at the end of a unit, term, or the end of the year. However, it would be a good idea to keep in mind that, especially in the higher grades, most students already have a lot of other projects and larger assignments to do and that we should be aware of this and not overburden them with something that they really wouldn’t appreciate doing at the end of the year. If you are going to give a group project to students in either math 11 or math 12 it may be received better nearer the beginning of the year instead of nearer the end of the year.
Student who doesn’t enjoy mathematics
I was to interview the student who disliked mathematics. Based on his response to our 5 burning questions, it was obvious to note that this student does not favor mathematics. However, even though he disliked mathematics, he was able to admit that mathematics did have useful benefits in reality. An example that he gave was related to purchasing items to renovate a house. The student also mentioned that he was not interested in the applications of mathematics in reality; he would simply be content to know the steps to get to the right answers.
Like many other students who struggle with mathematics, the common issue among them is the need for more time to get their work done and constant practice to help them remember the steps more efficiently. It is true that mathematics is one of the hardest subjects to learn in high school, from this student’s perspective, he seemed to prefer instrumental mathematics over relational mathematics due to the fact that mathematics is not really an interest of his.
Since mathematics is not interesting to this student, he would want to get his work done and over with as soon as possible. Thus he preferred learning and working on mathematics in a private tutoring environment, where it is only him and either a teacher or tutor to teach him the mechanics of solving the math questions.
When I asked him what he thought about the concept of group projects, he replied by saying that he would not be able to concentrate on both talking with group mates and working on mathematics. He preferred sticking to the curriculum and keeping it simple, so that he can finish his mathematics education quickly.
Group: (Niyaz, Howard, Matt)
1. How have you motivated students who are not naturally excited about math?
2. Do you make use of different technologies in your class to encourage different learning styles, if so what are they and how do you implement them?
3. How do you feel about the current math curriculum, what is good what isn’t? Do you feel that there is a growing disconnect between math 12 and what is expected/necessary for first year university math?
4. From the time that you started teaching in a high school until now, have you ever been bored? If so, how did you deal with the issue of boredom?
5. When do you plan to retire? Do you plan do go into administration?
Teacher Responses:
I had the opportunity to ask two teachers these few questions; they will be referred to as teacher A and teacher B. Teacher A has been teaching high school math for about 10 years now and has taught mostly in international schools in Asia, namely Macau, China and Korea. She graduated from Australia. On the other hand, teacher B has taught in Canada for a total of 9 years, 2 years in Ontario and 7 years in British Columbia. He is teaching in a large public school in the Vancouver region. He graduated from Ontario.
Response to question 1:
Both of the teachers expressed that they try to give students questions that they can handle, in order for them to feel successful and to gain some confidence, this is where they would gain their interest in math. For example, “working with these students one on one and making sure they know how pleased I am when they do well on tests, quizzes or assignments.” was teacher B’s response.
Response to question 2:
Both teachers use computers and certain softwares to teach their lessons. Teacher A works in a school where all students have a computer and are networked with the teacher’s computer, so she can do things live on her computer in order to teach her students, this is very engaging for students living in a age where they are always around technology. Teacher B does not have the same luxuries as teacher A, nonetheless he also uses a computer and a projector for his class.
Response to question 3:
Teacher A said that AP calculus is the goal for most students at her school, and she feels that it prepares them quite well. She finds no issues of the curriculum that she is teaching right now. Teacher B on the other hand hasn’t found any concerns so far in the new grade 10 curriculum, since it is the beginning of the year. However, he did mention that there is less material to teach so there is more room to explore with new activities that he has thought of so far to help with the students learning. He also mentioned, “I think students learn differently than before internet became available and technology became so advanced. Now, students are accustomed to retrieving information instantaneously and networking in larger groups. There almost seems like an impatience to learn when the Socratic method of teaching is used.” I found this to be the most useful knowledge to know about how students like to learn these days.
Response to question 4:
Teacher A said that she has felt boredom but it was because she was teaching the same things in the same way due to not having much access to resources. However, in order to get over her boredom she started doing more research online for new ways to use technology and read up on tweets about all these things other teachers were doing in other schools to improve her teaching style. Teacher B on the other hand, mentioned that he has never been bored since he has been always creating new lesson plans each year he teaches.
Response to question 5:
Both teachers expressed that they are not interested in administration; however that might change in due time.
Student Questions:
1. Do you think mathematics is useful in life? Why/why not?
2. Why do you think students dislike or like math?
3. When learning math, does it help to see real life applicable examples and applications or is it enough to know that something works and to see an example of it whether or not it has an obvious application?
4. What would you change about the way mathematics is being taught if any?
5. Would doing group research projects be helpful and is it something that would make your math class more enjoyable for you?
Student Responses:
Student who enjoys mathematics (Based on responses given):
Math gives us a basic knowledge to be able do everyday things, such as handling a budget and ones finances and is an important skill to know how to apply math and to show some understanding of simple math in many careers.
For many students math seems to be a rather daunting task, this can be attributed to the “wordiness” of many math problems which makes simply understanding the problem an issue, never mind actually solving it. Furthermore, it is one thing to see a teacher do an example on the board and have it look nice and easy but, for a student to do the math on their own is more difficult, especially when the question is not worded very clearly.
When trying to help students better understand mathematics it often helps to capture their interests by presenting real life examples and applications as opposed to just showing an example that works.
From the perspective of this student, some important qualities that a math teacher should possess are to be well organized, knowledgeable of the subject area and has clear goals for their teaching and learning objectives, and is available and willing to help students as often as possible.
Group projects can be seen as a good way boost marks but more importantly it gives students a chance to learn about math in different ways. A project is a nice change of pace from doing math problems day in and day out. This could be something good to do at the end of a unit, term, or the end of the year. However, it would be a good idea to keep in mind that, especially in the higher grades, most students already have a lot of other projects and larger assignments to do and that we should be aware of this and not overburden them with something that they really wouldn’t appreciate doing at the end of the year. If you are going to give a group project to students in either math 11 or math 12 it may be received better nearer the beginning of the year instead of nearer the end of the year.
Student who doesn’t enjoy mathematics
I was to interview the student who disliked mathematics. Based on his response to our 5 burning questions, it was obvious to note that this student does not favor mathematics. However, even though he disliked mathematics, he was able to admit that mathematics did have useful benefits in reality. An example that he gave was related to purchasing items to renovate a house. The student also mentioned that he was not interested in the applications of mathematics in reality; he would simply be content to know the steps to get to the right answers.
Like many other students who struggle with mathematics, the common issue among them is the need for more time to get their work done and constant practice to help them remember the steps more efficiently. It is true that mathematics is one of the hardest subjects to learn in high school, from this student’s perspective, he seemed to prefer instrumental mathematics over relational mathematics due to the fact that mathematics is not really an interest of his.
Since mathematics is not interesting to this student, he would want to get his work done and over with as soon as possible. Thus he preferred learning and working on mathematics in a private tutoring environment, where it is only him and either a teacher or tutor to teach him the mechanics of solving the math questions.
When I asked him what he thought about the concept of group projects, he replied by saying that he would not be able to concentrate on both talking with group mates and working on mathematics. He preferred sticking to the curriculum and keeping it simple, so that he can finish his mathematics education quickly.
Group: (Niyaz, Howard, Matt)
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Micro-Teaching Reflection
I found this micro-teaching concept to be very entertaining. It was enjoyable to learn and teach each other about something they each enjoyed or was passionate about. My lesson was about the basics of badminton and to teach everyone a simple trick of picking up a birdie/shuttlecock with their rackets. Everyone thought that my lesson was very informative, the information was very clear and concise. They were all happy to see that I was able to provide each and everyone one of them the supplies needed to learn the trick as well. The one issue that everyone mentioned was my time management skills, that I should have had more time for them to participate in trying out the trick or to learn more tricks if possible.
Since badminton is my passion next to teaching, I tend to get carried away with the amount of information that I know about the subject. Thus, causing me to lose track of time at times and to speed up certain parts of my presentation. I will be more aware of time for future reference to when I'm teaching a subject, or try to summarize certain parts in shorter ways. I could see that my group mates (students) were interested in what I was talking about and they even asked me questions (which led to more of my informational overload to answer those questions). The next time I teach, I may tell my students to keep their questions to the end, unless they don't understand what I'm currently talking about. Otherwise, if they seek for extra information, they can ask me after my presentation.
Since badminton is my passion next to teaching, I tend to get carried away with the amount of information that I know about the subject. Thus, causing me to lose track of time at times and to speed up certain parts of my presentation. I will be more aware of time for future reference to when I'm teaching a subject, or try to summarize certain parts in shorter ways. I could see that my group mates (students) were interested in what I was talking about and they even asked me questions (which led to more of my informational overload to answer those questions). The next time I teach, I may tell my students to keep their questions to the end, unless they don't understand what I'm currently talking about. Otherwise, if they seek for extra information, they can ask me after my presentation.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Lesson Plan: Basics of badminton equipment to make you look and sound like a professional!
What? | How long? | Materials? | |
Bridges | Have all of you played badminton before? Can anyone summarize what you need in order to play? | 0.5 minute | |
Learning Objectives | Students will learn the difference between feather and plastic shuttlecocks/birdies. How to pick up a birdie with their racket and differentiating real and fake badminton rackets. | ||
Teaching Objectives | To engage and maintain group interest. To enlighten students about badminton. | ||
Pretest | “Does anyone know the difference in the aerodynamics between the 2 kinds of birdies? If yes, explain”. “Does anyone know how to tell the difference between a real and fake racket? If yes, explain.” | 1.5 minutes | |
Participating Learning | Visual and physical observations of the 2 kinds of birdies and rackets. Practice picking up birdies with racket. | 5 minutes | Plastic & feather birdies. Real and fake rackets. |
Post-test | Ask the students to pick up birdies with their racket. Explain the difference between the 2 types of birdies and details for an authentic racket. | 2 minutes | |
Summary and Wrap-up | Now you can look like a professional on the court (at times) and be able to decipher authenticity of rackets. | 1 minute |
Monday, September 20, 2010
Video Response Post
Dave Hewitt's approach to teaching his students was a new method that I haven't seen before. I think that it was quite interesting to see this method working, however I think you would need an active class for this method to work efficiently. This method also has to assume that all students haven't learned the concept being taught yet in order to not bore certain students. So I think, I would only use this method in my teachings from time to time to change things up, or to emphasize certain concepts that I want to embed into their minds, so that they can keep up with the rest of the lesson.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Five burning questions for teachers and students of math
1. How have you motivated students who are not naturally excited about math?
2. Do you make use of different technologies in your class to encourage different learning styles, if so what are they and how do you implement them?
3. How do you feel about the current math curriculum, what is good what isn’t? Do you feel that there is a growing disconnect between math 12 and what is expected/necessary for first year university math?
4. From the time that you started teaching in a high school until now, have you ever been bored? If so, how did you deal with the issue of boredom?
5. When do you plan to retire? Do you plan do go into administration?
Student
1. Do you think mathematics is useful in life? why/why not?
2. Why do you think students dislike or like math?
3. When learning math does it help to see real life applicable examples and applications or is it enough to know that something works and to see an example of it whether or not it has an obvious application?
4. What would you change about the way mathematics is being taught if any?
5. Would doing group research projects be helpful and is it something that would make your math class more enjoyable for you?
Here are our group's five questions.
Group: Mathew, Niyaz, and myself.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Remembering Math Teachers
There are two very memorable math teachers from my highschool years that influenced me to become a math teacher.
The first math teacher was the one who I was able to talk with to understand the job and life of becoming a math teacher. I was able to connect with this teacher because he was also our school's badminton team coach while I was the badminton team captain. We talked a lot about tactics and ideas we could use and execute to help the team become better. Eventually, when we exhausted all ideas for the badminton team, we would usually talk about math and about his life as a teacher. I was in his class and was tutoring others at the time, so I would constantly go visit him after school to get more information to use in tutoring others and just chatting about math concepts in general. This teacher supported my idea of wanting to become a teacher and was able to tell me the hardships and benefits to expect, so he was able to prepare me for what was to be expected in the future of my career.
The other math teacher I had was actually my grade 10 honors teacher. He was the head of the math department at the time, so everyone expected him to have a great amount of knowledge for math. I remember we had a test for factoring polynomials, the only way he knew how to factor was using long division, while I knew how to use synthetic division (which was easier and faster for me). I got the test back with a lot of marks being deducted due to him accusing me of using a method he didn't understand or know of (my answers were correct). I directly went to the math teacher I talked constantly with to ask for support to my marks back from the head math teacher. The result was better than I expected, majority of the math faculty came into my class when class ended to view my synthetic division and some were able to confirm that my method was correct by recognizing the method, which obviously made the head math teacher blush and cave into apologizing to me and giving me my marks. I don't know if that incident made that head teacher have a reason to hate me, but a few weeks later, we had a homework quiz, where I wrote an answer like 192, but the page had a black dot on it, which ended up showing my answer as 19.2. I got the quiz back and again I lost marks, I checked my homework solution and brought it up to the head math teacher and he said that my solution contained a decimal, but I argued it was a dot on the page, not my writing. He was persistent in thinking he was right, he took an eraser and started erasing at the dot, he erased either too hard and multiple times that the paper ripped on the spot, thus again showing that I was right. Hence I got my marks back again. This teacher made me realize that regardless of your position, there are always methods and ideas you don't know about, so as a teacher you should be more open minded and giving students chances to justify why they should be right.
I am grateful to have both these math teachers in my highschool year, because it helped me in determining the kind of teacher I would like to become and portray to my students later on, to give them the best educational experience possible. Hopefully, I can inspire my students to become better and more open minded in life decisions, in order to succeed to their optimal potential in society.
The first math teacher was the one who I was able to talk with to understand the job and life of becoming a math teacher. I was able to connect with this teacher because he was also our school's badminton team coach while I was the badminton team captain. We talked a lot about tactics and ideas we could use and execute to help the team become better. Eventually, when we exhausted all ideas for the badminton team, we would usually talk about math and about his life as a teacher. I was in his class and was tutoring others at the time, so I would constantly go visit him after school to get more information to use in tutoring others and just chatting about math concepts in general. This teacher supported my idea of wanting to become a teacher and was able to tell me the hardships and benefits to expect, so he was able to prepare me for what was to be expected in the future of my career.
The other math teacher I had was actually my grade 10 honors teacher. He was the head of the math department at the time, so everyone expected him to have a great amount of knowledge for math. I remember we had a test for factoring polynomials, the only way he knew how to factor was using long division, while I knew how to use synthetic division (which was easier and faster for me). I got the test back with a lot of marks being deducted due to him accusing me of using a method he didn't understand or know of (my answers were correct). I directly went to the math teacher I talked constantly with to ask for support to my marks back from the head math teacher. The result was better than I expected, majority of the math faculty came into my class when class ended to view my synthetic division and some were able to confirm that my method was correct by recognizing the method, which obviously made the head math teacher blush and cave into apologizing to me and giving me my marks. I don't know if that incident made that head teacher have a reason to hate me, but a few weeks later, we had a homework quiz, where I wrote an answer like 192, but the page had a black dot on it, which ended up showing my answer as 19.2. I got the quiz back and again I lost marks, I checked my homework solution and brought it up to the head math teacher and he said that my solution contained a decimal, but I argued it was a dot on the page, not my writing. He was persistent in thinking he was right, he took an eraser and started erasing at the dot, he erased either too hard and multiple times that the paper ripped on the spot, thus again showing that I was right. Hence I got my marks back again. This teacher made me realize that regardless of your position, there are always methods and ideas you don't know about, so as a teacher you should be more open minded and giving students chances to justify why they should be right.
I am grateful to have both these math teachers in my highschool year, because it helped me in determining the kind of teacher I would like to become and portray to my students later on, to give them the best educational experience possible. Hopefully, I can inspire my students to become better and more open minded in life decisions, in order to succeed to their optimal potential in society.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Skemp article response:
Skemp Response
This article reminded me of the students that I assisted with at Kumon tutoring centre. I was hired to assist in high level math, roughly from grade 8 to university first year. Kumon reinforces the Socratic method of teaching mathematics and assistants should only help with a ‘hands on’ approach if the student has not been able to answer the question correctly within roughly three attempts. Thus, each student was quite independent when it came to self practice and understanding. My method of assisting the students was to try and make them understand the relation of the concepts with the previous curriculum that they have learned, that way in the future; recalling this topic and how to solve it would be faster for themselves. Of course, some students would understand and apply what I suggested to them really quickly, but they would also forget it by the next day. Hence, retention of important relational mathematics was lost just as quickly as they understood it.
I do agree with this article that relational mathematics is probably more beneficial for students who are learning mathematics. However, there is always the issue of being too time consuming for everyone to understand. I wonder if someone will eventually publish a high school mathematics textbook that is both efficient and fun, but emphasizes on the concepts explaining the formulas and calculations.
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