Weekly Report and Reflection Week #4

Hello again blogger friends, today I would like to continue our conversation on education and mathematics. I'm sure that everybody reading this post have studied some form of mathematics at one point or another in their lifetime. Due to this, I'm sure everyone has experienced first hand that different people learn mathematics differently. This is not an abnormality, and in my opinion is almost better than if everyone learned the same way. The important thing is that everyone is able to understand the concept and solve the problems given to them. Having different methods to solve a single problem opens opportunities for deeper understandings.

Applying this idea into an educational setting, we cannot force everybody to learn in the same manner. The problem isn't that different people learn in different ways, but how do we teach many people who learn in different ways? This method is called differentiated learning, and is not a new concept to education.

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 Differentiated learning is the philosophy of providing different students different methods of learning. Some examples of different and effective teaching strategies are:

-Specialization/Generalization
-Guess and Check
-Use of visual aids (Diagrams, charts, etc.)
-Use of manipulatives
-Instrumental vs. Relational learning
-Logical Reasoning
-Working Backwards

I myself experienced how to apply differential instruction within a recent class that I attended. I was given a math problem and told to explain and solve it in more than one way. The math problem itself was that I was given a rubix cube with undefined size. How many blocks of the cube had 1 face showing from the outside, 2 faces showing from the outside, etc. It proved to be more difficult to find more than one way of solving this problem than solving the problem itself. In the end, It turned out that many of the strategies listed above could be applied to this problem. One example is that you could use guess and check as well as visual aids to make a chart describing different sizes cubes and their corresponding number of blocks with 0,1,2, or 3 faces showing. Another method is using our knowledge of cubes (how many vertices, faces, sides) to deduct formulas describing the number of blocks with 0,1,2, or 3 faces given any sized cube.

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 Applying differentiated instruction to your own classroom may seem difficult, especially considering the fact that the teacher himself/herself has a preferred method of instruction. Luckily, you are not in this alone. There are an abundance of resources available for your use, all you have to do is access them. One example of these resources, and maybe the most important resource, is your peers. No matter what situation or difficulties that you are having in your classroom. There is always somebody who has faced this difficulty before you. There is a decent chance that you will not be the only math teacher at your school, and it is not a sign of weakness to ask others for help. Discussing lesson plans, teaching methods, and behavioral strategies with other teachers can be beneficial towards your own classroom. Another resource which is easily accessible is the internet. If you are unable to find the answer you are searching for from your peers, there are many forums, blogs, and websites which exist for the use of all teachers. One example of this is http://teachers.net/ . This website contains multiple resources which aid all educators such as lesson plans, job postings, chat rooms, and forums. You can post any issue which you may have on the forum and the community will come together to brainstorm a solution for you. There are many other sites similar to this which offer important resources for educators in need.

Weekly Report and Reflection Week #3

This week I had the opportunity to explore the use of technology within mathematics. In general, technology is becoming more widely used within the education system in a large variety of ways and subjects. More schools are investing in smart boards, which give teachers more options on teaching styles and methods. I have even seen schools implement students' cell phones into the class by having them text their answers to a certain number which reads and displays the results. The reason for this is that many educators have decided that it is easier to use cell phones to their advantage than to work so hard to keep them out of the classroom. The technology that I used this week in school was a graphing calculator as well as a device which measures the distance an object is away. By using these together I was able to plot on the calculator a graph which displays distance over time. We were given time in class to experiment with this technology and attempt to recreate preset graphs which were given to us. This use of technology was effective because it helped direct the class without strenuous effort from the teacher and kept us on task, as well as engaged.

In general, I think that technology is an amazing resource that all educators should consider. Using it correctly can create an engaging and fun classroom. This is particularly useful in mathematics, considering how often times it can be difficult to make a math classroom engaging. That being said, often times technology can have the opposite effect within a classroom. If not used correctly, students can take advantage of the manipulative you are using and get off topic. Some examples of this happening are students using their phones for games or texting instead of work, or using the graphing calculators to draw pictures. This is why its important for teachers to account for these possibilities and take appropriate precautions. This includes tactics like banning internet or specific websites from students access, or even checking regularly to make sure that students are on task and using their technology appropriately.

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As a future educator, I hope that I can accomplish this goal of implementing technology into my classroom. Just as well, I have to be prepared to run a classroom without the use of technology. Even though this resource can be very useful, technology can also be expensive. Due to this, many schools and educational settings cannot afford devices such as computers or smart boards. Since I do not know which school I will be working in or where it will be, I cannot always expect to have this resource available to me. Even without technology, there are other ways of engaging a classroom and teaching them the curriculum effectively. In the end, I must understand how to use technology and utilize it in a classroom, but be prepared to not have it at all.