January 23, 2011

Only five more days of class!  I can't believe how fast these  2 1/2 weeks have come and gone...I can now definitely understand how I am going to look back when I home and not even believe that I was here for so long!  Katie and I were talking about this yesterday a little bit-we feel like we're kind of in a dream, like this isn't real life.  But it IS!  We live in this amazing country, and we are already having wonderful experiences that I will never forget.


This week was Math Monday through Thursday.  I thought class would be more like 305 and 306 in Provo, but it was completely opposite.  Up until this point in my class experiences in Provo, I feel like we have learned not just what math material we will be teaching, but learning WHY it works.  So those classes were a ton of explaining and writing about math problems...not so fun.  But I can see how it was important for us to truly understand the math and not just the algorithms, because our students need to be able to explain what they are doing when solving math problems.  And I know that I was not taught math the way it should be taught...I learned the algorithms without the understanding behind them.  And because I learned that way, I truly believe that is why I suffered so much in Calculus!! But it's good, because now I know the RIGHT way to teach math!  Anyway, I know this is not exciting for anyone else but me, but I wanted to just review for myself what I learned from Helen.  There is so much information that we crammed in in just four days, so I wanted to sum up some of the things I want to remember.  


Helen gave us 300+ resources of games, activities, and tons of ideas for the classroom to help us teach math.  And during class, we learned about all the resources by doing them ourselves...there were times when I was like, ok shouldn't we be taking notes, or having quizzes, or something?? I guess I was just looking for the 'class' part.  BUT then I was thinking about it, and I am going to be a teaching children.  I will be teaching place value, addition and subtraction, basic multiplication...I'm teaching material that I already know and understand.  I should be learning about the most engaging, exciting ways to teach that material to my students.  And what better way to learn how to engage my students than to do the activities myself, right??  So I embraced the fact that I was rolling dice and adding to ten...and we just had fun with it!


This is kind of off the subject, but Dr. Jacobs taught us a few weeks ago how WE are in charge of our education.  I am so excited, but also so sad to see the end in sight of my college education...I will be teaching children, but I won't be taking classes on campus and taking tests, and doing homework...and as much as I talk about how much I don't like tests and homework...I am going to miss that so much!  But I am in charge of my own education.  And when I become a teacher, I will still be learning!  Every single day I believe I will learn something new from my students.  And as Dr. J said, we will have the second greatest job in the world--the first teaching Children's Literature...the class he teaches at BYU :)  Anyway, I am just so excited to be able to apply everything I learn into my own classroom and teach my own students!  


Things I learned this week:

• "One of the greatest fallacies in education is that all learning comes from what has been taught" -Dewey
• Key Competencies: Managing Self, Thinking, Participating and Contributing, Relating to Others, Using language, symbols, and texts
• Be a model and example to my students- *Walk the talk*
• Children need to learn to justify, clarify, and prove.  They need to be able to explain their thinking, or else they never will really have an understanding of the material.
• New Zealand framework...Helen gave us all these books filled with information about the stages of development children will be in...they are priceless.  
• Give the students time to think!!
• The Teaching Model (Book 3) Taking existing knowledge and strategies...using materials, then imaging, then number properties...which results in new knowledge and strategies! over and over...
• It is so important that I use correct math language...this was a realization we all had this week!  It surprised me how bad I was...like saying fourteen thirty-two instead of one thousand, four hundred thirty-two...we did a lot of modeling/teaching to each other, and Helen corrected us a few times and stressed the importance of modeling to students to correct ways!
• Modeling Books...teaching in centers, just like Guided Reading groups, but with math.
•  In the early stages, it is crucial to assume that students do not know anything!  Make sure that they have a full understanding before moving on!  Fill the gaps that are missing before moving on.
• Display my students work, not my own! *Student Voice*
• Importance of Rich Tasks:  Body Gardens, Tappa Designs *Picture down below* 
• Checklists- Teach the students to manage themselves.
• *Work smarter, not harder*