Four years of schooling cumulate into one point, graduation. Still, what does the fact that I’m graduating mean? I’m graduating with a degree in Mathematics Education so I can go on to teach students mathematics. I’ve spent the last four years learning the how to’s, and the deeper mathematics concepts so now, as I go […]
mathematics
Math in the Tweets?
So Wednesday came and went. I can’t exactly say that I nailed my final observation, but rather I may say that it was my worst out of all four! No matter, I still learned from it and I can now focus all my attention on what is to come. Graduation. Summer. Teaching. Life. Life, that’s funny […]
Publishing for the Instant world of Tech
I just found a blog by Lisa Nielsen called, The Innovative Educator, which is basically the goal for the type of blog I’d like to one day have. The post that caught my eye is called, Innovative Educators Don’t Say, “Hand It In.” They say, “Publish It. I considered how in the age where we Tweet, Post, […]
Observations and Dance
Dance is beautiful… therefore, maybe if we had a little mathematical dance to make function learning fun more people would see the beauty? I saw the a this image and had to laugh – I could imagine doing a review session with students and having everyone stand up and do the “Function Dance” […]
Compass Insanity
Have I mentioned I like geometry? Well in my current College Geometry Class (MATH 618) I’ve gotten a few smirks as I reach into my nifty pencil case and pull out my protractor – I like my circles to be like all my math, precise. Just today I saw this picture, and had a smirk of my […]
Feeling Rational
I was observed today. Observation 3/4… What does that mean? The semester is almost over and I’m almost ready to enter the world of professional working. Anyway, today in class we were introduced to Rational Functions. My observer recommended using the following activity as a subsequent practice problem so I thought it might be nice to see! Have some […]
Making Math Motivating
The key to a successful lesson is Motivation. The key to my improvement? Better motivation. Last week I commented on how Word Problems can be tricky, but I must highlight the fact that they can also be excellent motivators… but how do you motivate if there is no word problem to match the material? […]
Problems with Words in Word Problems
Something about adding that pesky English language into math class makes everything that more confusing. It’s day four of solving systems of equations, and suddenly students who were previously fine with solving a system, cannot see that the addition of words doesn’t change the math – in fact it gives nice application to it! 2 […]
The Trials of Teaching
I’m not sure if I’ve said this before but whoever has said “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach,” is either incredibly ignorant or … well not something nice. Honestly, I can’t imagine a profession that requires more time. I remember a plaque my mother used to have in the house that said, “A teacher’s work […]
Teaching the Individual
James Lee, in his letter to the editor on August 6 regarding the article, “Carrots and Sticks for School Systems,” said something that I liked: Excellent teaching requires well-honed judgments about individual students based on observation, information from a robust assessment program, and a great deal of knowledge and informed intuition about young people. To […]
