Hello all…I am on cloud nine this week because I officially have applied for student teaching this fall. It’s been a slow and steady race. I feel like I am the tortoise in the story of the tortoise and the hare…so many have surpassed me and have already graduated. But, it’s just right around the corner now. Yay! I can’t believe how close the finish line is for me. We all are going to be teachers soon! J
Last semester I had a fabulous teacher name Kami Dupree. During one broadcast class, we were asked to print a sheet of paper with different sized and dimensions of rectangles. We were asked to group them in whatever way we saw fit. Then we were asked to explain our reasoning for why we grouped them that way. Eventually, through class discussion we formulated a definition for the math term of similar without knowing that this was what she was trying to teach us. We gave our ideas, she wrote them on the board, and eventually came up with the definition. I loved how she did this. Not only did the lesson catch my interest and kept my attention, but it helped me to understand and know the term of similarity at a deeper level.
I definitely agree from the reading of Harmon, Wood, and Hedrick that mathematics text can often have different meanings in math than in everyday life. It’s important to teach our students the meaning in mathematics since they most likely won’t hear these words with the appropriate meaning (for math) outside of school. Our students will be able to learn a concept so much more when they understand the words and what they mean for math. As we help them to understand the wording, our students will build upon knowledge from the past and gain a much deeper understanding. I find it interesting that they mention that content area instruction in word-learning strategies is especially important for those students falling behind. I guess if you think about it though…if you didn’t understand or know a language well, it would be very difficult to understand and you would fall behind. I would replicate my previous teacher practice for sure…she did an amazing job. I will also add in more of the techniques that we have learned this week. I can see how extremely important teaching text really is. I never realized this until now.
Friday, January 30, 2015
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Comprehension Instruction in Math
When my teacher in High School was teaching me about geometric sequences, I remember him first giving a brief reminder of what arithmetic sequences were…which we had learned before this time. My teacher gave us an arithmetic sequence problem on the board (something to do with simple interest) and asked us to find the first 5 terms and the recursive formula for the problem. He gave us time to work through it while he walked around the room answering individual questions and observing how well were remembering and if we were comfortable with this previously learned knowledge.
Next he brought us back into the classroom discussion and went over the problem on the board. He then gave a 5 minute (or so) lesson on geometric sequences basing this on the same problem that we had just done for arithmetic. He showed us how these two were connected and how we could go from the arithmetic sequence to the geometric sequence for this problem.
This particular teacher would often ask us to take a moment to think about what he had said, so that our minds had time to process, understand, and/or question. He would ask us to write questions down as he lectured…otherwise we would forget them. He often would use think aloud strategies with us. With this lesson I remember him talking about finding the value of r, the common ratio. For example, if a person had deposited $100 and this $100 would gain an annual interest of 6%, I remember him saying that he first thought to let r=.06 (since this is the decimal for 6%), so after the first year the person would have earned $6 in interest… But, then he mentioned that he wanted to know how much money would be in the account at each year, so he explained why we should let r=1.06 instead…this way we would know that there was $106 in the account after the first year. He was really great at explaining what he was thinking. He would often pose questions…for instance, he would say, “what should I do next” or “where did I go wrong”. He was great at letting us think instead of him just telling us the information.
Thinking back on this teacher I will use a lot of his strategies for comprehension instruction. I love that he would connect our prior knowledge to new topics that he was introducing (One of Buehl’s processes). I love the think aloud strategy, it made me feel like he had to work for the answer too and that he wasn’t just a math machine that knew all the answers. I will use his moments of silence to think about what was just taught. This teacher also drew a lot of pictures, diagrams, and tables (also a Buehl process) that I will use…to me it’s much easier to understand if you can visualize it. I like that he told us to write down questions throughout the lesson (Also in Buehl), I will do this as well. What I think I liked the most was that he didn’t just lecture; he asked lots of questions and helped us to lead the lesson through our own thinking instead of simply being told. It was okay to be wrong in his class…he always praised us for trying.
Just in case I sparked your "interest" into figuring out interest...here is a link to my very favorite math geek explaining simple and compound interest...he is my hero!
Next he brought us back into the classroom discussion and went over the problem on the board. He then gave a 5 minute (or so) lesson on geometric sequences basing this on the same problem that we had just done for arithmetic. He showed us how these two were connected and how we could go from the arithmetic sequence to the geometric sequence for this problem.
This particular teacher would often ask us to take a moment to think about what he had said, so that our minds had time to process, understand, and/or question. He would ask us to write questions down as he lectured…otherwise we would forget them. He often would use think aloud strategies with us. With this lesson I remember him talking about finding the value of r, the common ratio. For example, if a person had deposited $100 and this $100 would gain an annual interest of 6%, I remember him saying that he first thought to let r=.06 (since this is the decimal for 6%), so after the first year the person would have earned $6 in interest… But, then he mentioned that he wanted to know how much money would be in the account at each year, so he explained why we should let r=1.06 instead…this way we would know that there was $106 in the account after the first year. He was really great at explaining what he was thinking. He would often pose questions…for instance, he would say, “what should I do next” or “where did I go wrong”. He was great at letting us think instead of him just telling us the information.
Thinking back on this teacher I will use a lot of his strategies for comprehension instruction. I love that he would connect our prior knowledge to new topics that he was introducing (One of Buehl’s processes). I love the think aloud strategy, it made me feel like he had to work for the answer too and that he wasn’t just a math machine that knew all the answers. I will use his moments of silence to think about what was just taught. This teacher also drew a lot of pictures, diagrams, and tables (also a Buehl process) that I will use…to me it’s much easier to understand if you can visualize it. I like that he told us to write down questions throughout the lesson (Also in Buehl), I will do this as well. What I think I liked the most was that he didn’t just lecture; he asked lots of questions and helped us to lead the lesson through our own thinking instead of simply being told. It was okay to be wrong in his class…he always praised us for trying.
Just in case I sparked your "interest" into figuring out interest...here is a link to my very favorite math geek explaining simple and compound interest...he is my hero!
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Introduction
My name is Megan Dangerfield. I have been in school for what seems like an eternity...7 years. I started when I was pregnant with my littlest one and needed to sit sideways in the seat because of my pregnant belly. My super supportive husband has been amazing all this time. We feel like we have both been in school. He definitely deserves a diploma in the end after balancing family, school, work, and everything else with me...it hasn't been easy.
When I started school I had no clue what I was going to major in. I went in completely blind and tried to follow my heart. I loved math and kept taking math courses as electives, my friends thought I was crazy...my family knew that I was. After Calculus 1 it hit me and I realized how much I wanted to help others love and learn math. Ever since, my future has been known. After 7 years I now only have this semester and my student teaching left until I graduate with my Bachelors degree in Mathematics/Statistics Composite Education. I have chosen jobs along the way that have prepared me to become a math teacher. I was a math tutor at USU for three years, a substitute teacher for just over a year (mainly in high school math class), and now I am spending my days at the High School as a math tutor. I LOVE it! I love the students, I love the math, I love the entire atmosphere. I can't wait for my future to become reality for me...and it's just around the corner. :)
My family is my everything. I said before, my husband is amazing, he is my best friend and my greatest support. While I am at school, he is home helping with laundry, cleaning, homework, dinner, baths, blow drying hair, singing bedtime songs, reading stories, and so much more...and this is after a full days work. He is incredible...I am one lucky girl. We have four children and they are fabulous! Each one is completely different and I love them all for their differences. This year was an interesting year...my first baby started High School and my last baby started Kindergarten. My oldest is 15 and my tiny little one is now 5. Being a mother is the hardest thing I have ever done and also the most worth it. I keep very busy between late night baseball and softball games, football, dance, family movie nights, glow in the dark wiffle ball games in the street, shopping with my girls, dates with my best friend, and so much more. Life is good.
This picture was taken back in the Spring of 2012 when I earned my associates degree. I can't wait to see how different this picture looks when I earn my bachelors degree next year (my family is literally growing up during my schooling).
I looked up the exact definition for literacy. The definition means two things. First, literacy is the ability to read and write. Second, literacy is the competence and knowledge in a specific area. For math, both definitions are important. Math is not simply numbers, there is so much reading and writing. It is extremely important for students to understand mathematical terminology so that they can understand what they are learning and know how and when to use each concept. Also literacy in mathematics means the knowledge and successful ability to "do" math. Every math student should leave from math class with a greater literacy for math...this is my goal. I hope for all my future students that I can instill within them a desire to learn math, a greater confidence in themselves to try, and a more positive attitude about math in general. I hope to math learning math fun.
When I started school I had no clue what I was going to major in. I went in completely blind and tried to follow my heart. I loved math and kept taking math courses as electives, my friends thought I was crazy...my family knew that I was. After Calculus 1 it hit me and I realized how much I wanted to help others love and learn math. Ever since, my future has been known. After 7 years I now only have this semester and my student teaching left until I graduate with my Bachelors degree in Mathematics/Statistics Composite Education. I have chosen jobs along the way that have prepared me to become a math teacher. I was a math tutor at USU for three years, a substitute teacher for just over a year (mainly in high school math class), and now I am spending my days at the High School as a math tutor. I LOVE it! I love the students, I love the math, I love the entire atmosphere. I can't wait for my future to become reality for me...and it's just around the corner. :)
My family is my everything. I said before, my husband is amazing, he is my best friend and my greatest support. While I am at school, he is home helping with laundry, cleaning, homework, dinner, baths, blow drying hair, singing bedtime songs, reading stories, and so much more...and this is after a full days work. He is incredible...I am one lucky girl. We have four children and they are fabulous! Each one is completely different and I love them all for their differences. This year was an interesting year...my first baby started High School and my last baby started Kindergarten. My oldest is 15 and my tiny little one is now 5. Being a mother is the hardest thing I have ever done and also the most worth it. I keep very busy between late night baseball and softball games, football, dance, family movie nights, glow in the dark wiffle ball games in the street, shopping with my girls, dates with my best friend, and so much more. Life is good.
This picture was taken back in the Spring of 2012 when I earned my associates degree. I can't wait to see how different this picture looks when I earn my bachelors degree next year (my family is literally growing up during my schooling).
I looked up the exact definition for literacy. The definition means two things. First, literacy is the ability to read and write. Second, literacy is the competence and knowledge in a specific area. For math, both definitions are important. Math is not simply numbers, there is so much reading and writing. It is extremely important for students to understand mathematical terminology so that they can understand what they are learning and know how and when to use each concept. Also literacy in mathematics means the knowledge and successful ability to "do" math. Every math student should leave from math class with a greater literacy for math...this is my goal. I hope for all my future students that I can instill within them a desire to learn math, a greater confidence in themselves to try, and a more positive attitude about math in general. I hope to math learning math fun.
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