Teachers are responsible for teaching an increasingly diverse group of young learners. Each learner progresses at varying rates within a subject, and can vary at uneven rates across different subject areas as well. Children vary in temperament, personalities, attitudes, strengths, needs, culture, language, gender, support systems, confidence, and interests. Teachers have a responsibility to ensure that all of the students in their classroom progress in their learning of the content. In order for teachers to be able to reach all learners they need to differentiate instruction. Differentiating can seem daunting to a lot of teachers including experienced teachers. Guided Math: A Framework for Mathematics Instruction written by Laney Sammons …show more content…
The classroom is often times covered with word walls, writing centers, poetry charts, reading corners, students' writings, and posters. Why not do the same for mathematics?! A numeracy-rich classroom promotes mathematical learning. Students need to see how mathematics relates to them in their everyday lives and not just in textbooks. One way to relate mathematics to their everyday lives is with student calendars or agendas. As students grow the complexity of the tasks increases. When students are young they learn basic calendar concepts, and as they get older the calendars become tools where they learn organizational skills. In classrooms where mathematics is taught there should be an ample variety of math manipulatives available for students to utilize. Some teachers may choose to create Math Word Walls. A focus on vocabulary is essential in a mathematics program. Laney Sammons also includes many other examples of how to create a classroom environment of numeracy, including Math Journals, graphic organizers, class-generated mathematic charts, and math related children's …show more content…
Usually the activities that are done during this time are focused on math. This morning routine is valuable as it gives students a time to shift gears and preparing them mentally for learning. Sammons also suggests Math Stretches to begin the day. One example of a Math Stretch is formulating a question that can be answered quickly by students thus providing opportunities for data collection and analysis. Students love to contribute to data collection and discussing meanings of the data. Later as students become familiar with the process and students can record their analysis in a Math Journal rather than a think-aloud. Another Math Stretch that is mentioned in Guided Math is Number of the Day. This activity promotes number sense and can be adjusted to meet the needs of students with different learning levels. These are just a few examples of common Math Stretches mentioned in this book. The author Laney Sammons includes other activities such as "What Next?" Math Stretch which builds on recognizing number patterns. The teacher creates a number pattern on the chart paper, as students arrive in the morning they study the pattern to decide what comes next. "How Did My Family Use Math Last Night?" and "Makes Me Think Of…" are both Math Stretches that require students to discuss their mathematical thinking with their peers. The value of all
Van de Walle, J., , F., Karp, K. S., & Bay-Williams, J. M. (2010). Elementary and middle school mathematics, teaching developmentally. (Seventh ed.). New York, NY: Allyn & Bacon.
“Class,” I announced, “today I will teach you a simpler method to find the greatest common factor and the least common multiple of a set of numbers.” In fifth grade, my teacher asked if anyone had any other methods to find the greatest common factor of two numbers. I volunteered, and soon the entire class, and teacher, was using my method to solve problems. Teaching my class as a fifth grader inspired me to teach others how important math and science is. These days, I enjoy helping my friends with their math homework, knowing that I am helping them understand the concept and improve their grades.
Mathematics has become a very large part of society today. From the moment children learn the basic principles of math to the day those children become working members of society, everyone has used mathematics at one point in their life. The crucial time for learning mathematics is during the childhood years when the concepts and principles of mathematics can be processed more easily. However, this time in life is also when the point in a person’s life where information has to be broken down to the very basics, as children don’t have an advanced capacity to understand as adults do. Mathematics, an essential subject, must be taught in such a way that children can understand and remember.
(1) Reflect on what you think might be some of the characteristics of the differentiated classroom based on your reading thus far. Tomlinson lists eight principles that guide differentiated instruction (Chapter 2: 1999). To what extent is each of these principles reflected in your classroom? Look at the brief profiles of Lin, Rafael, Serena, Trevor, Lesley, Danny, and Theo (Chapter 2; 2001). Who do they remind you of in your school or classroom?
Ojoje mentions, “The importance of hands-on activities cannot be overemphasized at this stage. These activities provide students an avenue to make abstract ideas concrete, allowing them to get their hands on mathematical ideas and concepts as useful tools for solving problems” (Ojoje,
“Class,” I announced, “today I will teach you a simpler method to find the greatest common factor and the least common multiple of a set of numbers.” In fifth grade, my teacher asked if anyone had any other methods to find the greatest common factor of two numbers. I volunteered, and soon the entire class, and teacher, was using my method to solve problems. Teaching my class as a fifth grader inspired me to teach others how important math and science is. These days, I enjoy helping my friends with their math homework, knowing that I am helping them understand the concept and improve their grades.
But as children get older and progress in school, they gain a better understanding of the language and mathematical processes. As the years in school increase, they need to learn more and more specifics and details about various subjects. They start out by learning basic math concepts such as addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication.
When teachers differentiate their lesson, the students are more engaged to learn. Students have some choice in their learning activities, which motivates students to want to learn and also puts more learning responsibility on the students. Some students may prefer to work alone or in groups and some students like to be hands-on. By differentiating the lesson, all students’ needs are being met. “Differentiated Instruction gives students a range of ways to access curriculum, instruction and assessment. DI engages students to interact and participate in the classroom in a richer way. It is based on the assumption that all students differ in their learning styles, strengths, needs and abilities and that classroom activities should be adapted to meet these differences
To investigate the notion of numeracy, I approach seven people to give their view of numeracy and how it relates to mathematics. The following is a discussion of two responses I receive from this short survey. I shall briefly discuss their views of numeracy and how it relates to mathematics in the light of the Australian Curriculum as well as the 21st Century Numeracy Model (Goos 2007). Note: see appendix 1 for their responses.
Ward (2005) explores writing and reading as the major literary mediums for learning mathematics, in order for students to be well equipped for things they may see in the real world. The most recent trends in education have teachers and curriculum writers stressed about finding new ways to tie in current events and real-world situations to the subjects being taught in the classroom. Wohlhuter & Quintero (2003) discuss how simply “listening” to mathematics in the classroom has no effect on success in student academics. It’s important to implement mathematical literacy at a very young age. A case study in the article by authors Wohlhuter & Quintero explores a program where mathematics and literacy were implemented together for children all the way through eight years of age. Preservice teachers entered a one week program where lessons were taught to them as if they were teaching the age group it was directed towards. When asked for a definition of mathematics, preservice teachers gave answers such as: something related to numbers, calculations, and estimations. However, no one emphasized how math is in fact extremely dependable on problem-solving, explanations, and logic. All these things have literacy already incorporated into them. According to Wohlhuter and Quintero (2003), the major takeaways from this program, when tested, were that “sorting blocks, dividing a candy bar equally, drawing pictures, or reading cereal boxes, young children are experienced mathematicians, readers, and writers when they enter kindergarten.” These skills are in fact what they need to succeed in the real-world. These strategies have shown to lead to higher success rates for students even after they graduate
Skemp, R (2002). Mathematics in the Primary School. 2nd ed. London: Taylor and Francis .
The early acquisition of mathematical concepts in children is essential for their overall cognitive development. It is imperative that educators focus on theoretical views to guide and plan the development of mathematical concepts in the early years. Early math concepts involve learning skills such as matching, ordering, sorting, classifying, sequencing and patterning. The early environment offers the foundation for children to develop an interest in numbers and their concepts. Children develop and construct their own meaning of numbers through active learning rather than teacher directed instruction.
As a secondary subject, society often views mathematics a critical subject for students to learn in order to be successful. Often times, mathematics serves as a gatekeeper for higher learning and certain specific careers. Since the times of Plato, “mathematics was virtually the first thing everyone has to learn…common to all arts, science, and forms of thought” (Stinson, 2004). Plato argued that all students should learn arithmetic; the advanced mathematics was reserved for those that would serve as the “philosopher guardians” of the city (Stinson, 2004). By the 1900s in the United States, mathematics found itself as a cornerstone of curriculum for students. National reports throughout the 20th Century solidified the importance of mathematics in the success of our nation and its students (Stinson, 2004). As a mathematics teacher, my role to educate all students in mathematics is an important one. My personal philosophy of mathematics education – including the optimal learning environment and best practices teaching strategies – motivates my teaching strategies in my personal classroom.
Math manipulatives are an essential tool to teaching mathematics. The two main purposes of using math manipulatives is to help students’ form concrete understanding of abstract concepts and meeting the needs of students who learn better by using a variety of different learning styles. It is important to note that math manipulatives can be used when introducing, practicing, or reteaching concepts.
A somewhat underused strategy for teaching mathematics is that of guided discovery. With this strategy, the student arrives at an understanding of a new mathematical concept on his or her own. An activity is given in which "students sequentially uncover layers of mathematical information one step at a time and learn new mathematics" (Gerver & Sgroi, 2003). This way, instead of simply being told the procedure for solving a problem, the student can develop the steps mainly on his own with only a little guidance from the teacher.