“Doing mathematics begins with posing worthwhile tasks and then creating an environment where students take risks and share and defend mathematical ideas” (Van De Walle, Karp, Bay- Williams,2013). A worthwhile task encourages students to think, collaborate, and discover. When teaching mathematics, teachers need to make sure that students can use their background knowledge to make new connections and learn from each other. “Mathematics is more than completing sets of exercises or mimicking the process the teacher explains” (Van De Walle, Karp, Bay- Williams, 2013). Memorization and repetition have an impact on learning math skills, but do not encourage problem solving. Problem solving most be part of every lesson of mathematics.
“Specifying the mathematical goals for the lesson is critical starting point for planning and teaching a lesson” (Smith & Stein, 2011). Measuring and estimations are mathematical concepts that we use daily. It is sad to see third graders that cannot read a clock or answer questions about time. These concepts are also covered on the Common Core and our state standards. My learning experience will be based on the content standard 3.MD.A.2, Tell and write time to the nearest minute and measure time intervals in minutes. Solve problems involving addition and subtraction of time intervals in minutes (Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010). After this lesson, students will be able to explain the elapsed time using intervals of minutes. Mastering this goal will help my students keep track of time. Students will use this skill for the rest of their lives. Also, it is a skill tested on the state test. In addition to the standards, the students will be able to review and incorporate some mathematical practic...
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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.
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Reys, R., Lindquist, M. Lambdin, D., Smith, N., and Suydam, M. (2001). Helping Children Learn Mathematics. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
I also learned that mathematics was more than merely an intellectual activity: it was a necessary tool for getting a grip on all sorts of problems in science and engineering. Without mathematics there is no progress. However, mathematics could also show its nasty face during periods in which problems that seemed so simple at first sight refused to be solved for a long time. Every math student will recognize these periods of frustration and helplessness.
Reys, R., Lindquist, M., Lambdin, D., Smith, N., & Suydam, M. (2001). Helping children learn mathematics. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Van de Walle, J.A., Karp, K. S., & Bay-Williams, J. M. (2013). Elementary and middle school
During elementary school, children are not only developing their physical bodies, but there minds as well. They a...
Automaticity of math facts is beneficial to all mathematics learning. Fortunately, there are ways to help students learn basic facts without skill and drill. Explicit strategy instruction is more effective than encouraging strict rote memorization (Woodward, 2006). Yet, many educators are unsure of how to help students master facts. Too many educators still have misconceptions of how students learn facts and how they commit them to long-term memory (Baroody, 1985).
Using literacy strategies in the mathematics classroom leads to successful students. “The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM, 1989) define mathematical literacy as an “individual's ability to explore, to conjecture, and to reason logically, as well as to use a variety of mathematical methods effectively to solve problems." Exploring, making conjectures, and being able to reason logically, all stem from the early roots of literacy. Authors Matthews and Rainer (2001) discusses how teachers have questioned the system of incorporating literacy with mathematics in the last couple of years. It started from the need to develop a specific framework, which combines both literacy and mathematics together. Research was conducted through
Van de Walle, J. A., Karp, K. S., & Bay-Williams, J. M. (2013). Elementary and middle school
...S. and Stepelman, J. (2010). Teaching Secondary Mathematics: Techniques and Enrichment Units. 8th Ed. Merrill Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, NJ.
11. Tanner, B. M.; Bottoms, G.; Feagin, C.; Bearman, A, 2003, Southern Regional Education Board, Atlanta, GA. Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ED479271.pdf.
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.
Devlin believes that mathematics has four faces 1) Mathematics is a way to improve thinking as problem solving. 2) Mathematics is a way of knowing. 3) Mathematics is a way to improve creative medium. 4) Mathematics is applications. (Mann, 2005). Because mathematics has very important role in our life, teaching math in basic education is as important as any other subjects. Students should study math to help them how to solve problems and meet the practical needs such as collect, count, and process the data. Mathematics, moreover, is required students to be capable of following and understanding the future. It also helps students to be able to think creativity, logically, and critically (Happy & Listyani, 2011,