Final Blog

What was your greatest "learning" this semester with regard to teaching children mathematics? How has your thinking shifted?

The past of the semester that has impacted my view of how to teach children mathematics was when we were given the opportunity to participate in the SNAP math fair. I really enjoyed the fact that many of the problems presented to us did not necessarily have one correct answer and that there was a lot of thinking required to find an answer that worked. In fact, once Zack and I decided which problem we would present for the math fair, we spent hours playing "wild tic tac toe", trying to find a solution. What we found was that there were many strategies and that some worked better than others depending on the game situation. It wasn't until the day of the math fair, when we were sharing our projects with the rest of the class that we found that strategy that worked best in the majority of cases. Even then, we were not sure that we found the "correct" answer and really, we had no way of knowing until we found a "better" way.

This is something that I never had the chance to experience when I was going through school. I was taught that math required working through an equation, using the many mathematical processes to find a single correct answer. Personally, I was always concerned with finding the correct answer to a problem and would frequently check with my teacher, parents and peers to see if it was right before moving onto the next problem. I never really thought to pay much attention to the process involved in finding an answer. Luckily, this semester has taught me that the answer should not be the most important thing in mathematics and that an equal amount of attention (if not more) should be paid to the cognitive processes that go into solving a problem.

Having experience with the math fair, peer teaching and the various manipulatives that are used in today's classrooms has given me a positive outlook about teaching mathematics in the future. Having an understanding about some of the learning strategies that are helpful to students makes me feel a little more at ease about teaching mathematics.

Curriculum Resources

Last week during math class, we were given the opportunity to browse the various resources that are available to teachers for each grade level. Although I have seen a number of these resources already, I was surprised by others. 

Before this class, I didn't realize the amount of stories that were available for teaching math in the primary grades. I have seen a few "Big Books" that were based on basic concepts such as "big and small" during my observation days, but I wasn't aware that there were many of them for different grade levels. I  also wasn't aware that the smaller individual books even existed. I really like the idea of sending home math-related books as baggy books to students to further enforce certain topics because I think it would be very beneficial to some students. Some children may understand a concept better if they read about it in a story than if they were simply receiving instructions from the teacher. 

One thing that surprised me is that these fun storybooks pretty much disappeared by grade four, leaving not much more than the math textbook and a few teaching guides as resources. In fact, as mentioned in class, a lot of the fun and appealing resources seen in the primary grades pretty much disappear before elementary. The elementary textbooks seemed to get increasingly duller (literally!) and to me, sends out the message that math is a boring subject and that it is less appealing than the other subject areas. 

In saying this, it is comforting for us, as future teachers, to know that there are many great math-related storybooks that can be incorporated into elementary classrooms and that we are not limited to using the textbook. In our children's literature course, our last blog post was on a book that had either a math- or science-related theme. After seeing the available resources for elementary grades, I plan to keep a list of the various books that were discussed in our blogs to use in the future. Although the textbook is very valuable, it is very important that we don't send the message that "math is boring" to our students. Therefore, I believe we should try and incorporate as many additional resources as possible to address the interests of our students and keep them interested in learning math!

- Cheryl

YouCubed

One of the most valuable things that I believe we, as future teachers, should take from this website is the idea that "anyone can do math and anyone can achieve in math at the highest levels in schools". Jo Boaler says this in the first short video featured on the homepage and personally, I found these words very reassuring. 

As some of you may know, I am currently tutoring four children in mathematics - a grade two student, a grade three student, a grade seven student and a grade nine student. To be honest, I was surprised by the fact that students as young as grade two would even need a math tutor. However, after looking through some of the articles and pages on this website, I realize that instead of needing a tutor, these children actually just need to be exposed to different teaching methods that cater to their learning style(s). YouCubed provides us teachers with many innovative ways of teaching math to our students who are growing up in such a technology-rich world. 

Since all of the children that I tutor are boys, I was also very interested in the article titled "Sugar and spice and... math underachievement- Why classrooms, not girls, need fixing". Surprisingly, the article was about how there is a common belief that girls do not fare as well as boys in mathematics. I found this interesting, since I have only ever had the opportunity to tutor boys. In saying this, the article points out that a student's success in math is not genetic and that it is actually determined by the quality of instruction the student receives. 

Another positive aspect of this website is that there is a section of resources that parents can use at home with their children. This is extremely valuable because it is often hard for parents to get their children to focus on math at home when they have so many other things going on. There are articles about how parents can make math fun for their children and there is also a variety of games that parents can play with their children at home. 

The fact that this website offers a wide variety of resources that are both free and well, really good, is something that puts it above many others that I have found while browsing the internet. Offering these resources at no cost makes the information accessible to all teachers and parents, giving everyone an equal opportunity to benefit from them. Many parents cannot afford to pay money each time they want to download a lesson, worksheet or game to use with their children at home - especially when they are unable to try it out with their children first. 

Although YouCubed is still under construction and will not be fully operational for another few months, it is evident that the website will be a very useful resource to be used with our students in the future. I, for one, already have it bookmarked and plan to use it during my tutoring sessions to help reinforce certain concepts that my students may be struggling with. I cannot wait to familiarize myself with this site when it is completely finished and look forward to using it in my own classroom!

Cheryl 

What is Math?

Hmmm.. for such a short question, it sure is difficult to respond to. Like many of you, I have never really tried to define math or thought about what it is. I tried to come up with my own definition of math for the start of this blog post, but keep backspacing everything I write.. I think I'll skip that for now.

When I think about math, many things come to mind. In my opinion, problem solving, equations, money, geometry and patterns are some of the math-related concepts I frequently use. Having two jobs and taking six courses here at MUN has gotten me into the habit of ALWAYS making lists. And I mean always. If I'm not writing out a to-do list (which I usually never conquer), I am making one in my head. Although after writing that I stopped to question my own sanity, I consider this list making a form of problem solving. I am constantly wondering, "if I have class until 3, and have to work at 5, do I have enough time to go to the gym?". Although this is not your typical "If Sally has five apples and Tommy steals 2, how many does she have left?" problem, it follows the same principle and therefore, I consider it math.

Like everyone else, I use math to calculate how much money I can expect to make on my next paycheck, or whether or not I have enough money left to buy something at a store. Aside from these obvious examples, I have noticed that I use math in many more ways as well.

Looking around my room, I notice that I have one big picture hanging on my wall with three smaller ones underneath it. Each of the smaller pictures are all an equal distance away from the bigger picture and each other. I must have used some form of math when hanging these pictures in my room. Also, when painting my nails, I will often use a different colour or pattern on one of my nails so that both hands look the same. Although some people would never consider this to be math, patterns are one of the first things that children are introduced to in math class, and I am following pattern rules when doing my nails.

I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that I do not know how to define math. To me, there are many different forms of math which can all be used in different contexts. I certainly wouldn't define the math I used to hang the pictures on my wall in the same way that I would define the lengthy (and confusing) physics equations that Sheldon Cooper writes on his board on the show The Big Bang Theory. So, in my opinion, math needs to be defined based on context. It is not simply calculating numbers on a piece paper.

Math is everywhere. It can be as simple as five children taking turns in a board game, following the same pattern in sequence every time. It can be someone trying to figure out if they have enough money in their wallet to pay for the groceries in their cart. It can also be a mathematician or physicist working out an equation or theory about something that is far too complicated for me to understand. Math is a woman who quadruples her recipe when making her famous cookies for her family members during Christmas. In the medical field, math is the medication dosages that are being calculated based on a person's weight, age or some other value. Again, math is everywhere.

I am no further ahead than I was at the beginning of this blog post. I have not come up with a way to define math. The only thing I know is that there are a number of types of math and that in one form or another, it is used by everyone on a daily basis (even if people do not realize it).

I may be editing this post as (and if) the definition of math becomes more clear to me throughout the course, but this is all I have for now.

Cheryl

Do Schools Kill Creativity?

While watching and listening to Sir Ken Robinson's TED talk about how schools may be killing creativity, I kept thinking back to this image that I found somewhere during my many hours browsing different boards on Pinterest:

Although these words may not have actually come from Albert Einstein himself (since the internet seems to be flooded with alleged Einstein quotes), the overall message is very similar to that of Sir Ken Robinson's TED talk. 

In the TED talk, Sir Ken Robinson says that he believes that in education, creativity should be treated the same as literacy and given an equal amount of importance. However, as many of us know from our own experiences in school (which was not that long ago in the grand scheme of things), this is not the case. We know that there is generally more emphasis put on math and language arts than the other subject areas and that subjects such as art, music and physical education are often seen as the least important. 

Not only are these subject areas given a greater deal of attention, students are often told what to do and how to do it when it comes to assigned work. For example, I can remember being told to write a poem about a given topic in language arts. Writing poetry was something that I ALWAYS hated doing because I found it difficult to say what I wanted to say and also make it rhyme with the previous line or sentence. Although I am aware that not all poetry has to rhyme, most of the poems we were told to write included rhyming as one of the criteria. Maybe if I had been given the option to choose what subject I would like to write a poem about, or choose how I would like to write about a given subject, my final product would be better. This is just one example of how I believe my own creativity may have been "killed" in school. 

Another experience that came to mind when watching this video was something that happened to my boyfriend while he was taking a math course here on campus. He was struggling with some of the content in the course and decided to get a tutor. His tutor began teaching him different methods for working out the problems and told him "tricks" (for lack of a better word) for making finding the solutions easier. After a few tutoring sessions, he felt as though he had already made a great deal of progress with the content. However, when he got his next test back, the prof had put a HUGE line through the first page (that also ripped through the second and third pages) with a red pen and left a note saying "this is not what I taught you in class". Although he had found the correct answers to the problems, the prof would not accept any other method than his own as being correct. 

Just as Sir Ken Robinson said in the video, all children are talented in some way. In particular, the part of the video where he talks about Shakespeare as a child explains this idea perfectly. In my opinion, there are too many standards that teachers expect children to conform to. A child who sits in their desk, quietly completing the work that was assigned by the teacher is often seen as the ideal student. However, we know that not all children learn in the same way - there are many different learning styles. Just as the picture above suggests, we cannot judge every child and expect them to all be successful in the same task. It is for this reason that I believe it is very important to cater to the different learning styles and promote creativity within the classroom. 

In a subject that is often seen as having right and wrong answers, I think it is important for us as future teachers to allow students to be creative within the subject of mathematics. Although this task seems very difficult right now (to me, anyways), I trust that how to do this will become clearer throughout the semester as we continue to learn about math in today's classes. As Sir Ken Robinson states in the video, the world is ever changing and we have no idea what the world will be like in ten, even five years. We have no right to deem mathematics and language arts as more important than the other subject areas, including the arts that are often seen as less important. Math, which is often considered "boring" by students, and it is up to us as future educators to teach it in creative ways that will be engaging to the students. 

That's all for now! :) 

- Cheryl 

Math Autobiography

I don't remember a whole lot about my experiences with mathematics during my years in primary/elementary school. Number charts and times tables were posted on the walls in almost all of my classrooms and manipulatives such as base ten blocks and money kits were made available to us as well. In the second grade, as a class, we would count to one hundred each morning either by ones, twos, fives or tens - something I can remember enjoying. We would also have a mental math quiz each week, where we would have to write down the answer to an equation that the teacher would say out loud. Sometimes these quizzes would be timed and we would have to finish as many questions as possible within a given time limit. Although I am not sure why, these specific experiences from grade two seem to be all I remember until grades five and six, when math concepts were taught in class and additional examples were assigned from the textbook for practice. 

One of the best memories I have that involves math is when I was chosen for enrichment programs in the elementary grades. Once a week, the students who were participating in the enrichment program were taken from class and taught different concepts that were different from what the rest of the class was learning. One program that I remember doing was about Roman numerals. We learned how to convert our own number system into Roman numerals and did equations using them as well. The opportunity to participate in enrichment programs kept me interested in math throughout the elementary grades. Although I obviously didn't realize it at the time, this was a way for my teachers to address the various learning needs and ability levels of the students in the class. 

Growing up, I always considered myself to be good at math. I was always interested in learning and enjoyed doing the course work and homework. I guess I knew I was good at math because I didn't have to put in any of the extra work that some of my friends had to. Math was always one of my best marks on report cards and as I mentioned earlier, I participated in math enrichment programs during elementary school. My interest in math continued into junior high and high school, right up until I became a university student.

I never really thought much about how my teachers felt about mathematics. Looking back on primary and elementary school, I can only remember my teachers having a positive attitude towards teaching math. If they didn't like teaching it, they didn't show it (and if they did show it, I certainly didn't notice).

For the most part, tests and in-class assignments seemed to be the most common form of assessment throughout my school experience. From primary right up until grade twelve, math tests were frequent and heavily weighted. Open book in-class assignments were common before tests in junior high and high school. Aside from these two types of assessment, I don't really remember there being any other kind. 

As I mentioned earlier, I loved math right up until I became a student here at Memorial. I developed a great relationship with one of my math teachers in high school and it was him who encouraged me to attend MUN when I wasn't sure where I wanted to attend or what I wanted to do in post secondary. Although I received good marks and even took advanced math in high school, I did not feel prepared for the math that I was faced with once I started my first semester of university. 

Here at MUN, I have taken Math 1090, 1050 and 1051. Unfortunately, I failed 1090 in my first semester and felt so discouraged that I didn't bother to retake it. I remember going into my 60% final with a 78 average in the course - somehow I managed to come out of the course with a 45. I have yet to regain enough confidence to retake the course to improve my mark. Having to complete more than ten math assignments throughout the semester for less than ten percent of your final grade was another thing that turned me from taking any additional math courses here at MUN. 

Despite the negative experiences that I have experienced at university, I still love math. Although I have no desire to take another math course on campus (unless I redo 1090), I still use math and have a strong understanding of many of the concepts. I still see it as one of the most important subjects in the school's curriculum and really enjoy having the opportunity to tutor two students (grade 2 and grade 9) in mathematics. I am looking forward to the rest of the semester and am excited to learn more about the teaching of mathematics.

Welcome!

Hi everyone, welcome to my blog! I have zero experience with blogging so you'll have to bare with me this semester. 

Just a bit about me, although you probably already know: I am a 22 year old, fifth year student here at MUN and am also working on my B.A in French and Psychology. I have a boxer named Mac who I adore. I also love junk food. I hate mushrooms. I love music and reading and documentaries and talking. I am interested in languages and love Carnation milk in my tea.

I will be using this blog for our Education 3940 course to keep up to date with the course and share my thoughts and ideas about the course content. As I have already mentioned, this is my first blog. I also haven't taken a math course since my first year at MUN and am kinda feeling this way right about now. 

Just kidding, I'm sure we'll be fine.
- Cheryl