Math, last week reflection

Kids need to be able to learn their own lessons and experience success and failure. We cannot protect them from every failure nor should we. Parent involvement and attitude has a lot to do with kids’ perception of math and other subjects. This is something to remember as a teacher.

 

It will be essential for me and other teachers to think about what needs might be further down the road. It is tough to step outside of our own world which is disproportionately based on previous experience. Our previous experience can add a lot of value to the classroom but it is important that we not forget about what our students will be dealing with years from now. There is an element of fearlessness that goes along with this. We cannot be afraid of our own learning which means walking the talk. If the students have to learn new things, so do we as their role models. 

Last, as an educated educator, it is essential to educate kids on where words come from, even in math. Kids are curious about where their math words come from. I do not believe in teaching math without giving background on the terms kids will be utilizing. For example, fraction comes from the Latin word Fractus which means "broken." I've learned that the less mysterious you make math, the friendlier it can be. How friendly can a word like circumference, diameter and radius be when you don't even know what they are, who came up with the terms and why are the terms sounds so unfamiliar? I've also learned that tying in other subjects is easier than I realized. When talking about circumference, what about the equator? That is where you would measure the biggest circumference of all (at least in this world) - imperfect yet, close enough.

I still have questions about efficiency and how to become an efficient planner. If I am spending several hours preparing for one lesson, that equates to an unrealistic amount of time outside of the classroom if calculated for all subjects. I am assuming that efficiency comes with experience and once you do a lesson, you know how to approach it or not to approach it the next time however, what if I'm wrong. Thoughtfulness takes time and a good lesson takes a lot of thought especially if I need to be thinking about decades from now and the knowledge, skills and abilities that will best prepare my students.