2 column solution to puzzle "Hundred Squares"

Dave Hewitt's Video

Dave Hewitt’s video was very interesting. I loved his style since it was different from traditional teaching. He used the sticks rather than using markers and white boards. Students were learning integers by hearing the sound of the sticks when he was tapping. The students were collectively engaged and students were not intimidated since even though one of them gave the wrong answer, he/she would realise and correct himself/herself. I really appreciate the way he was writing on the board at the same time when the student was giving the answer. This helps the visual learners to understand. Dave Hewitt had a lot of patience and moved around the classroom to teach. These are very good points that all teachers should have

Exit math SNAP fair

I had a fabulous time attending the Math fair at the Museum of Anthropology. I was amazed by the way the young students presented their projects. They were well-organized, confident and very clear in their explanations. The learners connected with the artifacts at the museum and created a math problem which was very creative. The students were non- competitive and they were all proud presenting their projects and I even had the chance to ask them how and where they got all these ideas.

The 1^st station I attended, I even got a small reward of “Thank you” which really made me feel so special. I was not only warmly welcomed but got a small note for the participation. :) During my short practicum, I observed how teachers where praising students with a pencil, sticker or even treats. They loved it and that encourage participation in class.    

I will try my best to organize a math fair during my practicum, as math is not only about formulas, worksheet and problem- solving.

Arbitrary & necessary

1.       What does Hewitt mean by “arbitrary” and “necessary”? How do you decide, for a particular lesson, what is arbitrary and necessary?

2.       How might this idea influence how you plan your lessons, and particularly, how you decide “who does the math” in your math class?

According to Dave Hewitt, “arbitrary” means that students need to be au courant of the elements of a topic with the help of a teacher, book or internet whereas “necessary” means that students may become familiar of some elements depending upon their awareness they already have. Names and labels/ symbols can feel arbitrary for students as they don’t know the “WHY” behind it. For example: why are there 360˚ in a full turn. Students would not know this fact unless they are told about it.

When planning a lesson, I will consider the abilities of the students, as I might teach a Grade 9 math “honours” class differently as I would for a normal Grade 9. When I was a student, I didn’t even have the courage to ask the teacher about why a full turn = 360 ˚ but now since the students are more opened and encouraged to ask the questions, anytime they might ask teachers these kind of questions. As a student- teacher, I should be aware of how much “arbitrary” elements I should give so that the students do some efforts and try to find the interesting part behind the problem..

Could you, and would you run a SNAP Math fair in your practicum high school? Why/ Why not? If you can imagine doing so, how would you adapt the Math Fair to your school, and classes, and why?

It would be a very good idea to run a SNAP math fair during my long practicum. I still remember the very first day I met my Faculty Advisor before the short practicum, she told me please make sure that you use a lot of activities and don’t go for traditional teaching. She was even happier when I told her that I was thinking of giving the opportunity to kids to organize a math fair. Since I started the course, I learnt a lot about math fair, different ways of approaching problem solving and how to make math interesting rather than just using pen, paper and formulas.

I would definitely ask the principal if that would work and then since I will be teaching 2 grade 9, I would like to try it with my first class and see how it works then of course learn and modify if needed for the second grade 9 math. Even when we made a math fair for the kids we were given enough time to work and plan it, so I was thinking that 10-15 days is good enough to work on it. I would encourage everybody to participate and this will develop teamwork.

I would also encourage the math and science department to make a Math/Science fair. We organised one in UBC (October) and it was very to see how kids, elders were devoted in solving the problem.

Reflection on Battleground Schools

I was surprised that this has been a worldwide problem –“non-mathematics specialists (gym teachers, science teachers and others) teach the majority of mathematics to lower grades”. I remember when I was in Grade 8, I didn’t like math just because of my teacher. She was an English teacher and she had to teach math just to fill up the hours in her time table. It was a nightmare as she was really strict and she was just the way the author described in the “Battleground schools”. She was assigning homework problems straight out of the textbook” and we had to learn the formulas without knowing how it was derived.

Mathematics is a challenging subject and it is used in everyday life. We should develop new ways by using technology, puzzles, quizzes, math fairs and field trips rather than using the traditional method of math teaching. Even though I was taught in the traditional way in Mauritius, I will try my best to use different technics since I learnt a lot from the education course. I just hope that it won’t be a huge problem when the new curriculum will come out as during the New math program as “many teachers could not understand why new ways were being introduced.”

Reflection on micro teaching

I really enjoyed teaching the basic words of French for my micro teaching lesson. It went very well as my colleague, Ian mentioned that I had “very good timing”. I was able to finish my lesson and assess my colleagues in the 10 minutes. I was surprised to see that in 10minutes, you and your students can learn a lot. One of my colleague commented “loved the introduction to different countries that speak French”. I think that it is important to show the students how French became popular and is spoken over 50 countries and on 5 continents.

Also, while I was assessing their prior knowledge, some of them knew few French words like “baguette”, “fromage”, “bonjour” and one knew how to count from 1 to 10. I remember when I was translating “how much” in French which is “combien”, my colleague asked me since “bien” means “fine”, how it is related to “how much”. As a teacher, you should be prepared to any kind of questions.

Moreover, I got the comment from Alison that “the video was cute and the assessment was fun”. I am happy that she felt that way as this was my objective- To promote enjoyment, confidence and proficiency, in the use of French language.

 However, I should be more careful with the background of my slides as Daniel said that it was “hard to read of one of the slides”. Some students have vision problems, so I should always ask in class if everything is clear and visible. Also I should word harder on the Indications of applications as I noticed I am given a “2”. Maybe if I had more time or in my next lesson I could have elaborate more on it.