Day 6: Recap & Reflect

After 5 evenings n a Saturday morning

of solving mathematical problems,

I did some reflection ...

am I ready to return to my classroom

and be a better teacher of mathematics?

 

Do I have what it takes

to create a mathematical climate

in my classroom:

allowing students to ask questions,

challenging them to think deeper,

providing concrete materials,

facilitating their learning journeys?

 

allowing children to collect items from the outdoors,
and to work with them to solve problems.

providing a wide array of concrete materials
for sorting, counting, patterning etc. 

 



student working alone

in small groups

teacher observing and facilitating

 

what should I do

to ensure that my students

benefit from being in my class?

what do I hope to achieve?

 

 Dr Yeap did a quick recap:

 

1. teach so that children build up intellectual capital, not just so that they can apply

    information

2. teach children to visualize

3. teach children to look for patterns

4. teach number sense

5. teach metacognition (management of thinking)

6. teach metacognition (sharing ideas/strategies/solutions with others)

 

Re-acquaint with the theories of:

Brunner
Dienes
Gardner
Piaget
Vygostsky

More reminders:

 

1. Teach number sense but not computational skills

2. Don't let conventions be stumbling blocks, over-riding conceptual knowledge

3. Do not teach key words strategy e.g. "fewer" means that you minus--> this is not always

    the case:

 

Clare has 3 cookies fewer than Adeline.

Clare has 8 cookies.

How many cookies does Adeline have?

In this instance you add and not minus.

I have found the following video to be very useful and inspiring in understanding how to establish a mathematical environment and how to be a teacher of mathematics.

Video: "How to teach Maths as a Social activity"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZxNldBEU6o

 

 



Khob khun ka Dr Yeap!

Thank you for challenging me and

 facilitating my learning journey

for the past 6 sessions.

The fear that used to grip me is gone;

the embarrassment is no longer an issue.

I now view maths

and the teaching of maths

from an enlightened perspective.

Terima kasih!

Toh Xia!

 

from a very grateful heart,

Lydia's

 

Oh, this is not over yet ....

there's group assignment and individual assignment to complete.