Lina Godoy

LBS 400
November 30, 2014
Math Reflection
Teachers need to know that math subjects get built upon each other. If a student
doesnt know their multiplications, it will be much harder for the student to learn
divisions. Teachers need to know many different ways to be able to explain a concept
like multiplications. The common core has a way of telling us to teach it a certain way,
that hasnt been taught to us in that way. If students arent getting the way that common
core wants us to teach it, we should have different ways in explaining it to them. We
need to know word problems, geometry, simple algebra, conversions, adding,
subtracting, rounding and much more other things. Teachers need to be able to explain
how they got to the answer they got.
I feel that the classes that have helped me overall, have been the ones that are
for teachers. They teach us the reasons in why a certain problem works the way it
works, and why we get that answer. With probability, we had to learn all the ways of
showing it, like with a tree, multiplication and making a list. This is a great way because
if a student is not learning it with just knowing you can solve the problem with
multiplication, they have other ways of figuring out how to do the problem and come up
with the same answer. We also had to do posters to be able to teach a certain concept
to elementary students. This gave ideas to everyone by having a gallery of all these
posters.

I feel most prepared in operations and algebraic thinking. I feel prepared with
teaching students to add, multiply, divide, subtract. This has always been my forte when
I was in elementary school. I can find different ways for the students to be able to get a
certain concept and show them an easier way. This might not work now, since the
common core has taken over, but I can always try to find new ways to explain to
students.
I feel less prepared with measurement and data. This has always been my
weakness. I have a hard time knowing how to convert to different units and knowing
when to multiply or divide. I feel like I wouldnt know how to teach it to students if I dont
know it myself. I also have a hard time with volume and knowing how to calculate when
ask to find volume and areas, especially the classic word problem of needing more
grass for the yard and trying to find out how much more is needed in yards. I feel like I
need to brush up on this because I also need to know some of these things for the
CBEST.
My artifact is my lesson plan. This shows the common core standard that I
taught. I have different steps in how I would teach the lesson. It also shows how I would
accommodate students, especially for ones that dont understand and ELD students. I
need to also know how to manage my time, so I will be able to help the students that
arent getting the concept of subtracting. This also shows what the students should
know before the lesson, so as teachers we also have to look at standards from a grade
before and not assume that students already know for example number past 100, like in
kinder thats all they learn up to. For subtracting and adding, they only learn up to 10, so
in second grade the teacher would build on that and not start off at 10+15.