A teacher's job is to ensure all students feel protected, at ease, and cared for. Mathematics can be intimidating, but if students feel welcome and comfortable, they can learn to love the subject itself. Working in a group teaches necessary skills that students need to learn before starting a career.
A teacher's job is to ensure all students feel protected, at ease, and cared for. Mathematics can be intimidating, but if students feel welcome and comfortable, they can learn to love the subject itself. Working in a group teaches necessary skills that students need to learn before starting a career.
A teacher's job is to ensure all students feel protected, at ease, and cared for. Mathematics can be intimidating, but if students feel welcome and comfortable, they can learn to love the subject itself. Working in a group teaches necessary skills that students need to learn before starting a career.
A mathematics classroom should always provide an environment where students feel safe from harmoutside and within the classroom wallsand comfortablewith their classmates and teacher. A teachers job is to ensure all students feel protected, at ease, and cared for. Teachers must also provide a space where students can actively learn, both individually and collaboratively. Even though every classroom has students with a wide range of academic abilities, the teacher must make sure each child is being challenged and supported at the same time. To accomplish these goals, a classroom must be a community where students are respectful and courteous with each other and their teacher. If the classroom is a community where respect and positive attitudes are the norms, students can successfully work together in cooperative groups. Mathematics can be intimidating, but if students feel welcome and comfortable, they can learn to love the subject itself. Students learn in a variety of ways, including direct instruction, independent work time, and group work. Direct instruction can be very informative, but working in cooperative groups can provide rich experiences and opportunities to deepen understanding. I believe there should be a mixture of both direct instruction and cooperative group work. When students work together, they can explain concepts in easy to understand language and they can show each other multiple ways of doing mathematics. Working in a group also teaches necessary skills that students need to learn before starting a career. Most careers require at least some work to be done in a group, or at least require communication with colleagues. Knowledge of mathematics is important in many different types of jobs, as well as being part of normal life experiences. Mathematics is simply everywhere in our world. It is necessary for students to have a solid understanding of math in middle school because it is the foundation for the math that is taught in high school. Middle school math also covers all the topics of math that are most used by people in society. Fractions, decimals, percents, area, perimeter, linear relationships, algebraic expressions, and so many more important topics are studied in 6th, 7th and 8th grade. I want students to have positive and successful experiences that will give them the confidence and understanding of mathematical ideas that they need. A large part of my math classroom is the technology that can support and enhance student understanding. Calculators can help the students feel confident while they are solving a multistep problem. Calculators can also help students focus on the content of a word problem and on how to solve it, instead of getting bogged down by calculations. Graphing calculators offer opportunities to quickly graph new equations and discover patterns in the graphs. Graphing calculators can be used to compare tables of different equations as well. Students can explore equations of new functions and broaden their knowledge. I believe any use of technology boosts student motivation and engagement, which is important for student understanding and love of math. I love mathematics and one of my goals is for students to love, or at least not hate, math. I share stories of how I use math in my daily life so students can make connections between the classroom and life outside of it. I make sure they experience new ways of learning math. I share my personal experiences learning math from professional development workshops and from attending classes. I model being a lifelong learner, especially in math. This is important for me to share so students see how I value math and learning. My hope is that they see my excitement and it inspires them a desire to learn and love math too.
Classroom-Ready Number Talks for Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Grade Teachers: 1,000 Interactive Math Activities That Promote Conceptual Understanding and Computational Fluency