New Year: Time to Reflect on 2018

Block One Reflection

Hello and welcome back to my Blog for 2019!

I haven't blogged for awhile as I was a student teacher for the first time. My first teaching practicum as a Teacher Candidate was an outstanding experience filled with a tremendous amount of learning and professional growth. At the beginning of placement I had the choice to either teach Grade 12 or 11 university functions or grade 9 applied math, I chose the grade 9 class. At first I was extremely intimidated to teach an applied mathematics class, however, I am glad that I had the opportunity to challenge myself. Applied classes are stereotyped to as a “nightmare” to teach, but I had the chance to test a variety of classroom management techniques and was exposed to learning styles and teaching methods that are different then the way I learned growing up in an academic classroom setting. Additionally, I was able to build a positive and professional relationship with students, my associate teacher and other staff, and begin to develop my own resources that I can use later in my career in both an academic or applied grade 9 mathematics classroom.

Throughout this placement, I used many resources from class and implemented them as many ways as I could, for example using vertical surfaces, the idea of low floor and high ceiling and incorporating technology. During my unit, I used graphing calculators attached to a motion sensor to consolidate the understanding of distance versus time graphs as the students were able to match the shape of the graph with their movement. The whole entire class was involved and excited about this topic, using the technology available allowed for a greater success in their understanding and having a visual representation they can use with their body movement was advantageous because the students were able to transpose this difficult concept using paper and pen for a quiz, test or assignment. This was my first time using a graphing calculator with a motion sensor to teach distance versus time graphs. Our teaching for mathematics education course, used motion sensor attached to a graphing calculator and familiarized me with the tool. I believe it was extremely beneficial because when I was in grade 9 I struggled with this topic greatly, and I wish I had this technology available when I was a student. Therefore, the technology has also helped consolidate my understanding and will be able to teach this concept from the linear relations stand in the Ontario curriculum with ease.

Another way that I incorporated technology was teaching with a Microsoft surface pro tablet. Some days I would start the lesson of with an entrance card and give the class an EQAO word problem to solve individually, they would not write their names on it, I would then collect all of the entrance cards and look at them briefly and snap a photo of one on the tablet I was using to teach. I would then have the students work projected onto the screen. I would use this technique to show the most common “wrong answer.” I would then ask the class “what do I like, what do I not like in this answer.” And show the class how I would mark this type of question and all the steps needed in order to get full marks. Using the tablet allowed this process to be a seamless transition and the students were very engaged with my ability to write over their work on the screen with a tablet pen. This process also allowed for immediate feedback to occur with all of the students, and the students were able to see what is expected and how to answer an EQAO question effectively once or twice a week, alongside answering multiple choice questions daily. Additionally, using the Microsoft surface pro to teach has allowed for smooth transitions between my 3-part lesson plan without the use of papers as I would have PDF versions of my lessons which I was able to write on using a tablet pen, allowing for each copy and pasting, erasing, and zooming in and out. The tablet also allowed me to use excel to show graphs with ease and the ability to label the graph on the tablet screen was beneficial for increasing the students understanding. The students also had a copy of a “fill in the blank” worksheet as at the applied level they needed this assistance to be successful in learning and consolidating the topics being taught.

Lastly, I often used relay races in my classroom to get the students up and moving using vertical surfaces around the class, including either whiteboards or chart paper taped to the walls around the classroom. I taught an applied class 4^th period and I believe that movement can wake up a child’s brain, it reduces fidgeting and other distracting behaviours that come from asking a child to sit all day, and it is a way to work through difficult math problems as well. I would do a classroom relay race for 75% of the class on Fridays and the students loved the activity and had to compete with one another. I also found the use of vertical surfaces to be beneficial, as using the whiteboard encouraged motivation and the ability to think on their feet.

Throughout my placement, I also strongly encouraged the process of reflection. Therefore, instead of constantly giving the students questions about knowledge and understanding, I would give the students reflection questions that encourage students to think back on the mathematics of the lesson and focus on the big ideas, which we know to be an important orientation for their achievement (Boaler, 2016). For example, what was the main idea you learned today? and what is something you are struggling with or have questions about? This was also a way for me to integrate assessment AS learning to try and encourage meta cognition.

I also would have liked to spend more time asking how my associate teacher taught certain concepts such as algebra and the terminology he used, so I can use his methods that are familiar to students to decrease confusion within a lesson. For example, one thing I struggled with was adjusting my own math knowledge, language and my lack of visual representations of basic mathematical concepts. I found at times there was a disconnection between my students and I due to my academic math knowledge, and I found myself using language like “y-intercept, slope, isolate for x and move the negative sign to the other side” leading to students losing confidence in their own abilities or disengaging from the lesson entirely. Once this occurred, it was very difficult to get the class back on track and continue with the lesson.

In conclusion, I believe my first teaching block was a wonderful experience and I appreciate all of the daily feedback my associate teacher offered. One technique I used to create a constructive and motivated learning environment was to establish a positive rapport with students. I established this relationship by asking about their hobbies, favorite musician or how their weekend went, allowing the students to feel comfortable and creating a positive classroom environment. As I prepare for Block Two, I would like to improve on a better balance of student- and teacher-directed learning. I would also like to create more engaging and interactive lessons and assignments for my future placement focusing on real-world applications. Lastly, become more knowledgeable about how students learn before preparing lessons. Overall, I am grateful I had the opportunity to teach in an applied class. Teaching in an applied class gave me a variety of different instructional methods, assessment and classroom management techniques which I know I will use in the future career.

Thank you for reading my Blog Post- see you next week

References

Boaler, J. (2016). Mathematical mindsets. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass & Pfeiffer Imprints.

Image banner and final image retrieved from: https://lifelong.digication.com/AACU_Generative_Reflections_2011/Welcome/published and 

https://www.xavier.edu/mathematics-department/