Thursday, September 11, 2014

Journal 11 Middle Level Mathematics


My math philosophy

What does mathematics mean to me? How should It be taught in middle level education?  What do I believe works or not works? What are good practices? What is the role of the teacher?

          Math is a difficult subject to describe, but I believe it is essential to life. Everyday people use math to function, most careers require math research or understanding. The objects we use are possible because of many mathematical practice. Math should be respected and taught very delicately. What's Math Got to Do with it?, describes the typical math experience for most students. Generally people do not  have good memories of Math in school. Further, "math classrooms leave students cold, disinterested, or traumatized" (Boaler, 42). I know I struggled in math and found it overwhelming. Math students should find math refreshing.
          Math is used to describe the world and should be taught with great importance and with practical applications. With any subject the teacher should apply their lessons to the students. The students should feel connected to the objective or subject being covered in class. Every student should be included when teaching math.  The classroom should contain students who are actively engaged in the classroom. I  often find teachers will only teach to certain styles. In a classroom, I believe the students have several different  types of learning styles. Some are visual learners, and listening to a teacher lecture is challenging. Other students are kinesthetic learners that benefit from a physical movement in the classroom. Staying seated in a chair for an entire period would be difficult to them. I believe it is the teachers responsibility to discover each student's learning style. In addition, the teacher should educate each of their students so that they Learning about math wars, I find traditional math is memorizing and repeating.