Math Reflection Week 5

Let's Talk About Integers!

Retrieved October 8th, 2016 From: SparkNotes

This week we had the chance to talk about integers and do some activities in class using some manipulatives to better understand them ourselves. As we worked with the manipulatives, I was able to see how much easier it was to solve problems with the concrete, visual aid. However, I can see that it would be very easy to become dependent on those manipulatives which could be problematic because we need to know how to solve problems without always having them at our fingertips. How can we be sure that our future students won't become dependent on these manipulatives?

This is a tricky subject because we live in a day and age where people are used to having many different things available to them. Everyone has a calculator on their phone and children are getting them younger and younger, so how do we make sure our students can solve problems without relying on their devices or manipulatives? I personally believe that being a visual learner is beneficial, being able to picture something in your head to get the help you need was always enough to get me through. 

On page 352 of Making Math Meaningful, they talk about what appropriate manipulatives would be, there is a great list of helpful tools that can be used to sort of "replace" the calculator. Things such a number lines might be easier to be less dependent on as it would be easier to picture a number line in your head and jump the numbers. 

Making the calculator less available to students might help them become less and less dependent on the manipulatives because they would be learning how to work their way through their problems step by step and and learning the necessary processes. 

Making sure your students gain a conceptual understanding of concepts is also an important step because they may be able to complete an activity or solve a problem, but they may not know why or how they're doing it. Exponents are one of the more tricky concepts to grasp, there is a common mistake that when a student sees 5 to the power of 2 --5(2)-- they think it is 5X2 and not 5X5. I personally feel like one of the easiest ways to explain this dilemma is to have the students write them out completely, 5(2) would become 5X5 or 5(4) would become 5X5X5X5 as you have 5 multiplied by 5, 4 times. 

Retrieved October 8th, 2016 From: Learning with Math

This image depicts how I personally like to break down exponents. 

This last couple weeks has given me the opportunity to become much more confident in my ability to not only teach math, but to understand math as well. Opening yourself up to new concepts and new ideas can be extremely beneficial and having the necessary support and tools provided to me has made it much easier to become open to new ideas and ways of doing things. 

Having a bad experience in math class can really affect how a student looks at it for the rest of their lives. Let's change the negative "stigma" that surrounds math, make it fun and encourage students in the right ways to always express their feelings and ideas in the classroom! There is no wrong answer when someone can justify the reason they came up with the answer they have come to!