Week 7 Reflection - Algebra

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This Gif does quite a good job of depicting how I feel when I hear the word "variables". Today in class, we looked at some different strategies/activities to help us understand patterning and algebra. The first thing we looked at was patterning and the demonstration used was the Fibonacci Spiral and I had an extremely hard time understanding the relationship to math/patterning. Ironically, one of the themes we were asked to consider in class this week was "what strategies can you use to help ELL (ESL- English as a Second Language) students in the math classroom"?

After the Fibonacci Spiral presentation I tried to put myself in a student who may not have a great understand of the English language's shoes. I struggled with this concept being someone who has spoken English my entire life, I could not imagine how someone who is new to the language would try and grasp this concept. I started trying to think of what I could do that would make this a little bit more simple to understand? The first thought that occurred to me was "too many words". I was confused as to how this theory was related to math and I feel like if there had been more numbers shown and what exactly these numbers are related to, it would have given me a better idea of what I was doing with it.

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I find that students almost always need the most simple form of something that we can give them. If we don't understand something ourselves, or we don't understand the purpose of something, how can we justify teaching it to our students?

The next concept we looked at today was my favourite term "variables"...solving for X or Y or whatever letter you choose to use as your unknown variable.The photo on the right side of this post depicts how to solve a simple algebraic equation solving for X. You would simply take the unknown variable, move it over to the other side of the equal sign and do the opposite equation to find your answer. Miss Bunz also showed us a neat strategy to help give students a way of visualizing how they might also find the answer for the variable. I personally liked this method and it is something that I foresee myself using in the classroom. If you were to take the same equation, x+8=10 and simply cover the x with your hand and ask your students "what plus 8 equals ten?" it can help take away all of the thoughts of remembering which way you need to move your numbers and what equation it has to become.

This week I feel like one of the most beneficial things I took away from our session was to keep things simple for students, try to avoid over complicating things and to always provide alternative methods for learning and teaching based on your student's needs and comfort levels.

Thank you for reading and I do hope this provides some insight as to how we can all work together to create the next generation of mathematicians!