Week 12 Reflection Post

Retrieved December 5th 2016 from: AdventurousChica

Hey guys! This is likely going to be my last math blog post for a while...we are getting ready to head into our placements, yay! (OK the thought is actually terrifying me) but I just wanted to talk about some of the things I have learned throughout the last 12 weeks.

I came into this math course unbelievably nervous that I was not going to do well because I would need to know how to do math...How wrong I was!!! I learned that you do not need to be a math whiz to be able to teach math, I've now learned through experience that it is OK to tell students "I don't know the answer to that right now but let me find it for you" or "why don't we find that answer together?". When I started teachers college I was so worried that teachers needed to know everything, that is the biggest misconception I could have had, teachers learn just as much as students do, we learn from each other.

I have learned through our assignments in this class that with a little bit of time and effort, putting together a lesson that is well organized and effective that you understand, is not all that difficult, sure it may seem daunting, but a little bit of time and effort goes a long way. I've also learned many tips and tricks for engaging students and having them learn while having fun! We have done things like Easter Egg hunts, number lines, and in my placement class we did a Pokemon Go scavenger hunt!

Throughout the past 12 weeks we have watched our classmates become more confident in their abilities as educators and it is because we have had great support with guidance through all the ways we can be effective in the classroom. Math is still a scary thought for me, I was speaking with a high school math teacher over the past weekend and listening to her talk about the projects her students were working on scared the pants off me. However, this doesn't mean that it is something I would not be able to do anymore, it just means I need to be flexible and have an open mind when it comes to myself and my students abilities in the classroom.

Thank you guys so much for reading over the last 12 weeks and I will try and keep you updated throughout my placement!