Philosophy of Math
As a former third degree black belt and instructor of Tae Kwon Do, I have developed a unique way of conducting my classroom. I have established a distinct, enthusiastic voice that commands the attention of my students. While instructing a Tae Kwon Do class, I constantly had to motivate my students to push themselves to their full physical potential. Similarly, I will always conduct my math classes in a positive and motivating way in order to push my students to their full academic potential. Aside from having an engaging and motivating voice in my classroom, I can easily make connections with my students and hence, making the class interesting. Teaching math requires the teacher to be unique and create interesting lessons in the sense that they have to hold the students attention. This is why differentiated instruction is crucial in a math classroom. Incorporating direction instruction with inquiry based and cooperative learning will target as well as impact each student’s learning needs. This can make or break the student’s math learning experience.
I believe that the Common Core is an extraordinary set of standards turned into engaging lessons that allows students to fully immerse themselves in a specific topic. It also promotes problem solvers. After teaching the entire Common Core Geometry Module 1 book, I noticed that the lessons consisted of mostly inquiry based and cooperative learning. For example, one lesson had the students working in groups to come up with a construction solution to dividing a line segment into eight equal parts without simply measuring with a ruler (this is known as diving the king’s foot). Lessons that connect to the Common Core will promote the students’ conceptual understanding as well as produce analytical, creative thinkers.
The Common Core Modules are a great set of lessons, but they also need some supplemental material to be created by the math teacher. For example, before teaching a lesson on dilations, I had the students work in small groups to come up with a list of times where they have heard the word “dilation” outside of school. Some of their responses included getting their eyes dilated and dilating a picture. I then had the students come up with their own definition of the word “dilation”. By doing this, I had accomplished an inquiry-based introduction to my lesson and had the students apply their real world knowledge of a dilation to the math classroom. It is great to get the students to create their own real world examples of terms they learn in math because it encourages the application level of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
As Benjamin Franklin said, “Tell me and I will forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” I feel that teaching math is all about getting the students to work in collaboration and understand and make connections from one concept to the next. It is about applying math to the real world. Teaching will always be an ongoing process, therefore, I will always be learning along sides with my students.
As a former third degree black belt and instructor of Tae Kwon Do, I have developed a unique way of conducting my classroom. I have established a distinct, enthusiastic voice that commands the attention of my students. While instructing a Tae Kwon Do class, I constantly had to motivate my students to push themselves to their full physical potential. Similarly, I will always conduct my math classes in a positive and motivating way in order to push my students to their full academic potential. Aside from having an engaging and motivating voice in my classroom, I can easily make connections with my students and hence, making the class interesting. Teaching math requires the teacher to be unique and create interesting lessons in the sense that they have to hold the students attention. This is why differentiated instruction is crucial in a math classroom. Incorporating direction instruction with inquiry based and cooperative learning will target as well as impact each student’s learning needs. This can make or break the student’s math learning experience.
I believe that the Common Core is an extraordinary set of standards turned into engaging lessons that allows students to fully immerse themselves in a specific topic. It also promotes problem solvers. After teaching the entire Common Core Geometry Module 1 book, I noticed that the lessons consisted of mostly inquiry based and cooperative learning. For example, one lesson had the students working in groups to come up with a construction solution to dividing a line segment into eight equal parts without simply measuring with a ruler (this is known as diving the king’s foot). Lessons that connect to the Common Core will promote the students’ conceptual understanding as well as produce analytical, creative thinkers.
The Common Core Modules are a great set of lessons, but they also need some supplemental material to be created by the math teacher. For example, before teaching a lesson on dilations, I had the students work in small groups to come up with a list of times where they have heard the word “dilation” outside of school. Some of their responses included getting their eyes dilated and dilating a picture. I then had the students come up with their own definition of the word “dilation”. By doing this, I had accomplished an inquiry-based introduction to my lesson and had the students apply their real world knowledge of a dilation to the math classroom. It is great to get the students to create their own real world examples of terms they learn in math because it encourages the application level of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
As Benjamin Franklin said, “Tell me and I will forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” I feel that teaching math is all about getting the students to work in collaboration and understand and make connections from one concept to the next. It is about applying math to the real world. Teaching will always be an ongoing process, therefore, I will always be learning along sides with my students.