My philosophy of teaching mathematics is a student-centered approach of perennialism. Students should have the opportunity to learn as much as they can based on the great thinkers of the past, but with a modern twist that allows for students to learn about what they are interested in, involving culturally relevant topics. The students will learn what is essential to be a well-rounded and educated individual who can think independently, while also being motivated to learn since the students will play a role in deciding how the curriculum is taught.
I take note of the hobbies and interests of my students to find ways to integrate them into the curriculum. I can explain how gaining and losing yardage on the football field relates to adding and subtracting on a number line. I can make projects about topics the students choose, such as the correlations between number of completed homework assignments and test averages or what their SAT score actually represents. I can turn a state standard into something of value for these students and help them to develop an appreciation for mathematics in the real world.
I value the importance of analyzing and evaluating the entire mathematical process when completing assignments. My students will self-monitor using cognitive thinking skills to determine if they fully understand what they are learning, how to do the procedures, and when to use those procedures. If a student can answer each of those questions, he or she will be successful. If he or she recognizes that there is a misunderstanding and looks for help in that area, then that student will have learned the mathematics and developed his problem-solving skills. Problem solving is one of the most important skills learned from any mathematics course. The average student will not need to prove triangles congruent in his daily life, but every student will need to keep working at the problems they encounter in the real world to find appropriate solutions and justify the actions they choose to solve those problems. Math classes are a means of allowing students to practice working out problems and justifying their thought process in a safe environment where it is okay to make mistakes and learn from them.
Being an advocate for cross curricular teaching, I’d like to work with teachers of other content areas to create lessons that will connect the courses and give the students the chance to see how their classes are connected to each other. This will allow for more cooperative learning opportunities in class because students will be able to work together to compare the half-life formula they learned in Chemistry to the exponential decay formula they are learning in Algebra, then evaluate the similarities with their classmates.
I will also use every opportunity to incorporate appropriate technologies, depending on the needs and interests of the students, in the classroom to create memorable experiences for the students to refer to when solving problems in the future. I believe that students benefit from experiences like this because it provides the entire class with a common prior knowledge experience that I can refer to when teaching. For example, while student teaching, I asked the classes to compare two sequences (Arithmetic and Geometric) about kids saving money using what they know about patterns while working cooperatively to complete a project. When teaching these topics later in the week, I referred to the kids’ savings to connect to the prior knowledge that I knew all the students had. This helped them to differentiate between the types of sequences and clarified a common misconception.
I use my problem-solving skills from my mathematics background to adjust and adapt my teaching for every class. If the students had trouble in one class, I can update my lesson plan and make the lesson better for the other classes. This sort of flexibility is essential for teachers to be experts in and be willing and able to teach to the learners in their care.
I take note of the hobbies and interests of my students to find ways to integrate them into the curriculum. I can explain how gaining and losing yardage on the football field relates to adding and subtracting on a number line. I can make projects about topics the students choose, such as the correlations between number of completed homework assignments and test averages or what their SAT score actually represents. I can turn a state standard into something of value for these students and help them to develop an appreciation for mathematics in the real world.
I value the importance of analyzing and evaluating the entire mathematical process when completing assignments. My students will self-monitor using cognitive thinking skills to determine if they fully understand what they are learning, how to do the procedures, and when to use those procedures. If a student can answer each of those questions, he or she will be successful. If he or she recognizes that there is a misunderstanding and looks for help in that area, then that student will have learned the mathematics and developed his problem-solving skills. Problem solving is one of the most important skills learned from any mathematics course. The average student will not need to prove triangles congruent in his daily life, but every student will need to keep working at the problems they encounter in the real world to find appropriate solutions and justify the actions they choose to solve those problems. Math classes are a means of allowing students to practice working out problems and justifying their thought process in a safe environment where it is okay to make mistakes and learn from them.
Being an advocate for cross curricular teaching, I’d like to work with teachers of other content areas to create lessons that will connect the courses and give the students the chance to see how their classes are connected to each other. This will allow for more cooperative learning opportunities in class because students will be able to work together to compare the half-life formula they learned in Chemistry to the exponential decay formula they are learning in Algebra, then evaluate the similarities with their classmates.
I will also use every opportunity to incorporate appropriate technologies, depending on the needs and interests of the students, in the classroom to create memorable experiences for the students to refer to when solving problems in the future. I believe that students benefit from experiences like this because it provides the entire class with a common prior knowledge experience that I can refer to when teaching. For example, while student teaching, I asked the classes to compare two sequences (Arithmetic and Geometric) about kids saving money using what they know about patterns while working cooperatively to complete a project. When teaching these topics later in the week, I referred to the kids’ savings to connect to the prior knowledge that I knew all the students had. This helped them to differentiate between the types of sequences and clarified a common misconception.
I use my problem-solving skills from my mathematics background to adjust and adapt my teaching for every class. If the students had trouble in one class, I can update my lesson plan and make the lesson better for the other classes. This sort of flexibility is essential for teachers to be experts in and be willing and able to teach to the learners in their care.