So, I decided to go back to the Rational Math blog and look through some of his older posts since I didn't have a chance to look through everything when I started to follow him. So I came across a post of his about Khan Academy, a student posted about how great it is because he now has the time to learn math - our blogger however disagrees.
While reading our bloggers post about Khan, I was quite unhappy with his thoughts - that Khan just teaches you what you need to know - aka how to do the problem but never explains why he is doing what he is. Now, I've used Khan Academy myself, because lets face it, not everything makes sense all the time in math. And sometimes, you just need to learn the section in order to pass the test.
DING! DING! DING! I just pointed out exactly what our blogger was trying to express. Students today don't always take the time to understand the reason why they are doing the procedures they are, they just want to obtain enough information so that they pass their test and move along to the next chapter. Our blogger of Rational Math explains that yeah, he may be getting paid to tutor students in mathematics while Khan is free, easy and at your fingertips, but he explains what they are doing and why. Without understanding the reasoning behind math - you're simply just plugging in pointless numbers - and thats where the famous question will arise...
"When will I ever need this in life?"
Friday, September 26, 2014
Math in your Environment
Well, last week I found two blogs that spiked my interest, one did not post this week, and the other has just started posting again now that she has a handle on her classroom. So, though I will continue to check on those blogs - I found a new Math Education blog on tumblr. This blog instantly caught my eye, one because it's extremely witty and there are tons of math jokes on the page. Then I scrolled down to the first textual post, "Murals & Math: One School's Solution to Graffiti." The writer of the blog and a school math teacher teamed up to work with one another to incorporate art and math into one. Now I'm thinking - well math people are brained while artists are usually right brained - so how is this one going to work? Then I think a little more about it, and well I love math and I'm a pretty good artist, so it could work.
The goal of these two was to incorporate school into the everyday life their students are living. For instance, the first project was to survey the students and ask them how they felt on a scale of 10 throughout different times of the day. From there, a histogram was produced and painted along the back wall of the school. It looks a lot like art work when you walk into the building, but when you read the graph, thats when you can understand what it actually is. I thought it was actually very clever, and I'm sure it reminds students to be happier.
My inner algebraic nerd got extremely excited when I saw that they chose to represent pi in an artistic form. Each number 1-9 was represented by it's own color in the key, and the graph was drawn out in the shape of a snail's shell - which I of course loved since you don't ever really know when that spiral stops just because you can't see it anymore doesn't mean its not there - just like the number pi itself! I really liked that they were able to bring "graffiti" to the streets and the schools in a positive and educational way.
The goal of these two was to incorporate school into the everyday life their students are living. For instance, the first project was to survey the students and ask them how they felt on a scale of 10 throughout different times of the day. From there, a histogram was produced and painted along the back wall of the school. It looks a lot like art work when you walk into the building, but when you read the graph, thats when you can understand what it actually is. I thought it was actually very clever, and I'm sure it reminds students to be happier.
My inner algebraic nerd got extremely excited when I saw that they chose to represent pi in an artistic form. Each number 1-9 was represented by it's own color in the key, and the graph was drawn out in the shape of a snail's shell - which I of course loved since you don't ever really know when that spiral stops just because you can't see it anymore doesn't mean its not there - just like the number pi itself! I really liked that they were able to bring "graffiti" to the streets and the schools in a positive and educational way.
Thursday, September 18, 2014
About "Teaching High School Math"
This week I found two blogs that spiked my interest, one titled "Rational Mathematics Education" and the other "Teaching High School Math." I first found Rational Mathematics Education which caught my attention by blogging much about ETS, students feeling anxious about math, and technology in math (Khan Academy). These are just a few of his most recent posts. The blogger of Rational Math has quite a personality joking about how often things are overlooked with standardized testing and that these questions may not seem to be as they appear. Throughout the blog, a number of examples of "easy" math problems that have been seen on ETS testing are posted and completed with "what most people would do" and "what you're supposed to do." I find it quite interesting to see the other side of standardized testing, I've only been given the chance to take them - and never to know which questions I got right or wrong. Now our blogger, he's been in the Education system for 42 years, so as someone going into Education, I can't wait to read more posts from someone with as much experience as him.
Now, Teaching High School Math is a blog that is more so directed toward her students and lessons she presents in her classroom, bulletin boards, and fun things that will keep her students interested. She willingly posts her documents for others to utilize, and she also incorporates technology into some of them. In her back to school post about stimulating her students minds on the first day of class she puts mathematical equations for the students to solve on a card and then she uses a QR reader to determine if her students got the correct answer. One of my favorite posts by Jennifer was "Writing about Math." This post could not be any more accurate - she states a definition she was taught in college, she remembered it, but never understood it until she was getting ready to teach calculus herself. She makes it a point to have her students write about math, this way they can talk about what they learned (reinforcement), and she can also read over them and see what she may need to explain to her class in order for them to understand. I love this post because it is 100% true - a majority of my classes consist of me not understanding a dang concept being put on the board because teachers are just whipping through their notes trying to get through all the needed material. I also have a firm belief that students need to improve reading and writing skills in order to continue on with their skills in any subject.
Now, Teaching High School Math is a blog that is more so directed toward her students and lessons she presents in her classroom, bulletin boards, and fun things that will keep her students interested. She willingly posts her documents for others to utilize, and she also incorporates technology into some of them. In her back to school post about stimulating her students minds on the first day of class she puts mathematical equations for the students to solve on a card and then she uses a QR reader to determine if her students got the correct answer. One of my favorite posts by Jennifer was "Writing about Math." This post could not be any more accurate - she states a definition she was taught in college, she remembered it, but never understood it until she was getting ready to teach calculus herself. She makes it a point to have her students write about math, this way they can talk about what they learned (reinforcement), and she can also read over them and see what she may need to explain to her class in order for them to understand. I love this post because it is 100% true - a majority of my classes consist of me not understanding a dang concept being put on the board because teachers are just whipping through their notes trying to get through all the needed material. I also have a firm belief that students need to improve reading and writing skills in order to continue on with their skills in any subject.
Horizon Report Blog
The Horizon Report 2014 for kindergarten - twelfth grade talks about bringing your own device into the classrooms, cloud technology, gaming, connecting internet objets to real world objects, wearable technology, how technology effects the roles of teachers, being open to new technologies that could change learning as we know it, and the challenges it may also create. After reading the Horizon report, it was brought to my attention how much technology can influence the students, yet it still shows that it should not completely replace the traditional way of learning. The report explains all of the great options that are given to teachers through electronic devices that they could be implementing within the classroom. Utilizing technology to it's greatest potential is by using it for reinforcement and allowing students to bring their lessons home with them after it has already been taught within the classroom. As a math major, while reading the Horizon Report, Flipped classroom sounds like it could be extremely useful in my future. Allowing your students to take the time they need in order to grasp a concept, rather than pushing them through to the next topic will give them the chance to actually understand the material they are being taught rather than learning the material just to pass the test and forget the information previously learned. It definitely has me wondering more about it and what other great technology can be utilized in a high school math classroom.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
About Me
Welcome Bloggers!
My name is Taylor Warne and I am a Math & Education major at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. I currently work at Stockton as a Mathematics Tutor for an introductory level math class and I work for Marriott Vacation Club. I am now an alumni member of Delta Delta Delta, where I held three leadership positions as Continuing Education Chair, Panhellenic Treasurer, and Panhellenic Recruitment Counselor. As I finish up my last few years in school, my future begins to look brighter and brighter as I can't wait to become a high school math teacher.
My name is Taylor Warne and I am a Math & Education major at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. I currently work at Stockton as a Mathematics Tutor for an introductory level math class and I work for Marriott Vacation Club. I am now an alumni member of Delta Delta Delta, where I held three leadership positions as Continuing Education Chair, Panhellenic Treasurer, and Panhellenic Recruitment Counselor. As I finish up my last few years in school, my future begins to look brighter and brighter as I can't wait to become a high school math teacher.
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