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Philosophy of Math Education
I believe as an educator, keeping students interested and excited about learning will be the best way to lead an effective math classroom. As a secondary math teacher, it is easy to lose students on the first day of instruction. Many students enter a classroom with their minds already made up: they hate math and will never understand it. It is my job as an educator to change their minds and make them realize that it is possible for them to learn and understand math concepts.
To achieve this, the first step is to create a student centered learning environment. This partially involves taking students opinions, likes and dislikes into account when creating lesson plans. This can begin on the first day of school as part of an ice breaker activity. Students would need to tell a few facts about themselves, including a hobby or interest. This information would best be used in a math classroom when designing homework and practice problems. Student centered learning is accomplished by allowing students to facilitate their own learning. This can be done by using numerous hands-on activities where students learn through inquiry.
During fieldwork experience, I have seen that students learn math concepts better if they are doing a hands-on activity. I think the best way to do this is through collaborative activities, such as labs. These can be worked into topics throughout the year, providing students with the chance to work and learn together, thus increasing their knowledge while giving them a chance to exercise their social skills. It is important to remind students, and to remind myself, that learning is cumulative, so knowledge is growing and expanding. In math especially, the units are cumulative, so information from one topic is important to learn the next. Students should be aware of this so they will be more likely to seek extra help so they continue to understand lessons.
My philosophy of education is greatly based on providing students with the mathematical knowledge they will need to help determine and define their own success as productive members of society. Students will be excited to learn if the material is geared towards their interests or if they are concentrating on some goal they wish to achieve later in life. Students need to learn how to think critically so they can analyze information presented to them in class and realize how it can apply to them to help them succeed. I think it is more important for students to learn, than to use traditional structures of mathematical education in my classroom.
To achieve this, the first step is to create a student centered learning environment. This partially involves taking students opinions, likes and dislikes into account when creating lesson plans. This can begin on the first day of school as part of an ice breaker activity. Students would need to tell a few facts about themselves, including a hobby or interest. This information would best be used in a math classroom when designing homework and practice problems. Student centered learning is accomplished by allowing students to facilitate their own learning. This can be done by using numerous hands-on activities where students learn through inquiry.
During fieldwork experience, I have seen that students learn math concepts better if they are doing a hands-on activity. I think the best way to do this is through collaborative activities, such as labs. These can be worked into topics throughout the year, providing students with the chance to work and learn together, thus increasing their knowledge while giving them a chance to exercise their social skills. It is important to remind students, and to remind myself, that learning is cumulative, so knowledge is growing and expanding. In math especially, the units are cumulative, so information from one topic is important to learn the next. Students should be aware of this so they will be more likely to seek extra help so they continue to understand lessons.
My philosophy of education is greatly based on providing students with the mathematical knowledge they will need to help determine and define their own success as productive members of society. Students will be excited to learn if the material is geared towards their interests or if they are concentrating on some goal they wish to achieve later in life. Students need to learn how to think critically so they can analyze information presented to them in class and realize how it can apply to them to help them succeed. I think it is more important for students to learn, than to use traditional structures of mathematical education in my classroom.