Summative Post: Let's Wrap This Up!

Hello Everyone,

Welcome back to my blog spot where we have been talking about different math concepts and abilities I've been learning in the classroom over the last six weeks.

Math In Real Life
How many times have our students asked us where are we going to use math? When will we use this formula? or Why do we need to learn math? Well after last weeks discussion we learned that math is all around us. I found a really neat example as I have been immersed in it in my job as a cheerleading coach. I never realized that we use so many different math concepts such as counts, angles, stability, aerodynamics, etc. We need to know what is going to work when it comes to throwing others in the air, building pyramids, jumping and creating a routine that involves dance. Here is the example that I shared which is something that is more complicated then I teach but I start from the basics and realized how much more I see math in my routines.

PCT Cobras Temptation Intl Open Large Coed 5 Run 1 from Canadian
Cheer Videos on Vimeo.

My peers also pointed out about how we use math in our simple every day tasks such as grocery shopping. Matthew Italiano let me know that which I never really thought too hard into that when we grocery shop sometimes we need to convert to understand what the best deal is when we are buying things. Cheaper does not always mean a better deal depending on how much you are getting. Also we sometimes always go for specific brands. Sometimes we can't go without them and we need to be able to price match in order to get the best deal. This is something that many of our students need to understand because as they grow older and start to do things more independently they will need to realize how much more they need math in their lives than then thought.





Math and Technology

 Technology was something that was much more prevalent than I really thought about in math. It was really interesting to see the different apps and websites we could use in the classroom to really get our kids much more engaged in math. Instead of just using the cookie cutter websites or worksheets to show our math concepts we can incorporate something much more technological to help engaged our students. I had seen apps such as math prodigy and dojo used in the classroom but the app that our teacher Rebecca Buns showed us was really something amazing. It was called Minecraft Education Edition. I had heard of minecraft before but I didn't know that there was a way in which to incorporate a really popular game such as minecraft into something that can be much more educational is really interesting. I can't wait to look more into it and try to incorporate this is into my own classroom. Here is where you can go to look for more information and download it as well.

Growth Mindset
Something that has been prevalent over the last six weeks is that we need to approach math in a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset.

No matter what the topic, what the concept, what the formula we need to keep ourselves in this growth mindset. We need to understand that in order to learn and grow we need to be willing to grow. We as teachers need to encourage our students and give them praise when they are trying something new. We need to get in the habit of letting them know we see them trying and that even if they don't get the right answer we know that they are at least trying to figure it out on their own and that they will eventually get the hang of it. We need to encourage our students to keep pursuing their math concepts and understanding how to get where they need to get rather than just being worried about the answer. We need to encourage mistakes and let them know that we all learn from them.

Overall this in the last few weeks we have grown so much in looking at math differently. We weren't just looking at specific math concepts or formulas but how to break down the stereotypes of math. We learned how to keep moving in our math knowledge and really learn to grow as a mathematician rather than stopping our growth because we aren't born with the math knowledge. We have learned how to break down these barriers and let math into our world and really become much more engaged in it rather than shying away from it. As teachers we will use these learning tools and supports to help our students to become better well rounded individuals who are engaged in math and are willing to use math in their everyday lives.

Thank you so much for following and I hope you are now more open and as mindful as I am.