Category Archives: 3. Prof. Skills & Abilities

Maths is what?

Leave a reply

Today I was shown a quote describing maths as ‘Elegant and Beautiful’. This left me baffled as I thought back to my Maths jotter full of messily written, panic stricken, bunk bed sums. Otherwise known as “vertical calculations” to those more Mathematically capable. How could Maths possibly be beautiful?

That’s when it clicked. As a teacher it is my job to make it beautiful. In today’s class we explored what made maths so terrifying and difficult to children. It shocked me to realize that a massive part of the problem can be down to a parents view or even a teachers apprehension. As a teacher it is my job to show children that maths is not something to be scared about. I must put forward that even great mathematicians make mistakes, and alike every other area of the curriculum, mistakes are welcome.

So how do I change my view on maths? According to Haylock (2014) there is evidence that some teachers experience anxiety and panic when they encounter mathematical tasks they are unfamiliar with. One way I can combat this is to be as familiar as possible with the maths I need to teach. This will reduce panic during teaching if I perhaps make a slight mistake and get the incorrect answer. If I continue to be relaxed when teaching maths, I will hopefully be able to keep this relaxed manner when faced with new problems in the subject. This air of confidence will in turn reflect on the children in my classroom.

Another common cause of anxiety in teachers in relation to maths is that it is a difficult subject that only clever people can understand (Haylock, D, 2014). Personally, I think that the difficulty of a topic should not stop someone from attempting it and trying their best. I believe that if I put my mind to it I could achieve anything I wanted to. I also want to pass this belief into the children that I teach. However, I have never applied this term to my ability in maths. From this point on-wards I will strive to do my best in mathematics. This way I will begin to see that I am capable of understanding and teaching in a way which children will enjoy.

There is so much more I need to research in relation to maths and how to teach it in a way that will engage children and provide a math promoting environment. These points are just the beginning in what I hope will be a process of changing my fear of maths, in turn allowing me to eradicate this fear that is ever present in school so far.

Haylock, D. (2014). Mathematics explained for primary teachers. 5th ed. Los Angeles: SAGE.

Stop doing that for your kids!

2 Replies

I recently read a very interesting article/blog that highlighted one Mum’s new revolution on how much we do for children. I’ll add a link here, so that I don’t take the credit. http://www.yourmodernfamily.com/stop/

The basic idea of this post is that we are doing far too much for children which is potentially doing more harm than good. I really enjoyed the description of the event that this woman used. It made me think back to my childhood in a way. I was always the child who would go to my friends house and try to keep as much to myself as possible in regards to their possessions or when offered food. I was terrified that I would make a mess and their parents would be angry, whereas my friends seemed not to care. They would tell me to leave wrappers on the floor or to leave my dirty plate for her mum. I felt very uncomfortable knowing that I was effecting someones home and leaving them to tidy up after me.

Taking this all into consideration I think back at how my mum raised me to help out and mentally thank her. She would help me tidy my room, but never do it herself, she would encourage me to pick up my toys and take my dishes to the kitchen when i’ve used them. I would help her dust and I understood the importance of my actions at a young age. I grew up to continue to help my mum around the house and it set me up to do well at school too. I was used to having responsibilities and could cope with them well. I think starting to get young children to take small responsibilities around the house can really do them well and set them up for a good future. So many things in life depend on having responsibilities and following them through effectively. We should all teach our children to take responsibility and enjoy it.

I then started to think about how teachers could promote this. I have previously come across teachers who kept plants in their classroom, and each week a new child would have the job to water this plant. This is a small example of a responsibility that is not too complicated for a young child. We can help children to become more responsible, they may need reminders now and then, but that is all part of our nurture.

This was a very interesting post to me and I enjoyed the thoughts it brought to me and hope I can use these in my future career as a teacher. I have a new found interest in the way we encourage children to take responsibility and how it can effect them throughout their lives. This is looked into more in the original post and I do not feel comfortable discussing these points as they are put forward so well there, but I do greatly believe that doing too much for our children can lead to lazy, dependent adults.

Active learning and cooperative working

Leave a reply

Active learning is about taking hold of your learning. It takes time, effort and motivation, but by the end of it you will have a vast understanding of everything you have learned.

Cooperative learning comes with many pros and cons. It is beneficial to work with others as they may have approached a topic differently from you. This means new information is presented to you and your understanding of the topic has been expanded. Not only can you learn from others, but by presenting your own knowledge you will further retain the information for future use. By repeating your notes or thoughts it will further ingrain into your brain and you will be able to recall it faster with regular study. Cooperative learning also allows you to develop team working skills and communication skills, as well as other attributes such as confidence.

The potential downsides to cooperative working is that it is very easy to be distracted when working with others. It is very easy to go off topic, especially if you are working with a friend. When working in a group, students need to try and keep on task and not veer from the subject matter. On the other end of the scale, you may not always get along with your partner or others in your group. Disagreements can lead to a split in a group which can heavily effect learning. This will create a tense atmosphere and can make people less likely to share their thoughts as they are scared to create conflict.

In conclusion, I think cooperative learning does have it’s benefits, but students need to remember to be open-minded in their approach and be considerate of others. Only then will cooperative learning be beneficial.

How I manage my Learning.

Leave a reply
  1. Managing My Learning

  Activity 1

Complete the table below to identify and reflect on those factors and plan actions for each.

Recognition/ Reflection Action
What helps my learning? How can I utilise this?
Discussing the topic with others. ·         Set up a study group of like-minded peers

·         Engage with the online community
Writing down important parts. ·         Make time to go through slides and take the                    time to write it down.
Staying focussed in lectures. ·         Ensuring I am motivated.

·         Not allowing myself to be distracted.
Keeping up to date with tasks. ·         Making a study plan so I know when I must                     complete tasks by.
Being organised. ·         Keeping my notes and resources in a tidy way.

·         Following a study plan.

·         Noting down when I have lectures each week.

 

 

Recognition/Reflection Action
What hinders my learning?          How can I address this factor?
I’m easily distracted.

 

 ·         Study in a place where distractions are minimal

·         Read lecture notes before the lecture and then                take notes lectures to keep me focused
I can lose motivation easily. ·         Have a positive mind set and have goals that I                 want to reach.
I can’t focus for large amounts of time. ·         Manage my time effectively so that I don’t have               too much work to do in one large chunk.
Social Media. ·         I need to turn off Social Media and my phone                   when I am studying so I don’t get distracted.

 

Activity 2

  • November

Complete all online units over course of month.

-Unit one by 13th

-Unit two by 20th

-Unit three by 27th

Begin to gather research for my Essays and Presentation.

Begin Philosophy essay around 25th

  • December

Complete both essays and presentation whilst studying for presentation.

  • January

Complete all TDT’s

Prepare for placement.