Write about your experiences in your math classes.
Were your teacher’s methods effective?
What suggestions would you give to your teacher to be more effective?
What was most helpful?
Was Technology used? If so, what technology was used?
What technology could have been used?
The farthest back in my school career I remember is either 3rd or 4th grade. We did times tables in class everyday. We had to do timed tests to get better and faster on our times tables. We also did this for addition and subtraction in earlier years. We also played games to make us learn these. The one I remember most is called "Around the World." The teacher picks a student to start. They go stand next to another student, the teacher holds up a card and the first person to answer moves on. The first student to make it all the way around the room and make it back to their own seat gets some type of prize.
On the first day of class Mr. Moore explained his class rules: No chewing on anything, this included gum, pens, pencils, hair, even fingernails. No bouncing your feet under your desk. No tapping your fingers on your desk. Do not look at the clock. “My way or the hallway.” I was terrified that he would kick me out of class because I have chewed my fingernails since as long as I can remember. He did catch me a few times, but he never kicked me out.
Mr. Moore taught us one way to do specific sets of problems, and he expected our work to be shown in that exact way. If we did not comply with his method, he would make us rewrite it over and over to make us learn the system he wanted us to use. I always used his method because I did not want to write it over and over. I still use his method even in my 400 level math classes here at South Alabama.
In 8th grade we did a lot of projects. We had to make a blue print of our dream house and do all of the calculations that are to be done on one. We also had to draw to scale what the house would look like. My favorite was the roller coaster make from Popsicle sticks. My 9th grade year my school, Linton Stockton High School, changed how things were going to work. We went from semesters to trimesters. So, my first trimester I did not have a math class, and at the end of that trimester my parents bought a house out of our school district. So, I had to switch schools. This School, White River Valley, was still on semesters. So I had the credit for all of the classes I had taken at Linton, but I did not have math. So I moved with about 6 weeks left in the semester and had to make up all 18 weeks in that time to get the credit for the class so I would not lose getting my Academic Honors Diploma. I was behind by forty lessons in the class. The teacher told the principal, guidance counselor, and my parents that I could never do it. Well I did do it.
9th grade I had Algebra II, 10th was Geometry, and 11th was Calculus. Our Geometry, however, was not exactly Geometry. Our book for it was Linton’s Trigonometry book. So, I never really had Geometry in my opinion.
In college I have had several math classes: Pre-cal/Trig, Calculus I, II, and III, Foundations of Mathematics, Elementary Geometry, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Number Theory, Cryptography, and 2 Statistic classes. I still have Abstract Algebra, Linear Algebra II, and History of Math to take.
Effectiveness
I feel that most of my teachers were very effective in the way that they taught. I think that having Mr. Moore in 7th grade really helped me get a good basic understanding of how things should work. I also learned how to teach myself out of the book because of being so far behind in 9th grade.
The only teacher I have any complaint about is the one I had in 9th grade, Mr. Walton. I had him twice a day for the first semester to make up the credit. In 1st hour he would write everything out on the board that he was teaching. After that he left it on the board all day long, and the classes afterward only got to see what was already written.
Once I did not have to be in his class twice a day, I was stuck with only seeing what he had written in 1st hour. To make this better I think he should have written it for every class period, or if we had had a smart board he could have done it as slides in the 1st hour and saved it to show for the next 6. He could have animated the separate steps to show what is supposed to be done, then posted it to a class website or a class blog for us to see later.
Technology
Up until college no technology was used in my math classes. In high school we were allowed calculators, but I wish we had not been. Since I used one, my multiplication tables are a bit rusty. I have to think about the bigger numbers now instead of just spitting it out as soon as I see it. I do, however, believe that they could have used technology had it been given to them. In my senior year they had just gotten computers in a few of the classrooms that need them frequently, like English classes. I am really excited to see how doing a lesson using a smart board is going to go. It is next on my to do list.
In one of my college classes my professor used YouTube. He would have a student help film him while he did a tutorial on a specific subject. He would upload it and let us know he did so. That way if we had problems it would help, and it was our own teacher doing the problems in the same notation we already know. Other than this, no technology has been used in my math career. Maybe this is why I am having a difficult time seeing how it will work for me to use it. I have come up with a few ways, but I am still working on it.
Lyndsie,
ReplyDeleteI thought your assignment was very effective. I did not find any spelling or grammatical errors. I also can't believe you had to finish up 18 weeks worth of work in 6 weeks! You're a true saint. I thought your post was great! Good work!