Blog 12 - Looking Back

Over the course of this semester I have grown so much in my thinking about what teaching math really is. I used to teach the way I was taught, and I thought since it worked well for me, that it would work well for my students too. I had to make modifications throughtout the year because my students weren't always engaged. I tried to make tasks more engaging, but I still wasn't teaching math in the Constructivist manner. I taught lessons by showing examples and giving algorithms. Students worked on the task, and then we'd go over the task and I'd offer questions. Students often asked for help, and I would help them rather than asking them to construct their own knowledge. I know that the constructivist manner will be so much better in terms of getting the students to think deeply and make connections to prior knowledge. I learned the importance of Big Ideas in guideing the lesson too. This course has given me a wealth of knowledge to take back to the classroom this fall.