Practicum Experiences Reflection

When reading my first partners responses I realized that there were some distinct similarities and differences. Both of us found that students in general where well behaved and respectful. Both myself and my partner found that there was no strict policy on the use of ipds and phones, I personally find this very troublesome as we may struggle to change implement a policy. The same applies to the lack of consistency for punishment of lateness. I found that in both math and PE there was great communication between teachers which is in contrast to what my partner saw. At times in PE facilities were shared due to weather, and in math collaboration was used to write midterms. I was amazed to read on my partners blog that there teachers could not deduct marks for late assignments, where as I thought I saw students recieve zero for work not completed and no opportunity to hand it in late.

It seemed that my second partner had a sort of a shock when entering the classroom. It appeares as though the students were well below his expectations. I feel it is important to set high standards for students, and we are tools for the students to use to get to these high standards. Once again this partner saw a lack of communication between teachers, especially outside of departments. I think that it is essentially a school atmosphere that effects this as all teachers were really welcoming and seemed to communinicate well between departments. However, as my partner noticed it is clear that some students/parents want to try to struggle through principles of math instead of being placed in one of the alternate choices. At my school a student was taking principles of math 10 for the thrid time and still not passing!

Thinking Mathematically

Chapter 2 in the text provided us with an interesting way of examining problems in math. I feel that I was in fact following a format similar to the one presented, but not in such a formal way. The text book provided us with a three step technique in solving problems. The first step, is the Entry Phase, here the student is to carefully read the problem to try to grasp a better understanding for the problem. The text recomends three questions in order to facilitate the Entry Phase; (1) What do I KNOW? (2) What do I WANT? (3) What can I INTRODUCE? using these three questions should help lay the framework for the next step. The next step is the Attack Phase, this is the stage through which you feel that the problem has become your own, and the problem is either abandoned or resolved. The third stage is the Review Phase, here one should review their work. There are three aspects to the Review Phase: (1) CHECK the resolution (2) REFLECT on the key ideas and key moments (3) EXPAND to a wider context.

Chapter 3 refers to the responses to the state in which the individual has a feeling of being STUCK! This feeling in my opinion can act as both a positive and a negative depending on each individual. Some might interepret being STUCK! as a motivator while others may find it frustrating and give up. But just as stated in the text I believe that this phase should provide easch student with some sort of learning. There can also be the great sense of accomplishment from this phase which I would think is similar to the AHA! response.

There is one aspect of the two chapters that stood out to me which we need to be aware of. As much as me might believe that every child should love math or should enjoy math it is just not going to happen, just as not all students enyoy PE or English or Biology and so on. The textbook refers to taking math problems as a chef would take tasting food, in that a chef would savor the flavor. In this context yes a chef would savor that flavor but would a dentist or a math teacher, so it is difficult to ask everyone to look at math the same.

Reponse to Practicum

During my practicum I was actually surprised with how good the students were. I was expecting to have some students that would be troublesome or disruptive in the classroom, however, most if not all students were very respectable in the classroom, especially the math classroom compared to a PE class. However, in all this I also learned that as nice or well behaved a student maybe in the classroom we still need to be aware of how he or she behaves outside of school. We had an incident at school where students that appeared to be very respectful in class, were far from that when removed from the school setting. If we learn more about these students we may be able to affect how they behave outside school hours.

In the PE classes I was somewhat surprised with the lack of lesson planning that the teachers actually did. A major reason for this was that teachers were unaware of their facility for that week until Monday morning. This was a learning experience for me, in that it showed me how to think on my feet and develop a lesson quickly that serves a purpose to the student.

In my math classes, I was surprised by how little lecturing was actually done. Typically the teacher would lecture for no more than 20 minutes and then allow the students to do text book work. I can see the positives in this, I think that allowing the students so much time to do their work and communicate with one another also allows them to teach each other. With this technique students learn both from another student and also learn by teaching their peers.

I also learned that students will respect fair and understanding teachers. Teachers that are fair to their students and cared for the student seemed to have a better understanding between themselves and the student. Students enjoy being treated fairly, and not being treated as someone underneath the teacher.