Math and What It Is Focused On - Personal Statement Example

Describe your own work on three of the mathematics tasks in Units 2 and 3 . A. INTRODUCTION: Math is focused on many theories of learning. One such theory is that a lesson without an opportunity for generalization is not a lesson in mathematics. The following paragraphs explains many aspects of math teaching. B. BODY: I. An account of what you did, how you did it and why you did it that way; UNIT 1 I showed them the mobius band and first showed my pupils how to work on the mobius bands. I introduced it by saying that we are going to play a new game called mobius band. They were so eager and excited to do it themselves after observing how I demonstrated the different steps in doing the mobius exercises. The finished it so fast and were clapping their hands after congratulated them for making the mobius bands under my watchful eyes. I explained to them that by cutting a dot on the mobius band I could return to this point by continuing to go forward in one direction. I gave the pupils addition items like two plus three and five minus one after I demonstrate to them how to add and deduct numbers. I taught them how to add and deduct it is the basic requirement the pupils must conquer. Since I taught them how use the adding and deducting of basic numbers in mathematics, I know that when be promoted the next levels of grade school., the will apply what I have been painstakingly teaching them every hour of every day. In fact, some day in the future, when they will become young men and women, some will become engineers and others will become accountants. Other pupils of mine will become teachers like me so that they will inculcate in their children pupils the latest trends of math computations that are an offshoot or improvement over my teaching methods. UNIT 2 I gave the pupils ten numbers on adding numbers that range from one to twenty for two days. I then gave the pupils ten numbers on deducting numbers that range from one to twenty. This is because I want them to master addition. Mathematics is best learned by DOING. Repetition of the same function like adding and deducting makes one an expert for as the saying goes, experience is the best teacher. Mastery of adding and deducting not only includes getting a correct answer but also having a correct answer in as less time as possible. At first, I could feel their resistance to even look at math problems but I still pursued my objective to let them know the rudiments of math computations for I know that they will thank me in the end when they are young men and women. In fact, I know that some of them will be computer experts where proficiency in math is a requirement. I taught them to master or specialize adding and deducting numbers from one to twenty because this is the basic requirement for them to hurdle before then can work on higher and more complex numbers. I have to teach them to specialize in adding and deducting so that they can apply what they learned to real life situations. They will know how to add and deduct numbers such as how much to pay for a chocolate bar or a softdrink or even how much the pupil will ask as increase in allowance because food items in the school canteen have increased. Many of our present day businessmen, engineers and even plain housewives need the rudiments and the simple complexities of the math in order not only to solve daily math problems but also to entertain themselves by pondering over the intricacies of solving math questions. Their math understanding will be needed as they compute for higher math problems like geometry and like what is explained when they use the geoboard. The pupils will learn how to identify the different shapes of figures like the rectangle, square, triangle, octagon, pentagon and others. UNIT 3 I have taught that students based how to add and deduct math numbers based on the mental capacity of the pupil. There are students who love math so that they spend a lot of time solving math problems. These students learn math additions and math subtractions faster than those students who hate math the mere thought of even just looking at math problems. With the math enthusiasts, my teaching strategy is to use fewer problems of simple design and give them more complex math problems. As for the students of the slower math capabilities, I sit beside them to guide them and spend more time with them to encourage and change their attitude towards math computations. I do this because I want the two kinds of students to learn to compute correctly Just like the inchworm and the grasshopper kinds of students. The inchworm pupil focuses on the parts and the details, and at the facts to determine the right formula to use among others mathematical procedures as compared to the grasshopper who interprets math problems at a holistic and forms and concepts and puts together facts to determine how to answer math problems. According also to Lochhead one math question example is "A heart-shaped box has 3 snakes and a square box has 8 snakes. Draw the heart-shaped box and show the snakes in it. Draw the square box and show the snakes in it.How many snakes are there altogether A heart-shaped box has 3 snakes" (Lochhead, 1990) According also to Lauren Resnick of University of Pittsburgh he stated that "Increasingly, our society expects schools to produce students who possess sound knowledge and basic skills, as well as high level, embedded symbolic thinking and problem-solving skills. Our schools also are expected to produce students who value the process of learning and the improvement of their skills, who willingly try to develop and apply their skills and knowledge, and who have a long- term commitment to learning. Educational systems that do not in- crease the value that learners hold for hard work and persistent effort are unlikely to improve and sustain long-term achievement"( Karabenick,1998) Both the two above references show that many researches have been done on the teaching math so that the methods of teaching math is rapidly being changed for the better for each year that follows. Since the society we live in has to absorb the pupils when they are exposed to the real world outside the four walls of the classroom, then the teachers have to double their efforts to produce future citizens of society that is wiser than if the pupils had not been exposed to the rigors of math computations. II. A brief description of the mathematics and mathematical connections, and the content and process, that arose for you in the task; UNIT 1 Teaching will fail if one of the course triads composed of teacher, mathematics and the learner, is removed. Mathematics is being taught, in my teaching method, in storytelling style. I start by using numbers in story form. For example, if John picks two flowers and picks another three flowers along the way, how many flowers is John carrying By congratulating the child for a correct answer, he or she will be very happy. The pupils will learn about space ( how far) and time ( how long) and learn as they play with the mobius band. The children will learn the beauty and appreciate the mind boggling nature of mathematics. The child's interest will increase if lessons are given in story telling style which is how I teach my pupils. The content of the mathematics curricula, I use with my pupils, shows that the main of objective is for the pupils to pass the mathematics test I give. The process I use is the problem solving style. I give them tests to determine if they know how to add and deduct number. The test results will tell me which prior math topics I have to repeat for clarity and which topics I do not need to repeat because most of the pupils answered correctly the math questions. I show the children the reasons why the sum or difference should be such and I demonstrate how to add and deduct numbers. UNIT 2 I teach them how to add and deduct numbers from one to twenty. I teach them generalization by saying if you add two numbers like A plus B, then the pupils can count how many items are present to get the correct answer. I also teach my pupils generalization by saying that if we deduct two numbers, we just remove from the first number indicated the number of items indicated by the second number which is located after the deduction sign. UNIT 3 By spending more time with pupils who are weak in math and lesser time is spent with pupils who are better math solvers, the slow learning math pupils will be able to catch up with the fast learners. By letting students compute many math problems, the students will of either the grasshopper or inchworm group will be able to arrive at the right answers in lesser time as they compute more and more problems. III. Your reflection on your own role as a learner. UNIT 1 As a learner, I have learned that usefulness of math in our everyday life. We did mathematics to know how to add and deduct and also to use the mobius band. I learned that by being trained in daily use of mathematics, I will know how much money I paid for the day and how much money I received for the day. I then connect the math problems with reality by giving examples from daily life like for example: if your mother gave you $1 and your father gave you $2 and you spend a quarter, how much money do you still have UNIT 2 As a learner, I have learned that adding many number problems increases in me the love for mathematical computations because I can personally see the beauty and the challenge that math computations give me unlike other subjects that need memorization like language, history and science. I can also feel my brain cell combining forces as I tackle each math problem that comes my way. Personally, too, I can feel the time I spend in computing those math questions decrease as I compute more and more math problems. I have also learned that I can now compute how much money I have to pay for grocery items and school supplies like pens books and notebooks without resorting to using calculators. UNIT 3 As a learner, I have learned that the more I solve math problems, the more my correct computations will occur and I learned that as I solve more and more math problems, my speed to solve each math question increases because the time spend decreases. John Lochhead was right, in my opinion, when he stated that " We should be teaching students how to think; instead we are primarily teaching them what to think. This misdirection of effort in education is the inevitable consequence of an overemphasis on objectively measurable outcomes. In brief, we are more concerned with what answers are given than with how they are produced. But recent developments in cognitive studies have made it possible to conduct systematic scientific research on high order human cognitive processes"(Lochhead, 1979). It has been reiterated here again and again that math is not confined to adding and subtracting alone but rather it is the first step to the wonderful world of mental calisthenics with mathematics as the arena where the mental exercise is sharpened and exposed. B. CONCLUSION Based on the above three units of learning, the students said that they found it difficult to solve the math problems. But as the teaching was catered to each child's capacity to absorb each new math topic, they slowly appreciate the reasons the teacher taught them on how and why the students had to learn math computations. The students became very happy when the teacher congratulated each student as they gave the correct answers to each math problem. The teacher was very happy because the students finally learned how to solve math problems after all the hard work and patience exerted by both the teacher and the pupils. REFERENCE: Lochhead et al., Thinking through Math Word Problems: Strategies for Intermediate Elementary School Students, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, NJ., 1990 Karabenick A., Strategic Help Seeking: Implications for Learning and Teaching, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, NJ, 1998 Clement J., Lochhead, J., Cognitive Process Instruction: Research on Teaching Thinking Skills, Franklin Institute Press, Philadelphia, 1979 Read More