Methods of Math Teaching and Learning

Fall Semester 2019 New Beginnings with New Preservice Teachers!!! This blog post is about the first Number Talks for the new semester. The goal for this Number Talk is to introduce the practice with a new group of Preservice Teachers (PST) in math methods. NT is really taken off in Madison County, and I want to make sure my PST are well versed in the practice. This NT includes dot images. The focus for NT using dot images is to builds accuracy, flexibility, and efficiency strategies in counting (Parrish, 2011). According to Russell (2000), "Accuracy" denotes the ability to produce an accurate answer; "efficiency" denotes the ability to choose an appropriate, expedient strategy for a specific computation problem; and "flexibility" refers to the ability to use number relationships with ease in computation.  Instead of seeing items singularly, students can figure the amount of dots by grouping them. The below  are the dot images for the first NT.  T...

The blog is back!!!! I am grateful for another chance to send my thought and research by chronicalling my time with my preervice teachers. The reason for the reboot or deactivation is SOTA. I attended SISTERS OF THE ACADEMY (SOTA) Signature BootCamp, and it was an empowering experience!!! This is the reason why I am deactivating my blog. My senior scholar mentors gave me wonderful advise on how to handle being a scholar in the skin and gender. I plan to be purposeful in all that I do related to publishing and being an intricate part of the academy.  At BootCamp I met wonder ladies like me seeking that needed nudge in the right direction. We exchange ideas. We ate together, receive instruction together, received constructed feedback together, and even exercised together. We listened to sistas who have been in the academy. They were very transparent and their experience. The sistas made me feel I can be successful in the academy. 

February 1, 2017  A new semester brings about new methods students. Although preservice teachers (PST) are new to this class, old mind sets are not so new especially with mathematics. Therefore, it's my goal to change ones mindset to challenge PST belief about mathematics. The following series of blogs, like before, are based on utilizing Number Talks (NT) in this methods course. The following post is our first conversation with a couple of related dot images: Teacher: How many did you see? (All said 8) Teacher: How did you see it? Student 1: Top 4 and Bottom 4- 4 +4=8 Student 2: Counting by 2 vertically 2, 4, 6, 8 Student 3: Counted by 1’s Comments I purposefully included how they saw it. I wanted my students to be really specific to emphasize that mathematics can be solve in a variety of ways and still will yield the same total. Teacher: How many did you see? (all said 7). How did you see it? Student 4: The other was 8 so I took away 1 and...

Let’s Talk about Numbers! Embedding Number Talks into Pre-service Teachers Mathematics Methods Course As a classroom teacher, I saw the essential benefits of including mathematical discourse in my mathematics classroom. My elementary students were engaged with solving problems and having discussions about their approaches. As a faculty member, allowing my preservice teachers to have conversations about numbers is even more essential. Preservice teachers come with diverse experience and preconceived feelings about mathematics. They bring their feelings into college and into their teaching practices. These feelings include the following: ·          I can’t stand math! I don’t want to teach it. ·          I love math. It was my favorite subject in school! ·          There is only one way to do math!   My goal is to help develop mathematica...

This post is based on the last class session for this semester. We went out with a bang. We tackled NT with fractions. We actually started our talk about fractions the previous class session. Today was more of a review for the final. After much practice order fractions without determining alike denominators and operations with fractions using models, my PST (Pre-service Teachers) engaged in a NT involving fractions. The following is a conversation with adding fractions:   1/4 +1/2 Teacher: How did you get 3/4/ ? PST 1: I know that 1/2   is equal to 1/4 + 1/4which is 2/4.  So I used 1 /4  + 1/4 + 1/4. Therefore   it equals to 3/4.   PST 2: I just found that common denominator which is fourths. Since the first fraction already has fourth, I don’t have to change that fraction. But the second fraction is ½. The second fraction has to be changed to the new fractions that is equivalent. The equivalent fraction is 2/4 . So 1/4 + 2/4  ...

Number Talks with Multiplication Drop the Zero! NOT! April 14, 2016 For Number Talks (NT) this week,  the Pre-Service Teachers (PST) were engage with multiplication using landmark numbers. PST were to mentally solve 6 x 50 and 6 x 300. This type of problem is not a real challenge. However, I wanted to see PST's approach to solving the problems. I wanted to hear thinking as relate to multiplying numbers with the multiples of 10. What approach would they choose? The following conversation took place: Teacher: How did you solve it? PST1: I multiplied 6 x5 first. That is 30. Then I dropped the zero. So the answer is 300. Teacher: What do you mean by dropping the zero at the end? PST1: I mean since the you are multiplying by 50 so I multiply 6x5 and drop the zero at the end. Teacher: So in reality what are you multiplying? Where did you get the 5? PST 1: I got the 5 from 50. 5 x 10 is 50. So I separated the 50 into 5 x 10. Then I multiplied 6 x 5 which i...

This week in math methods class my Pre-service Teachers (PST) were introduced to alternative strategies for multiplication and division. According to Common Core State Standard/ College and Career Readiness Standards(CCSS/CCRS), students learn the standard US algorithm for multi digit multiplication in fifth grade.    Fluently multiply multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm. [5-NBT5]        Find whole-number quotients of whole numbers with up to four-digit dividends and two-digit divisors, using strategies based on place value, the properties of operations, and/or the relationship between multiplication and division. Illustrate and explain the calculation by using equations, rectangular arrays, and/or area models. [5-NBT6 ]   This mean teachers use inventive strategies and strategies involving place value understanding for multidigit multiplication.   Multiply a whole number of up to four digits by a one-...