Becoming my teacher self and a look within mathematics!

mariabecht
Sep 12, 2017
2 min read

I am learning a lot in my field experience and coming into my “teacher self” by spending so much time in the classroom. My CT and I set goals for myself which are listed below. These goals helped me work on my teacher presence. Goal number one was to take notes during calendar lesson as calendar is one of the first thing I am taking over. I have already completed this goal and started doing calendar in the classroom. I pay attention to my language and scripted out a lesson plan to follow when I teach Calendar. Hopefully a later blog post will detail all that I learned in this goal setting process- so stay tuned!

I ask the students “Why” and “How” they know things when doing the calendar, this makes calendar move beyond rote memorization. I want my students to understand the calendar and how it works.

Moving on, I have developed a strong presence in the classroom this past month and I am thankful my CT gave me the opportunity to do so. I have the students' respect (and I respect them as well). I have started to build strong relationships with each one of the students. These relationships and community culture my CT and I are fostering transfer over to our lessons. Recently my students have been working with numbers. We do a number a day for the numbers 0-5.

Student have been working with the numbers and identifying them. Students were gaining exposure to the numbers by making them with play dough, counting snap cubes, writing the number on a white board, and placing counters in a 10s frame. The students were doing these in centers to build an understanding of numbers, number sense, and counting. My CT and I establish a goal before we dive into the lesson. In Principles to Action: Ensuring Mathematical Success for All, the author writes that clear goals provide the starting point and foundation of intentional and effective teaching. Our goals show the meaning to the students and describe what will occur, as this helps support the learning.

My CT and I ask the students how they made the number they represented and what their representation shows. In Teaching Children Mathematics, the author writes that the above comments push students to relational understanding of the math, which will help students as we continue with math. We also had a whole group discussion on how the students connect to the number 3. My CT and I are able to see what are students are doing and get inside of their minds because our students are open with us. We have built a classroom where sharing our thinking is valued. In the First Six Weeks of School, the author writes that when students feel that they're part of a community, they feel a sense of belonging and they share more! As seen below, my student shared how they connected to the number 3 and my CT and I connected this to the learning goal!