Reflections Paper Essay Example

in chapter 14, we learned about motion geometry and tessellations. Translations and rotations, reflections and glide reflections, size transformations, symmetries, tessellations of the plane. Often when a new technique is taught in math class and a student has a hard time understanding it, the first thought is that they are just not good at math.

A professional math teacher will be able to help the child see that they are good at math and that it just takes some time to learn new techniques. The most important technique for a mathematics teacher to know is how to teach the many lessons in different and creative ways. Each child learns at a different speed and in different ways. As a teacher, being flexible with the lesson plans will help in the long run, both the students as well as herself. In elementary math, teachers should focus on small number key elements with every one of their lesson plans.

Once the students have been able to master these elements, then the curriculum can be structured to build upon those lessons with new skills and concepts. As a high school math teacher, the best attribute to have is the flexibility to teach any subject, including geometry, statistics, pre-calculus, and many different levels of algebra. When it comes to the personal attributes of a math teacher, one of the most important traits to have in order to be a great math teacher is an interest in math, not to mention the understanding of the subject also.

Then, since math can be very tedious and frustrating, having plenty of patience and a very calm attitude can be more help than anyone would think.

After this course and all of the concepts that I have learned, I think that the best place for me to do my teaching career is definitely in the elementary grades. The younger grades, such as Pre-K, Kindergarten, and First Grade is the best place for me as I have a very hard time understanding some of the concepts that we learned in this course.

Teaching them to my students would be rather difficult if I do not completely understand the concepts myself. Based on my learning experience in MTH/156 and MTH/157, I would like to see more demonstrations available for the students. For example, having the availability to Skype at a certain time during the day with other classmates to discuss the homework, or chapter and see if anyone has any questions that someone else can help with. I also think that having the ability to see examples during the final, just as you can during homework, would be so helpful.

I understand that this is the final and the students should be able to complete the final without any help. My point is that, some students experience test anxiety and therefore draw a blank on some of the procedures. Having the ability to check and make sure that you are doing the problem correctly helps to put the students mind at ease and hopefully passes the exam.

References

1. Billstein, R. ,
2. Libeskind, S. , & Lott, J. W. (2010).
3. A Problem-solving approach to mathematics for elementary school teachers (10th ed. ).
4. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley.