Independent Component 2

For independent component 2, I taught some more at THINK Together. After completing service learning there, I worked for 50 more hours afterwards. My time there has helped me become a better teacher and has improved my social skills a lot in comparison to the beginning of the year.

Literal:

At THINK Together, I have personally tutored and taught classrooms of kids in various grades. During this time, I had to adapt to the students' needs and their learning styles as a collective. Some observations I have taken note of are the attitudes of students at different age groups and locations. Students seem to learn behavior not only from their parents and teachers, but from themselves.

Interpretive:

The younger students are, the more impressionable they seem to be. The odd thing about teaching students as a collective is that they seem to form one unit, or be like one person. I believe that students learn from their environment and each other more than even the teacher.

Applied:

By paying attention to their needs and how they react to things in class and the material, it is possible to increase the learning experience of the children by using the children themselves to enable them to retain most of the information taught. Of course, this doesn't always work, when it fails it is usually best to work with the students that didn't understand the lesson one on one.

My independent component 2 is logged along with my service learning in the following link. 50 of the hours are for service learning and the other 50 are for independent component 2.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ara_GUYxm8i_dHpMVUZTeWZzS2ZqQkVvU1NuTWhNYXc&hl=en_US#gid=0

2 Hour Presentation Reflection

Now that I have done my presentation, I feel a bit sad. The presentation went really well and I had a lot of information, but it just seems like the senior project is over. This means I most likely won't be teaching children anymore, and will have a lot more free time than usual.

I had a lot of information to state, but the amount of information is so great that it isn't possible to effectively teach a classroom of people in the span of 2 hours. I took the most important information I could think of and tried to get it all out.

When I think back on all the experiences, things I've read, and research I've done, I have discovered that being a good teacher takes more than a lot of work. To be a good teacher, requires the ability to perform many jobs, and long periods of undivided focus. I just don't have that sort of time nor attention span required to be a truly good teacher.

However, this project has let me see into the life of a teacher in a rather unique way. The presentation to me was a time for me to share as much as I could in the time alloted. Most people were interested, but a few looked kind of bored, which was a bit discouraging.

I hope I managed to change some minds about math and teaching in a positive way. If I were to do this again, I would probably cut the activities to be able to say more about what I learned.

Service Learning Reflection and log

I had a lot of interesting experiences at THINK Together. This place allowed me to get a lot of hands on experience and learning. I started at the same time everyday, and left at the same time everyday, in between this I tried to help as many students as I could. In a way, I feel like every student I helped is a product of mine and that feeling is very special.

There were some ups and downs, but in the end I managed to make the best of it. Students responded well to my methods and I was able to help very many of them in this way. In some cases, I even got to teach them extra stuff and different types of short cuts or cool math tricks that will come in handy in the future.

Seeing since I couldn't figure out how to upload an Excel spreadsheet, I have copy-pasted my spreadsheet onto a Google document and share it with Mrs. Ortega for grading and overview.

The link is: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ara_GUYxm8i_dHpMVUZTeWZzS2ZqQkVvU1NuTWhNYXc&hl=en#gid=0

2 Hour Presentation Rough Draft

Name: David Rodgers
Topic: Teaching and Application of Math
Presentation Teacher: Mr. Ogden

EQ: What is the most effective way to teach mathematics to adolescents?
Classroom Theme: Standard. Materials I need are a projector, computer capable of displaying a PowerPoint presentation, a white board, markers, and tables for students to sit at.

Sponge activity:

1.) What is the activity?

 Quick Survey.

2.) How will it be done?

I will ask two questions and record the results on the board. They will be yes or no questions.

3.) How does the activity relate to your answer?

The questions will be, "who here likes math?" and, "who wants to go into a field dealing with mathematics?" I will proceed to discuss the data and the opinions of the students.

4.) What materials are required?

A white board and a marker.

Introduction:

I will introduce myself and define my EQ. After this I will state each of my three solutions and my plan for the day. I expect the rest of the lesson plan to be in the following order:

Foundation
Answer 1 explanation
Answer 1 activity
Answer 2 explanation
Answer 2 activity
Answer 3 explanation
Answer 3 activity
Best answer statement and explanation
Best three sources
Product
Conclusion.

Foundation:

I plan to start by stating that modern teaching of most kinds, including mathematics is a fairly new concept in comparison to old traditions and methods, and then link the sponge activity to this by mentioning career aspects and fields for mathematicians and teachers alike.

Answer 1 Explanation:

Information taught:

I will speak on the importance of the student them self and how knowing them makes teaching many times easier than simply assuming you know the best method to teach them.

Answer 1 Activity:

Take five minutes to do an investigation of the person next to them. After which, ask questions and see if they got the questions right.

Answer 2 Explanation:

Information taught:

The importance the environment plays when teaching a student or an entire classroom and how to turn it to your advantage.

Answer 2 activity:

Undecided.

Answer 3 Explanation:

Information taught:

The importance of working together as a team to most effectively teach mathematics, or any subject, at high school level.

Answer 3 Activity:

Give each person a math problem and ask them to solve it themselves within a short time limit. After this past, give out the answer and see how many got it right. After this, tell them to form groups of four and to solve a different problem within the same time limit. Ask how many got it right and compare the results.

Best Answer:

Currently I value knowing the student as the best answer because students are like problems, you can have all the tools you want but without knowing about the problem, you can't solve it.

Sources:

Not included in draft yet

Product:

Teaching skills, and over 100 newly educated children of age 12 or less.

Conclusion:

Simple recap of everything learned and a connection to how it applies to their lives.

Independent Component 1

My task for this component was tutoring people after school in Ms. Melogno's class. Everyday after school, I would stay and teach both mathematics and physics learning material. If I ever got stuck myself, I would ask Ms. Melogno, who is excellent in both the fields of physics and mathematics.

Students didn't always come, so I sometimes went out to find them. At first they were reluctant because they didn't feel like learning, but once you get them started they don't want to stop. I applied multiple teaching methods and experimented with which ones work with certain types of people.

After I taught them, I convinced most of the students to teach what they learned. In this way, they retain a lot more of what they learned.

Below is a link to a log I have made and Ms. Melogno has approved:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ara_GUYxm8i_dGRtWVJsQUJCN1VLSUNJZDNibEtGQUE&hl=en#gid=0

Interview 4 (Mr. Lee)

1.)  1.) What is your preferred teaching method and why? Using the manipulative, “toys,” hands on things. They learn 

best by playing math doing math, visualizing things, touching things and experimenting.

2.) Do you know any good books on the subject of teaching math?

No. Best through peers.

3.) What would you recommend a person new teaching learn to get better?

Make all the mistakes, don’t ask, just do things, but afterword reflect on it. Develop the skill of reflecting. Mistakes are the best teacher.

4.) How do you teach a room full of students at once?

Projects, project based learning allows each individual a chance to learn according to their own abilities. Then, you can assist the student in the way they can be best assisted.

5.) What do you do when one of your students doesn't "get" something?

Look for many ways to get through to them, peers are usually an effective way of getting through to them.

6.) If you were to teach a student one on one, how would you do it?

Let them explain to him how they should learn best, the answers, and draw them out of themselves.

7.) Do you reward students for doing well? Why or why not?

Yes, the reward is a “smile.” Have to give it at just the right time. (praise) Sometimes recognition.

8.) What do you do if there is a language barrier? (They speak some of the language but it presents a challenge.)

ELD students are assisted with repetition, word cues, other students, a lot of visuals, and “decoding” skills like context clues. Some solve word problems better because they focus more on the important words.

9.) Are you part of a union? Why or why not?

Yes, it’s required at the middle school to be in a union. It’s expected to be a teacher in the Pomona district.

10.) Why did you become a teacher?

His wife (an engineer) challenged him to take a test to see how he would do as a teacher. After he passed, he liked it and developed more as he went on. Previously he never had the intention of it.

11.) What is the greatest challenge you face as a math teacher and why?

When a student does not want to do math. It is also harder when the student doesn’t have family support. By the time they get to him, they have a negative perception about math. This makes it so he has to fight the fear of math. “You cannot learn if you have fear.”

12.) How would you describe your relationship with the parents of students?

Communicate regularly, and are a part of his “team.” Student success is a result of the teacher, parents, and the student.

13.) Do you rely on any technology? Why or why not?

Yes, he relies heavily on technology. Times are changing, and math changes with it. The application of math also advances.

14.) Why do you teach at this level?

He taught in high school, 5^th grade and 6^th grade, he transferred over here (8^th grade) because he lived closer. Upon reflection, he sees it as the most important time in a student’s life, to see if they will “make it or break it” math wise.

15.) What are your thoughts on homework?

It is a practice of what you learned. He dislikes long homework, and sees it as more of a hindrance. It can negatively affect a student if it’s too long.

16.) What does teaching mean to you?

It’s a challenge we give to our students to overcome, and to better themselves with. It allows them to build character and to overcome future obstacles.

17.) How do you form your lesson plan?

There is a sort of a template, but it changes along with population and student culture/needs. Adaption on lesson plans is his policy, from the year to the very next period. He constantly thinks on what to do to change the lesson to be more effective.

18.) How important is controlling the classroom environment to you?

Prefers orderly over control, tries to help students stay on task. It’s the prime reason they come, otherwise they could be homeschooled. Tries to make it as safe and comfortable as possible, otherwise learning does not take place.

19.) How hard is it to get and maintain a career in teaching math?

Getting a career is really hard, especially with the economy; right now it’s really hard. Maintaining is equally hard. You have to keep up with the change; you can’t just sit still and teach the same thing every day. You have to go to a thing called professional development, and continuously go to colleges, seminars, and other things to keep up.

20.) If you were to change one thing about the curriculum what would it be and why?

Wishes he would have more school hours so he could teach other things from more math to art and music. He believes the students need more exposure to mathematics. Would also like more clubs.

20 Minute Presentation

Objective: To send a clear and concise message that teaches how to teach.

Lesson Plan:

1.)    Introduce myself and my topic.

2.)    Present my EQ answers and my focus.

3.)    Explain the nature of mathematics.

4.)    State how we learn and effective methods

5.)    Talk about my service learning and other times I’ve taught.

6.)    Describe the EDGE method.

7.)    Start the activity.

8.)    Explain my sources.

9.)    Conclude.

Check for Understanding:

In my activity, it will be required that they make a song about something they know. Using this song, I will have one or two groups present their song.

Resources:

Laptop

Internet Connection

PowerPoint from Google Docs