Looking back so that the view looking forward is even clearer anonymous
Reflections - Summer 2015
Looking Back
What have I learned this summer? Where do I begin?... I learned that problem solving is suppose to be frustrating. The main frustration came from being placed in a sea of unknowns. From day one I felt as though I was always just barely keeping up. One minute I was opening a Twitter account and the next I was uploading photographs to that account and I wasn’t even sure I liked the photograph. At times it felt like we were moving at something just this side of warp speed. Throughout this experience there was just enough guidance to get by however, I felt as though I had to figure things out on my own and moving just short of warp speed didn’t allow for time to figure much out. I realize now that I was experiencing non-routine problems and I had to figure out how to begin and so many activities were new to me.
What I learned from this experience was empathy in a truer sense than I previously knew. I now have a renewed empathy for my students when they say they can’t get it done or when they shut down because of their frustration with the task at hand. This is not to say that I will not push them, because I will. Living in our 21st Century environment time will always be an issue. It is managing that time and perseverance that will make students successful.
What was new about the experience for me was getting in touch with myself and dealing with my feelings being under pressure. That is not to say that I have not experienced this type of pressure before but we get comfortable in our day to day and so easily forget what it is like to dive in and swim real fast. For me the hectic pace and unknown tasks proved to be invigorating. Yes, I can say this now because I have had time to catch my breath. It was a good experience and pushed me to stay even more current with technology and media.
This learning experience matters to me because it is motivating me to learn as much as I can about new technology and media available. Combing technology and media with my content and pedagogy allows me to offer my students the best real-life learning experience I can provide. This is generating new enthusiasm for learning for my students by incorporating media into my lessons and it is a win-win. The students win because they are learning and not doing the same set of similar tasks each day. Our school wins because with the enthusiasm comes genuine learning, learning that includes understanding.
Looking Forward
I see this summer experience influencing my future teaching by providing me with opportunities to develop a larger repertoire of resources to use in teaching. If my tool box grows with resources that facilitate learning and interest I will naturally continue to use them. Before we began this endeavor I was frustrated with what I saw as media available to me to teach math. I was caught up in the comfortable. Now I imagine moving beyond the comfortable and enjoying it. The logical question here is , what changed?. My perspective changed. When I think about what I am doing and what I have accomplished in a short time I feel a bit of disappointment in myself for not pushing the envelope sooner. This experience like my IB experience from seven years ago has given me new eyes on what I can change in the classroom to help motivate and inspire students.
I don’t feel like this experience has necessarily changed “what” I think about teaching but more “how” I think about teaching. Previously I looked at content, pedagogy, and technology in their own separate entities. I am beginning to understand how the three make a complete cycle to fully integrated teaching. Using CPT to fully integrate lessons makes the lesson real-life. If my teaching is to be fully integrated I must combine the MARS Tasks and Problems of the Month with our daily skill and use media such as NEARPOD to disseminate the information to the students. By skillfully using CPT our class lessons can be real 21st Century mathematics learning.
What I am am taking from this experience is a new sense of curriculum presentation. Yes, I must use the curriculum that is developed through our district however, I can build a toolbox full of motivating real-life resources which I can use to present that given curriculum. The past three days I have been involved in a professional development course titled “Building the Mathematically Powerful Classroom” the entire time I was involved I was thinking about how I could present the content through technology. One of the thoughts I had involved presenting some of the content using a “QuickFire” I was thinking how interesting that would be to introduce a skill by allowing the students to solve a problem using the “QuickFire” approach. I feel I am taking a lot back to my classroom.
Looking Back
What have I learned this summer? Where do I begin?... I learned that problem solving is suppose to be frustrating. The main frustration came from being placed in a sea of unknowns. From day one I felt as though I was always just barely keeping up. One minute I was opening a Twitter account and the next I was uploading photographs to that account and I wasn’t even sure I liked the photograph. At times it felt like we were moving at something just this side of warp speed. Throughout this experience there was just enough guidance to get by however, I felt as though I had to figure things out on my own and moving just short of warp speed didn’t allow for time to figure much out. I realize now that I was experiencing non-routine problems and I had to figure out how to begin and so many activities were new to me.
What I learned from this experience was empathy in a truer sense than I previously knew. I now have a renewed empathy for my students when they say they can’t get it done or when they shut down because of their frustration with the task at hand. This is not to say that I will not push them, because I will. Living in our 21st Century environment time will always be an issue. It is managing that time and perseverance that will make students successful.
What was new about the experience for me was getting in touch with myself and dealing with my feelings being under pressure. That is not to say that I have not experienced this type of pressure before but we get comfortable in our day to day and so easily forget what it is like to dive in and swim real fast. For me the hectic pace and unknown tasks proved to be invigorating. Yes, I can say this now because I have had time to catch my breath. It was a good experience and pushed me to stay even more current with technology and media.
This learning experience matters to me because it is motivating me to learn as much as I can about new technology and media available. Combing technology and media with my content and pedagogy allows me to offer my students the best real-life learning experience I can provide. This is generating new enthusiasm for learning for my students by incorporating media into my lessons and it is a win-win. The students win because they are learning and not doing the same set of similar tasks each day. Our school wins because with the enthusiasm comes genuine learning, learning that includes understanding.
Looking Forward
I see this summer experience influencing my future teaching by providing me with opportunities to develop a larger repertoire of resources to use in teaching. If my tool box grows with resources that facilitate learning and interest I will naturally continue to use them. Before we began this endeavor I was frustrated with what I saw as media available to me to teach math. I was caught up in the comfortable. Now I imagine moving beyond the comfortable and enjoying it. The logical question here is , what changed?. My perspective changed. When I think about what I am doing and what I have accomplished in a short time I feel a bit of disappointment in myself for not pushing the envelope sooner. This experience like my IB experience from seven years ago has given me new eyes on what I can change in the classroom to help motivate and inspire students.
I don’t feel like this experience has necessarily changed “what” I think about teaching but more “how” I think about teaching. Previously I looked at content, pedagogy, and technology in their own separate entities. I am beginning to understand how the three make a complete cycle to fully integrated teaching. Using CPT to fully integrate lessons makes the lesson real-life. If my teaching is to be fully integrated I must combine the MARS Tasks and Problems of the Month with our daily skill and use media such as NEARPOD to disseminate the information to the students. By skillfully using CPT our class lessons can be real 21st Century mathematics learning.
What I am am taking from this experience is a new sense of curriculum presentation. Yes, I must use the curriculum that is developed through our district however, I can build a toolbox full of motivating real-life resources which I can use to present that given curriculum. The past three days I have been involved in a professional development course titled “Building the Mathematically Powerful Classroom” the entire time I was involved I was thinking about how I could present the content through technology. One of the thoughts I had involved presenting some of the content using a “QuickFire” I was thinking how interesting that would be to introduce a skill by allowing the students to solve a problem using the “QuickFire” approach. I feel I am taking a lot back to my classroom.