Weekly Report & Reflection Week #3

I think the most important thing I learned this week was an interesting variety of teaching methods. This was true of the various presentations I witnessed, both in class and on line. Teaching mathematics is difficult. Lessons require careful planning, as the content being explained must be delivered with precision. Therefore trying to explain similar content in a variety of ways is a challenge to the requirements of rigour and creativity. I thought that  Dan Meyer's talk at Cambridge was an excellent example of how to incorporate these latter attributes into a comprehensive lecture. Meyer's lecture employs technology, class participation, and group collaboration, in an engaging and informative manner. At his talk in Cambridge, Meyer uses video technology to provide visual images for the construction of the 'penny pyramid'. This is an entertaining presentation, capturing the viewers attention immediately. Meyer follows up the presentation by allowing the class to ask their own question about the video. This is an interesting technique, as it allows the students to participate in formulating the problems they would like to assess and find solutions for. This is important as it makes the questions more meaningful to the students as well as being pertinent to their curiosities. Meyer continuously keeps the class engaged by asking them for estimations, encouraging discussion between students, and by slowly and clearly unraveling the solutions to the students' initial questions. The result is an interactive, engaging, and, significantly, educational lecture on mathematics.

It would seem that Dan Meyer is a quintessential mathematics teacher. He is knowledgeable, patient, and creative. Furthermore, he incorporates technology into his classroom with relative ease and makes learning mathematics a fun and participatory engagement. Meyer exemplifies what it means to be a good mathematics teacher, as he allows the class to develop their questions and understanding of the material, acting as a guide that facilitates their journeys to various solutions. I think that much can be learned from Meyer's approach to teaching mathematics. In particular, I admire his ability to get the class invested in mathematical problems so that they are always interested and engaged in a community setting.  This latter aspect is a nice change from the traditional setting of mathematics, which tend to be isolating and drab (i.e. A student staring at a problem on a piece of paper by themselves with a pencil). Meyer's strategies to teaching provide an excellent example as to what it means to be a successful mathematics teacher. I have learned a significant amount from him regarding teaching style and methodology which I will attempt to incorporate in my future lectures.

Weekly Report & Reflection Week #2

In this post I will be looking at opinions of mathematics.  In my own experience I have found that the general opinion of mathematics of most people is quite negative. This is probably a reflection of a few things.  That is, social bias (for example, "girls aren't good at math!"), engaging instruction (for example, "this work is boring, it's just drills and busy work!"), and problems of relevance (for example, "what is the point of this? I'm never going to use this in real life!"). Undoubtedly there are various other reasons for why people have a negative view of mathematics, but these three reasons seem to me to be the most prevalent amongst people.

Raphael, The School of Athens, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Euclid.jpg

My own personal feeling about mathematics is that it can be difficult and vexing, but also fascinating and enlightening. I'm personally more interested in mathematical theory than I am in its practical applications. I realize that theory and practice go hand in hand, yet for some reason unknown to me I simply find the theory aspect much more interesting. Here is a link to a documentary by the BBC called "Dangerous Knowledge" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCszejfzb_U I think this is an excellent example of why mathematical theory is so interesting.  

What is required for teaching mathematics is posted on The Ontario Mathematics Curriculum, link provided here:  https://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/math18curr.pdf however, while this curriculum is necessary, reading it is rather painful and is good reflection of why students find mathematics so dry and onerous. In my opinion, to be a good teacher of mathematics an instructor must at all costs prevent mathematics from becoming boring and uninteresting. Instead a teacher much show the relevance to the students to what they are learning and try to engage them on levels that are more interactive and not simply have students do drills with pencil and paper.

Returning to The Ontario Mathematics Curriculum, I believe that I still have quite a bit of work to d in relation to learning some of its curriculum. In particular I do not have much experience with data management. So this will be one area of study I will have to explore more closely. However, I am interested in fostering a variety of learning which the curriculum alludes to, and which has been a primary focus of many of our educational classes so far.

8P29 Introduction

Hello, my name is Corey Padgett. Here is an avatar representation of me:

I do not have much experience in Mathematics, both educationally and academically. However, I do enjoy mathematical theory, and have some experience in the philosophy surrounding mathematics. For instance I am a big Bertrand Russell fan and I am familiar with his work "Principia Mathematica" that he co-authored with Alan Whitehead. I also enjoy other thinkers in the history of mathematics such as Zeno and Parmenides. I like formal logic as I enjoy the rational principles it establishes that co-inside well with Mathematics.

The purpose of this blog is to track my progress of my ability to teach mathematics. Undoubtedly a difficult task considering my lack of knowledge and experience. However, I will do my best to proceed with a positive outlook and perseverance that will hopefully help me to overcome any of the challenges I may encounter on the way. I have confidence that with enough hard work, I will be able to teach mathematics at the Junior/Intermediate level competently by the time I have completed this course.

Feel free to explore my blog as I embark on my mathematical education!