Blog 9

Blog #9!

Observation: Understanding why teaching fractions with geometric shapes instead of learning how to write it works better.

Reflection: After leaving class today, on October 22^nd, 2012, I kept thinking about what Professor Antosz was discussing in class about teaching fractions with geometric shapes rather than with terms such as “lowest common denominator”. Prior to this class, I always assumed that I would teach math the same way I was taught throughout grade school. I did not understand the professor’s idea when he said he thought, “fractions without rules is a good thing”. However, after listening to his reasoning, I have a better understanding as to why this might be a good pedagogy of teaching.

Reflection on Reflection: I think the reason why it was so difficult for me to grasp the concept of teaching fractions without rules is because I do not fully understand fractions. This is something I will have to work on, because I strongly believe that teaching math using physical manipulative is a good idea. We have learned all year thus far that we should try to incorporate using differentiated instruction into our lessons. By using the math manipulative, this allows students of all types of learning to fully understand the lesson. After leaving today's math class, it taught me that there are many different ways to teach students math and that there are other ways to cover the required curriculum without doing basic math. We were also taught this year that children learn a lot faster and understand better when “doing” rather than being shown. By using the geometric shapes the students are not simply listening to the teacher explain how to solve the problems, but they will be able to pick up the concept a lot quicker because it allows them to be hands on.