Module 8
In the past week, I had several informal observations including one by one of my administrators and he gave me good feedback on ways to continue to hone my craft of teaching. He stressed that I find ways to make the material relevant to my students. I did this in my lesson by talking about the cost of colleges and ways that my students could save money will still furthering their education. I continued from this by having my students work through an example about Yellow Stone National Park and the wolf population. This real life example of the struggling wolf population shows how math can be applied in the real world and how I can draw my students interest in mathematics for future careers.
What inspired me towards mathematics was all of the different ways that mathematics can be used. For instance, economics, healthcare, investments, sports, engineering, and many others. I love that math has so many applications and I am portraying that to my students everyday because I can relate math to whatever interests them in order for them to feel invested and interested. As my students continue to relay their interests to me, I will continue to find new ways to speak to them about math and other subjects that interest them. In addition, I have found that small games can peak students interest. I have started playing Hang man when I am searching for a certain word when describing new material and all of my students get involved, even those who do not know the answer. It has been effective and exciting.
Yes integrating math in other content areas is what you have to love about teaching math. Being apart of the STEM masters program has hopefully given you more ideas and examples for your classroom. They say math is the language of science and it is so true. Great job this week.
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